"By my reckoning, they should have met him by now."
In the Kunlun Immortal Realm, deep within the Peach Grove.
A long-haired man raised a hand to pluck a blossom. His gaze pierced layer upon layer of obstacles and came upon a bank of gray mist.
Before him, Yuan Liuzi said respectfully, "Qiuyuzi and Master Soaring are on good terms. With him approaching Master Soaring, I expect Master Soaring will show him some consideration." He hesitated, as though he had more to say.
The long-haired man nodded. "Good. Once he has been invited here, I shall meet him." He glanced at Yuan Liuzi. "If you have something to say, speak freely."
"This disciple dares to offer an opinion." Yuan Liuzi bowed. "Master Soaring may be gifted, but in the end, he is merely a disciple of Great Hua Mountain. Why treat him with such courtesy? If you wish to see him, you need only issue an order. Would he dare refuse the supreme leader of the Daoist Order?"
The long-haired man smiled. "What do you make of Master Soaring?"
Yuan Liuzi paused, then answered, "A peerless talent, blessed with the seed of heaven and earth's Creation!"
"Then why was he not brought into Kunlun in the first place?" the long-haired man asked.
Yuan Liuzi froze again. A few beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, as though he were a mortal of flesh and blood. But with those star-filled eyes turned on him, he forced himself to answer, "There was an oversight. Yet talents as extraordinary as Master Soaring are hardly rare in Kunlun. We have even had reincarnated immortals whose arrival stirred omens across All Under Heaven, so this disciple thought..."
"He is different." The long-haired man shook his head and flicked a finger. The flower in his