Chapter 347: Chapter 347: Return to the Familiar Land
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Wei Yang and the others stared at Nalan Yanran with surprise.
After more than three years apart, her strength had now reached the peak of Dou Wang.
And judging by the subtle fluctuations in her aura, she was faintly showing signs of breaking through to Dou Huang at any moment.
"Didn’t expect that... In just a few years, you’ve come this far," Xiao Yan said.
He couldn’t help but feel astonished. He had endured three grueling years of bitter cultivation, surviving countless life-or-death battles and even absorbing the Fallen Heart Flame, just to reach this level. Yet somehow, this woman had caught up step for step.
"Although the Dou Qi in her body is vigorous, it doesn’t seem to truly belong to her. It’s more like... she inherited some sort of power,"
"This kind of situation—only when she fully refines and absorbs that power can she truly control it."
"Seems like this is some sort of inheritance from the Yun Lan Sect. Her luck isn’t bad," Yao Lao said as he stroked his beard and shook his head slowly.
With his keen eyes, he could easily discern what was going on inside Nalan Yanran’s body.
Hearing Yao Lao’s assessment, Xiao Yan finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.
That would explain everything. Otherwise, it would’ve felt like all his struggle had been in vain.
No matter how much Xiao Yan had matured, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit competitive toward this woman—someone who had once nearly become his wife.
"Xiao Yan, was all this destruction... your doing?" Nalan Yanran scanned the ruined remains of the Yun Lan Sect below, then turned to Xiao Yan and shouted, "If you have a problem, come at me! Why did you drag the entire Yun Lan Sect into this?!"
"We already settled our grudge years ago. I thought we were even. I didn’t expect you to still be holding on to it—are you even a man?"
"This has nothing to do with you," Xiao Yan said coldly, giving her a brief glance. "I destroyed the Yun Lan Sect because of my grudge with Yun Shan."
"And your Nalan Clan... they were involved too."
"What?" Nalan Yanran’s pupils shrank, her body visibly trembling.
What followed, naturally, was an explanation of the whole matter.
Wei Yang, clearly bored, gave a slight shake of his head and turned away. With a flick of his wrist, he retrieved a jade bottle and handed it to Yao Lao.
"What’s this?" Yao Lao asked, accepting the bottle with a curious look.
"Protector Wu’s soul," Wei Yang replied.
Yao Lao’s eyes narrowed slightly. He nodded and asked, "You’re leaving?"
"Mm." Wei Yang nodded. "Everything I needed to do is done. You can handle the rest."
"You’re heading straight back to the Black-Corner Region today?" Yao Lao frowned slightly. "No need to rush, is there?"
"No, I’m going to the Magic Beast Mountain Range first. Then I’ll return to the Black-Corner Region," Wei Yang said with a smile.
"Oh? Then you’ll pass through the imperial capital again afterward, right?" Yao Lao asked.
"I will," Wei Yang confirmed with a nod.
Nearby, Xiao Yan turned and asked, "Brother Wei?"
"I’ve got something to do in the Magic Beast Mountain Range. Might take a month or so." Wei Yang tossed him a jade token. "If anything urgent comes up, crush this."
Then, with a wave of his hand, he smiled. "Alright, I’m off."
Turning around, he took a single step—and as the space in front of him rippled like water, his figure gradually faded and vanished into the distortion.
...
Tagore Desert.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but endless golden sand dunes, stretching all the way to the distant horizon. Vast and boundless—no one could tell how many thousands of miles it spanned.
Heatwaves rolled across the desert, sometimes accompanied by harsh gusts of wind and flying sand.
The blazing sun hung high above, pouring down relentless light and heat, baking the sand until it nearly scorched to the touch.
Waves of sweltering air rose from the ground. In this environment, even the air itself seemed to blur and distort.
Suddenly, high above a section of the desert, the space rippled like disturbed water.
A black silhouette stepped out from within.
Wei Yang stood there in midair, taking in the long-lost heat and terrain. A slight smile appeared on his lips as he took a deep breath of the scorching air.
Even the Dou Qi in his body seemed to stir more actively in this extreme environment.
"Tagore Desert... after all this time, I’m back again." As he gazed out at the vast sea of sand, a hint of nostalgia appeared in Wei Yang’s eyes.
