Chapter 394: Chapter 306: The Past is Like Smoke (Part 3)
After Jiang Kui said this, she quickly departed. Once she was gone, Jiang Wanqin peeked her eyes open. Seeing that Jiang Kui had truly left, she summoned a Magical Artifact and tried to break the formation.
.....
In a reception hall on the slopes of Yuanling Mountain, Fang Qingyuan wore a calm expression, but the Spirit Tea on the table before him remained untouched. Two elderly Cultivators sat with him, one surnamed Nong and the other Liao. They were descendants of Nong Shouyuan and Liao Wenlamp, the Guest Ministers Fang Qingyuan had recruited back when he was the Mountain Master.
More than thirty years had passed, and the three Guest Ministers Fang Qingyuan recruited back then had all passed away. They had already been old men in their seventies and eighties when they first joined Yuanling Mountain. For those who didn’t reach Foundation Establishment, living to be around a hundred was a normal lifespan, so their deaths couldn’t be considered premature.
As the two men gazed at Fang Qingyuan, who seemed unchanged from all those years ago, the awe, reverence, and envy in their hearts lay completely bare before his Mind Divine Techniques.
Back when Fang Qingyuan was the Mountain Master of Yuanling Mountain, these two had been nothing more than Qi Cultivation disciples, not even twenty years old. They were the sort of people who wouldn’t have even dared to speak in his presence. Now, after all these years, they could hold their own on Yuanling Mountain.
"Mountain Master Fang... oh, that’s not right. Elder Fang, please wait a moment. Mountain Master Jiang must have been delayed by something. She’ll be here shortly."
Fang Qingyuan nodded in acknowledgment, but his mind was already turning over what to say when he saw Jiang Kui. He reminded himself, ’I didn’t come here to call her to account. I can’t get angry.’
After another moment, the two men sitting beside Fang Qingyuan were silently cursing their misfortune. The aura he was unintentionally releasing made them feel as if they were sitting on pins and needles. Clearly, this master was not in a good mood.
Just as the two men were squirming in their seats, Jiang Kui finally arrived. Upon seeing her, they looked as if they had received a grand pardon. They hastily bowed, excused themselves, and vanished in a flash, leaving the vast hall to the two of them.
Jiang Kui took the host’s seat and looked at Fang Qingyuan, her eyes betraying a hint of vexation. As she saw it, he had come to call her to account.
Fang Qingyuan watched Jiang Kui in silence, waiting for her to speak first. After so many years, they were finally meeting face-to-face once again.
But compared to their time in the Scripture Pavilion at Tianshan Villa all those years ago, the atmosphere between them now was naturally and unspokenly distant.
Fang Qingyuan studied Jiang Kui in detail. She was now over a hundred years old, and the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes could not be fully concealed, even with the use of Top-grade Elixirs.
Furthermore, Jiang Kui had been afflicted by a rare poison in her youth, and the lingering effects of her long battle against it were now undeniable. The once exceptionally graceful Senior Sister Jiang now looked no different from any other Foundation Establishment Female Cultivator Fang Qingyuan had encountered in the outside world.
"Since you’re here, let’s discuss Wanqin’s situation. When your sect was first founded, you were short on people, so I supported you with thirty thousand from Yuanling Mountain. Now, your sect is stable, its foundations secure. It would be difficult to migrate the general populace, but Wanqin is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. I want her to return to help me. Junior Brother Fang, what are your thoughts?"
.....
"Junior Brother Fang, be a dear and help me out. Grand Martial Uncle’s humpback ray is waiting."
"Junior Brother Fang, I think this ’Golden Light Earth-Traversing Method’ is perfect for you. How about you give it a try?"
"Senior Brother, Senior Sister Jiang Kui has reached Foundation Establishment! She’s planning to have you marry into her family! Come with me, quickly! This is your lucky day!"
"Junior Brother Fang? Junior Brother Fang! Are you listening?"
As her lips moved, he could almost see the soft-spoken girl of his memories. But the final scene that crystallized in Fang Qingyuan’s mind was of a New Year’s Eve, when the three of them sat together around a brazier, their heads tilted up to watch the snow fall.
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