[After seeing Yuan Danqiu off with your grandfather, you returned to the Zhou Family.]
[Early the next morning, you packed your bags and went to bid your grandfather farewell.]
[Peach blossoms blazed along both banks of Clear River. You wanted to follow it upstream to its source and take in all the autumn beauty of the mortal world.]
[Yet as you traveled, you found that although the Drought Demon was gone, the land lay scorched for a thousand miles. The wounds left by two years of drought had yet to heal. Demons roamed the wilderness, occupying forests and waterways and bringing ruin to entire regions.]
[Unless those evil creatures were destroyed, the refugees would struggle to live even if they rebuilt their homes.]
[You had studied many healing arts in the latter half of the Essential Arts of Great Peace. Now they would come in handy.]
[The Great Peace Daoist had spent the last years of his life traveling the world, saving people with medicine and eliminating demons with thunder arts.]
[You had the means to aid the world and the power to eliminate demons. You intended to follow his example.]
[After hearing you out, your grandfather urged you to reconsider. Mount Fangcun would open its gates this year, and he wanted to secure you a place as a disciple.]
[Your grandfather assumed the authority of a great clan patriarch and commanded you, "Jing'er, without a sect behind you, it's hard to make your way across Central Yu Continent. Every step becomes a struggle."]
[His voice rose. "You must go to Mount Fangcun."]
[The servants attending in the hall were so startled that they dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads against the cold floor tiles.]
[You stood below the dais, all your former deference gone. Only calm remained. "Your