"Ah!"
Someone cried out in surprise at the sight of Lian Youming's return.
Hua Linglong and the others all hurried inside too!
Yang Shuang had initially been overjoyed, but seeing Lian Youming's drastically thinned frame, the wounds on his cheeks and forehead, and his depleted complexion, Yang Shuang knew this battle had been exceptionally difficult.
"Brother, are you all right?"
The others were utterly astonished.
"You even beat the White Lotus Sect Master?"
Wu Jiu's mouth fell open, his eyes wide.
Lian Youming rolled his eyes and held up the tokens in his hand. There were still only two.
"I didn't win, but I didn't lose either. It's a long story!"
Rather than a fight to the death, this encounter with the White Lotus Sect Master had been more like a discussion of the Dao, a process of finding common ground.
The two of them, along with Gu Feiyan, had drawn upon everything they had learned in their lives to conjure illusions of reincarnation out of nothing through mental visualization. Cycling back and forth within them, they had strengthened their spirits, tempered their dispositions, and filled the gaps in their states of mind.
Perhaps before this, they had all harbored an absolute intent to kill, but after everything they had experienced, those illusions of reincarnation had worn almost all of it away.
It was like a complete awakening, yet also as though they had found a higher pursuit beyond victory and defeat.
"You... broke through?" Liu Wudi jumped up with a startled cry.
Lian Youming smiled, grabbed the teapot beside him, and gulped deeply straight from its spout.
"I can't take it anymore. Get me some meat first. You have no idea-I've had just three meals in nearly a month. One of them was wild fruit I picked along the