Boom!
Thunder erupted from clear skies, its roar shaking Floating Cloud Mountain.
Xuanming, who had been sipping tea and reading, rose. One step took him out of the Scripture Pavilion; another brought him to Cleansing Heart Peak.
The peak stood apart amid the mountains, thrusting toward the heavens with its sharp edges laid bare. With places such as the Cliff of Reflection upon it, its name also carried the meaning of cleansing one's heart, turning over a new leaf, and thoroughly repenting past wrongs. The Discipline Hall stood there, traditionally under his junior brother Xuan Yu's jurisdiction.
This extraordinary phenomenon had come from him.
In other words, Xuan Yu was about to break through to the next realm.
Xuanming was not surprised that this junior brother would surpass Xuan Tong and Xuan Yin, coming from behind to become a True Person before them.
For one thing, unlike Xuan Tong and Xuan Yin, who approached many matters with intricate calculations, this junior brother viewed things more simply and directly. Right and wrong were clearly divided in his worldview, making his Dao heart purer and clearer.
For another, Xuan Yu was upright and incorruptible, overseeing punishment at the Truth-Seeking Abbey. The Dao he cultivated had more in common with the Legalist School. Aside from the two True Persons, Xuanming and Xuanxu, he had gained the most from their previous discussion of the Dao with Hai Fengming.
Had Xuan Su not glimpsed the Qi Refining threshold long ago, Xuan Yu might have become the Truth-Seeking Abbey's third True Person. Now, a year and a half later, he had finally taken that step, and Xuanming was sincerely happy for him.
When Xuanxu and the others arrived, they saw their senior brother Xuanming holding his Fly-Whisk in one hand and lightly stroking his long, snow-white