Cliff Prefecture.
Jade Sky Mountain Range.
Amid the endless mountain ranges, the main peak, Cloud-Treading Mountain, remained hidden above a sea of clouds year-round. Its body seemed carved from green jade; at sunrise, purple qi arrived from the east, and from afar, it resembled a colossal unsheathed sword pointing straight at the heavens.
Cloud billows churned along the mountainside, forming a natural taiji pattern. This was precisely where the Azure Cloud Sect, one of Southern Jin's foremost powers, was located.
Three thousand six hundred Heart-Knocking Steps led straight into the sea of clouds.
At the Sect Gate stood two stone statues of Black Tortoises bearing steles upon their backs. The words "The Dao Passed Down by True Warrior" were inscribed upon them, untouched by a thousand years of wind and rain, still exuding fierce Sword Qi.
Two figures in black climbed the Heart-Knocking Steps.
Xiang Yuan and Daoist Ziyang.
Chan'er had not come. She had wanted to stick close to her husband, all lovey-dovey wherever they went, but Xiang Yuan had left her at the Overlord Residence on the grounds that someone had to watch the house.
Xiang Yuan had come to the Azure Cloud Sect to expose a fraud. Bringing along a demoness whose aura was completely at odds with the Azure Cloud Sect would have been awkward. Those in the know would understand that the True Warrior Great Emperor feared neither hardship nor exhaustion and had personally suppressed the demoness. Those who did not know might think the True Warrior Great Emperor was besotted with a demoness's beauty!
Not even a great Confucian scholar could debate his way out of that!
He could not tell the truth, because Chan'er would be unhappy. Besides, Xiang Yuan truly cherished the demoness, so he found Chan'er a reason to stay behind