(One more update to come.)
In the Firecloud Mountains.
As an old sect with a long history, the Firecloud Sect naturally had not changed in the space of a single year. When Wang Yan and Ye Shisan returned, it was just as they remembered.
However.
This return gave both Wang Yan and Ye Shisan a different feeling.
Mostly Wang Yan, really. Returning to the Firecloud Sect felt like coming home, a feeling entirely different from what he had experienced at the Wang Household on Azure Spirit Mountain...
Back at the Wang Household, he had lived a life worse than a pig or a dog. Though he was a direct-line disciple, disciples from both the Outer Clan and the Inner Clan had bullied and humiliated him. Naturally, he had felt little sense of belonging...
At the Firecloud Sect, however, he had felt his own value to the sect for the first time. That was why he felt this way.
The oath he had sworn upon joining also played a small part. That oath carried a certain unseen binding force, intended to make cultivator disciples more loyal to the sect...
Soon.
Since Wang Yan and Ye Shisan belonged to different peaks, after submitting proof that they had completed their mission and collecting their rewards and sect merit points, they parted ways and returned to their respective peaks...
Wang Yan naturally returned to Yellow Cloud Peak, then went to pay his respects to his master, Venerable Gray Three.
Unexpectedly.
Venerable Gray Three was in seclusion and did not see him. Still, Wang Yan had fulfilled the proper courtesies simply by visiting. Bing Ning was astonished to discover that Wang Yan had reached the early Core Condensation realm in just over a year. She said little, but her attitude toward him had changed