It was early spring again. The winds were bitterly cold high in the sky, and snow suddenly began to drift down.
A group of more than twenty people were chatting and laughing atop Qi Ping Peak when flakes of snow came fluttering into the mountains. Li Chen Sect's mountain gate sprawled across vast terrain, with differing elevations and climates. When snow fell, the uneven temperatures caused thin mist to rise among the peaks, joining the rolling clouds above. The sight was boundless and lofty, breathtakingly beautiful.
Someone praised, "Li Chen Sect's mountain gate stands high beyond the heavens, gathering the Three Origins, collecting the four seasons, and encircled by cloud qi. It truly is one of the foremost cultivation sanctuaries in this world."
The speaker wore a tall crown and crane-feathered robes, a whisk in hand. His attire was archaic and quite unlike that of the others, yet his bearing was exceptionally elegant. With a jade-like face and long beard, he pointed out the mountains and rivers with an air of floating beyond the dust of the mortal world. Hearing this, the others echoed their agreement, and praises rang out without end.
Then someone replied with a hearty laugh, "Our sect's mountain gate has been improved generation after generation since the founding patriarch established it, gradually reaching its present perfection. We disciples have merely inherited the lingering blessings of our predecessors. Still, it is ultimately a man-made creation, lacking a few measures of Heaven's natural beauty. How could it compare to your sect's Chaochen Taixu Heaven, where the spirits of a hundred rivers converge and the essence of jade veins gathers—a place truly blessed by the spirits of heaven and earth? Who would not envy it to death?"
The speaker was Li Hong, Fatty Li, one of the most outstanding