Just as Xu Yunsheng had said, Ying Luozha no longer needed Xu Yunsheng for a rival as he could find so many other people.

The reason why Ying Luozha had been so persistent in searching for Xu Yunsheng wasn’t so that they could fight it out once more – it was because of Zhuge Wanqiu.

Yet, it was fairly obvious that Ying Luozha and Zhuge Wanqiu couldn’t progress further not because someone else entered the fray. Everything was because of Xu Yunsheng.

A hundred years inside the Celestial Wonders World was equivalent to twenty-five years inside the Greater World. Zhuge Wanqiu herself would spend time inside caves that sped up time to cultivate. Such a prolonged period of time probably wasn’t that much for a cultivator, but Xu Yunsheng didn’t wish for Zhuge Wanqiu to wait for him and suffer for such a long time.

Xu Yunsheng had to admit that he did let down Zhuge Wanqiu and his sect all those years ago, and he subconsciously persuaded himself to move away as far as he could.

However, Zhuge Wanqiu had always been gentle, tender, and she didn’t really have definite opinions. She had been steadfast and unwavering in her feelings and her faith this whole time.

Zhu Yi didn’t tell her what happened to Xu Yunsheng and his whereabouts, but Zhu Yi still told her that Xu Yunsheng was alive, and he wasn’t in danger. She continued to wait, even though she didn’t know how long she had to do so.

Xu Yunsheng realized this from his conversation with Yang Tie, but the first reaction in his mind wasn’t happiness, excitement, or pride. Instead, it was a deep-seated sense of guilt and grief.

A pained expression flashed across Xu Yunsheng’s face. “I have let her down after all.”

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I’m sure you have a lot of things to handle, Yang Tie. You don’t have to worry about me – we will catch up when we have time. I want to visit the others.”

Yang Tie could tell from Xu Yunsheng’s behavior that there was something on his mind, so he didn’t probe any further and nodded his head. “I’m just glad that you’re home fine an in one piece. Everyone misses you.”

Xu Yunsheng departed the Heavenly Temple after bidding his farewells to Yang Tie, and proceeded towards the Wasteland Valley. He came to the valley’s entrance and stopped in his tracks as he stared at the valley before him and didn’t say a word.

A youth with fierce eyes and thick eyebrows suddenly tore open the void and appeared in front of Xu Yunsheng. He scrutinized Xu Yunsheng and asked after a moment of hesitation, “Are you senior uncle Tian Xu?”

This youth had probably seen every single disciple from the Celestial Sect of Wonders on top of Mount Yujing. Xu Yunsheng was the only person that he had never seen before, but he suddenly recalled the projections of Xu Yunsheng that he had seen before, hence the question to be sure.

It wasn’t possible for anyone to impersonate a disciple from the Celestial Sect of Wonders on top of Mount Yujing. It simply wasn’t possible for crooks and thieves to sneak into the mountain undetected.

However, this youth’s grand master and his own master emphasized practical battle prowess and they were both extremely daring. It was possible that they allowed a villain into the mountain so that they could monitor how their younger disciples reacted to the situation in order to train their vigilance and adaptability to their surroundings.

This was the reason why the youth couldn’t be too sure when he saw Xu Yunsheng.

This was especially so as the mythical Xu Yunsheng was one of the strongest disciples of the second generation, and was the Heavenly Temple’s master, Zhu Yi’s prized disciple back in the day. Xu Yunsheng had been touted as the person most likely to become the Heavenly Temple’s second-generation First Disciple before Yang Tie’s rise to power.

In many people’s eyes, the reason why Yang Tie could catch up and become the Heavenly Temple’s second-generation First Disciple was because Xu Yunsheng suddenly left the mountain and wasn’t heard from since.

Yang Tie was now in the immortal soul stage, but Xu Yunsheng was actually still in the aurous core beginner stage. There was no point comparing him to Yang Tie, Ying Luozha or even this youth’s master – this tiger-eyed youth himself was much higher in mastery than Xu Yunsheng was. It was natural for the youth to feel a little doubtful as the circumstance was just too peculiar.

