Yuan Yu did not oversleep the next day. Dawn was just breaking when he woke, and the Wine Gourd Qian Renxue had left on the table was already full. A note lay tucked beside it: Eat breakfast first.
Quite a few people had gathered outside the Worship Hall. Azure Luan and Ling Yuan had come to see them off, while Qian Daoliu sat on the steps, complaining that they had brought too much luggage. Bibi Dong's right arm had largely recovered. Hu Liena checked the brace beneath her sleeve once more before letting go and picking up her own bag. Qian Renxue agreed with her grandfather on what she would bring back next time. He waved a hand and told her to keep practicing her swordsmanship in the Divine Realm.
Standing before the hall doors, Yuan Yu suddenly remembered how Flender had picked him up from the roadside all those years ago. He had been so drunk that day he could not even tell which direction he was facing, and had actually thought no one in Spirit City knew where he had gone. Azure Luan later told him that he and Ling Yuan had followed him all the way to Shrek's entrance. Seeing how happily he stayed, they had decided not to haul him home. Even now, Yuan Yu felt he had been in the wrong, and cupped his hands to the two of them.
"You've been away so long, and you've come home plenty of times too." Ling Yuan swatted his hands aside. "Write when you have time in the Divine Realm. Don't make us rely on other people to pass along stories of your foolishness."
"What foolishness could there be?"
"That line alone would fill a letter," Azure Luan replied.
The teleportation platform outside the city had been