Alliance of the Three Branches

Beneath the night sky stood a vast, abandoned mountain temple, its statues toppled and broken.

Suddenly, amid the wavering moonlight drifting through the temple, the figure of an old Daoist in azure robes emerged.

His face was lean, a trace of gloom seeming to linger in his eyes. Three long strands of beard hung beneath his chin, and an illusory aura shrouded his entire body.

Facing the wilderness beyond the temple, the old Daoist said blandly, "Daoist Lingxian, since you have come, why linger in the wilds?"

"Haha, I was merely overcome with emotion for a moment. I have made Daoist Xumie laugh at me!"

With a burst of laughter, the light and shadows in the ruined temple brightened slightly. A black-robed Daoist with the appearance of a middle-aged man emerged with a smile on his face, as though he had been there all along.

A trace of wariness flashed through the eyes of the old Daoist called Xumie. He cupped his hands in salute. "It has been many years since we last met. Daoist Lingxian has grown ever more unfathomable. In another few tens of thousands of years, perhaps you too may, like that person, ascend to the position of a continent temple!"

The black-robed Lingxian Dao Lord hurriedly answered modestly, "You praise me too highly! Are you not the same? Your cultivation has advanced greatly as well, to the point that even I cannot discern your true depths!"

Then he sighed with feeling. "There is no need for such courtesies between us. Compared to that junior, we Dao Lords of the Three Divine Dao might as well have lived into a dog's belly..."

"Hmph! That brat is arrogant and savage, ruthless and merciless, with not the slightest regard for the ties of coming from the same Shadowed Domain!"