Cloud Province, Beginning Metal Mountain.
The Spirit Mountain towered high, with scarcely a trace of verdant green. White and gray filled the eye, like a rusted Heavenly Sword thrust straight through the sea of clouds. Seven Spirit Peaks stood within it, arranged in the pattern of the Northern Dipper, naturally harboring an air of murderous intent.
It was autumn. Wind like knives and frost like swords ravaged the sky, stirring countless dark-gold patterns across the mountainside. These were currents of Geng Metal energy surging through the earth veins, answering the signs in the heavens. Platinum-colored ancient pines stood scattered across the mountain, pouring forth metal energy and ringing with the clash of metal.
Pale blue mist spread through the mountain. Disciples in dark-gold Daoist robes frequently came and went through Beginning Metal Mountain. Men and women, young and old, most wore solemn expressions, neither smiling nor laughing lightly. As the seat of the Grand Truth Sect, it would probably strike any ordinary visitor as a military garrison rather than an immortal mountain.
Renqing Peak abounded in spiritual energy. A heavenly river hung from its summit year-round, falling silently into the ravines below before winding out of Beginning Metal Mountain toward the great river. Ranked among the foremost of the Seven Peaks of Beginning Metal, this single peak could rival an ordinary Purple Mansion immortal mountain in sheer size.
The Great Void opened, and a young man in golden robes descended on the wind, drawing in the rolling golden gale around him. Seeing the True Person return, the many disciples on the peak bowed in unison, their movements identical and the atmosphere austere.
Wanjin frowned almost imperceptibly, then waved everyone to their feet and rode the wind straight toward the cave abode at the peak's highest point. At the summit, beneath