Xu Yunsheng smiled faintly and said, “I am Xu Yunsheng.”

He seemed to know what this youth was thinking and decided not to make his life hard. Xu Yunsheng raised his right hand, and light projections flickered on the back of his hand as a pale light pattern of a Taiji Diagram appeared. Yin and Yang intertwined continuously within, and even though the suspicion and skepticism in the youth’s eyes didn’t recede, his expression was conspicuously more relaxed.

The youth bowed respectfully towards Xu Yunsheng. “My name is Shi Yang, and my Daoist Name is Yuan Dan. Greetings, senior uncle Tian Xu.”

He was Huang Zhenting’s disciple, and the Wasteland Valley’s third-generation First Disciple, Shi Yang. He was the troublemaking and mischievous type when he was young, but with age and as he rose in mastery, he became a lot more stable and showed a lot more restraint. Even though he was perplexed about Xu Yunsheng’s current mastery, he was still respectful and polite, and he adhered to formalities.

However, Xu Yunsheng was slightly taken aback by his Daoist name. He couldn’t help but smile after reorienting himself.

“Is my senior uncle here?” Xu Yunsheng asked immediately. If Shi Tianhao was inside the Wasteland Valley, then the first thing he had to do here was to pay his respects to Shi Tianhao.

Shi Yang answered, “Grand Master isn’t on the mountain. My master is at the Wasteland Residence, so senior uncle Tian Hong is currently in charge of the abodes on the mountain.” (Translator’s note: The term “senior uncle” doesn’t distinguish gender. It is used generically.)

He paused momentarily and continued, “Oh, the Founder also took another ninth senior uncle under his wing some time ag. Even though I have never seen this person before, my grand master is no longer the smallest amongst the Founder’s male disciples.”

He was now a paragon for his generation of disciples, and he was also the leader of the Wasteland Valley’s third generation of disciples. He was extremely familiar with the sect’s formalities, but this sentence proved that he hadn’t lost the proud disposition from all those years ago.

Xu Yunsheng didn’t mind that and laughed. “Is that so? I have spent many years outside and I have just returned to the mountain. I am not aware that something as big as this has happened, but the senior uncle Tian Hong that you spoke of refers to…”

Shi Yang said. “Tian Hong is senior uncle Zhuge’s Daoist Name.”

Xu Yunsheng’s eyes froze subtly as he nodded his head. “Oh, I understand now.” He departed for the Celestial Wonders World after reaching the aurous core stage. Back then, Zhuge Wanqiu wasn’t in the aurous core stage, so the sect’s senior generation didn’t give her a Daoist Name.

“I’m going to visit junior sister Zhuge. You can go ahead and tend to your own matters – you don’t have to accommodate me.” Xu Yunsheng smiled as he spoke to Shi Yang, and Shi Yang immediately bid his farewell and left.

The Wasteland Valley’s successive disciples told him where Zhuge Wanqiu was once he stepped in. Xu Yunsheng kept going until he arrived at a bamboo house.

He casted his gaze from a distance, and he realized that the bamboo house’s door was ajar.

Xu Yunsheng’s eyes grew deep and complicated. He knew that Zhuge Wanqiu had her own cosmic form and was in the nascent soul advanced stage. It wasn’t hard for her to detect with her spiritual awareness that he, an aurous core stage beginner cultivator, had entered the Wasteland Valley.

He stepped forward and came before the door. There was an elegant figure dressed in a purple robe back-facing the door, and the figure didn’t move at all and didn’t make a sound.

Xu Yunsheng sank into deep contemplation once he saw this person. He suddenly felt as if there was nothing he could say that didn’t feel empty or meaningless.

After a long while of silence, Xu Yunsheng took a deep breath and said slowly, “I have returned.”

