"Shen Yue, Shen Yue? Shen Yue!"
"Ah? Senior Brother."
Baili Fusang called out three times in succession before Shen Yue finally snapped back to his senses and answered.
"What are you thinking about? This is already the third time you've zoned out today."
Baili Fusang looked at Shen Yue, his face full of puzzlement.
"I... it's nothing."
Shen Yue hesitated slightly, then lowered his voice and asked Baili Fusang, "Senior Brother, did you... hear anything?"
"Hm? Hear what? No."
"Ah, all right. Perhaps I was worrying too much."
"Relax. The war is already over, and the outcome of this great struggle is not something we can interfere with."
"Mm, I understand."
After Baili Fusang left, Shen Yue tried meditating again, but still could not settle into it.
He kept feeling that some voice was calling to him from the unseen, and the aura carried by that voice was exceedingly familiar to him.
"What could it be?"
Unable to grasp the crucial point, Shen Yue flew out of the camp tent, intending to clear his head.
Yet after he rode the wind into the sky, the calling voice not only did not weaken, but became clearer and clearer.
"Demon Venerable... Soul Law... difficult to enter... Dao... help..."
"Hm!?"
Catching several indistinct words from that voice, Shen Yue became certain that this was no illusion. Someone truly was calling out to him.
He immediately followed the source of the voice and sped toward Demon Suppression Pass, only stopping when the Black Flame Barrier blocked his path.
To his surprise, at almost the exact same moment, a figure sharp as a sword emerged through space from elsewhere.
Close behind came two more righteous-path geniuses who had only recently entered True Intent.
"Northwest cultivator Shen Yue greets Sect Master Mo, the Sword Immortal Taicang,