...On Immortal Cliff, on the southern slopes of Embracing Rosy Clouds Peak, a smooth stone wall rose on the eastern side. At its center was a crack about three meters long, its edges smooth as though cleaved by a blade or axe. Legend held that an ancient immortal had tested his sword here. Thus, Immortal Cliff was also called "Sword-Testing Rock." A poem in the Qing-era Scenic Wonders of Mount Luofu read:
"In bygone years an immortal swordsman roamed, his sword qi sweeping autumn's breadth; one strike turned wind and cloud to azure, a thousand years of dusk withdrew. Green moss stretched across the broken stone, mountain spirits grieved before men; its radiance endured through the ages, and even now still shone upon the eyes."
-Mount Luofu Travel Guide
The youth had returned in triumph and received the sect leader's commendation on Flying Cloud Summit. Brimming with excitement, he hurried home, eager to share the twists and turns of the bandit campaign with those who had stayed behind. Who could have imagined that, before he even entered his rooms on Thousand Birds Cliff, he would encounter such rotten luck? At first, he had patiently humored the fellow, demonstrating "Instant Bloom" in the hope of muddling through and leaving it at that. But the bastard had no idea what was good for him and insisted on pestering him to the bitter end. Never mind that Xing Yan did not know Wisteria Binding-even if he did, he no longer had the patience to indulge the man with a demonstration.
The thought that he and Qiong Rong had braved life and death on Firecloud Mountain alongside the soldiers of Nanhai Commandery and the disciples of the Celestial Master Order, while this bastard Zhao Wuchen had come up the cliff that very night to