The figure back-facing him quivered faintly when he spoke before this person turned around and faced Xu Yunsheng. Her beautiful and charming features were like they had always been, but emotions seemed to stir up within her eyes and she wasn’t composed at all.

However, her tone was still warm and intimate, just like she had always been when they trained together all those years ago. “It’s been a long time, senior brother Xu.”

Xu Yunsheng nodded his head lightly and the two of them descended into another bout of silence.

“Even though I was born into the Great Qin Empire’s Xu family, I’m don’t belong to that family – my roots before that weren’t in the Great Qin Empire but inside the Great Zhou Empire…” Xu Yunsheng clenched his fists tightly and released them. He clenched them once more before he let go one last time and he felt a lot more relaxed than before. He continued with a calm voice, “Miaoying and I took refuge within the Great Zhou Empire at a young age, and we were taken in by someone that spied for the Great Zhou Empire. I returned to home not long after, and I became a chess piece planted by the Great Zhou Empire inside the Great Qin Empire, while Miaoying remained at the Great Zhou Empire.”

There was a look on faint surprise on Zhuge Wanqiu’s face as she listened. This was the first time that she heard about both Xu Yunsheng and Xu Miaoying’s experiences.

Xu Yunsheng chose to enter the Celestial Wonders World for a hundred years. Zhu Yi protected his reputation and his secrets, so very few people actually knew about Xu Yunsheng’s real identity within the Celestial Sect of Wonders.

“I passed the Celestial Sect of Wonders’ selection assessment and joined the sect, so the Great Zhou Empire tweaked and altered their requirements and assignments for me. However, neither I nor the Great Zhou Empire knew back then that everything was already in my master and in the Founder’s grasp…”

Xu Yunsheng recounted everything truthfully. His voice was calm and unwavering, as if the things he was talking about were completely unrelated to himself.

Zhuge Wanqiu’s expression grew calm and cool again when she heard the choice that Xu Yunsheng made all those years ago. However, her eyes were still as inscrutable as ever, as if there were myriad emotions that were struggling to burst from her chest yet constantly quietened down. She stared at Xu Yunsheng and said softly, “Second senior uncle has never talked about these things. Master himself never talked about it either, and Miaoying, that girl – even though I can tell that her childhood wasn’t simple, she didn’t know much about what you were doing either.”

“Second senior uncle and the others kept your secrets, so nobody will ever know about these if you don’t say these things on your own accord.”

Xu Yunsheng smiled and replied. “I am not trying to defend myself. I departed without saying farewell all those years ago, and that decision led to you waiting for me for a long time – I owe you an explanation.”

Zhuge Wanqiu’s eyes instantly froze when Xu Yunsheng said these words, and he went on. “I know what you feel inside, junior sister, but the truth is that I have let you down, and I wasn’t able to return your love. I didn’t want you to wait for me over those years, and I once thought that it was better to forget than wait around for a hundred years. Sometimes, letting go is also a form of love.”

“I thought about that again and realized that I was being selfish as I have never asked for your opinion. I never thought about what you were thinking about inside.”

Xu Yunsheng said softly, “With your status and your life, I figured that you wouldn’t have trouble at all looking for another man. I thought that way not because I didn’t trust the sincerity of your feelings, I just didn’t want to keep you waiting and hold you back. However, that also meant that I wasn’t respecting your wishes and opinions. The mistakes that I have made are my own fault, and I should be responsible for them. I just don’t know how to make it up to you.”

“You gave me your love, and you had been faithful. I, on the other hand, had been timid and cowardly and did things my own way. I don’t deserve you at all. I open my heart to you to today not to explain myself and not to attempt to take anything back – I just feel that you have a right to know all this, and the person that you have been waiting for all these years isn’t worth the wait at all.”

The Xu Yunsheng and Zhuge Wanqiu of today were not the same as they were when they were still young. Xu Yunsheng was telling the story, and Zhuge Wanqiu was quietly listening beside him, while they didn’t feel awkward of shameful at all and said everything plainly and openly.