A thousand peaks hung with jade, the vault of heaven was wholly white, and distant mountains floated amid wisps of cloud, touching the sky. More than a dozen streaks of escape light shot over from far away, slicing through gaps in the forest and sending sprays of snow drifting down from the branches.
The escape lights landed in the valley. Before a great tree stood an old man in white, his beard and hair both snow-white. He bowed and said, "Xuan Ling of the Wandering White Crane Clan has come to request an audience with the Demon Venerable!"
The great tree stood beneath its burden of snow, its blue-black branches holding up half a foot of powdery white. Now and then, ice hung from the leaf tips like curtain banners strung from shattered jade.
Beneath the crown, a gorgeous woman appeared out of thin air. Within the dangling ice like broken jade hid fine fragments of rainbow light, and a ravishingly beautiful face as well.
When Xuan Ling saw the woman, he bowed again and said, "Greetings, Fairy Jiangxue!"
"Senior Xuan Ling, please!" Su Jiangxue lifted her head, revealing a pair of eyes rippling like water. Then, with a casual wave of her hand, she revealed the Qingyuan Gate behind the great tree.
Xuan Ling nodded and said no more. He strode quickly into the Qingyuan Gate, while the clansmen who had come with him scattered one after another and began keeping watch around the area.
After he entered the Qingyuan Gate, two fox demons immediately led Xuan Ling beneath the Amber Sacred Tree.
The Qingling Amber Sacred Tree had a trunk ten zhang around, its bark like congealed fat and beeswax, shimmering with amber light. Golden patterns curled over its body like wandering fox tails; radiance fell in streams,