After bidding farewell to the Headmaster, Li Wen appeared at the foot of Nine Heavens Peak with a mere thought.
The mountain was the same as ever, wreathed in clouds and mist, with hints of Sword Qi faintly visible.
He arrived at the familiar Courtyard A-1.
The small courtyard was still tidy, clear evidence that someone had been maintaining it.
However, the faces of the disciples coming and going on the mountain were now mostly unfamiliar.
Upon asking around, he learned that Peak Master Fang Qinghan had left six months ago to oversee a major Stargate. The peak's affairs were being temporarily managed by a senior elder.
The peers he had once known had either left the mountain or been transferred to the front lines. A poignant sense that the place was the same, but the people were gone, quietly surfaced within him.
He didn't linger. He simply sat quietly in the courtyard for a moment, sensing the lingering traces of his former presence, before rising to leave.
