Feng Xian didn't completely relax, and his eyes showed he was very suspicious. He asked Shen Yi to sit down at the main table. "A friend of mine? Which friend could be important enough to be visited by someone as powerful as you?"
The quiet air in the hall started to shake a little when Shen Yi said the name he was looking for.
"Yao Chen."
The elder, who was aligned with the wind element, froze completely. He was utterly shocked, and a clear, sincere surprise showed on his old face.
"Yao Chen?" he whispered, the name feeling like dirt in his mouth. "He... everyone thought he was dead. It happened a long time ago, according to all the stories and rumors. If you are really here asking about him..."
"He is very much alive," Shen Yi said calmly, with absolute certainty.
Feng Xian gasped, his chest rising with deep shock. Even his powerful energy shook violently, like a sudden wind hit by thunder. "Alive...? Really alive? After all these terrible, long years?"
Shen Yi slowly nodded. "Not only is he alive, but he has taken on a new disciple."
Feng Xian blinked once, then again, as if his mind had been thrown off by this unexpected news. "Another disciple? Yao Chen... finally accepted a new student? Who is this young man?"
"His name is Xiao Yan."
When this specific name was mentioned, Feng Xian quickly searched his huge memory, which covered decades of history. Shen Yi watched closely as the old man's surprise slowly changed into a deep, worried confusion.
"I don't know him," Feng Xian said slowly, sounding completely confused. "No young man with that name has ever come here. If he was truly supposed to come to us, I can promise you, Senior, he never did."
Shen Yi leaned back in his seat, his eyes becoming sharper with immense, controlled power. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"
"Absolutely," Feng Xian confirmed, his voice serious with the weight of his belief. "If Yao Chen were alive and had a disciple, he would have contacted me right away. He would never let his student wander the dangerous Central Region without his direct protection."
He then hesitated, noticing the increasingly cold look on Shen Yi's face. "You are worried that something terrible has already happened to them."
Shen Yi didn't raise his voice, but the temperature in the large hall seemed to instantly drop several degrees.
"There are cruel enemies in this world who would not let Yao Chen live peacefully," Shen Yi stated, his voice quiet and deadly calm. "And those same enemies would not let his disciple live for long."
Feng Xian slowly let out a breath as the hard, sad truth finally hit him. "Those monsters who hunted him before... the Soul Clan."
Shen Yi didn't say the clan's name out loud, but both men felt the clear, heavy shadow pass over them like a cold, ghostly hand.
Feng Xian moved closer to the table, placing a steady hand on its old surface. "If the Soul Clan acted so early, then your worst fears are more than right. I have no record, no message, and no rumor at all of Xiao Yan arriving. And if Yao Chen has indeed reappeared, then someone might have made sure he disappeared permanently before ever reaching the safety of my Pavilion."
Shen Yi's eyes grew even colder, the faint starlight in them reflecting sharply. His huge power was gathering, though still tightly controlled within him.
"I had truly hoped the Falling Star Pavilion would be a safe haven for him in this chaotic Central Region," he said, the deep disappointment clear in his calm voice. "Now I see he never even made it to safety."
Feng Xian hesitated, then spoke with a rare and unusually direct tone that cut through the tension:
"What will you do now, after learning this frightening truth?"
Shen Yi stood up suddenly. The whole hall faintly shook around him, reacting to the immense power he could no longer fully contain inside his body.
"I will follow the silence," he said, his voice quiet but echoing with firm, deadly resolve. "When a powerful Dou Zun and a clear genius vanish without a trace, there will always be a sign of the culprit. I will find who harmed them."
The old Pavilion master bowed low, not out of submission, but out of deep, true respect for a man who was knowingly walking into a storm of unimaginable power.
"Should you ever need the Falling Star Pavilion," Feng Xian said, his voice firm and steady, "send a single thread of your soul to the Sky Star Mountain. I will personally come to help you without fail."
Shen Yi gave a quick nod of thanks, then walked back into the open courtyard. The space around him twisted violently and folded in on itself, like silk being pulled into the eye of a needle.
As he completely disappeared, Feng Xian quietly muttered to himself, his tone still filled with heavy, raw disbelief:
"For someone at that supreme level of cultivation... to be so deeply concerned... Yao Chen, your hidden disciple must be an incredibly mysterious and important person."
…
A few days later, the Central Region stretched out endlessly under the pale evening sky, its sharp mountain ridges covered in cold, moving mist. For days, Shen Yi had been ruthlessly searching through it: crossing empty, desolate valleys, destroying small Soul Clan outposts, and tearing apart hidden bases. Yet, each brutal victory only deepened the cold, empty feeling in his chest.
Despite being a Nine-Star Dou Saint, the peak of all known power, he had found absolutely nothing important.
No definite clues remained. No faint echoes of Yao Lao's unique soul flame could be found.
No small sign of Xiao Yan's strong, young energy appeared. Only a profound, complete, and unsettling silence remained.
...
patreon.com/chaosgray
Join for advanced content and support me on my full time writing path.