Chapter 630: Return Once More
Milin Prefecture was the Yu Family's ancestral stronghold and the most fertile area in all the mortal lands around Moongaze Lake. At its height, it supported a population of 560,000, but decades of decline had reduced that number to just 220,000.
The land here was flat and rich, a vast and fertile plain. Yet, with the loss of Yu Mugao's leadership, the mortal inhabitants had fallen into destitution, and most of the arable land and mineral resources had been seized by clan elders and external cultivators.
An Zheyan rode the wind as he flew toward the prefecture. Though he was now an old man, a faint joy was unmistakable on his face.
It wasn't hard to understand his feelings. His life had been a series of dramatic ups and downs: first rising to prominence by overthrowing the Ji Family and being hailed as the father of a prodigy, only to see his clan exterminated and his son killed by Yu Mugao and Yu Xiaogui. Reduced to hiding among mortals, he had barely survived.
In the end, he sought refuge with the Li Family, experienced repeated breakthroughs in cultivation, reinvented himself, and even remarried and started a new family. Now, after all these years, he was returning to Yu Family lands with a large force of cultivators at his back. Sixty-seven years had passed like a fleeting dream, and his eyes brimmed with tears.
"Jingming... even if this was achieved by borrowing the strength of the Li Family, it is still a real chance to repay this humiliation. Give me a few more years, and I will repay every drop of blood debt in kind!" He murmured to himself, "You always saw farther than I did..."
He thought back to his talented son, who had urged him to escape through the hidden tunnel and repeatedly told him to seek shelter with the Li Family. At the time, An Zheyan thought it was akin to walking into a trap, but over the years, he came to accept it—and even be grateful.
Milin Peak slowly came into view. Several Yu Family cultivators flew up to intercept him but were stopped at the perimeter. An Zheyan, his posture deliberately arrogant, strode confidently forward with his hands clasped behind his back, saying nothing as he stood before the grand formation.
Glancing at the barrier, he smirked and said, "Well, who would have thought…"