"Y-you are... the Taiyi Dao Lord?!"
Inside the wooden hut.
Yi stared in shock at the figure who had suddenly appeared.
More than twenty years had passed since they last met, yet time seemed to have left not the slightest mark on this man's face.
Instead, he looked even more striking.
Yet Yi also vaguely sensed that this figure seemed different from the man he had seen over twenty years ago.
It was not just those uncanny golden double pupils, but also his bearing.
If the Taiyi Dao Lord he had met back then had been full of mystery, serenity, profundity, and unfathomable depths.
Then the Taiyi Dao Lord before him now possessed only pure, weighty composure and sharpness.
His edge lay fully exposed, looking down upon the world.
Beneath this bearing, the man's impossibly vast Blood Qi, which inspired awe like a towering mountain, seemed less conspicuous instead.
"The Taiyi Dao Lord?"
The man's swordlike brows rose slightly, and he shook his head at the words.
"I am not the Taiyi Dao Lord. I am myself... but you and he have both fallen far short of my expectations."
His gaze swept over Yao behind him, who no longer had the slightest breath left, and he made no attempt to conceal the disappointment in his eyes.
This instantly jolted Yi awake. His expression grew grave at once, and Blood Qi swiftly covered his entire body like armor. He stared fixedly at the man, cold light bursting from his eyes as he spoke in a stern, harsh voice.
"Senior, I would never dare forget your kindness in teaching me! I am deeply ashamed to have disappointed your expectations, but, senior... you should never have attacked the Witch Lord!"
"I cannot fulfill both gratitude and duty. Please forgive me, senior!"
With that,