As he walked into the inn, the first person he saw was an old man.
The old man seemed to be the innkeeper and was busy working inside.
Several hired attendants were helping nearby.
There were quite a few guests in the inn, most of them locals, though a handful were traveling merchants from elsewhere.
But whether locals or outsiders, they all looked at the old man with a faint trace of awe.
Their reaction surprised Ye Fan.
He studied the old man for a long time but could find nothing unusual about him.
He was merely an ordinary mortal, bustling about, with nothing special about him at all.
Someone like this was neither a cultivator nor seemingly a man of much power, so why did everyone around him regard him with such awe?
"What would you like to eat, sir?"
While he was puzzling over this, the old man approached and politely asked Ye Fan what he wanted to eat.
"Bring me some of all your specialties."
After a moment's thought, Ye Fan answered.
During his time in Spirit Ruins Paradise, his meals had been rather miserable.
Apart from the period when he had tagged along with Chen Yu and enjoyed wine and meat, his food had otherwise been very plain. Now that he had the chance, he naturally wanted to treat himself.
A short while later, wine and meat were served.
Ye Fan tried some and found that the food and wine here were truly delicious, no worse than some of the delicacies he had eaten on Earth.
He thoroughly enjoyed the wine and meat.
Just as he was about to finish and leave, a child suddenly came forward.
It was a little girl who looked as though she had been carved from jade, lovely and lively. Dressed in a Daoist robe, she looked especially adorable, inspiring fondness.
"Are you Uncle Ye Fan?"
The girl walked up to Ye Fan's table and asked as she looked at him.
Ye Fan raised his head, then immediately started in surprise.
The girl before him was only four or five years old. On Earth, she would have been no more than a kindergartener, yet she was already a cultivator.
What was more, the fluctuations of divine power from her were intense, faintly giving him a strong sense of pressure.
A sense of absurdity rose within him.
Could this four- or five-year-old girl actually have a higher cultivation level than his?
"Who are you?"
Hearing her words, Ye Fan grew wary. "Why do you know my name?"
"My master told me."
Little Tingting answered truthfully, "He asked me to invite you upstairs."
"He's been waiting upstairs for you for a long time."
Her master? Waiting specifically for me?
Ye Fan's scalp tingled.
The little girl before him was only four or five, yet her cultivation was already more profound than his.
If even the disciple was like this, how high must her master's cultivation be?
Moreover, waiting upstairs specifically for him was hardly a good sign.
Here on the Big Dipper, Ye Fan had no old acquaintances.
Could that damned fatty be here too?
The first person he thought of was Duan De.
He had also been in the Demon Emperor's Tomb earlier, and judging by the timing, it was entirely possible for him to appear here.
As all manner of thoughts flashed through his mind, Ye Fan prepared for the worst. He refined the golden page in his Bitter Sea with divine power, ready to send it flying out as a concealed weapon at any moment.
But when he reached the upper floor and saw the person there, he immediately let out a long breath of relief.
"Teacher Chen!"
Ahead of him, a young man stood quietly.
He wore a long blue-green robe, his features exceptionally handsome, with a transcendent grace removed from worldly dust that gave him a distinctly different air.
It was none other than Chen Yu, whom he had met earlier in the Qing Emperor's Tomb, now here.
"How did you know I was here?"
Seeing Chen Yu again, Ye Fan was delighted, but also a little puzzled.
The Yan Kingdom was vast, and after leaving the Qing Emperor's Tomb, he had wandered completely at random.
Before this, even he himself had not known which direction he would take or where he would go.
Yet even under these circumstances, Chen Yu had managed to locate him and lie in wait here ahead of time?
"Have you forgotten my original trade?"
Chen Yu looked at Ye Fan before him and shook his head. "I'm a heavenly secrets master. Divining the location of a Bitter Sea Realm cultivator like you is child's play."
Only then did Ye Fan understand, recalling the scene of their first meeting.
When they had first met back then, Chen Yu had named every one of them at a glance and divined their past experiences.
That ability had struck him as heavenly at the time, so being able to divine his location now was quite an ordinary matter.
There was nothing surprising about it at all.
"Teacher Chen, can you teach this Heavenly Secrets Divine Calculation?"
Ye Fan's expression was eager. "What do you think of me? Am I suited to learning your Heavenly Secrets Divine Calculation?"
He had witnessed the power of the Dao of Heavenly Secrets many times already. Whatever one wanted to know, one could simply divine it.
If he learned it, what would he have to fear? Whatever he lacked, he could simply divine its whereabouts, and he would always be able to find it.
"This isn't easy to learn."
Chen Yu smiled and said, "Perform too many divinations through the Dao of Heavenly Secrets, and you're liable to suffer a backlash. It can easily shorten your life."
"Of course, you don't look as though you have any talent for it, either."
"Compared with the Dao of Heavenly Secrets, you're better suited to learning something else."
"What?"
At Chen Yu's words, Ye Fan was initially disappointed, but he soon perked up again.
"Have you heard of Source masters?"
Chen Yu said, "Source masters excel at finding Source. They can deduce the locations of dragon veins and easily locate all sorts of spiritual treasures."
"If you can become a Source master, you won't have to worry about Source for your future cultivation."
"That sounds good."
Ye Fan's eyes shone as he listened.
For him, the most pressing problem at present was Source.
After the environment of heaven and earth changed, the Sacred Body was no longer suited to cultivation, making every step forward exceptionally difficult.
As someone with a pure Sacred Body, Ye Fan was now a voracious consumer of Source, needing to expend vast quantities of resources to advance through each realm.
Thus, for Ye Fan at present, securing a supply for his cultivation was the most important thing.
"Please teach me, Teacher Chen!"
The more he listened, the more excited he became, until he could hardly wait to begin at once.
"There's no rush."
Chen Yu said, "If you want to learn, I'll teach you. There's no need to be so impatient."
"That isn't the most pressing matter right now."
"A pressing matter?"
Ye Fan was puzzled and did not quite understand.
He was all alone now. What could be more important than becoming a Source master?
"You haven't seen Pang Bo in so long. Don't you want to see him?"
Chen Yu said, "Besides, there's some happy news."
"What? Teacher Chen, you're getting married?"
Inside the inn's room, Ye Fan gaped in astonishment.
He had only just learned that Pang Bo was safe and was rejoicing inwardly when he heard the explosive news that Chen Yu was about to get married.
"What, are you that surprised?"
Looking at Ye Fan's stunned face, Chen Yu could not help asking with a smile, "Do you think it's a little too soon?"
"A little."
Ye Fan could not help nodding.
Since they had arrived on the Big Dipper from the other side of the starry sky, barely more than half a year had passed, all told.
In that half year or so, he was still worrying over his cultivation, yet the other man was already about to get married.