Yun Qing Felt He Was Getting Full of Himself

The Myriad Beasts Ancient Domain lay at the edge of the Yun Clan's ancestral lands, bordering the wilderness known as "Desolate City."

Leading a squad of elite Cloud Valor Guards through several ultra-long-distance teleportation arrays, Yun Qing finally reached this impoverished frontier city, which stood amid a sky full of windblown sand.

Meanwhile, the "marketplace gathering" in the cracks between dimensions finally broke up on bad terms after an uproar of squabbling that sent chickens flying and dogs scrambling.

Divine senses of every kind ebbed away like the tide, leaving the void deathly silent once more.

The divine sense that had sounded like clashing metal, suspected to belong to an Immortal Dynasty's War King, returned to its owner. Inside the imposing command tent of a military camp, he slowly opened his eyes, a disdainful sneer appearing on his resolute, bronze-colored face.

He was indeed Xia Zhan, the War King who commanded the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty's million-strong frontier army-a prince whose rank placed him shoulder to shoulder with the sovereign!

"That damned gathering Jiang Shouzhuo put together..." Xia Zhan's voice was deep and resonant, with a soldier's distinctive rasp. "Those undying old bastards argued until their faces flushed and their necks bulged. Their spit nearly sprayed across the void into my face. Who were they putting on that show for?"

He rose, his dark-gold coiling-dragon battle armor clanging, and walked outside the command tent. Gazing into Central Province's boundless sky, his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's.

"Damn them, every last one played the fool, with eight hundred schemes apiece. Not one was a lamp that spared its oil." Xia Zhan spat, as though trying to expel all the "secondhand bluster" he had breathed in within the void. "But that business with the Yun Clan... Hmph, it's almost certainly true."

He shook his head, recalling those "splendid" performances in the void. "That old lump of ice from the North Pole Profound Palace flew into a rage the moment I provoked him. A convincing act, too. That old fox Ji Wenyuan complained nonstop, but every sentence was fishing for information. And Jiang Shouzhuo himself... Nothing but a stick stirring the shit!"

"Nothing like the lads of my Great Xia frontier army. Such honest, simple souls!" Xia Zhan snorted, rather pleased with himself.

Naturally, he selectively ignored the "hot-tempered prince" persona he had adopted during the gathering.

He gathered his thoughts, then spread his divine sense like a battle saber leaving its sheath, fierce and overbearing, on a routine patrol of Great Xia's borders and the neighboring regions.

It was both his habit and his duty.

His divine sense swept over mountains and rivers, cities and villages.

Just as he was about to withdraw it completely, Xia Zhan raised a thick eyebrow.

His divine sense paused briefly above Desolate City.

Below, a group was assembling. The young man at its head wore black robes and had ink-dark hair, his bearing as straight and tall as a pine. Even across that vast distance, Xia Zhan caught a trace of the unique aura of ancient chaos.

"The aura of the Chaos Dao Embryo... Concealed remarkably well, but is that Yun Qing?!" A sharp gleam flashed in Xia Zhan's eyes. "Why isn't he preparing properly for the Cloud Summit Tournament in the Yun Clan's ancestral lands? What's he doing in this Desolate City, where even birds won't shit?"

What made this battle-hardened War King inwardly tense was-

The instant his divine sense swept over Yun Qing, the young man seemed to sense something and abruptly looked up!

A pair of eyes as deep as ancient wells pierced through layer upon layer of spatial barriers and "looked" precisely toward the invisible location of his divine sense!

Within those eyes, a faint phantom of Double Pupils flashed and vanished, carrying the calm of one who could see through all illusion.

Then Yun Qing calmly cupped his hands toward the divine sense in the sky, offering an impeccable junior's salute.

Neither servile nor arrogant, he showed respect for a powerful senior while clearly drawing a boundary-this salute was both courtesy and a line. Please probe no further!

Xia Zhan's overbearing divine sense, so accustomed to charging across battlefields, was actually "blocked" for an instant by that calm salute.

He decisively withdrew his divine sense. Genuine surprise and undisguised appreciation appeared on his resolute, bronze-colored face.

"Fine lad!" Xia Zhan praised softly, his voice like muffled thunder. "What keen perception! Those Double Pupils of his... He's probably already reached the realm of 'light arising within an empty chamber, all arts revealed with perfect clarity.' Facing my pressure, he remained composed and turned me away with courtesy. This generation of the Yun Clan truly makes a man envious!"

