A group returned to the foot of Celestial Eagle Mountain. Fang Qingyuan was not at the front of the procession. Accompanying him was a middle-aged man wearing the tall cap of a Confucian scholar. He wore his lake-blue robe with one arm through a sleeve, the other side left open to reveal the metallic inner armor beneath.
The man had sword-like brows, a long beard, deep-set eyes, and thin lips. He was stern and unsmiling, exuding the air of a deadly warrior, as skilled with the pen as with the sword.
This was Ji Xinlong of the Great Zhou Academy, an Early-stage Golden Core Cultivator. Previously, he had been responsible for leading the hunt for Demon Cultivators deep within White Mountain during the pioneering war. Now, in the aftermath, his role had shifted, and he had become the Steward in charge of demarcating the new Spiritual Lands.
Fang Qingyuan held no superior standing in his presence, especially now that he had left the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect.
