Gu Yong's eyes instantly reddened, brimming with tears and a tangle of mixed emotions.
Song Yunshu smoothed the hair over her forehead with both hands and tilted her chin up slightly, as if doing so was the only way to keep herself from appearing so wretched.
Taking a deep breath, the woman calmed her emotions.
Stepping aside, she gestured with an open hand and said softly, "Come inside."
Li Guanqi walked into the small courtyard. Looking at the old man who seemed like an entirely different person from before, he said softly, "If you'd rather I not be here, I can leave."
Song Yunshu remained silent. Gu Yong leaned on his cane and waved his hand dismissively.
"I thought you... wouldn't come."
"What is there to see in a foul old man with one foot in the grave?"
With that, Gu Yong turned and walked deeper into the courtyard, speaking as he went.
"It's good enough... that you came."
"Come inside and have some tea."
Li Guanqi followed quietly behind them, his divine sense sweeping over the two in an imperceptible flicker.
Suddenly, Li Guanqi's brows furrowed, and a sharp, icy glint flashed in his eyes!
Within both of their bodies, he detected numerous lingering, long-standing injuries!
It seemed... after Gu Yong fell from grace, he had no shortage of enemies.
Li Guanqi turned to look at Song Yunshu. Why hadn't she told him?
Song Yunshu helped Gu Yong sit down, then stood up and said softly, "I'll brew tea for you both."
Li Guanqi smiled and nodded. "No need to be so courteous."
Song Yunshu said nothing, turning away to leave.
The courtyard was built very simply, without carved beams or painted pillars.
Perhaps noticing Li Guanqi looking around, Gu Yong smiled with a trace of pride.
"That girl Yunshu built all this under my guidance. Not bad, is it?"
Li Guanqi felt a touch of surprise. He had not expected this highborn young lady to have actually built the house with her own hands.
Gu Yong fell silent for a moment, then spoke up abruptly.
"Kid Li... after all these years... do you still blame this old man?"
Hearing that, Li Guanqi let out a bitter smile.
"I do."
Gu Yong froze on the spot. He had never imagined Li Guanqi would hold onto the grudge so deeply!
He had assumed that Li Guanqi's willingness to come here meant he no longer cared.
Li Guanqi said softly, "At first, I thought we were close friends despite the difference in our ages."
"I never imagined that from the moment you commissioned that task at Tianji Pavilion, you were already colluding with whoever stood behind you to scheme against me."
"Be it the Tianji Chart or the Dayan Tianji Chart..."
"That thing... almost brought about catastrophe and cost me my life."
Indeed, back when he had peered at that figure through the Dayan Tianji Chart, he initially believed the mastermind belonged to the Immortal Realm!
Because the immortal aura at the time had been so overwhelming. But only when he met Xun Tian did he finally understand—Xun Tian had been hiding in a place similar to the Seventh Domain between the immortal boundary walls.
Therefore, what he had sensed was certainly not the mastermind behind the Immortal Realm, but Xun Tian.
As if suddenly thinking of something, Li Guanqi asked softly, "Elder Gu, did you first make contact with that person back when you went into seclusion to break through to the Mahayana realm?"
The old man leaning on the cane buried half his face behind his hands, but his cloudy, exposed eyes stared at Li Guanqi as he slowly shook his head!
Li Guanqi's breath hitched. He tucked his hands into his sleeves and narrowed his eyes.
"When was it, then?"
Gu Yong spoke softly. "To be precise, the first time should have been when I sent you to retrieve the Tianji Chart."
"It was just that back then, I was full of pride, yet also terrified... I had no further contact after that until... my lifespan was nearing its end and I still couldn't break through to the Mahayana realm. That was when they appeared."
Li Guanqi took a deep breath. That made sense.
Staring at the old man, he asked once more, "Then do you know... that the person you were in contact with was not actually someone from the Immortal Realm?"
The moment those words were spoken, Gu Yong's expression changed drastically!
His voice trembled as he muttered, "Impossible!"
"What I saw was definitely an immortal! If not, how could he have helped me break through to the Mahayana realm?!"
Right then, however, Song Yunshu came out, having changed her clothes.
Seeing the old man standing up looking half-crazed, tears slid down the corners of her lightly powdered face.
Li Guanqi took a deep breath and spoke softly.
"Xun Tian, Domain Lord of the Daochan Domain—you should know him."
"He is an avatar sent down by an immortal of the Upper Realm. It's hardly surprising that he possessed some extraordinary methods."
Seeing the old man about to say something more, Song Yunshu suddenly hurled all the teacups in her hands to the ground, shattering them to pieces!
*Crash!*
"Enough, Grandfather!"
With his hair disheveled, clarity finally returned to Gu Yong's eyes. He slumped back into the chair, his face filled with bitterness.
Li Guanqi flicked a finger, sending a wisp of pure primal energy into the old man's body, clearing away all the lingering ailments inside him.
A look of relief finally surfaced on Gu Yong's face, and he looked at Li Guanqi with complex eyes.
He muttered inwardly, *Yes... Even he has let it go. What do I have left to cling to...?*
Although Li Guanqi had not explicitly stated what he had suffered because of the Dayan Tianji Chart, how could someone as sharp as Gu Yong not understand?
Song Yunshu crouched on the ground, weeping bitterly in anguish.
She did not understand why she had to endure all of this...
Yet did she resent Li Guanqi?
She did not.
Because the root of every wrong lay in Gu Yong being blinded by obsession.
Li Guanqi rose, walked up to Song Yunshu, and gently patted her shoulder.
In an instant, an overbearing burst of lightning primal energy coursed through her body, soothing and mending her hidden ailments.
Just as Li Guanqi was about to speak, low rumbles suddenly echoed from the horizon.
A piercing sonic boom rang out abruptly!
Several figures shot through the distant skyline, hurtling toward them!
Song Yunshu's face hardened, and almost by pure reflex, she drew her longsword.
Just then, however, a large hand stopped her.
Standing in front of Song Yunshu, Li Guanqi turned to Gu Yong and asked softly, "Elder Gu, have you let it go?"
Gu Yong set down his cane, closed his eyes, and nodded faintly, murmuring, "I've let it go..."
"Looking back now, I still feel I have wronged you, young friend."
The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly. Flashes of those around Ye Mohan dying and the sight of Zhou Qingguo marching unflinchingly toward death crossed his mind.
"I've let it go as well."
Hearing those words, tears of guilt and remorse streamed from Gu Yong's eyes.
His thin lips trembled slightly, and for a moment, countless words caught like bones in his throat.
Song Yunshu had just gone inside and changed into a snug black silk qipao, just as she had dressed when they first met years ago.
Yet the confident smile of the past was gone from her face.
No matter how one looked at it, her smile felt forced.
Only upon hearing the exchange between Li Guanqi and Gu Yong did the knot that had plagued her heart for so long finally loosen slightly.
As for the Li Guanqi of today, his strength had long stood at the very pinnacle of all cultivators beneath the heavens.
Li Guanqi felt a faint lightness in his heart. It wasn't that he had forgiven Gu Yong...
Coming here felt more like making peace with himself.
During the time he had spent in the Seventh Domain, his state of mind had also subtly changed.
Because he had witnessed too many people pass away...
In the end, left all alone, leaving behind only a name.
Chapter 1257