Three days later, in the Listening-to-the-Wind Pavilion behind Mount Longhu.
Dawn had barely broken. Thin mist curled through the air as a gentle breeze swept down the mountain stream, carrying the fresh scent of bamboo leaves and greenery, along with the fragrance of earth.
At that moment, an elderly man with snow-white hair but a vigorous spirit sat quietly in the pavilion, dressed in a Daoist robe and holding a horsetail whisk. His deep eyes and unruffled air made him look as if he could remain calm even if the sky fell, as though he could see through everything in the world.
And this man was none other than Zhang Zhiwei, one of the Ten Elders of the Inhuman world today—the widely acknowledged "Unrivaled"—as well as the sixty-fifth Heavenly Master of the Celestial Master's Mansion on Mount Longhu and the leader of the Zhengyi school of Daoism!
And who else could be sitting across from Zhang Zhiwei but Annie?
The seven- or eight-year-old girl was wearing a gorgeous, festive Miao outfit in bright red, adorned with silver ornaments. She had bought it after spotting it in the scenic area at the foot of Mount Longhu.
The shop in the scenic area had only meant to rent the outfits to visitors for photos. They had no intention of selling them and certainly wouldn't part with one easily. But Annie had insisted on buying it, then promptly paid ten thousand yuan. The proprietress had fallen to Annie's money attack on the spot.
So there she was, dressed to the nines, sprawled over the stone table and idly scraping at its surface with a finger. The ornaments on her outfit and the headdress on her head jingled as she paid no mind to what the old Heavenly Master Zhang Zhiwei across from her