Capítulo 295: Returning Home
On the Qi Plane, the Dao Clone of Qi, who had decided to stick by his original name of Yaan, made his way through the dark forest.
He was only an ordinary mortal human, yet he walked through the forest without rest, passing by the Rank 1, Rank 2 and Rank 3 beasts, without even being noticed.
He did not know how long he walked for, because there was no discernible day and night in the forest. However, he had been walking without stop, until he finally arrived at his heart's destination.
Lightstone Village.
Yaan had not really intended to seek out Lightstone Village specifically, he was simply following the direction of his heart. However, once he reached his home village, he found himself standing there, dazed by what lay ahead.
He knew that his home village had been destroyed by the beast tide which had forced him to flee from the Heavenly Path Sect back then. He had expected to find nothing of his former village by now, since hundreds of years had passed by since that day…
But that was not what Yaan found. What he found, was a guarded mecca in the midst of the overgrown forest. A formation protected the graveyard of a village within, and there were actually guards, donning the uniform of the Heavenly Path Sect, surrounding the formation, keeping watch over the surroundings.
Nobody was inside of the formation. Nobody was able to enter the formation, making it look like the desolated village was a patch of history frozen in time.
Silently, Yaan continued walking, passing by the guards and phasing through the formation walls like a spectre.
He was only a mortal, but his dao comprehension remained – at least, his intuitive understanding of dao remained, meaning that he could do things like this without even thinking about it.
Yaan entered Lightstone Village – or at least, what remained of it.
Back then, when the beast tide tore through the Greenwood Mountain Range, practically every mortal settlement was ripped to shreds. Countless lives were lost in that disaster, and only those living under the Yuso Clan's protection were able to survive…
Of course, there was no longer any Yuso Clan in this world, not after Yaan schemed against them and used the Ghu Clan to annihilate the previously unmatched Northern clan.
Yaan walked into his home village slowly. Although it was slightly overgrown with weeds and the like, there were still many ruined buildings remaining, and the pathways which he recalled from his youth were all still as he remembered them.
Eventually, he reached the central village square. He quietly looked down at the simple cobblestone ground beneath his feet, remembering when hundreds of years ago, this was the very same place that his entire village had gathered to greet the 'Lord Immortal'.
But that so called 'Lord Immortal' was just an ordinary elder from the Heavenly Path Sect. That man had massacred Yaan's family back then, driving him to the brink of madness as the desire to seek revenge overwhelmed his confused heart.
In the end, that elder was killed in the beast tide, leaving Yaan lost, alone, and without direction.
Yaan looked up and sighed as he thought back on those ancient memories. He sighed, because this cobblestone square…had now become an actual graveyard. Countless tombstones had been placed into the ground, each inscribed with the names of their fallen villagers. Yaan noticed that his family's graves had also been marked in this place…
He also saw that amongst this graveyard, a small tree had sprouted, growing up from the cracks of these ruins, as if its life refused to be extinguished. Yaan wasn't sure why, but for some reason, when he looked at this small tree, it gave him a very familiar feeling, making him want to protect this tree, despite not knowing why.
Before long, Yaan took one last glance at the unique tree which he would definitely return to later on, then continued to silently walk through the village.
Eventually, Yaan reached his old home…
He slowly wondered through his family's barren farm lands, then walked up to the stream that he used to wash himself in. When Yaan saw that this small, seemingly insignificant stream, had actually survived for all of these years, he finally couldn't help but smile.
He smiled not because his home was still somewhat intact, even if it was a desolate ruin of what it had once been…he smiled because he knew that for all of this to still be here, protected by such a grand formation along with members from the Heavenly Path Sect, it could only mean one thing.
Elia was still alive, and she had been keeping their home in one piece for all of these years.
For now, Yaan had seen enough of his broken hometown, which was now nothing more than a graveyard frozen in time, standing as a testament to the past. No, rather than lingering on the past…Yaan wanted to return to the present.
He stopped concealing himself from the formation, causing him to immediately be detected. The formation, which was previously invisible to the naked eye, suddenly became illuminated with golden light. The entire ruins of Lightstone Village were now surrounded by a giant golden dome. This dome was covered in countless complex runes and inscriptions, the likes of which would leave others feeling stunned.
As Yaan looked up at the dome and studied the formation properly for the first time, his smile widened and a warm feeling filled his heart.
