Chapter 3664: Lonely
Chapter 3664: Lonely
Alex watched as Yang Renye stepped out of his room and into the courtyard. As soon as the man appeared outside, he froze in place, his eyes stuck on Alex.
He had most likely sensed Alex’s presence in the place, but because everything looked fuzzy thanks to the formation even when using one’s Divine sense, he hadn’t actually realized it was Alex.
So, when his eyes finally landed on Alex, it was the first time he had seen him.
The man’s jaw dropped slightly, shock visible on his face.
"Alex? Is that... you?"
Alex looked at the handsome middle-aged man, or what remained of him. Yang Renye had changed since the days when Alex had last seen him. He seemed slightly older now, with hints of wrinkles present on his skin that weren’t there before.
His body also sagged a little, while also becoming somewhat leaner, as though he hadn’t been fed at all during this time. A cultivator hardly needed sustenance, and yet this man made it look as if he lacked it.
Surprisingly, his cultivation base did feel stable, but not as strong as Alex had expected it to be. Yang Renye, as it turned out, was only in the Divine Manifestation realm. He was somewhere in the upper half of that realm, but he was certainly not a Divine Domain realm cultivator.
Alex stared at the man’s feeble-looking body for a few seconds longer before looking back at his surprised gaze. A warm smile appeared all on its own.
"Senior Yang," he called out with a soft voice. "I made it here, just as I said I would."
Yang Renye slowly walked the rest of the way out, still very much dazed to see Alex there. It was as if he hadn’t been expecting Alex at all.
His eyes turned toward the Sky God once he was fully out, and he quickly bowed toward the woman.
"This disciple greets you, master."
The Sky God gave a subtle nod.
"Young Dawnblade here has, through his own contributions to the palace, acquired a chance to meet you," she explained. "So, I have brought him over to talk with you. As always, you can only talk to him for no more than 2 hours. I will be close by, so don’t do anything you shouldn’t."
"I wouldn’t dare, master," Yang Renye quickly answered before bowing toward her again. "Thank you very much for giving me this chance."
"Don’t thank me. I didn’t do this out of the kindness of my heart. He genuinely deserves this chance, which is why I brought him," the Sky God said. "Anyway, I shall not waste your time. 2 hours."
The Sky God walked away, heading to the veranda at the front where she sat and closed her eyes.
Alex looked at her briefly, but his attention was quickly pulled by the man standing before him.
Yang Renye looked him all over, as though trying to find a seam on him that he could tear to see who it really was underneath.
"How is this possible? I was told you were dead," the man said as the very first thing.
"Dead?" Alex asked. "I have never died."
"You were sent to Hell, from what I last learned," Renye said.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "You actually learned that?" he asked with some surprise. "I thought you didn’t receive any information at all in here."
Renye shook his head. "I don’t. Your fate was the last thing master told me. Or rather, she ranted about it to me, since it was certain at that point that the trees had been lost." His eyes quickly narrowed. "Did something happen to the trees?"
Alex shook his head. "I’m fine, and they are too."
"Oh, okay," Yang Renye said, appearing to be relieved by that information. He looked around before gesturing for Alex to sit down on the outer hallway.
Alex sat down, and Yang Renye followed his lead, sitting just far enough away so that the Sky God would have no excuse to shut this down quickly.
"I’m happy you are alive," Yang Renye said almost immediately. "Almost as happy as I am to have company for the first time in forever."
Alex gave an empathetic smile. "You must not have met anyone since you were imprisoned here. I suppose the only communication you’ve had with the outside world at this point is the Sky God."
"Not even," Yang Renye said with a sad smile. "The only time she contacted me was to rant about your disappearance. Since then, this is the first time I’ve even heard from her."
Alex was somewhat taken aback. It seemed Yang Renye had truly been quite lonely.
"You’ve had no visitors other than me then?" Alex asked with great curiosity.
"Only the other gods early on, but not since."
Alex’s eyes narrowed. "The other gods?"
Renye nodded. "Back when I was first captured, a few gods came to visit me, to see what they could find out from me," he said. "I didn’t tell them anything though, so you should have been safe. Did they find out by any chance?"
Alex shook his head. "They got me for a different reason entirely," he said, with a lack of mirth in his voice. "I’m surprised you managed to hold off against the other gods. I imagine no Half-God came to meet you then, since they should have had a much easier time extracting information."
Yang Renye let out a small hint of shock. "You are aware of what a Half-God is?" he asked. "That’s not the sort of thing just anyone gets told."
Alex nodded. He partly wanted to tell the man that he had become a Half-God himself in some sense, but he decided to hold off on it. It just didn’t feel right to say it out of his own mouth, and there was a very good chance he would stop being one in the near future anyway, so there was no point.
"Anyway," Yang Renye said. "My adventures since I left your world have been quite empty. What about you though? What have you been doing all this time?"