At the foot of Three Azure Mountains.
Within a newly built great city.
A teahouse.
A man in blue sat by the window, with a little white cat at his side. A pot of clear tea and several plates of pastries lay before him as he quietly listened to the storyteller in the hall.
Bang!
The storyteller slapped his sounding block. "Since Great Zhou fell and the world split into nine, it has now become an age ruled by sects. There are nine great sects... divided further into the four upper sects and five lower sects... The four upper sects need not occupy vast territories, but each must have a 'Grandmaster of Heaven and Man' listed on the 'Heaven Ranking' to stand guard!"
"A so-called 'Grandmaster of Heaven and Man' can wipe out an entire city with a wave of his hand. With Divine Abilities at his command and a lifespan of five hundred years, he possesses all manner of inconceivable powers..."
"These four great upper sects are the Dragon-Tiger Guild, the Dao Profound Sect, the Western Extremity Cult, and our own Azure Mountain Sect..."
At the mention of Azure Mountain Sect, the corners of the tea drinkers' mouths curled up slightly, their faces filled with a sense of shared glory.
"Indeed... Our Azure Mountain Sect's 'Heavenly Man Ye,' honored as 'Azure Leaf,' once fought the Dragon-Tiger Patriarch of the Dragon-Tiger Guild atop the East Sea. The waves they raised nearly drowned the Prosperous Sea Secret Realm, and only then did several factions step in to mediate..."
The Prosperous Sea Secret Realm!
As the birthplace of Spirit Atmosphere, it held the richest opportunities and the most abundant spiritual energy. No single faction could swallow it whole, and it had now become a place tacitly recognized by all factions for nurturing