197: One thought moves the world, the ancestor returns

"Let's go."

Lin Fan's voice was soft, carrying the gentle warmth of something newly cleansed of dust.

"We're going home."

He reached out and grasped Li Hanyue's palm, which still held a trace of coolness.

Li Hanyue's body trembled slightly, allowing him to hold her hand.

The next moment, Lin Fan didn't activate any Spiritual Power, nor did he use any Movement Technique.

He simply moved his mind.

Centered on him, the surrounding space began to undergo an indescribable, extreme distortion.

The extreme cold of the Ice Crystal Valley, the deathly silence of the Burial Immortal Valley, seemed to be instantly wiped away by an invisible great hand.

The scene before them turned into lines of flowing, vibrant light; the concepts of time and space became blurred at this moment.

Li Hanyue only felt a blur before her eyes, and the distance spanning the entire continent was compressed into the space of a single breath.

When her feet touched solid ground again, what reached her ears was the familiar sound of crisp birdsong and gurgling water from the Qingyun Sect mountains.

Outside the Qingyun Sect's Mountain Gate.

Under the ancient Archway, two mountain-guarding Outer Sect Disciples were leaning against Stone Lions out of boredom, chatting about the latest gossip within the Sect.

"Sigh, have you heard? Senior Sister Zhao Linger from the Pill Pavilion suddenly vomited blood and fainted a few days ago while Divining the Heavenly Secrets. She's still very weak."

"I heard. They say she calculated some Great Ominous Sign, related to the World-Ending Heavenly Tribulation that covered the entire continent a while ago."

"Hiss... That kind of Heavenly Might is truly unimaginable. I wonder which Mighty Figure was Undergoing Tribulation to attract such a terrifying phenomenon."

Just then, one of the Disciples caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye, and his entire body instantly froze.

He rubbed his eyes hard, then fiercely pinched his own thigh.

The sharp pain told him this was not an illusion.

"Senior... Senior Brother... look... th-that's..."

His voice was shaking uncontrollably, and his finger trembled as he pointed forward.

The other Disciple impatiently followed the direction his companion was pointing, and the next second, his expression became identical to his friend's: dumbfounded.

Outside the Mountain Gate, two figures had appeared, unnoticed.

One of them, dressed in snow-white robes, possessed peerless grace. That cold, pure demeanor and familiar face—wasn't that Senior Sister Li Hanyue, who had been missing for a long time and was rumored to have perished in the Burial Immortal Valley?

Standing beside Li Hanyue was a man wearing ordinary Disciple robes.

They also found that man somewhat familiar.

"Th-that's... Lin Fan?"

A Disciple whispered uncertainly.

That name was already quite distant for these Newly Promoted Disciples. They only vaguely remembered him as an ordinary Outer Sect Disciple who had gone to the Burial Immortal Valley with Senior Sister Li Hanyue and subsequently vanished without a trace.

But now, how could he appear alongside Senior Sister Li?

Moreover, how did they appear?

Silently, as if they had been standing there all along.

Before they could figure it out, the faster-reacting Disciple was already scrambling and crawling toward the stone steps leading to the Main Peak behind them, letting out a pig-slaughtering scream.

"Senior Sister Li! Senior Sister Li Hanyue is back!"

"And she brought a man back with her!"

This announcement, at an astonishing speed, stirred up monstrous waves throughout the entire Qingyun Sect.

Streaks of light shot up from every peak, gathering frantically toward the Mountain Gate.

Inside the Sect's Main Hall, the Qingyun Sect Leader and the Nascent Soul Elders who were in conference suddenly stood up from their seats, their faces filled with disbelief upon hearing the news.

"Hanyue is back?"

The Sect Head was a Middle-aged Cultivator at the Transformation Initial Stage. Throwing all decorum aside, his figure flickered, and he was the first to vanish from the Hall.

The rest of the Elders followed closely behind.

The entire high-level management of the Sect poured out.

When they rushed to the Mountain Gate and saw the white figure, everyone sighed in relief, their faces showing genuine joy.

But when their gazes fell upon Lin Fan, who was standing beside Li Hanyue, everyone's brows instantly furrowed.

They couldn't see through him.

They absolutely couldn't see through him.

This young man named Lin Fan just stood there quietly, without the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Power, like a Mortal who had never cultivated.

But the Dao Rhythm on his body—that perfect Fusion with the natural world, that profound sense of Returning to Simplicity—made every Nascent Soul Elder present, and even the Soul Transformation Sect Head, feel a tremor of fear.

This was an instinctive awe, like facing an Endless Abyss.