He felt... a strange sense of warmth and familiarity with this place.
After a moment, Wei Yang composed himself and smiled faintly. With a single step, his figure flickered and disappeared into the distance.
...
Underground Magma World.
At the edge of the familiar tunnel, Wei Yang’s figure emerged. With another flicker, he appeared atop a rocky platform.
His gaze swept the platform—on it still rested the old stone bed and chairs he had used back then.
His eyes moved toward the crimson magma lake.
It was just like it had been when he left—unchanged, deathly still.
Gurgle—Pop—
Only the occasional bubbling of magma broke the suffocating silence of this fiery underworld.
Returning to this familiar place, Wei Yang couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion deep in his heart.
A moment later—
He moved, leaping off the platform and diving straight into the magma below.
Plop—
As his body sank downward, he steadily descended deeper into the molten lake, walking forward step by step.
Wherever he passed, the magma seemed to part on its own, as if stirred by invisible hands, flowing aside to create a clear path for him.
As he continued forward, the magma around him gradually darkened in hue.
In the distance, a faint cyan glow suddenly appeared.
"There it is," Wei Yang murmured with a faint smile curling at his lips. With a flash of his figure, he arrived at the source of that glow.
In front of him, nestled deep within the murky magma, was a greenish-blue rhizome, silently growing in this lifeless world.
At the base of the rhizome, countless slender tendrils slowly floated outward, stretching into the magma, quietly absorbing the surrounding energy.
As he drew closer to the plant, Wei Yang could feel a subtle wave of coolness washing over him.
It was as if the temperature of the magma nearby had been completely drawn away—or perhaps sealed off by an invisible force.
This place... was where the Green Lotus Core Flame had once been born.
And this very rhizome was a trace of vitality Wei Yang had intentionally left behind all those years ago.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, locking onto the top of the rhizome.
There—at the very tip—a tiny jade-green bud was quietly sprouting.
It was so small, so delicate, that it would’ve gone completely unnoticed without careful inspection.
Young and fragile... yet brimming with life.
"It’s sprouting already?" Wei Yang’s face lit up with unconcealed joy.
That sliver of life he had left behind back then... was finally starting to grow.
In the depths of this scorching, lifeless magma world, a single sprouting bud had emerged—a testament to the resilience and wonder of life.
This little sprout seemed like the first flicker of hope born from a world of silence and desolation.
In a few centuries, a brand-new Green Lotus Core Flame would bloom here once more, growing into maturity.
The Green Lotus Core Flame that Wei Yang had once taken from this place had, in a sense, ceased to exist.
Because it had fused with the Fallen Heart Flame, becoming something new entirely: the Glazed Lotus Heart Flame.
But now, a new Green Lotus Core Flame would slowly begin to take shape here once again, nurtured by time.
It was... a kind of cycle. A return.
"Good... good..." Wei Yang smiled joyfully, flipping his hand and retrieving a jade bottle.
He opened it, and from within, a single, plump lotus seed drifted out, glowing softly with a cyan light.
This lotus seed radiated an immense and pure energy, filled with vibrant wood-element vitality.
It was the companion seed of the Green Lotus Core Flame—the last one in Wei Yang’s possession.
In fact, this might very well be the last surviving seed of its kind in the entire world.
Originally, Wei Yang had planned to trade this seed to the Valley Master of Blazing Flame Valley one day.
But now... he had suddenly changed his mind.
"Back then, I took your lotus platform. Now that we’ve met again, let me help you grow. Consider it... a repayment of karma," Wei Yang chuckled as he looked at the lotus seed.
To take—and to give back when the chance arose. That was his way.
Cultivation was about clarity of mind and following one’s heart.
As the old Daoist saying goes: "The Dao follows nature."
Wei Yang, in walking the path of cultivation, had been deeply influenced by the philosophies of Daoism from Huaxia.
Daoism advocated spontaneity, non-attachment, and freedom from constraint.
It was a path with personality.
And if reason failed?
Well, as Daoists liked to say—"If words don’t work, I also know a bit of martial arts."
...
"Go," Wei Yang murmured softly.
With a gentle thought, the lotus seed floated slowly toward the rhizome.
As if sensing the familiar aura, the many slender tendrils beneath the rhizome began swaying toward the seed.
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