Above the great rift.
Ji Yuan hovered over a floating black reef, hands clasped behind his back as he gazed east.
The streaks of light Fairy Mei and Tian Wenjing had become were now two blurry specks at the edge of the sky. Then they vanished into the churning gray mist, leaving no trace.
One was at the Nascent Soul Late Stage, the other at the Nascent Soul Peak.
Who would have imagined that this lone wolf, who appeared to have neither master nor backing and seemed to have carved a bloody path through sheer hard cultivation, had a mother at the Nascent Soul Late Stage standing behind him?
Had the son brought his mother to the Nascent Soul Realm?
Or had the mother raised her son to the Nascent Soul Realm?
Ji Yuan smiled. Interesting.
He recalled Fairy Mei reclining in the Six Desires Immortal Pool, her eyes inviting him to become her "fleeting Dao companion," her charm and allure measured to perfection.
Did she truly lack a Dao companion?
Impossible.
What she wanted had never been the pleasure of dual cultivation, but something deeper—resources, connections, a pawn, or perhaps simply an early investment in someone with potential.
And Tian Wenjing—that man who seemed cold and distant but was, in truth, cautious to the point of suspicion—had survived the peril-ridden Desolate Ancient Continent and turned desperate situations around time and again. Had he really done it through nothing but his own cunning and ruthlessness?
How much of Fairy Mei's influence lay behind him?
Ji Yuan withdrew his gaze and pursued the matter no further.
He did not need to know all the secrets this mother and son shared.
He only needed to know that, during their time in the Nine Nether Rift, they had chosen cooperation over enmity.
That