"Buzz—"

An ancient and majestic aura soared into the sky from the Forbidden Ground in the Back Mountains of the Qingyun Sect.

An elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in an ancient Daoist Robe, appeared in mid-air.

"Grand Elder!"

Seeing this, the Sect Head and the Elders quickly bowed in salute.

This person was the Qingyun Sect's true Stabilizing Force, a Grand Elder who had been in Secluded Cultivation for hundreds of years and whose cultivation had reached the Soul Transformation Late Stage.

The Grand Elder ignored them, his gaze fixed intently on Lin Fan.

His Divine Soul was trembling, and his Dao Heart was sounding an alarm.

He was shocked to find that he couldn't look directly at that young man.

If he looked for another second, his Divine Soul felt as if it would be completely assimilated and dissolved by that bottomless Dao Rhythm.

Just then, a discordant voice broke the eerie silence.

A hot-tempered Nascent Soul Elder, relying on his Seniority, stepped forward, pointed at Lin Fan, and sternly rebuked him.

"Lin Fan! I recognize you! Back then, you were just an Outer Sect Disciple! You followed Junior Niece Li to the Forbidden Ground and disappeared without a trace. Do you actually have the nerve to return now?"

"Why don't you kneel and salute when you see the Sect Head and the Grand Elder!?"

He spoke with righteous indignation, intending to display the Sect's prestige.

However.

Lin Fan merely glanced at him indifferently.

Just that one glance.

There was no Killing Intent, no Pressure, not even emotion.

Yet, in the perception of that Nascent Soul Elder, the entire world vanished.

Heaven and Earth, the Sun, Moon, and Stars, all turned into nothingness in that glance.

All that remained were those calm and profound eyes.

That was the source of the Dao, the end of all laws.

"Thud!"

The Nascent Soul Elder's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.

His eyes lost focus, saliva drooled from his mouth, and his body shook like chaff; his proud Nascent Soul Cultivation almost completely collapsed under that single glance.

The entire scene fell into dead silence.

Everyone was so terrified by this bizarre sight that their Souls Flew Away and Spirits Scattered.

Meanwhile, the Sect Head and the Grand Elder in mid-air trembled violently after seeing this scene, as if they had thought of the most incredible, most cognition-subverting possibility.

Their faces first showed extreme horror, which was immediately replaced by an uncontrollable, wild joy.

The next second.

Under the gaze of everyone whose eyes were popping out.

The most revered Sect Head and Grand Elder of the Qingyun Sect actually descended from mid-air simultaneously and respectfully performed a ninety-degree bow towards that seemingly ordinary young man.

Their voices trembled violently due to excitement.

"Qingyun Sect Disciples respectfully welcome Old Ancestor Lin back to the Sect!"

As soon as the words were spoken, All Sounds Ceased.

The minds of all the Disciples and Elders present went completely blank.

Old... Old Ancestor?

Lin Fan?

That Outer Sect Disciple Lin Fan?

How is this possible!

Amidst this dead silence, a chubby figure, wailing, squeezed out from the crowd.

He rushed up to Lin Fan, ignoring whether he was an Old Ancestor or not, and directly hugged Lin Fan's thigh.

"Gou Ge! My dear brother! You finally came back!"

Fatty Zhang was crying hysterically, his entire chubby face crumpled up.

"I knew it! I knew you wouldn't die! Those bastards said you died in the Burial Immortal Valley! Bah! My Gou Ge is a man who can create miracles!"

This comical scene instantly tore a hole in the extremely solemn atmosphere.

Lin Fan looked down at Fatty Zhang, who was hugging his thigh, and a helpless smile appeared on his face.

He patted Fatty Zhang's head.

"Alright, you're a grown man, stop crying."

His gaze passed over everyone and looked toward the back of the crowd.

There, a pale green figure stood quietly.

Zhao Linger's face carried a sickly pallor and exhaustion, caused by worrying about him and draining her mental energy.

But when she saw Lin Fan appear before her, safe and sound, her gentle eyes instantly bloomed with an endless radiance that could illuminate the entire world.

There were no words.

Just a single exchange of glances.

Lin Fan understood all her worries, all her longing, and all her prayers.

A warm current surged in his heart, mixed with an inexpressible sense of complexity.

Beside him, Li Hanyue saw all of this.

She watched the exchange of glances between Lin Fan and Zhao Linger, then glanced at Fatty Zhang, who was sobbing uncontrollably while hugging Lin Fan's thigh.

On her cold and beautiful face, her expression was calm, showing no ripples of emotion.