The winds over Western Kunlun Mountain were ever so slightly unsettled today.
Amid the majestic mountains, within a secluded valley, inside a cave abode bearing the plaque of Eight Treasures Cloud Light Cave, the elderly Daoist dressed with meticulous elegance, crane-haired and youthful-faced, slowly rose to his feet.
He seemed to have sensed that something was about to happen.
Yet he could not determine precisely what it was. Pinching his fingers to divine the matter, he learned only that it concerned the Dao lineage he had established outside—the Du Xian Sect.
"It seems it is once again time for the Founding Ceremony, when the Du Xian Sect takes in disciples."
True Lord Du'e pondered for a moment, then decided he should still make a secret trip to the Du Xian Sect and take a look.
For this True Lord, the previous attack on the Du Xian Sect by a batch of demon fiend puppets, serious enough to bring the Great Mage himself to assist, had been a deeply humiliating affair.
There could not be another mishap that disturbed the Great Mage and brought him down again.
—So the old Daoist thought.
Humming a little scripture-chanting tune, the old Daoist paced back and forth through the spacious cave abode.
He first went to a neat side chamber.
Opening a wooden cabinet, he selected a gray Daoist robe of silver-thread velvet, then turned to survey the Fly Whisks of various styles hanging across the neighboring wall.
True Lord Du'e picked one that matched his robe and held it in his hand.
He then went to the adjacent "Cloud Chamber," chose a cloud mottled white and gray, stepped upon it, and drifted gracefully out of his cave abode.
Not every Fly Whisk could catch True Lord Du'e's eye.
Just as not every Rogue