Among the stars filling the sky, a black line led to a distant, unknown world.
At the lower end of that black line was Shangde Peak. On its summit stood an Immortal who had returned from that world.
The sea of clouds gleamed silver beneath the starlight. Corpse Dog stood quietly upon it, like a reef emerging from the sea, giving an impression of absolute immovability.
Holding Big One, Jing Jiu stood at the highest point, looked down upon that Immortal, and calmly spoke those words.
Surely no one would ever forget that sight, or that moment.
Immortal Bairen looked at Jing Jiu, a faint, elusive smile appearing on her face.
Her gaze had remained indifferent and gentle, but it was the calm of one looking down from above, surveying all living beings.
In her eyes, even Heaven-Connecting Realm powerhouses like the Water-Moon Convent Abbess and Nan Wang were children, were her subjects.
Only now did she finally reveal a trace of genuine feeling.
Not because Jing Jiu stood higher than she did at that moment, but because he had once stood at the same height as her.
"You calculated that I would return in my true body?" she asked him softly.
"I calculated that possibility, but I did not wish to see it happen. After all, you are an Ascension One of the previous generation. As a Daoist cultivator, you finally managed to get out. Why return? Whatever reason you use..." Jing Jiu looked toward the peaks beneath the sea of clouds. "Even if your reason is this world, it remains an act of cowardice."
"You cultivate the Unfeeling Dao," Bairen said. "How would you know what true courage is?"
"Returning for this world, abandoning the possibility of exploring unknown worlds—is that courage? If it truly is, why did