Recently, a Sanskrit chant resonated deeply one night, reciting scriptures for someone until dawn.

Jiang Wang departed Sumeru Mountain without attachment and settled into the Huai State Duke’s mansion the following day.

The Great Chu Eldest Princess used various methods to prepare medicinal food, stewing all sorts of rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures in the pot. Huai State Duke pulled him aside to review his journey in the demon realm, offering some guidance on cultivation.

Of course, under Zuo Guangshu’s cover, he inevitably made a quiet trip to Cloud Country.

Nine-year-old Jiang Anan’s biggest worries were still just three things: why there was so much time for reading and calligraphy practice, why there was so little time for playing and eating, and why her elder brother was always so busy.

Completely unaware of the storms in the demon realm, and unaware of the worldly winds and rains. This was exactly what Jiang Wang wanted.

Time spent in Cloud Country was always especially peaceful. Anan and Tu Hui, Qingyu and A Chou.

Playing with lanterns and catching butterflies, chasing the wind and pursuing the moon.

If not for Xiao Hua swaying nearby, it would be a perfect season for the human world. After a short rest, Jiang Wang once again embarked on a long journey.

Jiang Anan, holding Ye Qingyu’s small hand with Tu Hui winding around the edge of her boot, said goodbye to her elder brother once more.

“See you again,” Jiang Wang said.

“When will we see you again?” Ye Qingyu suddenly asked.

Jiang Anan would never ask this question because she was very sensible; she knew her elder brother was busy, very busy. She was used to waiting for her elder brother to be free before he would come to see her.

Ye Qingyu also would never ask this question because she knew even better what Jiang Wang was doing. But today was clearly an exception.

They had spent a few days together in the Lingxiao Secret Realm.

She didn’t mention the wait of five months and seventeen days. He didn’t mention the hesitation outside Cloud City that day.

They still got along as usual, discussing Dao techniques, sword methods, or the shape of a cloud. As if nothing had happened.

But a change had indeed occurred.

“August seventeenth,” Jiang Wang didn’t remain silent for too long, repeating it very seriously: “On August seventeenth, I will come to Cloud City again, and we will see each other.”

Adults’ “see you again” without a specific date usually doesn’t come to fruition.

And for someone like Jiang Wang, spoken words are things that will surely happen.

Ye Qingyu said: “Then, see you again.”

Why the need for such a specific date? Because I’m afraid, I won’t be able to see you again.

The clear wind moved the cloud shadow, and Jiang Wang’s figure gradually disappeared, as quietly as he had arrived.

Jiang Anan stood still, looked at Ye Qingyu, then looked at the direction her elder brother disappeared, and then looked at Ye Qingyu again. As if she had discovered something extraordinary.

“What happened? Did you finish practicing your characters?” Ye Qingyu’s voice was gentle.

Woof woof woof!

Tu Hui cheered her on.

Jiang Anan wasn’t bothered, wrinkling her little eyebrows and counting on her fingers: “The twenty-eighth day of the first month is Elder Brother’s birthday. The seventeenth day of August is Sister Qingyu’s birthday. The twelfth day of the tenth month is Anan’s birthday… Hey! Isn’t the time Elder Brother comes to Cloud Country again just Sister Qingyu’s birthday?”

Ye Qingyu blinked her eyes, the joy hidden in a crescent moon shape: “Is it? I hadn’t noticed.”

Jiang Anan was overjoyed: “We can have a big feast together then! Last time Sister celebrated her birthday, Uncle Ye even served a bowl of Fengxiao Lotus, that taste… my brother can eat it too!”

“Oh, okay.” Ye Qingyu touched Jiang Anan’s little head: “Why don’t you say you are his sister? You really are as clever as if you were cut from the same mold.”

“That’s right!” Jiang Anan was extremely proud: “My brother is Jiang Big Hero of Linzi, and I am Jiang Little Hero of Cloud City!”

“Then what about me?” Ye Qingyu asked with a smile.

Jiang Anan made a “whoosh” sound, turned Tu Hui who was circling her leg, and instantly her body shook, expanding several times in size, turning into a majestic giant dog more than two zhang long, stepping on red flames.

Jiang Anan flipped onto the dog’s back, her small hand grasping the fur on its neck, and gently pulled—Tu Hui shook its tail and rushed out!

