Otherworldly Affairs Office

Chapter 1103: Leaving Home, Keeping an Appointment

No matter how imposing and invincible you may appear in front of outsiders, at home, in your mother’s eyes, you’ll always be that rash, easily hurt child. Despite Pei Yan repeatedly reassuring his mother that these injuries are merely superficial and given his current cultivation, won’t leave any lasting damage, Li Yuhua still regrets agreeing to let her son go. Now, with both her son and daughter engaged in such dangerous work, the mere thought of possibly losing one of them leaves Li Yuhua deeply anxious and in agony.Seeing this, Pei Yan could only tell his mother that now, having joined the investigation department, his life is more safeguarded. He imagined what could have happened if he and his sister had been found by Shen Yi first, leading them astray with unimaginable consequences, and assured her he wouldn’t recklessly endanger himself anymore. Li Yuhua’s emotions eased somewhat, but she still couldn’t avoid offering earnest and heartfelt advice.

Having had clear discussions with his family, Pei Yan no longer had any lingering concerns in his heart. Over the next two days, the whole family gathered together happily. Most of Pei Yan’s time was spent introducing his parents to the magical artifacts purchased from the Daoist Realm, explaining their functions. These gadgets, much like the wind chimes they bought on their first shopping trip, don’t require Source Energy to activate the internal arrays; just a small external force can trigger their effects. Among them are wind chimes for calming the mind, teapots for improving water quality and nourishing the body, and so forth.

A small portion of the artifacts requires Source Energy activation; for these, Pei Yan made arrangements to have Daoist Realm-specific Source Energy Ore embedded by craftsmen. This way, he only needs to teach his parents how to activate them for normal use.

The two elders were amazed by these items and meticulously recorded details, especially Li Yuhua, who prepared a little notebook to jot down Pei Yan’s instructions on using each item. In her eyes, these are celestial artifacts not to be taken lightly, and more importantly, they represent her children’s filial devotion.

Joyful moments always pass quickly; three days slipped by this way. Though Li Yuhua was reluctant for her children to leave, she understood from her son that they still had important tasks at hand. This visit was during a break in their missions, and if they didn’t return on time, other team members wouldn’t be able to reunite with their families.

Thus, she suppressed her worries for her children’s safety and bid them a cheerful farewell, watching the siblings board the bus leading to the outside world. Sitting by the window, they continually waved goodbye to their parents outside, until their figures gradually disappeared from view. On the surface, the now mature Pei Yan showed little emotional fluctuation, though deep inside, a sense of loneliness lingered.

"Both the matter with Blood Sha and the Blood Race should be settled quickly! We can’t let our parents live in constant fear," Pei Yan resolved, leaning against the window.

"Mm!" Pei Jin responded from beside him.

Once the bus had left the resort, the siblings got off, preferring to avoid displaying abilities that might scare away other families sending off loved ones, unaware of the truth. Now, beyond the resort’s sightline, they had no qualms about using the Instant Teleportation Technique, arriving at the Teleportation Array within Jiezhi Space in just a few breaths.

The array’s exit led directly to the investigation department headquarters. After exiting the array, Pei Yan did not rush to teleport back to the Daoist Realm but followed the receiving staff who had been waiting for him to meet with the appointed Elder Cen.

He was surprised that the meeting location this time was not in Elder Cen’s office but rather in the headquarters’ training hall. As he stepped into the spacious training hall, he immediately felt several energies lock onto him. Following the sensations, Pei Yan noticed that most of these gazes came from an observation room on the second floor of the training hall.

"You’ve arrived. I see you’re in good spirits, it seems this holiday has relaxed your mind and body! That’s good, balanced like that! Being too tense can break a person."

The speaker was Elder Cen waiting in the center of the hall. Upon hearing, Pei Yan quickly walked up to him, sizing him up before squatting down in disbelief: "How have you declined so rapidly?"

He had only seen this elder three days ago, and though his Source Energy was near depletion, he still looked like a healthy, vigorous old man. But seeing him today, Elder Cen seemed like a punctured balloon, his figure shriveled, becoming thin, dry, and lifeless; his facial muscles sunken, no longer looking so full of life. He curled up in a wheelchair, listless, so much that Pei Yan had to carefully control his grip when holding his slender wrist, afraid of accidentally hurting him.

"Old ailment, my end is near! I’m just holding on to complete what little I have left to do." Elder Cen said reversing his hand to grasp Pei Yan’s, his gaze drifting to a person beside him as he introduced: "As I mentioned, a few of my peers wanted to meet you, and he’s the main one! His surname is Yue."

"Hello, Elder Yue." Pei Yan had already noticed the elder beside Elder Cen. Compared to the frail Cen Xiaoran, this elder was full of energy and vigor. Based on Elder Cen’s words, if this man were a peer of his, he’d be over ninety, yet he looked only fifty or sixty, with a tall, strong physique and piercing eyes, constantly observing Pei Yan.

"Don’t call me Elder Yue! I don’t tie red strings, my name is Yue, Yue Yong. Before retiring, I was the head of the Action Team in the department. If you’re willing, just call me old team leader!" the elder replied, loud and confident, smiling.

"Alright, Old Team Leader Yue!"

"You’re Pei Yan! Very good, truly the Yangtze River waves push the waves ahead, the old waves die on the beach! You can’t fight youth! I’ve watched all your matches, and didn’t expect you could achieve such a realm at such a young age. When I broke through Tier Eight Cultivation, I was almost seventy, and that’s where I’ve stayed my whole life, but you’re not even thirty this year, are you?"

While speaking, Elder Yue placed a hand on Pei Yan’s shoulder, his gaze expressing a mixture of envy, appreciation, and admiration: "You’ve come at a fortunate time with multiple abilities, awakening, and Divine Artifacts, things we didn’t dare dream of before! You’re the most comprehensive capable adept I’ve seen. If we’d had your powers back then, we wouldn’t have had to bow so low to other realms, yet..."

"Old Yue...!"

Elder Yue’s words were cut short by Cen Xiaoran in the wheelchair, who was not angered, but exhaled, shook his head, and sighed: "Let’s not talk about it, it’s all in the past! Elder Cen, you go ahead with your matters with this young man, my affairs aren’t urgent."