Chen Cuo focused his gaze for a moment, then frowned. As he looked around, he noticed something wrong with the entire Great Hua Secret Realm.
"You've probably noticed it already. Our Great Hua Secret Realm has fallen into something strange." Yan Yin Zi's voice came from beside him.
Chen Cuo turned toward the voice and bowed with cupped hands.
He and Yan Yin Zi got along well enough. Not long ago, this martial uncle had rushed a thousand miles to help him. Though he had not been able to do much, he had eaten several fine meals at the Prince's Residence and the Marquis's Residence, and they had grown much closer.
Chen Cuo had sensed Yan Yin Zi's presence dimly while wrapped in the cloth, despite his senses being cut off, so he was not surprised to see him. But when he looked more closely at his martial uncle after bowing, surprise finally showed on his face.
Yan Yin Zi gave a wry smile. "What are you so surprised about? This little bit of ability of mine is nothing next to what you've done. Besides, the surprises you've given your martial uncle along the way have nearly turned into shocks. Even the Five Declines of Heaven and Man couldn't bring you down. You pulled through on your own..."
At his current level, Yan Yin Zi's senses were extraordinarily keen. He had clearly detected a powerful aura of decline around Chen Cuo earlier; there was no mistaking it. Now that aura was gone, without any outside intervention. Chen Cuo had plainly dealt with it himself. Yan Yin Zi could not help marveling, though given the disciple's past deeds, he did not find it too unbelievable.
Hui Shuo Zi, too, had seen Chen Cuo worn down by decline within and exhaustion without.