Thousands of shimmering streaks flew across Qingzhou and reached Yu Zhang.
With the mountain gate in sight, Cheng Xinzhan stopped and looked back.
"Fellow Daoists, please see me off no farther. Any farther and I'll have to invite you into the mountains for tea, and my cave abode couldn't seat so many of you."
Everyone laughed at this, cupping their hands in farewell and saying, "May Master Cheng soon form his Golden Core and attain boundless longevity."
Cheng Xinzhan kept his hands raised in farewell, returning to the mountain gate only after everyone had turned and left.
Those at the mountain gate were already standing ready. After all, a great dark mass of thousands approaching could easily cause a misunderstanding. Even Huo Jingyan had been alerted. Only when he saw that it was Cheng Xinzhan returning did he laugh and scold him.
"If you're coming back, just come back! Why make such a spectacle of it?"
Cheng Xinzhan repeatedly cupped his hands and begged forgiveness.
"Are you preparing to form your core?"
Huo Jingyan asked earnestly.
Cheng Xinzhan nodded.
"Good. Return to the sect!"
After returning to the sect, Cheng Xinzhan first went to the Bamboo-Hiding Stele, but his master was still nowhere to be seen. He then returned to Carefree Cave to report his safe arrival before going to Origin Yin Hall on Flat-Top Mountain, where Vice Sect Master Dong was.
The position of deputy head of Pure Yang Hall remained vacant, so Cult Master Dong held two posts, overseeing both Bright Governance Mountain and the Lotus Blessed Land. As for Tongxuan Patriarch, although he was still Cheng Xinzhan's patriarch, his primary responsibility now was overseeing Jade Capital Mountain Peak. That was why, when they had visited Juqü Mountain to offer thanks three years earlier, the sect leader