Chapter 221: The Return

He watched patiently as he was completely enveloped by the light until all he could see was the brilliant white glow.

And then the world dissolved around him.

Yang found himself standing back in front of the mountain fortress, at the exact spot where he had first touched the walls to create a passage inside. He turned around and watched as the last of the motes of light dispersed from around him, drifting through the air only to be absorbed by the stone walls of the fortress. 

He gave one last bow towards the fortress, knowing that Senior would still be able to see him.

Glancing down at the ring still clutched in his hand, he slipped it on next to the storage ring his Master had given him.

He retrieved his flying carpet from his storage ring and jumped on it as it began rising higher and higher until the massive fortress shrank beneath him as he shot off towards the way he came.

As he picked up speed, he spotted the familiar forms of two of his Senior Brothers, Qing An and Fan Xiao, standing freely in the air, just outside the formation's border. 

Senior Brother Fan Xiao looked his usual cold, indifferent self as he tinkered around with some kind of metallic tool with hundreds of dials that rotated and spun in his hand, while Senior Brother Qing An occasionally hurled some high-powered techniques at the formation encompassing the fortress, his brow furrowed in frustration.

Unfortunately for them, both were equally unsuccessful. Senior Brother Fan Xiao's tool showed nothing, and Senior Brother Qing An’s attacks slid off the shield without leaving so much as a single scratch. 

He accelerated until he was only a few feet away from them, hovering right in front of their faces, but they were unable to see him.

“Senior Brother,” he called out from within the formation just to test it out, but there was no response, as expected.

He maneuvered his carpet a bit to the left so he wouldn’t crash smack dab into them and quickly crossed the formation boundary.

Immediately, he was enveloped in Senior Brother Qing An’s arms, one arm thrown over his shoulder as he looked him all over frantically. 

“Yang. Where did you disappear off to? You have no idea how worried I was when I suddenly couldn’t see you anymore.”

Senior Brother Fan Xiao looked at him coolly as he placed his tool into his storage ring and came closer to Yang.

“What happened?” He asked calmly.

“Senior Brother, I didn’t know that you were following me. I didn't want to worry you,” Yang said guiltily, looking at Senior Brother Qing An.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao interrupted, “We know. I am the one who told him to stay with you.” He looked at Yang intently. “It would hardly give you confidence and experience with your own abilities if one of us is always holding your hand.”

“And you did very well,” said Senior Brother Qing An with a hint of pride. “It was very clever how you dealt with those four cultivators and the White Thunder Lotus Tiger.”

“You saw that?” Yang beamed as Senior Brother Qing An replied. “Of course. I was impressed with how you managed to keep your calm and get out of the situation despite not knowing any combat techniques.”

Senior Brother Fan Xiao rolled his eyes. “If you are both done, can we get back to the topic at hand?”

“Sorry.” 

“My apologies.” Senior Brother Qing said with an unrepentant smile. “I just felt relieved at having Yang back and felt the need to inform Junior Brother that he did well,” turning to Yang. “Chen Yang, do tell. Where did you disappear off to?”

“I felt it as I crossed the boundary of the formation.” Yang raised a hand, palm facing outward. “And before you both scold me for entering a formation recklessly, let me inform you that it was by accident. I was flying and only felt it when I crossed over. I even flew back to test if I could retreat before I decided to look deeper into what was inside.”

“I did see that.” Senior Brother Qing An acknowledged. “I was surprised you managed to fly so close to it, let alone cross it. Aside from physically barring all cultivators except for you, the formation was also diverting attention to discourage approach. There is a reason no one else was here trying their luck.” He gave a wry smile. “The world isn’t lacking in daredevil cultivators willing to take any amount of risk for even a small chance at anything that may let them get ahead.” He looked curiously at Yang. “It took all my concentration to keep following you, and even then I was only able to keep my focus on you, heedless of anything else.” He murmured. “I couldn't even perceive what was going on around the boundary, let alone inside it.”

He gestured towards Senior Brother Fan Xiao. “I had to call Senior Brother when I was unable to enter or break the formation.”

