Golden Stone Gorge lay hidden within Cloud-Mist Mountain near Duyun, Guizhou. Mortals approaching on foot could find no path inside, while immortals passing overhead saw only drifting clouds and mist. Without intimate knowledge of the place, it was almost impossible to find.
Mad Monk Wei Tu had cultivated here for quite some years. Abused by his stepmother as a child, he had contracted leprosy and been driven into the mountains, left to live or die on his own. On the brink of death, he had formed a bond with a small, extraordinarily venomous snake, and the two had depended on each other for survival. The gorge was beautiful, rarely visited, and rich in spiritual herbs. Man and snake had lived in seclusion there for over twenty years.
Only when an earthquake collapsed part of a mountain ridge did they discover the Lesser Purity Immortal Mansion within. Inside, they obtained Daoist books and elixirs left behind by an unaffiliated immortal of the unorthodox path who had come there to cultivate during the Southern Song dynasty. With these, Wei Tu became a Sword Immortal.
Extreme by nature, he repaid even the smallest slight. Once he had mastered his spells, he went out and tortured every one of his former enemies to death with savage cruelty. Then he returned to the mountain for another forty or fifty years of secluded cultivation, refining several powerful Magic Treasures.
That day, Wei Tu was making elixirs from freshly prepared Solomon's seal, fleeceflower root, and other ingredients when a loud female voice suddenly rolled in from outside like pealing thunder. "Listen, whoever's inside! I am Deng Bagu, the Female Calamity Deity. I've taken a fancy to this Lesser Purity Immortal Mansion. If you know what's good for you, hand it over at once, and I'll spare your