Only the voice of Jiang Little Hero was left in the wind.

“You are the hero who practices characters! You only know how to listen to my brother and tell me to practice characters every day!”

To put it accurately, Jiang Wang’s journey truly owed too many favors.

Originally, sending out the edict to the world to surround and kill Zhang Linchuan, he was already burdened with debt. As a result, he turned around and got lost in the demon realm, with no news for nearly half a year. He didn’t know whether those creditors were doing well or not, or if they were anxious…

Jing Country’s Huang Sheli was magnanimous enough to put aside. Hell’s No Door’s Qin Guangwang was about to perish anyway, so it was even easier to put aside; perhaps it was gone after being put aside.

And who else?

Jiang someone thought for a moment and just waved his hand.

He had never been a defaulter; it was just that sometimes his body wasn’t his own!

After saying goodbye to Zuo Gongye, Jiang Wang took the time to return to his fiefdom in South Xia.

The withered Not Old Jade Pearl on his body had been urging him… it was also time to bring this “wanderer” who had drifted in the demon realm for many years back home.

The separate mansion in Old Mountain was there, Du Gu Xiao handled internal affairs, and Xue Rushi managed Jin Qi. Lian Que was still forging iron in Chi Tan.

His fief included Old Mountain and several nearby villages and towns. Everything was as before.

And how precious the four words “everything as before” were, today’s Jiang Wang would surely understand.

In this world, all resources are limited, and countless eyes are staring at every position.

As long as you take a wrong step, who knows how many people will rush over to replace you. Not to mention that he, Jiang someone, was lost for nearly half a year.

Everything he won was actually still “as before”. This was thanks to his close friends.

For example, Zhong Xuan Sheng, who planned strategies in Linzi City and had already set up a plan to deal with Ji Zhaonan before he returned.

For example, Yan Fu and Li Longchuan, who went to Qingyang Town for a stroll every three days. For example… Xiang Qian.

While he was lost in the demon realm, Xiang Qian came with Long Guang Shoots Dou, sitting alone in the separate mansion in Old Mountain, guarding his hard-earned foundation.

After he completed his heroic feat, miraculously escaped back to the civilized world, and gained worldwide attention, Xiang Qian left without a word, putting on his hat in the early morning and leaving without looking back.

“Sometimes I really feel that the world’s causes and conditions are thousands of threads and ten thousand strands.” Standing by Chi Tan, looking at the lightning and thunder in the accumulated clouds reflected in the water, Jiang Wang couldn’t help but feel a little sentimental.

Some things seem like small matters.

For example, the fiefdom of someone lost on the battlefield…

Wu An Hou was not a hereditary Hou, his title could not be passed down, and his fiefdom could not be inherited by anyone. If no one stubbornly protected it, it would be divided up.

But if his fiefdom in Old Mountain was lost, his legal right to govern Old Mountain would no longer exist. Then, in the Shenxiao Secret Realm, he would not have been able to awaken the Not Old Spring, and today he would not be able to stand here with full spirit and vigor.

To maintain Jiang Wang’s right to govern Old Mountain, Lian Que almost moved half of the Lian family here. Now the weapon forging business in South Xia is thriving, almost supporting most of the taxes of the entire Old Mountain separate mansion, allowing the Old Mountain Iron Cavalry to maintain good training.

At this time, he was bare-chested, reflecting the firelight, holding an iron hammer and smashing non-stop, saying: “You can be sentimental all you want, but don’t stop the Three Flavors True Fire.”

Jiang Wang was speechless.

In the world today, only Lian Que could so boldly tell him, Lord Hou, to burn fire.

Muttering and cursing a few sentences, his hand movements were not slow at all, leading the furnace fire as if it were alive, surging restlessly.

“Your fire is not bad, you’ve made great progress.” Lian Que, who was sensitive to flames from forging weapons year-round, praised greatly: “You really didn’t go to the demon realm for nothing! Forge a few more sea nests when you return, it should be able to bloom!”

Jiang Wang was stunned when he heard this: “How do you know I want to go to the Maze Realm? This matter, the Emperor and I just mentioned an intention, it shouldn’t have been reported to Jue Ming Island yet, right?”

