Shi An led his master inside and had him sit down comfortably. After feeding him the medicinal pills that could currently be consumed, Shi An stood guard by his side to protect him during meditation.
With the assistance of the elixir, Yun Zhou felt a surge of warmth gradually rising from his abdomen, which then spread through his entire body like a stream of heat.
He knew this was a sign that his cultivation was recovering. He continued to sit cross-legged, digesting the remaining medicinal potency.
As his cultivation steadily recovered, a few blurry flashes of light appeared, growing increasingly dazzling until the floating imagery shattered in an instant.
Only vague figures remained, accompanied by a few disconnected phrases that echoed as if coming from an endless, distant expanse of time and space feeling both familiar and entirely strange.
“Little Highness, forget it.”
“Hurry, take him away!”
“Little Highness, can we be friends?”
In Shi An’s eyes, a brilliant luminescence swirled. The fox tails behind his master seemed to be coated with a divine splendor, making his sacred presence even more untouchable.
His physical form was also gradually transforming, shedding the youthful immaturity of boyhood and taking on a greater sense of poise and maturity.
These changes completely captured Shi An’s attention, causing him to miss the fleeting frown that crossed his master’s face.
Even if he had noticed, however, it would have been of little use.
Before long, when Yun Zhou withdrew from his state of deep concentration and tried to catch and recall those shattered fragments of light once more, they had vanished into absolute emptiness.
What greeted his ears instead was Shi An’s barely concealable delight: “Shizun, this is wonderful! You’ll be fully recovered in no time.”
Sensing this, Yun Zhou took the initiative to reach out, following the direction of the voice. Shi An immediately stepped forward, welcoming the reassuring embrace offered by his master.
Yun Zhou wanted to tell Shi An that he seemed to have recovered fragments of fuzzy memories, yet he hesitated, reluctant to worry him.
However, remembering the previous incident, he ultimately abandoned the thought of keeping silent. After all, Shi An had every right to know.
After soothing Shi An’s excited emotions, Yun Zhou carefully weighed his words before speaking, adopting a light and casual tone.
“Shi An, a portion of my memories feels extremely hazy. It’s possible they were left behind from the time before Venerable Xingyin took me in. They only surfaced while my cultivation was recovering, but they don’t cause any real issues.”
Upon hearing this, Shi An furrowed his brow in deep thought. Yet, under such circumstances, they could only take things one step at a time before reaching any conclusions.
Not wanting Shi An to dwell on the matter further, Yun Zhou offered some comforting words and instructed him to go select some treasured items from his collection to serve as return gifts for the peak masters and elders at the main hall.
As for Yun Zhou himself, taking advantage of the time while Shi An was busy, he relied on sound and spatial awareness to locate the desk containing paper and an inkstone.
Finding it too troublesome to grind fresh ink, he directly used his spiritual energy to leave a few light purple characters boldly stamped across the paper:
“Returning before the Hour of Hai. Do not worry.”
Following the path retained in his memory, he stepped out of Zhanlan Peak to see if any lively activities were taking place within the sect.
By this time, his cultivation had recovered to the initial stage of the Tribulation Crossing realm, and his eyesight could barely make out shapes, though everything remained extremely blurry and vulnerable to harsh glare.
Still, this did not hinder Yun Zhou’s desire to visit some bustling areas and observe the energetic junior disciples of the sect.
Making his way to the martial arts training grounds, he found them surrounded by quiet, secluded groves.
It had just passed the early part of the Hour of You when he heard a familiar, unrestrained voice call out, “Brother Nanxi, you’re about to lose! Take this sword!”
Accompanied by the fierce chill of a blade, the sound of sword qi cleaving through the air could not escape Yun Zhou’s acute hearing.
Immediately following this came a loud clang, the sound of a weapon being knocked aside instantly shattering any remaining air of heroic bravado. It was replaced by a wailing, tearful plea: “I was wrong! I’ll stop pretending! Brother Nanxi, please stop hitting me!”
Judging by the chaotic patter of hurried footsteps, the speaker was clearly being chased and beaten. Ah, truly tragic.
Listening to the spiritual energy infused into the sword strokes as they slashed outward, always purposefully hesitating right as the footsteps landed in a scramble, it was easy to tell that the attacker was holding back considerably.