Within Nine Heavens Pavilion, sandalwood incense burned quietly in a bronze furnace.
Outside the window lay snow-covered cliffs. The branches of several ancient pines stretched crookedly, bowed low beneath the weight of snow, and now and then came the soft rustle of falling clumps.
Li Yujun sat alone behind a long rosewood desk.
Ever since Chen Qing had succeeded as the Wanfa Peak Master, the sect's balance of power had quietly shifted.
Resources that had once leaned toward the Nine Heavens Vein were now, in substantial part, allocated to the True Martial lineage. Though the discussions among the disciples had been suppressed, that invisible pressure seeped in thread by thread, like winter chill.
Just then, footsteps sounded beneath the corridor outside the door.
"Come in."
Li Yujun raised her eyes toward the tightly shut pavilion doors.
The door opened soundlessly, and a slightly stooped figure in gray robes stepped inside.
It was Hua Yunfeng.
He still wore those old gray robes, his hair streaked with gray-white.
"Senior Brother Hua." Li Yujun slowly rose to her feet.
Hua Yunfeng had not set foot in the core region of Nine Heavens Peak for over a century, much less entered Nine Heavens Pavilion.
The last time he had come here, their senior brother had still been alive. Thinking of it now, it felt like a lifetime ago.
"Sit."
Suppressing the turmoil in her heart, Li Yujun gestured for Hua Yunfeng to sit on the cattail mat opposite her.
"The last time I came to Nine Heavens Peak,"
Hua Yunfeng said as he sat cross-legged without ceremony, "was more than a hundred years ago."
Li Yujun nodded. "It has been that long."
The two fell silent for a moment. Only the faint crackling of the furnace fire could be heard.
"Senior Brother Hua,"
Li