The woman beside the man looked to be only eighteen or nineteen. She was stunningly beautiful, with an added air of martial heroism, and her skin was fairer than snow.
She wore a sky-blue long dress that outlined her soul-stirring curves. As the hem of her dress swayed in the wind, the thin gauze over her calves would occasionally flutter up, revealing a section of perfectly rounded, snowy skin.
Even Mu Lian, who had always prided herself on her looks and figure, instantly felt a sense of inferiority upon seeing her.
Mu Lian didn't recognize the man, but she found the woman somewhat familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before, yet she just couldn't recall where.
Moreover, after her divine sense carefully swept over the pair, Mu Lian's beautiful face turned pale.
In her divine sense, the auras of these two people were faint and unsteady; she couldn't determine their cultivation levels at all.
With her intelligence, she naturally knew what this meant: the other party's cultivation was so strong that she couldn't probe it.
One must know, she had already stepped into the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. She could generally sense cultivators of the same rank, and it was impossible for it to be as inscrutable as this.
Being blocked by such people, Mu Lian broke out in a cold sweat in an instant. Without even time to think, she immediately bowed in a salute.
"Seniors, we are from the Malevolent Spirit Sect..."
And speaking at the same time as her was another person.
"Young Master? You... you are the Young Master..."
It was Sun Guoshu's voice. At this moment, he had already stepped off the Gu-insect, his mouth agape. He looked as if he wanted to step forward, yet he was filled with a mixture of shock and doubt, his eyes brimming with disbelief.
"Hehehe, I knew I sensed a familiar aura here. I heard from Senior Sister Bai that you had also entered the sect. To meet like this is truly a pleasant surprise."
A smile graced the short-haired man's face.
"Young Master, it really is you! Weren't you... didn't you fall into the... the Devil's Cliff..."
Sun Guoshu, recovering slightly from his stupor, had stopped in his tracks, looking somewhat dazed as he muttered to himself.
Mu Lian was cut off by Sun Guoshu's actions. She looked at him strangely. From his words, it was clear that Sun Guoshu knew the other person, and they seemed to be on very familiar terms.
This brought her a wave of relief, but hearing Sun Guoshu's strange form of address, she was momentarily unsure of their relationship.
She knew Sun Guoshu came from a rogue cultivator background, yet he called the other person "Young Master."
'Could this be some young master from a cultivation family that Sun Guoshu knew back in the day?'
Then, she heard Sun Guoshu mention the Devil's Cliff, and she couldn't help but be startled. That was the site of the final, decisive battle with the Demon Clan nearly a hundred years ago.
'This person also participated in that grueling war?'
The Devil's Cliff Crevice was no longer guarded by cultivators. She had heard that the Two-Realm Passage there had been destroyed, and a mysterious ancestor from their own sect had laid down a sky-encompassing grand formation.
At that time, Mu Lian was at the peak of the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation and hadn't been sent to the battlefield. Instead, she was in the sect attempting to break through to Foundation Establishment. Therefore, most of what she knew about that great battle was hearsay.
Li Yan looked at Sun Guoshu, who had yet to recover from his shock, and was filled with a sense of boundless emotion.
Back then, when the other party was at mid-stage Foundation Establishment, he himself had just successfully established his foundation. They met again at Windy Cool Mountain, and now, almost another century had flashed by.
Although Sun Guoshu's cultivation had grown, a quick calculation of the time showed that he should be approaching the end of his lifespan.
Zhao Min maintained her usual silence. She didn't know Sun Guoshu. She looked over at Mu Lian.
Her gaze fell upon the insignia embroidered on the sleeve of the other's sect robe. It was from the same lineage as her own—Never-Parting Peak.
It was just that she didn't recognize the other person. She figured that when she was around, this woman was probably not yet a Foundation Establishment cultivator, otherwise she should have recognized her.
Apart from Little Bamboo Peak, the other peaks of the Malevolent Spirit Sect had low-level disciples as numerous as cattle, with new disciples joining every year. Zhao Min naturally wouldn't concern herself with every single one of them.
