Frostbound Heavenly Range.
“This is so boring.”
A young man bundled up in a thick fur coat yawned and stared listlessly across the endless white landscape.
“I really don’t get what the higher-ups are thinking. News of Li Yun’s death came out more than a month ago, and they still have us waiting out here.” He shook his head. “How is a dead man supposed to come back?”
“Who knows?” The slightly older cultivator beside him gave a helpless shrug. “Maybe it’s mostly for the Profound Origin Immortal Sect’s sake.”
He lowered his voice a little. “The Profound Origin Immortal Sect is one of the Five Supreme Factions, after all, and Li Yun was one of their most promising geniuses. With someone like him vanishing during a trial run by the Celestial Prodigy Camp, the higher-ups must be under a lot of pressure.”
The young man in the fur coat sighed. “That may be true, but we’re the ones paying for it. We’ve been stuck in the Frostbound Heavenly Range for a whole month, and every day there’s nothing but snow, ice, and more snow.”
He rubbed his face. “How much longer are we supposed to stay here?”
“Just hang in there a little longer.”
The older cultivator was about to say more to comfort him when his expression suddenly froze and his eyes went wide.
“What?” the younger man asked with a frown.
The older cultivator pointed across the distant snowfield. “Someone’s coming.”
“What do you mean, someone’s coming?” The young man curled his lip. “Who besides us would still be wandering around this huge mountain range after the trial’s over?”
Then he followed the other man’s gaze, and his voice trailed off.
“Wait... there really is someone.”
Far out on the endless white expanse, a tiny black dot had appeared. At first it was so small that it was hard to tell apart from the terrain around it, but it quickly grew larger until a human figure took shape.
A young man in white robes was walking calmly across the frozen landscape. His pace looked leisurely, yet every step carried him hundreds of feet forward, and within moments his features became clear.
The young man in the fur coat stared at him, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Li Yun? He’s alive?”
The older cultivator was just as stunned. For a moment, he honestly wondered whether spending too long in this endless snow had made him start seeing things, so he pinched his thigh hard.
“Ow!”
The sharp pain convinced him at once that he was not dreaming. The white-robed figure coming toward them looked exactly like the portrait they had been shown. There was no mistake about it. It was Li Yun.
“Heavens...” The older cultivator swallowed. “A man everyone thought had been dead for over a month just walked out of the Frostbound Heavenly Range.”
He could barely take in what he was seeing, and by the time he finally recovered from the shock, Li Yun was already standing in front of them.
The older cultivator hurriedly cupped his hands. “You must be Li Yun, right?”
Li Yun stopped. “That’s me.”
The two cultivators grew excited at once.
“Brother Li, we’re members of the Celestial Prodigy Camp. Elder Mu Cang ordered us to stay here and watch for any sign of you. The moment you showed up, our job was to escort you safely back to the camp.”
Li Yun raised an eyebrow. “The Celestial Prodigy Camp still exists?”
The two men looked confused. “Of course it does.”
Li Yun frowned slightly. “A year has already gone by. I assumed the camp would have gone through some big changes by now.”
“A year?” Both men stared at him, and the younger one hesitated. “Brother Li... you’ve only been missing for a little over thirty days.”
Li Yun froze. “Thirty days?”
Then understanding slowly dawned in his eyes. ‘So that’s how it is.’
Time on Chronospace Island flowed differently from the outside world. About ten days on Chronospace Island seemed to match only a single day outside. Li Yun had spent roughly a year there, yet only a little over a month had passed out here. Considering the terrifying methods of the Chronospace Sovereign, a difference in the flow of time like that no longer seemed especially hard to believe.
Li Yun turned his attention back to the two cultivators and cupped his hands politely.
“Then I’ll trouble you to take me back to the Celestial Prodigy Camp.”
“Of course,” they answered at once. “It’s our duty.”
They clearly did not dare to treat Li Yun casually. A genius who had disappeared into the Frostbound Heavenly Range and come back alive after being presumed dead was enough to make anyone careful. Neither of them yet understood just how much Li Yun had changed during that missing month.
Inside the Celestial Prodigy Camp, Elder Mu Cang was sitting in a secluded chamber when a communication artifact suddenly lit up, and his expression changed almost immediately.
“What did you say? Li Yun is alive?”
An excited voice answered from the other end. “Yes, Elder. We’ve confirmed his identity ourselves. Li Yun is with us now, and we’re already on our way back to the Celestial Prodigy Camp.”
Elder Mu Cang slammed the table in excitement. “Good!”
A broad smile spread across his face. “That brat sure is hard to kill.”
He quickly composed himself. “Listen carefully. You’re to bring him back safely, and nothing is allowed to happen on the way. If there’s another accident, I’ll hold the two of you personally responsible.”
“Understood.”
The transmission ended, and Elder Mu Cang leaned back in his seat. Then he suddenly burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! Li Yun, you little monster, you really did survive.”
Soon his expression turned serious again. “I need to report this to Elder Qing.”
He got up and headed deeper into the camp’s restricted area, and before long he entered a hidden chamber where Elder Qing was seated.
“Senior,” Elder Mu Cang said at once, “we’ve had news from the Frostbound Heavenly Range. Li Yun is alive.”
“I know,” Elder Qing said with a calm nod.
Elder Mu Cang blinked. He had expected surprise, perhaps even excitement, yet Elder Qing looked completely composed.
Elder Qing noticed his confusion and smiled. “You think I’m taking this too calmly.”
Elder Mu Cang did not deny it.
Elder Qing stroked his beard. “I never really believed Li Yun would die so easily. His fate is unusual, and when someone like him disappears without leaving a body behind, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s dead.”
His eyes gleamed. “While he was missing, he most likely came across some extraordinary opportunity.”
He leaned back slightly. “Just watch. Once he’s back, the Celestial Prodigy Camp won’t stay peaceful for long.”
There was a look of anticipation in his eyes.

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