Everything around the Bonejade was swept away with absolute force. Including both attackers as well as Bai Qi and the unconscious Wu Ren.

Thankfully, Deng Guiying reacted in time, and a part of his aura was sent to protect the latter two. He had been successful, and both he and the injured landed safely a few hundreds of feet away. Opposed to Lord Shou, who did not manage to react in time and was slammed against one of the arena's walls.

Still, Bai Qi's condition was far from good, and albeit he did not get injured further, it was indeed the proverbial straw for his consciousness.

The last thing that passed through his mind before he submerged into the welcoming darkness was - "Does the Bonejade plan to escape?"

___________________________________________________________________

A day later. Falling Leaves Residential District, 'Purple Haze' Manor, Main Quarters.

As Bai Qi opened his eyes, he found himself in a bed, surrounded by a faint golden glow, one unmistakenly coming from an active formation.

"You have awoken? Good, it means that my healing formation is effective as always. Don't move for now" A barely audible voice entered his ears before he could move.

"Who?" Bai Qi complied and did not try to get up, which was his first intention. Even so, he decided to try and find what was going on.

"Young man, it would be better for you to lay calmly and not speak for now. But I do understand your bewilderment, so I will explain. You were heavily wounded in the battle that took place yesterday and lost consciousness during its final part. Right now, you are in your manor, and I am healing you on the Revered Elder Deng order" Albeit with a tinge of dissatisfaction the low voice explained.

Bai Qi could not see the speaker, and expanding his senses would interfere with the formation. Still, he was at home and Senior Deng sent someone to heal him, which meant...

"Was the Bonejade destroyed?!"

"Young Man, calm yourself or I will be forced to put you to sleep!" The voice said angrily.

"When I finish, you will get your answers" After a pause, it added more gently.

***

Finishing meant for the formation to heal Bai Qi's body, and it truly did not take long after he woke up. Obviously, damage remained, and the accumulated impacts, wounds, exertion, and fatigue would take a far longer time to be dealt with, but at least his body had been mended.

"Thank you, Grandmaster" As the formation dispersed, Bai Qi spoke up.

"Did you guess my rank from the formation? Not bad, young man, not bad at all"

"Can I?"

"I would not recommend you to get up for a day or two. Haaa... But I know that no youngster listens to a healer, so yes, go ahead"

Bai Qi slowly sat on the bed and after taking a deep breath, briefly examined the surroundings, as well the man standing in front.

He then carefully stood up, and slowly saluted the young-looking formation grandmaster who had healed him up.

"No need for thanks, Revered Elder Deng asked me to heal everyone who was implicated in the incident, and I fulfilled it" With a wave of his hand, he sent a strand of aura that prevented Bai Qi from bowing.

"But how could I not thank someone who spent half a day setting and maintaining a Half-Saint level 'Restoration Formation'?"

"So not only you determined the type and rank, but you also know how much time it takes for it to take effect? Are you advancing on the path of the Formation as well?" The man asked with interest while lightly smiling.

"I do not claim to have advanced, but I do possess a small amount of knowledge about the path" Bai Qi shamelessly lied. After all, if his amount of knowledge was small, then what about the Grandmaster in front?

"Knowledgeable, sincere and humble! Young man, your name is Chen Guang, right?"

"Mmm"

"Become my disciple"

"Huh?"

"Your hearing is absolutely fine, so no need to feign that you did not hear me. Become my disciple" The man repeated.

"Excuse me, Grandmaster. But I intend to follow the martial path" Bai Qi declined courteously while thinking for himself "And I don't know anything about you, not even your name!"

"What a shame, the best seeds all go to the dangerous and unworthy path of combat and bloodshed..." Probably the man would have continued ranting, but at this moment the door into the room was kicked open.

"Chen Guang! You awake, good. Did Grandmaster Li already offer you a chance to become his disciple?" Deng Guiying entered the room like it was his own, and using aura moved a chair near the bed.

"Elder Deng! How you can just crash inside without first asking? What if I was manipulating one of the formations and killed your protege because of you?"

"You probably jest, Grandmaster. No matter what I or anyone else did, you would not get distracted. Especially after declaring your intention to get him as a disciple"

"Hmph" The grandmaster scowled while turning his face away.

"And I am sorry, but I will need to have a long and serious talk with Chen Guang, so..."

