East Sea, Zhiling Island.
Zhang San and the other senior sect members waited at the foot of the Spirit Peak for a while. Suddenly, they caught the scent of Incense-Rhyme Flowing Wind spreading in all directions. A serene, ethereal fragrance drifted among the mountains, seeming to suffuse all things and drape them in a hazy radiance.
"The Old Ancestor has sent down his avatar!"
Sensing this extraordinary phenomenon, everyone stirred, then climbed the steps to the cloud-viewing terrace at the summit.
The terrace overlooked an immense valley among the mountains within the sect grounds. Extraordinary peaks rose like pillars supporting heaven, their seclusion all the more striking amid a cloud sea as misty as an immortal realm.
Along the way, rare spiritual flowers and exotic herbs vied for splendor. Immortal cranes occasionally danced through the air, and spirit beasts roamed about. Currents of energy guided by arrays circulated endlessly with the Incense-Rhyme Flowing Wind filling the sect grounds, carrying countless incense essences to the various compounds.
When they reached the terrace, they saw Li Ling dressed in white, standing with his hands behind his back as he gazed out over the cloud sea.
He faced the rising sun. Morning light shone upon him, casting an extraordinary radiance that made him seem like a god or a buddha. Halos manifested the essence of wisdom, illuminating his surroundings along with the naturally flowing fragrance of myriad incenses. Yet none of it dazzled the eyes; there was only a softness that nourished all things without a sound.
Not only Zhang San and the others, who had still been ordinary mortals a few decades ago, but even Huayan and Dong Haisheng, who had cultivated for over a thousand years and met several great Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, involuntarily felt boundless reverence well up within