Mu Lian didn't recognize Zhao Min because Zhao Min's status was special. She almost never went out on Never-Parting Peak, spending the vast majority of her time in closed-door cultivation.
When she did go out, it was usually to the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak. The number of low-level disciples who could see her was practically nil.
However, Mu Lian had once caught a glimpse of Zhao Min from afar by chance, which was why she still had some faint memory of her.
"We can talk about my matters later. You two swallowed quite a few pills earlier, didn't you? You still haven't refined them, and your auras are unstable. Fleeing for your lives like this, is someone chasing you?"
With his and Zhao Min's cultivation, they could naturally see at a glance that something was wrong with the two before them. Their auras were so chaotic, yet they were still flying toward the sect.
However, Li Yan looked at Sun Guoshu with a rather odd expression.
If he hadn't seen wrong just now, Sun Guoshu and this female disciple from Never-Parting Peak were practically pressed against each other, and Sun Guoshu was whispering something right next to her ear.
They looked extremely intimate, but Li Yan was not one for gossip. He merely thought about it to himself and wouldn't ask out loud.
Li Yan's question was imbued with a hint of magical power. As the words entered Sun Guoshu's mind, his body trembled slightly, and his consciousness immediately cleared.
"Senior, who on earth are you? Why are you toying with this junior..."
Sun Guoshu bit his lip and didn't answer Li Yan's question. But as soon as these words left his mouth, Mu Lian, who had just begun to relax, saw her expression change repeatedly. Did Sun Guoshu think these two had disguised their appearances?
Li Yan sighed helplessly in his heart. He had, after all, fallen into the Devil's Cliff Crevice. Nearly a hundred years had passed, and to suddenly appear like this was indeed hard for Sun Guoshu to believe.
He pondered for a moment and immediately began to send a voice transmission to Sun Guoshu.
"Back then in Peiyang Market, you scammed Senior Sister Bai. You wanted to get that ancient ape-shaped puppet... At Windy Cool Mountain, I led you all to Zhouyang Town to rescue the South Sea cultivators. On the way, we encountered..."
Li Yan only transmitted his voice for a dozen breaths before Sun Guoshu's facial muscles began to twitch.
Although these matters weren't some earth-shattering secrets, besides the few people who had planned and executed the mission at the time, who else would care about the past experiences of a minor rogue cultivator?
Such incidents were commonplace during the great war with the Demon Clan back then.
"Young Master, it really is you! You... you're really still alive..."
"Alright, answer my earlier question!"
Li Yan felt that Sun Guoshu was being a bit long-winded and immediately stopped the voice transmission.
"Oh, oh, oh, we were being chased by two cultivators from the Ten-Pace Courtyard because this junior sister obtained a Shadow Space Stone..."
Sun Guoshu still felt as if he were in a fog, but he couldn't help but sneak a glance at Zhao Min. He didn't recognize her, so he could only guess at her identity in his mind.
During the final battle at the Devil's Cliff, he was quite a distance from Li Yan and the others, and he himself was caught in the chaotic fray, barely able to protect himself. Thus, he didn't witness the scene of Zhao Min throwing herself into the Devil's Cliff Crevice.
However, having been in the Malevolent Spirit Sect for so many years, he later heard from Bai Rou about the situation on Little Bamboo Peak and learned that Peak Master Wei had been searching for Li Yan and his daughter's whereabouts all along.
Even after Bai Rou left, he would occasionally inquire about matters concerning Little Bamboo Peak, but he never received any news of Li Yan, as if he had completely perished in that great battle.
With a somewhat dazed expression, Sun Guoshu finished recounting what had just happened.
"Oh? So that's how it is. The Ten-Pace Courtyard..."
Li Yan nodded after listening, then released his divine sense. In just a moment, he looked in a certain direction.
And just as his gaze shifted, Zhao Min's cold voice sounded out.
"I'll go!"
With that, her figure flickered and vanished.
'This one is truly a Golden Core cultivator as well...'
Sun Guoshu smiled wryly in his heart. Golden Core cultivators were not people they could just meet whenever they wished.