"I will be taking my leave, no need to ask twice" Grandmaster Li said in a slightly offended tone, before turning to Bai Qi and flashing him a smile while remembering him to think about the Path of Formations.

Seeing the youthful-looking grandmaster leave, Bai Qi repressed a small laugh. After all, it would be too untactful to laugh at a person who practically had saved his life. Or at least shortened most of his healing to a single day.

"He does not keep a formation on his face because of vanity" Deng Guiying followed Bai Qi's gaze and said in a low voice.

"I would never think so, Revered Elder. Still, it is a bit unusual for an old grandmaster to use such looks"

"They aren't his but his late son's"

"Oh"

"Do not think much about it, Grandmaster Li is anything but a person who keeps grudges. Well, except against a single couple from the 'Blood Bridge Sect'. But I did not come here to tell you about someone else's past but to ask you a few things related to yesterday's incident"

"Mmm, I understand. Although if I am permitted, I also have some questions to ask"

"I know, but there is not much to tell. After you lost consciousness during the last attack, the Bonejade took flight and escaped" Deng Guiying did not want to lie, but Lord Sheng did ask him to avoid telling anything except the basics. And it wasn't to hide anything from Chen Guang but to protect him. Indeed, if someone of the Demon Worshippers spies found that a simple Sage realm cultivator knew about how did the Bonejade, and Tui Mogwai escaped... He would be targeted for information.

"And the formations? The reinforcements? Casualties? Am I permitted to know anything about that?" Bai Qi immediately understood from the unease that Deng Guiying hid while giving his short answer that something had gone badly. And that whatever it was, it was something to be not revealed to Bai Qi.

"...There was a severe incident during the escape and albeit I am not one to hide things, what happened does merit such means. So no, the only thing that I can say is that both hostiles escaped and that the two people that were accompanying you are alive" Deng Guiying took a long pause before making up his mind, and in the end, only shared what he was allowed to.

"Qiu Zemin is alright?" Bai Qi immediately asked. He had seen how Wu Ren had fallen unconscious after using his secret technique and that he had been alive until the last moment. But for the 'Fish Gazing' disciple? He had neither seen nor sensed him since Tui Mogwai's first appearance.

"Yes, he is. As well as a fair amount of other cultivators that had been captured, bound, or simply knocked out and formed that pile of sacks and bodies"

"So some did not make it out..." Bai Qi remembered the piled bodies, but he never had the chance to count or examine them.

"Mmm, but they were dead for a few hours already. So it has nothing to do with you. While the ones that did make out alive did so because of you and your friends' actions. And all of them are extremely grateful for it"

"Not that we knew about them or tried to do anything to save them. And sincerely? If we knew about the Bonjade, we would have probably tried to search for a way to break the formation in place of provoking it" Bai Qi said sincerely.

Indeed, if he had known what kind of opponent was hidden in there, he would have attempted to escape. After all, it was too early for him to try and match himself against an Emperor, not to mention one that had unlimited soul power like the Bonejade.

"And I doubt that anyone would have held it against you. Still, you three did what you did, and the young disciple already explained that it was mostly your idea"

"Nothing else than the inability to accept that there was someone of my level that I could not even wound" Bai Qi shrugged.

"It was still something far above what anyone could expect from a sixteen years old Sage realm cultivator. In any case, I came here to ask a few questions, so answer what you can recall"

***

Deng Guiying's questions were all related to the part of the incident that he had not been present for, and Bai Qi did not hide anything except a few thoughts.

What had interested Deng Guiying more, and was the entire point of this talk was Bai Qi's opinions and feelings about the formation.

"So you say that from what you sensed, the formation was about the level of a Saint? Are you sure?" The Gate Elder asked for a second time.

"It appeared so for me"

"Hmm, I see. Well, that's all for today. Get some rest for now"

"Understood"

"And you can act less formally, at least when there is no one present" Deng Guiying dropped before leaving.

Bai Qi could not help but think that something was a bit off about the questioning, but it wasn't like if he could change anything by this point. As for the incident that was suppressed... "I did what I should have done in such a situation, and probably even more. The Bonejade isn't my problem, so let them deal with it" He concluded after a bit, deciding to leave this matter behind and simply continue with his objectives.

Advance his cultivation, participate in some of the regional and planar events, and enter the 'Eternal' region to meet with Lady Zhihui.

After completing that task, well, who knew? Maybe a visit to the 'Four Forest' plane wasn't a so bad idea after all.