Xing Yan spoke each word clearly. Hearing them, Huang Ran, the female disciple from Purple Cloud Hall, suddenly realized that this utterly unremarkable new initiate standing before her was also the master of Four Seas Hall!
Although the Daoist orders under heaven were not particularly strict about distinctions of seniority in forms of address, this was because Daoism prized the natural course of all things and tranquil cultivation in pursuit of the Heavenly Way; notions of superiority and inferiority were not especially strong. In Shangqing Palace, for instance, it mattered little if a junior disciple like Huang Ran addressed Xing Yan, or even Ling Ting Zi, as "fellow Daoist." Yet although Shangqing Palace stood foremost among the secluded religious orders of the world, it still existed among mortals. Influenced by worldly customs, the order remained very particular about precedence between elders and juniors. Du Ziheng's attack and mockery of a superior had been utterly contrary to propriety-looking at the youth before her, whose dejection had suddenly vanished and whose face now wore a strange smile, a terrifying thought sprang into Huang Ran's mind:
This rustic youth only recently entered the Daoist Order. Surely some savage temper still lingered in him. Would he seize this chance to do something to Senior Sister Du...
With disaster looming, Huang Ran instead grew calm. Quickly but clearly, she pleaded with the youth before her:
"Hall Master Zhang, please show mercy and spare..."
She had barely reached this point when her plea suddenly became a startled cry:
"What are you doing?!"
The Hall Master Zhang before her seemed not to have heard her at all. As though no one else were present, he laid both hands upon Senior Sister Du's forehead, which seemed coated in ice and snow!
Before Huang Ran could react, Senior Sister