Breaking the Altar (3)

After receiving True Person Yu Qing's permission to "remain in the sect for now and wander about as you please," Zhu Yaoyao felt slightly relieved. She drew the collar of her plain white fox-fur cloak closer around herself. The fur was fluffy and soft, carrying a gentle warmth that shut out the biting wind.

She stepped over the thin snow toward Spirit Crane Platform. The snow beneath her feet was soft, and every step gave a faint "crunch," especially clear along the silent mountain path.

Profound Heaven Sect in the depths of winter possessed a pristine beauty all its own. The once verdant pines and cypresses were dotted with white, while frost and snow clung to withered branches like pear blossoms filling the trees, or jade coral hanging upside down.

The bluestone mountain path lay covered in snow, with only scattered footprints of varying depth winding off in every direction through the mountains. Distant halls and towers were shrouded in a faint mist, their upturned eaves coated in white frost, making them seem like jeweled pavilions in an immortal realm.

Yet Zhu Yaoyao had no time to appreciate the magnificent winter scenery—the bustle within the sect far exceeded her expectations.

Every Profound Heaven Sect disciple she saw along the way hurried with purpose. Some carried books as they strode swiftly along; others traveled in groups of two or three toward various destinations. Those handling work handled work, and those cultivating cultivated. Hardly anyone was idle, and the entire sect was cloaked in an invisible atmosphere of urgency.

Since she had come to Profound Heaven Sect, the first person Zhu Yaoyao naturally wished to see was Chu Xuan.

A beast tamer's cultivation was bound up with spirit beasts through weal and woe, and many core spells could only be used with