The Road Has Run Its Course (Happy Birthday, Shouyue)

Dragon Tiger Mountain, before Zhengyi Hall.

The Old Celestial Master sat leisurely in a bamboo recliner beneath the eaves, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan and sipping iced sour plum juice. Life was utterly comfortable.

He was the very picture of Daoist freedom and ease.

Standing by his side and attending to him was a young man with a buzz cut beneath a Bagua Hat.

The young man was built like a tank, his body packed with muscles. He somehow made the normally dignified, easygoing Daoist robes look like a gangster boss's outfit.

If Li Yao had been here, he would definitely have recognized him.

The Local Boss of Dragon Tiger Mountain! The legendary troublemaker, Chen Tienan! Though he should no longer have been called the Local Boss of Dragon Tiger Mountain, since he had already gone up the mountain.

After nearly five years of relentless pestering, the Old Celestial Master had finally taken him in as a Closed-Door Disciple.

In Chen Tienan's words—

"Five years! Housing prices have gone from ten thousand to twenty thousand! Isn't it about time you took me in? Besides, with monsters causing trouble, Dragon Tiger Mountain would soon send everyone down the mountain to slay demons. The Old Celestial Master needed someone to run errands for him, so when he was 'just casually' wandering down the mountain, he took me in."

It really hadn't been intentional! Chen Tienan had originally been a core member of the Wallfacer Organization, and his external hardening techniques were exceptionally formidable.

Some time ago, he had even relied on his own comprehension to force his way into Tier 5!

He had entered the Dao through external martial arts! Only then had the Old Celestial Master accepted him and taught him Dragon Tiger Mountain's orthodox Profound Gate Inner Power.

And