“This is a higher-level world. It's understandable if even the formations here are beyond the strongest of our cultivators.” Yang said.

“You have confirmation of that?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao placed a hand on his shoulder.

Yang nodded. “Yes. There is a massive mountain fortress hidden within the formation. I was drawn into the fortress by the remnant of a Senior who allowed me entry because he was curious…” Yang looked unsure before simply saying, “about my special physique.”

Senior Brother Fan Xiao and Qing An both started looking worried. Senior Brother Fan Xiao turned Yang to face him fully. “Did he do anything to you?”

“He sifted through my memories,” Yang admitted, as his gaze shifted to the ring on his index finger. “And he was able to see through my mind despite this,” he said as he raised his hand slightly.

“Master’s ring.” Senior Brother Qing An whispered.

“Master gave it to me so I may keep my mind protected,” Yang said, “but it didn’t work. That Senior didn’t even give the ring a second glance before sliding easily into my mind.”

“This Senior must have been very strong to leave a remnant powerful enough to break through the ring's protection.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said with a frown on his face.

“That was not it,” Yang said. “He also mentioned that this connected world is the remnant of a world called Qiarnan,” Yang said as he looked questioningly at his Senior Brothers.

“Our world is blessed with enough Qi, capable of supporting countless cultivators all the way to ascension.” Senior Brother Qing An shook his head. “But we’re not an immortal world. Traveling to and from other worlds is not something we are capable of doing, and as a result, our knowledge of foreign worlds is severely lacking.”

“Well, the Senior said this world was destroyed by him and some allies because they disagreed with a powerful cultivator,” Yang explained. “They dismembered the cultivator and have been keeping his remains in various places under guard because he couldn’t be simply killed.”

“Such measures,” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said contemplatively. “It must have been a powerful cultivator, and one practicing a malignant Dao to call for such precautions.”

Senior Brother Qing An snorted. “After strolling through the sites of this charming realm, are we really surprised?”

He then turned to Yang. “What else, Junior Brother?”

“He gave me a pearl that contains a message I am supposed to deliver to the Sect Elders. He seems to be familiar with our sect, so maybe he is originally from our own world?” Yang trailed off as if throwing out the suggestion for consideration.

“Not necessarily.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao countered. “We are a powerful and ancient sect and have had many elders successfully ascend. It wouldn’t be completely outside the realm of possibility that there are other branches of the sect in upper realms.” He paused before adding. “At the very least, historical records confirm the existence of at least one upper-realm branch several thousand years ago.”

Senior Brother Qing An nodded. “He may be aware of a branch of the sect from another realm.”

“Well,” Yang said, “either way, it was enough for him to give me this token.” Yang took out the token from his storage ring. “It is supposed to lead us to a rift connected to our world. According to that Senior, there are two of them.”

Senior Brother put his hand forward, and Yang passed the ice-blue token to him. He added his qi to it before looking at both of them. “This seems real. I can feel it guiding me towards two different directions.”

Senior Brother Qing grinned. “Then what are we waiting for? Shall we go collect the rest of our ducklings?”

“I doubt Weilong would be happy to be counted amongst the ducklings.” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said dryly.

“Let's go. I can feel our Junior Brothers playing around in the forest,” Senior Brother Fan Xiao said as he shot off towards the forest.

“You and every other cultivator within fifty miles,” Senior Brother Qing An muttered under his breath as he gestured for Yang to follow them on his carpet.

Yang looked at him questioningly. 

“Your other Senior Brothers seem to be making a spectacle of themselves.” He said, amused. “Anyone who has established their foundation is likely feeling the flares of power radiating off their position.”

“Are the beasts there that dangerous?” Yang asked, worried.

Senior Brother snorted. “Yuan Shen and Zhen Hao both enjoy showing off. It's others you should worry about.”

They quickly flew closer, and Yang could see flashes of bright light and occasional bursts of flames followed by torrents of water and smoke as the fire was put out in the distance.

Yang slowed as they reached the edge, allowing his Senior Brothers to go ahead of him.

He found Senior Brother Fan Xiao staring incredulously at Senior Brother Weilong and almost felt his own jaw drop at the sight that greeted him.

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