Four souls emerged from the Land of Ultimate Bliss. On the secondary peak beside the waist-severed Walking Peak stood high walls built from lush, pleasing emerald jade. The walls were covered in patterns of flowers and birds, while the wave-like ramparts layered one over another were made of exceedingly rare pink jadeite. Within the high walls, the pavilions, towers, and buildings were all constructed from jade and jadeite of every color, like a brilliantly colored crystal palace—exquisite yet grand, incomparably magnificent.
A man in golden robes slowly strolled out of the crystal palace and entered the emerald pavilion with four upturned eaves in the courtyard. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood there as steady as Mount Tai. This imposing, square-faced man wore an intricately patterned hollow golden crown. Two sword-like brows slanted sharply toward his temples, and beneath them, his narrow eyes opened and closed, flashing with chilling light that seized the soul. Below his straight, firm nose bridge, the tip of his nose hooked slightly like an eagle's beak. His thin lips, like two blades, were pressed tightly together, while three strands of beard hung to his upper chest, neither too long nor too short.
His chiseled face was like ten-thousand-year ice, devoid of the slightest expression. The bearing of one long accustomed to high station naturally radiated from him, making people fearful at first sight and unwilling to rashly peer upon his true face. The golden robes on his tall, erect frame were also unlike those worn by ordinary members of the Immortal Palace. A glittering hollow gold belt cinched the close-fitting golden garments beneath, while a broad, extraordinarily splendid outer robe draped over them, embroidered with coiling dragons and seas of clouds in golden thread. No one knew how heavy this outfit was.
Even