Lian Que, who was habitually careless, also realized the problem: “This thing has already spread widely. They all say the Emperor intends to let you go to the Maze Realm to build merit. Let you follow General Qi and fight a few easy battles so you can come back and be promoted.”

The person who spread these words deserves to be punished!

Jiang Wang was already a military merit Hou with a population of three thousand households. Compared to those hereditary Hou, his title was the highest among the younger generation. It was already a convention that Qi Country had no Dukes. To be promoted again, his title could not be advanced many times. At most

A Hou of Ten Thousand Households, at most hereditary.

Promoting officials was also difficult.

He was only twenty-two years old this year, but to be promoted again, it would be either the Politics Hall or the Military Affairs Hall. Besides these two institutions, there was nowhere else to place him.

Not sealing more titles was sometimes a way to avoid disaster!

When he himself sought rewards from the Emperor, he always wanted resources related to cultivation, which were both precious and did not affect his title or cause trouble for the Emperor.

Now, who exactly wanted him to become this “trouble”?

Furthermore, with his current great reputation. When did he ever have such great publicity before going to the battlefield?

The first proud son of Great Qi, a human hero who had just returned from the demon realm, wanted to go to the Maze Realm to build merit. How could the sea race not target him to death?

Compared to Lian Que’s ugly face, Jiang Wang, who had clearly thought through the problem, had a very calm expression. He only said one sentence: “Qi Country is too big!”

“Don’t you want to check who is spreading these words?” Lian Que asked.

Jiang Wang smiled: “How can you find out about this kind of thing? But increasing my pressure… I’m willing too!” Saying that, he pulled down the withered Not Old Jade Pearl from his chest, held it in his hand, and leaped into Chi Tan.

Thunder snakes touched the water, and the ripples he stirred up shattered.

And he was like a spear, diving straight to the bottom of the water without any hindrance. Besides the sound of entering the water, there was no other sound!

Chi Tan was so deep that the bottom could not be seen, and the water was extremely cold.

Jiang Wang dived here alone, feeling a kind of indescribable loneliness.

The water in the pond was clearly clear, but his line of sight could not penetrate beyond three zhang. That kind of darkness that could not be seen through seemed to hide some terrifying thing.

Continuing down, he cut through the water like chopping ice.

Soon he reached the Divine Approach limit of nine hundred zhang recorded in the “Great Xia Gazetteer”. At this time, the skin all over his body already had a needle-prick-like pain.

Jiang Wang’s expression was relaxed.

Although he did not exceed this limit, he came here purely by the power of his physical body, without using any divine ability. This was a physical body that had been destroyed and reconstructed countless times in the demon realm!

Purely in terms of physical strength, he now even dared to collide head-on with Zhong Xuan Zun.

Zhong Xuan Zun had the Zhong Xuan divine ability in his body, tempering his body thousands of times every day, and his physical strength should be the best of his rank. But even Zhong Xuan Zun couldn’t destroy and recast his physical body for no reason. No matter how luxurious the Zhong Xuan family was, they couldn’t support his recovery.

Not to mention someone like Jiang Wang, who endured extreme worldly punishment, was trapped in light by Quan Yingyang, and was strangled infinitely, to the point where even the extremely harsh hidden inheritance of the Ruyi Immortal Clothes was activated.

Jiang Wang dived purely with his physical body just to verify himself.

At this time, he became interested, and swam to the edge of the pond at extreme speed, just wanting to carve a word as a record, that he had been here.

Chi Tan was like a large-bellied bottle, the bottle mouth was “seven hundred steps square”, but the bottle body was far more than that. Jiang Wang swam for nearly a quarter of an hour at a depth of nine hundred zhang before touching the wall of the pond.

But the interest in leaving a word disappeared immediately. Because there were already carvings on the wall of the pond.

He didn’t know who left these words here in what year, but the words said – “Divine Approach Limit”.

These four words were written in an ancient and clumsy style with hidden edges, and were first-class wonderful products in themselves.

But Chi Tan was already so vast at this depth, and a few carved words were fundamentally tiny. In a situation where the line of sight could not penetrate beyond three zhang, Jiang Wang being able to just happen to bump into these four words seemed like a kind of fateful reminder.

