Song Qingshu came to the two women's side and found a vast circular clearing before them, surrounded by mountains. At the foot of the mountains lay a great pool, its rippling waters reflecting the moon in glittering silver. It was most likely the Sword Washing Pool Ouyang Feng had mentioned earlier.
Scattered before the pool stood over a hundred Daoists, all wearing yellow caps and gray robes, longswords in hand, their blades flashing brilliantly.
Song Qingshu's gaze sharpened. The Daoists were arranged in groups of seven, forming fourteen Heavenly Dipper Formations. Every seven Dipper Formations then formed a greater Dipper Formation. From Tian Shu to Yao Guang, the formation's imposing force was no trivial matter. The two great Dipper Formations, one orthodox and one unorthodox, generated and restrained each other, serving as mutual horns.
Song Qingshu immediately understood. No wonder the two women had stopped advancing. A single Heavenly Dipper Formation had nearly left them helpless just now; this formation's power was surely more than ten times greater.
"Who goes there? How dare you trespass into Chongyang Palace? State your names!" The leader was an elderly Daoist. Song Qingshu had never dealt with Chongyang Palace before and did not recognize his Daoist title.
Ouyang Feng and Qiu Qianren came up at this point as well. They held great seniority in the martial world; even Ma Yu and Qiu Chuji belonged to the younger generation beneath them. They could not possibly recognize every person of Yin Zhiping and Zhao Zhijing's generation, much less this man before them.
Questioned by the Daoist, Song Qingshu merely smiled and answered without anger, "We are envoys of the Jin Dynasty court. We have come to deliver an Imperial Edict of Appointment to your sect."
"The Jin Dynasty?" At his answer, the Daoists began whispering among