"Won't be lonely..."
Su Qingyun murmured as he looked at the Azure Cloud Sect before him, unable to stop himself from sinking into memories.
This place had been sealed away in Su Qingyun's heart for far, far too long.
So long that he had thought he had forgotten it.
So long that he had believed those memories, those days gone by, every little thing that had once warmed him, had all been worn away by the years, devoured by the Way of Deception, and buried beneath one false identity after another.
Yet now, as he truly stood upon this mountain and looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar cluster of buildings below, breathing in that familiar strand of spiritual energy, he realized.
He had never forgotten.
Not for a single moment!
Those memories were like seeds buried beneath the deepest reaches of his heart. Usually, they could neither be seen nor touched, but all it took was a drop of rain and dew, a ray of sunlight, for them to break through the soil and grow wildly.
Scenes from those days surfaced in his mind without his control.
Not far from the Azure Cloud Sect lay a small town called Azure Cloud Town. That was where his story had begun.
He had no name.
While Old Beggar was alive, he called him "little bastard," "money-losing wretch," and "little beggar."
Old Beggar said that ants like them did not deserve names. The cheaper a nickname was, the easier it was to raise its bearer.
Thus, he had never given him a name.
Later, through the Way of Deception, he became an immortal in the eyes of mortals, formally stepped onto the path of cultivation, and eventually entered the Azure Cloud Sect.
At the Azure Cloud Sect, he met an old man, a