Chapter 217: Homecoming

As for the situation of Diyandou, Ling Chen doesn't care at all. The only thing that concerns him is the appearance of people from the Heart Enchanting Sect here. He is afraid that they may have already colluded with the people from the Dream Butterfly Villa. The Dream Butterfly Villa is secretive and has secretly colluded with external forces. Although their ambitions are unknown to others, they are obvious to Ling Chen.
Will Emperor Yan Du, as one of the three super cities in the main domain, fall into the hands of Dream Butterfly Manor?
Lingchen doesn't know.
He and Qingxi directly left Emperor Yan Du through the Dust Heart Fixed Element Plate. They look like wealthy homeowners in the secular world, rich and idle, wandering around. Although the cost of the Fixed Element Plate is expensive, Lingchen can afford it.
Through the transmission of a teleportation disc, the two of them traveled several times and transferred through several cities, finally appearing in a flash of green light.
The colorful river water sank and floated gently, with the red dream chimes swaying in the wind on both sides. There was a bustling crowd around, with disciples of the Qingyun Pavilion wearing white uniforms coming and going to maintain order, and black-robed stewards guarding this place.
Ling Chen and Qing Xi stood firmly on the Qing Ni River's Ding Yuan Pan, unable to even move a step, feeling as if in a dream.
In the past, Qing Xi, this little girl, left home without telling anyone, leaving behind her familiar life in Qing Cheng and venturing into the unfamiliar and dangerous outside world. She was taken all the way to the imperial city by the Corpse Tamer, and her mind was even muddled. If it weren't for Ling Chen's rescue, she would have become Sanlu's plaything and would rather be dead than alive. Now, after almost two years of time passing, she, who was already young and naive, finally returned home after experiencing hardships along the way, and tears welled up in her eyes.
However, Ling Chen's situation was even more miserable. He originally went to participate in the strange gathering in the Daqian City and save the trapped Qingyun Pavilion disciples in the Julu Valley. But before he could go to the Julu Valley, he was pursued and killed by Xingdian to the Modao Cliff. Although it has only been two years in the outside world, it has been two hundred years in the Lianhuan Shuge. Afterwards, in order to save Qingxi, he traveled throughout the eleven empires in the Wangyu, had his arm severed but resurrected, and walked on the edge of life and death. Finally, he successfully returned to Qingcheng.
Ling Chen lives a solitary life, with a tough personality. Although his time in Qingyun Ge was not long, he truly felt the care and warmth of the sect and his fellow elders and peers. Even if he didn't get along with many senior brothers and sisters, it was just his personal matter, and now looking back, it has become a rare and interesting memory.
"Excuse me, excuse me?"
The disciple from the Qingyun Pavilion had already called out to the two of them several times, but they seemed lost in thought and didn't respond. Although the disciple was puzzled, they didn't want to interrupt and continued calling out a few more times until Ling Chen and the others snapped out of their daze.
Upon seeing Ling Chen and Qing Xi regain their senses, the disciple from Qingyun Hall said as usual, "Welcome to Qingcheng. Here, we..."
"We already know, we've been here before." Ling Chen chuckled and, without waiting for the Qingyun Hall disciple to finish, grabbed Qing Xi's hand and headed towards the direction inside the city.
They both used the disguise technique of stealth and transformation. The disciples of the Qingyun Pavilion couldn't recognize them at all. With a sense of urgency, the two of them didn't bother with pleasantries and headed straight for the sect headquarters in the northern district.
In front of the gate of Qingyun Pavilion, the residence of Beicheng District, several disciples of Qingyun Pavilion stopped Ling Chen and Qing Xi.
At this time, Ling Chen had already returned to his original appearance, and Qing Xi also revealed her stunning beauty, which shocked the disciples of Qingyun Pavilion. However, due to the rules of the sect, they still stopped these two reckless youngsters who wanted to enter.
At the doorstep of his home, Qing Xi pouted unhappily as he was stopped. Ling Chen, on the other hand, couldn't help but laugh at the situation. He noticed that these several disciples from Qingyun Pavilion were all unfamiliar, and they looked to be only around fourteen or fifteen years old. This made him harbor some calculations in his heart.
青曦一向深藏闺阁，自然没人认识，但要是老弟子，谁能不认识臭名远扬的凌辰大名啊！眼前这几个小雏儿，大概是这几年新晋的弟子了。
"You guys must be newcomers from the past two years, right? How dare you stop me? I am an old member of the sect. Hurry up and call me senior brother!" Ling Chen proudly showed off in front of a few brats.
Unexpectedly, these disciples of Qingyun Ge completely ignored this and sneered, "We have had several waves of people trying to create trouble during our shift. Your words are nothing new. If you were really our senior brother, why aren't you wearing the uniform of the inner door?"
Ling Chen couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time. When he had just started his training and had to take turns standing guard, it was the group of warriors who had been beaten up by him that helped him cover his shifts. Later, he quickly advanced to the inner sect, but who would have thought that he would still encounter these things while on guard duty? As for the Qingyun Pavilion uniform, it had long been worn out after such a long time. How could he still show them a uniform?
"Forget it, I have a solution." Qing Xi said impatiently, reached out her hand and turned the rolling clouds into a spinning cloud ball. Taking advantage of the few disciples not paying attention, it flew directly into the base.