Mu Lian, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief while continuing to speculate about the identities of Li Yan and his companion.
Not only did the other party know Sun Guoshu, but they were also not his enemy. This was finally some good news after the last few days.
So, while Sun Guoshu was narrating, she had maintained a respectful posture and did not interrupt. Now, seeing Zhao Min suddenly disappear, a flicker of joy rose in her heart. These two seniors were clearly going to help them.
A few breaths later, Sun Guoshu's voice came again.
"Young Master... Young Master, have you also formed your core?"
His voice was a bit dry, filled with a mix of complex emotions. Although he had long anticipated it, Sun Guoshu still wanted Li Yan to confirm it himself.
"Hehehe... you can also attempt to form your Golden Core. Find some time in the next few days to come and see me. I have some things here that might be able to help you."
"Or if you have any requests, you can bring them up, and I'll see if I can help you in any way!"
Li Yan didn't answer directly, but spoke with a smile on his face. He was in a very cheerful mood at the moment. Seeing Sun Guoshu brought back many memories from the past.
For a time, the sorrow caused by the little mountain village was also diluted quite a bit.
Sun Guoshu's body trembled upon hearing this, and a look of ecstatic joy appeared on his face. But before he could express it, Li Yan continued his inquiry.
"By the way, what is the situation on Little Bamboo Peak now?"
"Young Master, Little Bamboo Peak is now managed by Martial Uncle Li Wuyi. Peak Master Wei successfully formed his Nascent Soul fifty years ago. He is now our Martial Ancestor Wei."
"It's just that Madam Wei is still at the Golden Core stage. It's said that this is related to her heartache over these years..."
"Senior Brother Sun, don't speak recklessly!"
Sun Guoshu had just remembered what Li Yan most wanted to know now. Although he still felt everything was unreal, he had slowly accepted the situation before him.
However, he had only spoken a few sentences when Mu Lian's expression changed repeatedly. She didn't know why this young Golden Core senior suddenly asked about Little Bamboo Peak.
And Sun Guoshu answered every question. This made her heart fill with fear. But if Sun Guoshu had only spoken of things that many people already knew, she might have just pretended not to hear.
Ordinary matters, as long as one paid attention to the Malevolent Spirit Sect, could still be inquired about.
But Sun Guoshu was speaking without a filter, talking about the Dao companion of Martial Ancestor Wei, and even mentioning some kind of heartache.
If word of this reached Martial Ancestor Wei's ears, would she and Sun Guoshu still want to live?
This fellow dared to blather on about the family affairs of a Nascent Soul cultivator without any restraint. His nerve was far too great.
Although Mu Lian was afraid of offending the mysterious cultivator before her, she was even more terrified of a Nascent Soul cultivator's wrath.
Between a Nascent Soul cultivator and a Golden Core cultivator, the matter of which was more important was without question. Anxious, Mu Lian could no longer hold back her fear. She bit her silver tooth and immediately spoke up to remind Sun Guoshu.
By doing this, she was already prepared to be punished, even killed, by the Golden Core cultivator before her.
Sun Guoshu was slightly taken aback, only then remembering that this junior sister, whose name he still didn't know, probably didn't recognize Li Yan.
"Oh, what's wrong with Madam Wei?"
Just then, the space beside them suddenly rippled slightly, and a figure flashed out from the void.
It was Zhao Min. Her figure appeared directly beside Li Yan. At this moment, she was looking at Sun Guoshu, clutching two storage pouches in her hand.
"Hehe, Senior Sister, you let them go!"
When Li Yan saw Zhao Min return, his divine sense swept in a certain direction. Over there, two Ten-Pace Courtyard Sword Cultivators were fleeing into the distance with faces full of terror, like dogs that had lost their homes.
"Just teaching them a lesson is enough. These are their storage pouches. You two can take them and split them. That Shadow Space Stone is inside one of them!"
Zhao Min nodded at Li Yan. With her current cultivation, she really didn't want to casually kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Especially since she had just returned to the Desolate Moon Continent, she felt a certain fondness for every cultivator here. This was a feeling only a wandering child far from home could understand.