The moon shone bright and the stars grew faint, making the mountains seem ever taller.
Sha Qing's ears twitched. He suddenly turned toward the distant night, his voice grave. "Master, Embroidered Tiger has arrived."
Marquis Li Ye gave an acknowledging grunt and reminded them through voice transmission, "Mind your wording. No matter what Mr. Cui and I say next, let it pass through one ear and out the other. Do not fuss over it, much less take it to heart."
Huang Juan, the maidservant adjusting the pipa strings, followed Sha Qing's gaze into the distance. Far away, she could vaguely make out a patch of snowy white, seeming to ride the wind close to the ground. Then the figure rose again and again. Huang Juan's gaze kept lifting with him. The bright moon hung in the sky, and that mustard-seed-sized figure happened to have his back to its round disk. With a sudden burst of speed, he shot straight toward the mountaintop, like a man within the moon, banished down to the mortal world.
Huang Juan put the ancient pipa back into its case and stood behind her master with Sha Qing.
The young man had a red mole between his brows. Dressed in white, his great sleeves billowing, he hovered beyond the mountain.
Even a realized cultivator with a Dao heart as steadfast as Huang Juan had to admit that the young man before her shone brilliantly enough to make the moonlight filling the mountain fade in comparison. His bearing was lofty and transcendent, not the slightest bit inferior to her master's.
When Cui Chan had visited Jiaoyue Lake twice before, Huang Juan had happened to be absent from the water manor both times. She had either gone to Yanzhi Mountain to visit close friends or traveled to the