At the National Teacher's Manor, Song Yunjian, wearing a golden crown and jade robes, still held his Dried Tobacco pipe. The weight lifted from his Dao heart, he hurried next door to inspect the peach tree and count its blossoms. Not only had none fallen; more than a dozen newly opened peach flowers had appeared. At this sight, the smile of this beautiful Daoist, whose sex was impossible to discern, outshone the flowers.
Yet he did not dare let down his guard in the slightest, for the old Abbot had entered the city and was currently strolling through the Great Li Capital City's streets and markets.
Leaving aside the old Taoist priest's divine powers, which remained vivid in his mind, the single sentence, "This poor Daoist is in a hurry to return and refine pills," had left Song Yunjian with lingering fear.
The problem was that before National Teacher Chen had left Great Li territory, he had given Song Yunjian no instructions at all. It was as though he had deliberately thrown him an Exam Paper: Fellow Daoist Ying Ning could not simply lie back and enjoy the blessings. As for how to receive the Bixiao Cave Master, he would have to handle it himself.
After considering the matter again and again, Song Yunjian did not settle for merely avoiding fault without seeking merit. Instead, at tremendous risk, he privately informed the Imperial Observatory and the Five Sacred Mountains Divine Lord, ordering the layers of formations removed.
The old Taoist priest strolling through the Great Li Capital City nodded. At least they understood a little courtesy.
If Chen Ping'an had warned this audacious junior beforehand—the fellow who had dared grant himself the Daoist name Ying Ning—then for Song Yunjian to act this way would have been groveling flattery.
Xu Xie