Those few disciples of Qingyun Pavilion, although their cultivation level is low, still have sharp eyesight. Their eyes almost popped out and they said, "It seems to be the Illusion Cloud Technique!"
Before a joss stick time passed since the flying cloud guiding elixir settled down, Ling Chen suddenly felt something and couldn't help but look up. A shadow descended from the sky and transformed into two figures.
"Pavilion Master? Elder Qingyi?"
The disciples of Qingyun Pavilion exclaimed in surprise, but Qingzheng and Qingyi were already stunned, staring blankly at Lingchen and Qingxi. The four of them locked eyes, and for a moment, none of them could say anything.
Mount Qingcheng, the palace in the sky.
Ling Chen, Qing Zheng, and Qing Yi sat facing each other. Ling Chen recounted his experiences of the past few years, but he concealed some things that couldn't be mentioned. He only mentioned being pursued by Xing Dian, leaving Daqian City, and getting seriously injured in the deep mountains before falling into a deep cliff. Unexpectedly, he turned misfortune into blessings and entered an unnamed cave. However, there were restrictions in the cave, and one had to reach a certain cultivation level to leave. As a result, he was trapped for two years.
This argument can indeed be convincing. The legendary story of cultivating peerless martial arts by falling off a cliff has always been a favorite topic for people, and now Ling Chen has finally experienced it himself. As for Emperor Yan Dan, Ling Chen didn't mention a word about him. He only mentioned that after regaining his freedom, he found a way to contact the sect and then traced his way to the Wang Territory, rescued Qing Xi after a long journey, and finally returned to the Qingyun Sect.
This whole experience took a lot of time to finish, and Qingzheng and Qingyi, father and son, looked at each other in surprise.
Lingchen took the opportunity to drink tea and moisten his dry throat. Only to hear his future uncle Qingyi sigh: "Lingchen, I didn't expect your journey to be so difficult. You even went to the Outer Domain. Fortunately, you brought back Xier safe and sound. It's truly a blessing."
青征也说道：“你这一次外出也是历尽磨难，好在因祸得福，修为攀升，还修习了一些法术，算是天大的机缘。当初我们收到你通过据点传来的信件之后都非常惊喜，只是曦儿还下落不明，因此心里总是悬着一颗石头。前段时间再次收到你们二人安然无恙的消息，才算是放下心来。”
“母亲和萝儿都急死了，尤其是得到你追踪曦儿的消息之后，你们再次杳无音讯，时间长达一年之久，母亲还偷偷落泪。原来那时间你们是去了帝城王域！”青翊无奈摇头：“曦儿这妮子，真是让我们这些家里人无可奈何。”
青征叹了一声：“总之，回来了就好。”
With a narrowed gaze, he continued, "Your experience with Xier in the Imperial City's Wang Territory can be considered legendary. I never would have thought that the legendary demon spirit would actually exist in the far east of the Wang Territory. The fact that you were able to escape from the Ice Butterfly Demon Spirit is truly a close call." Having said that, Qingzheng fell into contemplation, seemingly pondering something.
Ling Chen looked at Qing Zheng curiously and asked, "Lord Qing Zheng, do you have any thoughts?"
Qing Zheng was taken aback by the question, and chuckled, "Nothing, I was just thinking about your experiences in the Wang Domain. If you hadn't mentioned it, we would never have imagined that the Imperial City's Wang Domain had such a situation. The armies of the Bingling clan can be considered as one of the strong tribes among the numerous human tribes. With so many rival nations and constant warfare, their military must also consist of battle-hardened elites."
"There is not much to say about mortal armies; the true power lies in the wanderers. Though there are few accomplished wanderers, they are mainly comprised of a vast number of lower-tier wanderers."
"In war, masters can single-handedly determine the outcome, but charging into battle is mainly carried out by low-level practitioners. Though their individual strength may be weak, if they achieve victory through sheer numbers and form a disciplined army, even top-level experts would have to avoid their sharpness."
Speaking of which, Qingzheng suddenly said with great interest, "According to what you said, you have a good relationship with Lingyangze's Duizu tribe, and you also know the Ice Butterfly tribe in Bingyuan. You have connections with Galian Kingdom, Jiusha Kingdom, and Qingming Empire as well. Perhaps they will be helpful in the future."
When Lingchen heard these words, he was somewhat horrified yet astonished. He thought to himself, Qingzheng truly lives up to being the head of a pavilion. Upon hearing about my experiences, their first reaction was to keenly perceive the crucial point of whether I could be of assistance. However, such assistance...
Ling Chen tentatively said, "This... isn't it like trying to quench our thirst from afar? We and them are in two domains, can only be connected through domain channels, it's not just a matter of distance, even if we form an alliance, we can only watch each other from a distance. And speaking of which, although I have some connections with the forces in the Wang domain, they are not that deep, and I have no intersection with countries like Gia Lan and Jiusha, I only have some dealings with their individual high-level personnel. It's a bit of a stretch to say that they can be of use to us."
Qingzheng nodded: "You're right, what you said is correct. This is just a momentary thought, if we really want to put it into practice, there are many things to consider and plan. For now, it's just a hypothesis. You have a sharp mind and will definitely be a core pillar of our Azure Cloud Pavilion in the future. We should also keep in mind some long-term considerations about the sect. After all, the situation in the main domain is not optimistic, and our Azure Cloud Pavilion is also not without worries."
Ling Chen was a bit confused.
The implication in Lord Ge's words was quite clear, with a lot of information!