His mind wandered as he walked on the stone path, feeling in the serene atmosphere. He thought about the history of the sect that he had gathered in the city, even though it was only bits and pieces, they were proof of the ancient heritage of the sect.
He soon came before the cherry tree after wandering around his courtyard for a bit, its delicate pink blossoms swaying gently with the breeze. He fell in a momentary trance while observing the cherry tree.
He thought back to the last trial that he had to go through during the Pagoda Trials, reminiscing about those lives he lived, but he soon realized that something was amiss with those lives.
He shook his head as he felt the serene atmosphere around him once again. He took out a chair and a small table from his storage ring, placing them beneath the cherry tree's wide canopy.
He settled on the chair comfortably, feeling himself calming down with the gentle winds and the faint scent of the falling cherry leaves.
He decided to rest for a moment as he closed his eyes, lying with his back on the chair.
After a while, he opened his eyes and decided to retrieve a gourd of alcohol and a few cups from his storage ring, he opened the stopper of the gourd and poured himself a cup.
He brought it to his lips, savoring the exotic taste of the alcohol as he leaned back and sipped leisurely.
'That trial..' he thought to himself after drinking a few cups of wine. 'That trial was really weird, it felt as if it was real yet gave the feeling of it being a false reality.'
He mused to himself for quite some time while enjoying the liquor. Seemingly hearing his inner muttering, a familiar voice echoed inside his mind.
[Shen Yuan,] Yue Lan's voice chimed in softly as if wondering what he was pondering about
Shen Yuan set his cup down on the table, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Yue Lan," he murmured in a soft voice before his expression turned serious, "We need to discuss that trial..."
He leaned back on the chair, knowing that the conversation would be a long one as he had many doubts.
He stood up and said heroically when Yue Lan's lazy voice sounded,
[...and thorns.]
Shen Yuan felt his eyes twitch a little but he ignored her comment and started walking towards the exit.
Yue Lan thought to herself, 'Good, his personality didn't change much even after going through that many lives, he still has his youthful brilliance in him. Otherwise, it would be hard to increase his Harem hehe~'
As Shen Yuan stepped out of his courtyard, the morning sunlight bathed the entire outer sect in a soft golden glow., "It's going to be noon soon now,"
He looked around at the absolutely massive outer sect, "How massive is this sect anyways, I had to take multiple spatial portals just to visit the Radiant Heart Peak. And there are spatial portals in the outer sect as well to visit one place to another."
But he soon spotted a portal some distance away from him, being guarded by disciples as they collected spirit stones to allow disciples access to the spatial portal.
Shen Yuan smirked slightly, thinking how convenient it was to have these portals around, "This place is another level, no wonder it reached its current heights of being one of the most prestigious sects of the entire Eastern Desolate Region."
As he walked towards the portal, he saw a few female disciples chatting among themselves. They stole a few glances in his direction, seemingly flustered at having a male disciple inside the sect with them.
He ignored their glances as he headed toward the portal, he knew it would be a common occurrence from now on as they would wonder about his presence inside the sect.
The guarding disciples glanced at each other, thinking where this new male disciple would like to go.
Shen Yuan soon stood in front of the portal, admiring its exquisite design as he saw the runes softly glowing from time to time.
Just then, a female disciple took a step forward and asked him in a polite tone, "Where would you like to go from here?"