Dongguan Mountain was still the same ghastly sight. The entire mountain had been carbonized and crystallized, looking eerily desolate. Jian Beitang and I stood at the mountain's edge, with the mountain wind occasionally howling past and making our clothes snap loudly.
Jian Beitang wore a smile as she said, "I thought that from now on, I could only meet my lord again in the identity of a Dao Ghost. I never imagined we'd be reunited so soon—and along the exact same path as when we first met, both times going to find Lingyi. What a marvelous fate this is!"
Looking at Jian Beitang, whose heroic air was tempered by a woman's gentle grace, I smiled and said, "We really are bound by fate. I'm just afraid of troubling you."
"How could that be? I can't tell you how happy I am whenever my lord comes. Ever since I formed a blood pact with my lord, I've longed to meet you every day. Just having my lord around is like adding a splash of color to a pale world. If this world is gray and white, then my lord is the color that once flashed before my eyes and took my breath away." Jian Beitang spoke with poised openness, her eyes curved like crescent moons, as though they were windows to a joyful soul that drew people in.
Her bold praise left me awkward, so I could only change the subject. "From now on, I'm going to summon the Ancestral Dragon under my command. The one who needs to meet Lingyi isn't me, but the Ancestral Dragon. It wants to find information about the Land of Two Modes."
"Wonderful! My lord's subordinate is bound to be another fine dragon." Jian Beitang clapped her hands.
Everything about this girl was normal—except after