"I-I also want to come!" Xue Jiye suddenly said, and she continued, "It's my first time coming to this place, and it's probably going to be my last, so I want to make it more memorable!"
Elder Xuan nodded, "Okay."
A few moments later, Yuan went to the other room to change his clothes, wearing the sect elder's uniform given to him by Elder Xuan.
"Wow, you look much better in those clothes than I'd anticipated. You'll definitely be a popular sect elder if you become one, especially among the female disciples." Elder Shan's eyes widened with surprise when she saw Yuan wearing the sect elder's uniform, which gave him a more profound feeling and also enhanced his handsome appearance by a level.
Even Xue Jiye couldn't help but swallow nervously after seeing Yuan's new appearance.
After another moment, Yuan and Meixiu wore their masks before going outside with Elder Xuan, making their way towards the Mystic Realm that was only a couple of miles in the distance.
Since the place was an empty and flat land and the gates were massive, the Mystic Realm looked much closer than reality, and when they approached the gates, it felt like they weren't getting any closer despite walking towards it for many minutes.
About half an hour later, they could see a large group of people gathered in the front, all staring at the Mystic Realm with awe on their faces.
"Looks like we're not the only ones who wanted to look at the Mystic Realm." Xue Jiye mumbled as they approached this group.
The people there turned to look at them when they noticed their presence.
"The Dragon Essence Temple, huh?"
However, they didn't pay too much attention to them and returned to looking at the Mystic Realm that was emitting an otherworldly light, almost like it would lead them to another world if they entered the light.
Meanwhile, Yuan was wondering if there were any players among these people, as they all looked relatively similar to each other in terms of appearance and the aura they gave off.
"Wow, this treasure is even more massive than I thought…" Yuan mumbled in a dazed voice as he tilted his head to look at the giant gate that pierced the clouds in the sky.
There were also these complex symbols on each side of this gate, giving the place a more mystical feeling to it.
Almost as though they were captivated by it, Yuan and the others stared at this gate with dazed looks on their faces for many minutes without blinking.
Suddenly, unbeknownst to the others there, a voice resounded from beyond the Mystic Realm that only reached Yuan's ears, and it was an ancient-sounding voice, almost as though it was beckoning him.
'Alas…'
'I have…'
'Been…'
'Waiting…'
'For you…'
Yuan's eyes widened when he noticed a semi-transparent figure hovering directly between the gates, almost like a hologram of sorts.
However, this person didn't have a face. It had long black hair that flapped behind him like a cape, and it was wearing black clothes with gold outlines around the clothes, giving this individual a majestic atmosphere, almost like he was royalty.
When Yuan saw this faceless individual, his blood began boiling for some reason, and it was unclear whether the reaction was due to excitement or something else entirely.
"Who… are you?" Yuan mumbled in a mosquito-like voice.
Even though this individual hovering in front of the Mystic Realm lacked any facial features, Yuan could somehow tell that it was looking directly at him.
'Come…'
'Here…'
This ancient voice continued to beckon Yuan.
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Yuan suddenly felt someone pat his shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Elder Xuan asked him.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"I have been calling you for a while now, but you were absorbed in the Mystic Realm, not noticing it."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was a little too focused on that figure floating in front of the gates. Who is that person?" Yuan said.
"Huh? Figure? What are you talking about? There's nobody there." Elder Xuan looked at him with a surprised expression.
Elder Xuan then turned to look at the gates just in case, but as he'd expected, there wasn't anybody there.
"Are you sure you saw somebody there? One cannot approach the Mystic Realm without the tokens, hence why we aren't getting any closer than this, and we won't be getting these tokens until later today." Elder Xuan explained to him.
"Yes, I'm sure," Yuan said, and he proceeded to describe the faceless man to Elder Xuan.
"Hmm… As far as I'm aware, nobody has seen this faceless individual before since I have never heard of this person until today. We can ask the Sect Master later, but we should get back for now since the gathering will happen soon."
"Okay." Yuan nodded, following Elder Xuan and the others back to their building.
'Come…'
'Here…'
The voice continued to resound inside Yuan's head even as he left the place.
However, when he turned around, that faceless individual was no longer there, and the voice disappeared shortly after as well.
Once they returned to their building, Elder Xuan explained the situation to Long Yijun.
"Interesting… A faceless individual…" Long Yijun pondered with a serious look on his face.
"Do you know something about this, Sect Master?" Elder Xuan asked.
After a moment of silence, Long Yijun shook his head and said, "While I have heard of numerous phenomenons occurring around the Mystic Realm before, I don't recall anything about a faceless person. I can ask around later, but don't expect an answer."
"I see…" Yuan nodded.
"Anyways, the gathering won't happen for another two hours, but we should start heading there now or else it will look bad for the Dragon Essence Temple if the envoys from the Spirit Heaven arrive before us."
"Envoys from the upper heavens? Does this mean people from this Spirit Heaven will come down here?" Yuan asked.
Long Yijun laughed and said, "Of course not, silly. It takes too much effort and resources to come down here. Even if they're incredibly rich, they won't be able to afford coming down here every decade!"