North of Luo River.
The cold wind howled, and heavy snow flew like goose feathers.
On the lakeshore amid that vast, boundless snow, two figures had already appeared.
One of them had a somewhat aged face, with wrinkles already visible to the naked eye, and his hair had turned gray-white.
He wore a yellow-brown Daoist robe, and on the back of the robe was carved a Qiankun Bagua Diagram.
The cold wind swept up the man's yellow-brown Daoist robe, sending it flapping behind him in the wind with a fierce, rustling snap.
If someone broad of knowledge and experience were here, they would have recognized that the old man before them, who looked to be over fifty, was the one called the current Second Under Heaven.
The leader of the sect with the most believers in the world—the Yellow Sky Sect Leader.
Standing beside him was another figure, a youth whose face still retained a trace of childishness. On the youth's back was a sword, and on the hilt of that sword there was likewise a Qiankun Bagua Diagram.
"Master, why did you bring me here?" the youth asked in confusion.
The old man slowly spoke. "Disciple, what do you think of the Great Xia of today?"
Hearing this, the youth first pondered for a while, and only then did he slowly speak. "The poor have not even a place to stand an awl, while the rich have fields stretching across the land. Behind vermilion gates, wine and meat stink; on the road lie bones frozen to death!"
"The solidification of social classes is extremely severe. Among those born as commoners who can break through this class solidification, not even one appears in ten thousand times ten thousand li!"
The old man said, "Disciple, then tell me, if the dynasty