"Desolate City, the Myriad Beasts Ancient Domain..." Xia Zhan narrowed his tiger-like eyes and looked toward the distant Eastern Region, his knuckles unconsciously tapping the hilt of the battle saber at his waist. "For that Yun Clan lad to appear there at a time like this... Interesting."

In Desolate City, massive stone walls had stood amid wind and sand for a thousand years.

Yun Qing withdrew his gaze from the sky, his expression unchanged. That divine sense had been vast and overbearing, but it likely belonged to a powerful figure friendly to the Yun Clan, or at least neutral. There had been no malice.

Still... When it comes to an overbearing divine sense, who could possibly outdo our "little Golden Crow"? Yun Qing smiled faintly to himself.

Going everywhere with Yun Huang day after day had forcibly raised his tolerance for pressure to an absurd level. Now, sensing the divine pressure of these mighty figures, he actually felt...

Nothing much. When that thought surfaced instinctively, Yun Qing felt he was getting full of himself.

"Eldest young master, thank you for making the long journey." The steward guiding him respectfully stepped aside. "This is Yun Lie, head of the Desolate City branch."

The middle-aged man before him was built like a mountain, his bronze-colored face etched with wind and frost. Yet his tiger-like eyes held a restrained gleam, and his aura was deep and weighty, carrying the fierce toughness of a seasoned battlefield veteran.

He cupped his fists in salute, his voice like a deep bell. "Yun Lie of Desolate City, together with our clansmen, respectfully welcomes the eldest young master!"

The clansmen behind him bowed as well. Their eyes held reverence for a visitor from the main clan, but even more apparent were the frankness and resilience forged through hardship.

"Clan Head Yun Lie, there's no need for such ceremony. Thank you all for your efforts." Yun Qing nodded slightly, his tone warm, while his Double Pupils swept unobtrusively over the group. The members of this Desolate City branch had solid, steady auras, each carrying the fierce courage of a battle-tested veteran.

Yun Lie in particular possessed exceptionally robust cultivation at the middle stage of the Immortal Lord Realm. His spiritual energy was as solid as iron, with faint signs of an impending breakthrough to the late stage.

Two people stood slightly behind Yun Lie at his side.

On the left was a neatly groomed middle-aged man, his face much darker and rougher than it had been in the ancestral lands. It was none other than Steward Jia, who had been banished here.

His expression was respectful, tinged with the complicated emotions of meeting his "former master." Yet his eyes no longer held their old slickness. Instead, they had settled into a measure of plain sincerity, honed by frontier life.

Steward Jia rested a hand lightly on a boy's shoulder, the gesture natural and affectionate.

"This sinner, Jia Ren, pays his respects to the eldest young master." Steward Jia bowed once more.

Yun Qing nodded slightly, somewhat surprised to find Steward Jia here.

He looked at Steward Jia and spoke in an even yet affirming tone. "It seems you've adapted well to Desolate City, Steward Jia."

His aura had grown considerably steadier, and he seemed quite at ease with Yun Lie and the others. With much of his former superficiality and scheming gone, he was far more pleasant to look at than he had been in the ancestral lands.

Hearing this, Yun Lie promptly agreed. "Brother Jia has been diligent since coming to Desolate City. He's also taken good care of this unruly grandson of mine and has helped Desolate City a great deal."

Yun Qing nodded and said no more. If Desolate City could wear away unnecessary sharp edges and foolish desires, allowing a person to settle and mature, that might well be an opportunity in its own right.

His gaze fell on the bright-eyed boy beside them, who had been stealing looks at him all along.

This boy... He must be Yun Lie's grandson. Rather interesting.

The spiritual energy within him was unremarkable, yet his perception seemed unusually keen. When Yun Qing had sensed Xia Zhan's divine sense earlier, this child had also instinctively glanced toward the sky, though he had quickly looked away.

Now, the boy's gaze held unmistakable confusion and curiosity, as though Yun Qing were some extraordinarily complicated, incomprehensible "thing."

"What are you wondering about?" Yun Qing looked at the boy before him, the corners of his lips lifting slightly as his tone grew gentler.

Sure enough, Yun Shi's eyes lit up. As though encouraged, he answered in a boy's clear voice, "The feeling around you is amazing, eldest young master! It's like an especially dazzling sun wrapped inside really deep, really vast water!" His limited vocabulary left him momentarily at a loss for how to describe the sensation.

Thank you to Heart-Wrenching Chagatai (Paws~) for gifting one Inspiration Capsule.

Thank you to Wish for Yu for gifting one Bobo Milk Tea.

Thank you, everyone, for the flowers and support~ I've received every bit of your kindness!