North Pole Hall had originally been overseen by Chang Ning. But a few years after Taining advanced to Spirit Transformation, she became the Hall Master of North Pole Hall.
There was no other reason: the man behind Taining was simply too formidable. She had to be given the utmost preferential treatment.
Moreover, Chang Ning was devoted to cultivation and did not particularly enjoy presiding over the many affairs of North Pole Hall.
The place where Gao Xian and Taining lived was Celestial Pearl Palace—the very courtyard where Gao Xian had come to pay respects to Chang Ning all those years ago.
The courtyard was quaint and secluded. Taining had not liked it at first, but she knew Gao Xian loved peach blossoms. Several peach trees grew in the courtyard, and whenever they bloomed, they burst into a riot of crimson and violet, breathtakingly beautiful. That was why she had settled here permanently.
It was now high summer. The peach blossoms had long since fallen, and the trees bore quite a few small green peaches. Veiled amid the green leaves, they possessed a fresh charm all their own.
When he heard that a woman in white had come calling, Gao Xian knew it had to be Shui Mingxia.
Taining went out to receive her. Gao Xian brewed a pot of tea at the wooden table beside the peach tree and waited for the disciple he had picked up on the cheap, whom he had not seen in two thousand years.
Strictly speaking, Shui Mingxia was his proper personal disciple. Other than her, he had never taken another disciple.
Qingqing counted as half of one, but he had little interest in teaching and nurturing others. Even Qingqing had done most of her cultivation herself. He had merely provided abundant resources and rarely