Shu, the Great Ridge.
This place lay on the border between Yi and Yong, ten thousand miles from Lacquer Mountain, Shu's foremost immortal mountain. The Outer Dao flourished here, and practitioners of shamanic ghosts and swordsmanship far outnumbered those elsewhere.
The Great Ridge commanded a vital route out of Shu. In ancient times, it had been crucial to the Central Plains' control over the southern barbarian tribes, so it had often been maintained, its spiritual workings developed, and had even once become a blessed land. Yet all that had been destroyed as early as Great Li's founding.
Within the ridge stood Great Mystery Mountain.
This was Shu's second greatest immortal mountain, now belonging to the Autumn Clarity Gate. It covered nearly a hundred miles and sat squarely at the heart of the Great Ridge's spiritual workings. Its spiritual energy was far denser than that of ordinary Immortal Dao grounds, enough to sustain five or six Divine Ability cultivators.
Heavenly light spilled down over the mountain's peaks, large and small. From a verdant spirit peak to the east, azure jia wood radiance surged and billowed, chafing and darting to produce streaks of purple lightning.
The aura of a newly achieved divine ability circulated ceaselessly. Inside the cave abode atop the peak, a young woman sat in meditation, dressed in a Robe of Law in gold and jade. She was exceptionally beautiful, but a faint arrogance between her brows made it difficult to feel close to her.
"[Yang-Breath Surge] is complete!"
Xiao Dianqing's expression softened considerably, revealing genuine delight. She had spent a full twenty years comprehending this divine ability. Either its mysterious elephant had collapsed or the divine ability itself had dispersed, dragging the process out until today, when she had finally succeeded.
This was chiefly thanks to the favorable times.