The man who arrived looked like an Exiled Immortal, ethereal grace drifting about him, yet the moment he opened his mouth, out came a thoroughly down-to-earth accent, thick with the rustic flavor of some backwater corner.
"Yang Qing? You're that Yang Qing?"
Yang Qing smiled at him. "Indeed I am. May I ask who you are?"
The immortal-looking man waved his sleeve casually. "No need to stand on ceremony. Come to think of it, we're practically half fellow townsmen."
Fellow townsmen? From where, exactly?
Seeing the bewilderment on Yang Qing's face and those of the people behind him, the man took no offense and carried on speaking.
"Back in the day, I came from Yan Prefecture too."
Yan Prefecture?
Hearing that long-unheard name stirred a wave of emotion in Yang Qing.
"Say, why must you stay here? Won't you go back for a look?"
"Go back for a look?" Yang Qing smiled again. "There's no one I once knew left there. Going back would only add to my sorrow."
Besides, he had left Western Chu by faking his death back then. Was he supposed to return now, a whole living, breathing man?
That would likely throw the world into chaos.
"I won't be going. But you still haven't told me why you've come today."
Yang Qing still wore a smile.
Yet it was faint, as though a passing breeze might scatter it.
First the homeland, then the familiar accent. What was this man after?
Seeing Yang Qing's smile fade, the immortal-looking man grew serious as well.
"It's nothing much, really. I just heard you have a Divine Beast here?"
Oh, so he had come for Jiangli?
Yang Qing did not ask where the man had learned that. He merely said evenly, "Jiangli is unwell and cannot receive visitors today."
The