This old scholar was none other than the Senior of One-Thatch Studio who had taken Liu S sui away from the village all those years ago.
Those words were his own sigh of emotion, and needed no answer from Liu S sui.
Liu S sui crawled out of the crevice and glanced at the sword light on the horizon.
The old scholar took out a writing brush, dipped it in the clear water of the stream, and wrote a few characters in the air.
A clear light flashed, and he and Liu S sui vanished from where they stood.
Before long, two streaks of sword light landed beside the stream, one after the other.
Two middle-aged cultivators appeared. One was Lei Ming, an elder of Green Mountain's Jade Lake Peak, already in the middle stage of Wandering the Wilds; the other was Qian Sicai, an expert of the Western Sea Sword Sect.
"They got away again," Qian Sicai said with a sneer. "It seems spending so long in the mountains really does make you good at burrowing."
The remark was clearly a jab at the Green Mountain Sect. Lei Ming glanced at him and said expressionlessly, "Then should someone who's spent so long by the sea be good at fishing in troubled waters?"
Qian Sicai snorted coldly and ignored him.
After confirming that Liu S sui's aura had vanished, the two withdrew their Sword Sense and went back to report separately.
The cave abode was very dry, its luminous pearls giving off a dim glow.
Liu S sui woke from meditation and surveyed his surroundings, wondering which senior expert this cave abode had belonged to. Its wards were so powerful, yet it had fallen into the hands of the Never-Old Forest.
The old scholar handed him a scarlet