Song Wen put away the communication Jade Slip, went to the inn's counter to check out of his courtyard, and left the city.
Darkness still shrouded the land.
Song Wen reached a mountaintop tens of thousands of li outside the city. After he waited roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea, two figures, a man and a woman, came speeding toward him.
The woman was Jiang Wanyue.
The man was gaunt, with deeply sunken eyes. One look was enough to mark him as a practitioner of evil, unorthodox arts.
Song Wen, meanwhile, wore a mask and a pitch-black cloak, almost blending into the night.
"Fellow Daoist Gu Huang, why are you dressed like that?" Jiang Wanyue asked as they drew near.
"It makes things easier," came Song Wen's indifferent voice from beneath the mask.
Jiang Wanyue said, "Allow me to introduce you. This is Fellow Daoist Ji Jinglun, a Non-Xiao Elder of the Xiao Household, and this is Fellow Daoist Gu Huang. The three of us will be exploring the Elder Ruins in Withered Glory Valley together. The dangers ahead are impossible to predict, so I hope we can work as one and watch over each other. Only then can we turn calamity into good fortune and each come away with something."
"Hmph!"
Ji Jinglun suddenly gave a cold snort.
"I never work with people who hide their heads and conceal their tails! Who knows what schemes lurk behind that face he refuses to show?"
His words instantly turned the atmosphere stiff.
Before Song Wen could respond, Jiang Wanyue spoke first to smooth things over.
"Elder Ji, please don't be angry. Fellow Daoist Gu Huang conceals his appearance and aura most likely because he's accustomed to keeping a low profile."
Then she turned to Song Wen.