The Cloud River Sect was a colossus that had held this region for many years, ruling it like a local emperor. And the Cloud River Sect Master himself was a formidable cultivator who had been there ever since the sect was founded.

His standing could hardly have been higher.

His great age explained something else. Most cultivators who had come through that hundred-thousand-year kalpa of chaos and slaughter alive had, at one time or another, been helped by the purple-whiskered white dragons.

"No need for pleasantries. Saving the person comes first."

The Cloud River Sect Master waved his sleeve lightly and stopped the Immortal Maiden Zilan from bowing. Instead, he cupped his hands and gave her the salute of an equal.

A friend of the East Dragon Palace had run into trouble in the waters and lands under his rule, and the Cloud River Sect had known nothing about it. That was embarrassing enough.

The cultivators on the clouds looked at the Immortal Maiden Zilan, whose name rang across Hongze. Even as her immortal beauty drew their eyes, shame showed on every face.

Even the Red Maple Valley, their own vassal, had needed an outsider like the Immortal Maiden Zilan to come to its rescue.

If word ever spread, they would be a laughingstock.

"Senior, my Dao Friend here has already come back on his own."

The Immortal Maiden Zilan gave a helpless smile and gently put everyone's worry to rest.

The Cloud River Sect Master paused. "Didn't your letter say there was a great demon close to the Dao-merging realm?"

The Immortal Maiden Zilan glanced sideways at Shen Yi and fell silent.

He would not say, so how was she supposed to know what had happened? She had felt that great demon's strength for herself, and it was real. Even a junior of a great Beihong clan like Yue Tiance, a rare talent with a rich bloodline, could never have come back without a scratch.

Following the Immortal Maiden's gaze, the crowd of figures on the clouds all turned to look at the young man in the ink-black robe.