The Cloudsky Sect of Great Hua Mountain had a branch?
Forty years ago, it had been down to two or three strays, with its line nearly extinguished. How could it possibly have had a branch?
At the sudden question, Chen Cuo and Nanmingzi were puzzled at first. Then both their eyelids twitched, and they gathered their focus, ready for trouble.
The Daoist Temple they stood in looked unremarkable, but it held great significance to all of Great Hua Mountain. When each of them had entered the sect, Daoyinzi had brought him here to bow before the Patriarch's portrait and hear his story.
The portrait of Great Hua Mountain's founder had been painted by a True Disciple of the man who founded the sect. Time had even been drawn from it, freezing a moment of the past.
When Chen Cuo first heard this upon entering the sect, he had not understood its mystery. He had merely found it wondrous. Only after touching the River of History several times himself had he grasped what it truly meant.
Yet now, the Daoist in that portrait seemed to have come alive. He was looking at the two of them.
More than that, the instant the painted man's gaze fell on them, their minds shook. Strands of thought nearly boiled over, as though they meant to leave their bodies!
But Chen Cuo and Nanmingzi possessed profound Dao Attainment and an exceptionally firm hold on their thoughts. With a turn of their minds, they drew those seething thoughts back and suppressed them.
"Good, good."
The man in the portrait smiled and nodded, looking at Chen Cuo and Nanmingzi with open approval.
"You must be the leading disciples of this generation. Strong wills, fine cultivation and Dao Attainment. One has a solid foundation, upright and balanced..." His