Before Yang Lujia could ask the System another question, the air several steps away from him suddenly distorted.
Whoosh!
A figure appeared inside the destroyed Trial Ground.
"Grandpa!"
Yang Lujia released the breath he had been holding.
Zhuquan De had returned.
The old man's clothes had been torn in several places, and the gourd he normally kept beside him was gone. Blood also covered his sleeves, but Yang Lujia could not immediately determine whether it belonged to him.
However, Zhuquan De did not appear to care about any of that.
He looked toward Yang Lujia first.
After confirming that his grandson remained unharmed, he turned toward the rest of the Trial Ground.
"Grandpa, what happened? Where did you—"
Zhuquan De raised one hand.
The words that left his mouth afterward were familiar, but Yang Lujia could not understand how they had been arranged.
They did not sound like the scriptures Zhuquan De had taught him about. They also did not form a Grand Script around the Trial Ground.
Still, every word caused the surrounding space to tremble.
"Let the Page of Time rewind the past."
Several characters appeared above Zhuquan De.
Yang Lujia attempted to read them, but they continued changing. One moment, they appeared newly written. The next, they became old enough that portions had already faded.
"Restore all things to their rightful order."
The characters spread throughout the Dragon Brush Sect.
The fires began moving backward.
Ashes rose from the ground and returned to the objects they came from. Broken walls rebuilt themselves, while pieces of vellum slate flew toward the platform and reconnected with the sections where they had previously belonged.
Blood also returned.
It left the ground and entered the bodies of the people who had lost it.
The children who had been buried beneath the debris slowly reappeared as the rubble moved away from them. Their wounds closed, and the missing portions of their bodies returned as though the attack had not yet occurred.
Yang Lujia looked around.
Everything was moving backward.
Only he and Zhuquan De remained unaffected.
"Erase the perpetrators from the Manuscript of Existence."
Several screams entered the Trial Ground.
Yang Lujia could not see the people producing them. The sounds appeared to come from different places beyond the Dragon Brush Sect.
Some were close.
Others sounded incredibly far away.
One after another, they disappeared.
Zhuquan De's raised hand began trembling.
His face had also become pale.
"Grandpa!"
The old man did not look toward him.
He completed the final sentence.
"Continue this story as though this chapter had never been written."
The Dragon Brush Sect shook.
The remaining destruction disappeared.
Yang Lujia looked toward Zhuquan De. 'What did you do?'
The Eternal Quill responded before the old man could explain.
[Reality has changed.]
[Existence permits the alterations made.]
[Order has been restored.]
Yang Lujia attempted to move toward his grandfather.
Before he could take the first step, everything surrounding him disappeared. There was no light or spatial distortion.
One moment, he remained inside the Trial Ground.
The next, he found himself standing upon the porch of the dwelling he shared with Zhuquan De.
The old bench remained beside the wall.
Several empty gourds had been left beneath it, while the manuscripts forming the roof continued moving whenever the wind passed through them.
Everything appeared normal.
"Grandpa?"
Yang Lujia looked inside the dwelling.
Zhuquan De was not there.
He turned toward the path leading back to the main buildings of the sect.
There was no sign of the old man.
For several moments, Yang Lujia wondered whether the attack had been an illusion. Perhaps the explosions, the deaths, and the Eternal Quill's awakening had never actually happened.
Then he noticed the scroll inside his hand.
He did not remember receiving it.
The material felt old, but it remained warm against his palm.
The moment Yang Lujia loosened his grip, the scroll floated into the air and slowly opened.
Zhuquan De's handwriting appeared across it.
"Little one,
The method I used to return the Trial Ground to its previous condition required a greater price than you can currently understand.
Simply put, I forced Reality to accept my request.
Reality does not normally permit someone to change what has already happened. It may make an exception, but when it does, the person responsible must pay for that exception.
As payment, I was returned to my point of origin.
That is the place from which I came before our paths crossed upon the War Battleground.
Do not search for me inside the Verdant Archive. I am no longer there.
There is something else you need to understand.
The strength that protected you from the explosions, the fire, and the falling vellum slate did not belong to me.
It belonged to you.
The chains sealing your Ink Manuscript have begun loosening. You may have already noticed that one of them has cracked.
I told you that your foundation was incomplete. That was not entirely false, but it was also not the complete truth.
Your power was sealed because the Verdant Archive could not withstand its complete awakening.
The Verdant Archive is only a Lower Archive. Its laws permit cultivators to reach only a certain Page. Your actual strength exists beyond that limit.
Placing your complete strength inside this Archive would be similar to forcing an ocean into a small cup. The ocean would not be the thing placed in danger. It would be the cup attempting to contain it.
Within Reality exists something known as Order.
Order prevents Archives from collapsing beneath contradictions they cannot endure. It does not act because it hates or favors anyone. It only protects the boundaries Reality has established.
When I used the Page of Time, Order removed me from the Verdant Archive.
Do not resent it, little one. It only performed the duty given to it.
Perhaps you will eventually leave this Archive and reach the place where I have been returned.
When that happens, I hope we meet beneath gentler skies.
Lastly, congratulations.
A portion of your sealed Ink Manuscript has finally awakened.
Regardless of where Reality sends me, I will always be proud of you.
Take care of yourself, little one.
—Grandpa"
Yang Lujia slowly lowered the letter.
Zhuquan De was gone.
The old man had not simply left the Dragon Brush Sect to handle an important matter. He had been removed from the entire Verdant Archive.
Yang Lujia looked toward the bench.
The gourd Zhuquan De had used earlier remained beside it. There was still a small amount of Dragon Ink Drip inside, but the old man would no longer return to finish it.
The letter remained warm.
Yang Lujia did not know whether Zhuquan De had intentionally left the warmth behind or whether it came from the remaining Ink inside the scroll.
He continued holding it.
A heavy feeling gradually formed inside his chest.
Yang Lujia had spent two lifetimes relying upon himself.
In both of them, he had learned that waiting for someone to protect him usually accomplished nothing. He made decisions alone, accepted the results alone, and continued moving regardless of whether anyone remained beside him.
He had friends, colleagues, and students. He also had people who relied upon him.
However, none of them had treated him the way Zhuquan De did.
The old man cared for him before Yang Lujia had done anything to deserve it.
Zhuquan De rescued him from the War Battleground. He damaged his own cultivation to prevent the Verdant Archive from erasing him. Then, when the Trial Ground was destroyed, he used the Page of Time even though he knew Reality would demand a price from him.
He did not ask Yang Lujia whether he would repay any of it.
He simply did those things because he considered Yang Lujia family.
'So this is what having a family feels like.'
To have someone worried about whether he lived or died.
To have someone believe in his worth before he had achieved anything.
To have someone so irritating that he would announce three simple words throughout the entire sect yet still return without hesitation when Yang Lujia was in danger.
In both of his previous lives, Yang Lujia had been an orphan.
His third life began the same way.
However, Zhuquan De prevented him from remaining one.
Yang Lujia rolled the letter carefully.
"I will find you, Grandpa."
He placed the scroll inside his robe.
"I do not know where your point of origin is, but I will eventually reach it."
The porch remained silent.