Jiang Wang looked at these four words quietly, vaguely feeling a sense of familiarity, but he didn’t know where it came from.

He shook his head and did nothing else, only spreading his right palm, letting the already withered Not Old Jade Pearl be in this cold pond.

Gurgle, gurgle.

The Not Old Jade Pearl in his hand suddenly started bubbling, seemingly becoming a living eye. The bubbles became more and more numerous, and denser, and the sound of the water became more and more urgent.

This white Not Old Jade Pearl, just in Jiang Wang’s palm, turned into a warm current. As if it had spirituality, it swam in this extremely cold deep water!

It was like a living fish, escaping control instantly, shuttling through the cold pond like electricity! Jiang Wang could completely feel its joy, its delight.

A bit of glazed light rose from the center of his eyebrows and swam all over his body in an instant. The pain brought by the cold water of Chi Tan had already dispersed like smoke.

The Xuan Tian Glazed Body gifted by Tu Hu had reached great accomplishment after the trip to the demon realm. It truly reached the supreme realm of “pure as glaze, vast as Xuan Tian”.

At this moment, he followed the water without any sluggishness.

Chasing the current that the Not Old Jade Pearl had turned into, swimming in Chi Tan, half of his body was in heat, half in cold. Sometimes up and down, sometimes left and right. He was stirred dizzy and didn’t know where he was for a while.

At some point, Jiang Wang leaped up, like a swimming fish breaking the water, and was already in the air!

Lian Que wiped a handful of water from his face and looked at the front in stunned amazement.

Jiang Wang also looked back in the air, only to see that beside Chi Tan, a small spring had actually appeared – the Not Old Spring!

This spring was only about thirty-three steps around, perfectly embedded not far from Chi Tan, like the sun and moon side by side. The surface of the water was also clear, and the depth was also not visible. Only the water in the pond emitted hot gas, clearly a hot spring.

“This is the Not Old Spring?” Lian Que asked in surprise.

Jiang Wang flew down and scooped up a handful of spring water.

As the lord of Old Mountain, the “fated one” whose Not Old Jade Pearl had recognized its master and brought the Not Old Spring home, he could completely touch the foundation of this eye of Not Old Spring.

So he smiled: “Now it can only be considered an ‘Old Spring’. To restore the function of Not Old, I don’t know how many years it will take!”

Without source water and without a treasure mountain, they had been separated for too many years. The long years of separation needed time to make up.

Lian Que said thoughtfully: “That year, Chi Kiss escaped here and cried sadly to the east. Perhaps his blood tears became cold water just to find the Not Old Spring. If he didn’t find it, he cried like that.”

Human Emperor Lie Shan Shi refining the nine sons of the Dragon Emperor into nine bridges was already a matter of the middle ancient era. At that time point, the Not Old Spring had indeed already moved away.

Putting the Not Old Spring back into Not Old Mountain was also considered fulfilling the “agreement” with the Not Old Jade Pearl. Jiang Wang felt the lightness of having repaid a karmic debt, and then smiled: “Perhaps so!”

Lian Que also temporarily stopped forging, walked forward, scooped a tube of water with a bamboo tube, looked carefully for a while, and said: “Perhaps you don’t need to wait so many years. If I flip through the ancient books of the Lian family, perhaps there is a way to speed up the recovery.”

Jiang Wang said casually: “Then I’ll trouble you.”

Lian Que glanced at him sideways: “You seem to not expect that our Wu An Hou can already ignore this kind of heaven and earth treasure?”

Jiang Wang said: “I very much expect it, but I expect myself even more.”

Lian Que sighed: “After returning from the demon realm, you are greatly different!”

Jiang Wang smiled, squinting his eyes at his friend’s ugly face: “You are still the same.”

Just at this moment, Du Gu Xiao’s voice sounded in his heart: “Master, someone is visiting the mansion.”

“Who?”

“A very beautiful one. She says her name is Ye Lan Er.”

Jiang Wang frowned. This beautiful woman might be troublesome. He replied in his heart: “Say I’m not here.”

Du Gu Xiao’s voice came back: “She said Zhang Linchuan’s substitute life clone, Yang Chongzu, was killed by her.”

Jiang Wang then said no more, looked at Lian Que, and turned around to go down the mountain.

What he wanted had come!