Jiang Yang took a moment to get his bearings, then headed west.
Pure Etiquette Peak was still some distance from where he had disembarked, with several peaks in between. Since Jiang Yang knew none of the cultivators passing by, he simply kept his head down and pressed on.
An incense stick's worth of time later, Pure Etiquette Peak stood before him.
The mountain looked as though it had been carved from blue-green jade, wrapped year-round in dense clouds and mist. Sunlight refracted through the haze into a Rainbow Bridge that spiraled up from the mountainside to the heavenly gate.
From afar, he could see three icy waterfalls plunging from deep within the clouds. Their spray froze into ice crystals before reaching the ground, swirling in the fierce winds to form a wondrous, ethereal spectacle. The snow atop the peak never melted, yet it was not pale white, but a cold blue-green reminiscent of Lunar Radiance.
Golden runes could faintly be seen flowing over it, as though a great formation had sealed it off to protect it, using clouds as paper and peaks as pillars to establish its gates.
Jiang Yang stopped to admire the view. This peak struck him as singularly magnificent, unlike those he had seen before, and exquisitely adorned.
He strolled up the mountain and soon reached its entrance.
Just then, a man in a crane-feather cloak with broad sleeves rode the wind toward him. What hung at his waist was not a Growth sword, but a purple jade gourd, its narrow middle tied with a fine, shimmering golden cord.
The man had sharp brows and a face like polished jade, with an air that transcended the mundane. He landed before Jiang Yang without a word and merely looked him over.
Jiang Yang inwardly frowned, then cupped his