The next morning, after washing briefly beside Cold Spring at the eastern cliff, Xing Yan went with Qiong Rong and Lingyi to Shangqing Temple on Flying Cloud Summit to see the sect master, Ling Xu Zi.
Only when Xing Yan arrived at Shangqing Temple and saw True Person Ling Xu did he discover that the Shangqing Sect Master was dressed in full ceremonial regalia:
He wore the Black Vermilion Ming Cloak, embroidered with golden clouds and cranes, Cloud-Climbing Shoes on his feet, and the Purple-Gold Primordial Five-Mountains Crown on his head. His bearing was stern and imposing.
Since joining the Highest Clarity, Xing Yan had seen Ling Xu Zi dressed this way only once, at the great gathering of Daoists from across the world, the Origin Celebration. Now the lofty Shangqing Hall was packed. Nearly every elder, hall master, and chief disciple Xing Yan knew had arrived. There were also many unfamiliar faces; judging by their dress and bearing, they were probably the heads of branch temples on famous mountains elsewhere. Among them, Xing Yan spotted Qinghe, the old Daoist who headed the Horseshoe Retreat. He, too, was neatly dressed, standing among the others in the ranks on either side below Ling Xu.
All these venerable elders of the Highest Clarity who had come to Flying Cloud Summit on Mount Luofu to deliberate wore crane-patterned robes and cloud-patterned cloaks, their attire formal and majestic.
Seeing Xing Yan arrive, Sect Master Lingxu, seated in the center, began:
"Good. Now that everyone is here, let us discuss the great calamity that befell our order some fourteen days ago."
At Ling Xu's signal, the elders and senior members of the Highest Clarity in the hall gave their opinions in turn.
Xing Yan listened from the side and discovered that the higher the seniority