"She put quite a lot of effort into constructing this formation…this should have been made by Elia herself, with the assistance of multiple Origin Soul Realm formations masters…"
Some time passed by as Yaan continued to look at the formation with a smile. In his eyes, this formation was not just a formation – it was a display of Elia's will, her desire to keep her past intact, and to never forget where she came from.
This formation had clearly been built up, altered, and improved, countless times over the years. Yaan could just picture it…the young Elia, doing her best to create her first formation to protect her homeland, after building a graveyard for everyone with her own hands…
As the years passed by, that young Elia grew up, building up the formation with greater and greater strength, until finally…
"No way…" A breathless voice came from behind Yaan, causing his heart to tremble. For a moment, he froze…as that familiar voice entered his ears, even though he had been expecting it…he still froze.
The voice from behind echoed out once again.
"Yaan…is that…is that really you?"
Slowly, Yaan turned around. Behind him were stood multiple powerful cultivators, all but one of whom were staring at him sternly and uncertainly. Only the frontmost cultivator, a stunning blonde-haired woman wearing a white robe with red and gold embroidery, looked at Yaan without any fear or uncertainty. Instead, her gaze trembled with a mixture of disbelief, and a feeling that this was simply too surreal.
The current Yaan was a Dao Clone of his full self and looked very different compared to the past, yet Elia could still feel that somehow, this silver-haired mortal…was her childhood friend.
As for Yaan, he would never mistake the woman before his eyes for anyone else – she was Elia, his childhood friend…his friend whom he had abandoned back then…
But now, he had returned…finally, he had returned.
Yaan's smile widened as he examined Elia closely. She had truly grown up into a beauty of unparalleled proportions, but not only that, she had actually reached the Origin Soul Realm! Well, it had been hundreds of years, yet she still looked like a young woman, so it was obvious that her cultivation realm must have reached this stage.
He wasn't particularly surprised, since he knew about her Heavenly Light Constitution, which all but assured her success in all of her cultivation endeavours.
"Elia…you've grown up."
When Yaan responded a voice so smooth that it didn't befit any mortal in this world, the elders behind Elia became even more wary. However, Elia's eyes widened, before suddenly tearing up.
"So have you, Yaan…"
Without warning, the blonde woman suddenly threw herself forwards and wrapped her arms around the silver-haired young man's slender body.
"Yaan! You…what took you so long?! Where have been for all these years?! Ever since that day, I…I've been…so alone…I did everything alone…I was always waiting…I always knew you would come back…but why…why did it take you so long…"
The elders stood behind their sect master and stared with dumbfounded expressions. From this, Yaan could tell that this sort of emotional display was something that Elia had never shown before others in her life.
She was an esteemed Origin Soul Realm cultivator, and the current generation sect master of the Heavenly Path Sect! However, even she could not remain composed, after suddenly coming face to face with her childhood friend, whom she had not seen for hundreds of years.
As she held onto him so tightly, as if she was terrified of letting him go once again, Yaan's gaze softened, and he finally returned the embrace. He allowed Elia to bury her face in his red robe, hiding her muffled sobs and tears from the elders behind her.
Yaan casually waved his sleeve, and just like that, he and Elia were alone.
The stunned elders felt terrified when they found that they were no longer within the formation which had alerted them that there was an intruder in their sect's forbidden zone. They all looked at one another fearfully, not understanding how a seemingly mortal man had managed to push them away without them being able to resist in the least.
After the elders were gone, the sound of Elia's sobbing grew louder, but Yaan's gaze towards her only became more gentle. He felt a deep pain in his heart, knowing that he was largely to blame for all of her suffering, the suffering that she was finally letting out now, after it had built up for so many hundreds of years.
His heart felt pained, but this only caused his determination to grow stronger. He had arrived in this world only knowing that he wanted to go home, but not really knowing what he would do after that…
But now, as he held the emotional woman in his arms, Yaan finally understood.
"Elia, I'm sorry, I've made you suffer…but I'm back now, and this time, I'm not going anywhere. I promise you…I will protect our home."
As a golden ripple spread out from his body, the Dao Clone of Qi swore its first Dao Oath, signifying that it had found its path.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
SpicyDaoist
SpicyDaoist For people wondering about Shi in the last chapter - Shi was the young girl who called Yaan 'Uncle' during his time in Namuh Village, the girl that he and Flora basically adopted after her parents died. As for why she wants to kill him...it hasn't been stated explicitly in the novel yet, so I'm not going to outright say it.
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