Dragon-Tiger Mountain.
Zhang Chengdao hurried toward the main hall, his head still a muddle. That boy Zhang Xiao had just contacted him again.
They really were Ginseng Dolls!
Not only that, they could talk!
The revelation had shaken Zhang Chengdao's entire worldview. Seriously, they were only hundred-year-old ginseng roots. How was that fair?
Even if magic defied reason, surely there had to be a limit!
The moment he entered the hall, he called out impatiently:
"Dad!"
The Old Celestial Master emerged from the back in white Taoist robes, his hands clasped behind him and an unmistakably disdainful look on his face.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
"Dad, something big has happened. A couple of years ago, Xiao Xiao gave their Herbology professor two hundred-year-old ginseng roots from Changbai Mountain.
"Today, out of nowhere, he told me they'd gained sentience! They've become Ginseng Dolls!
"There has to be something behind an anomaly like this, Dad."
Zhang Chengdao kept rambling:
"Do you think some unclean spirit over there possessed the ginseng, took on a monstrous form, and tricked my son?"
The Old Celestial Master's gaze sharpened briefly, and his long white eyebrows twitched.
"An unclean spirit? What do you take Xiao Xiao for? A pushover?"
Then he settled into a high-backed armchair, his expression still, the brilliance in his eyes concealed as he quietly watched the night sky beyond the doors.
Countless stars glittered overhead, with even the Milky Way faintly visible. They shone like diamond chips embedded in a dark curtain.
Only after a long while did he speak softly:
"Chengdao..."
Zhang Chengdao simply sat down as well.
"Yes, Dad. I'm listening."
"There are things you cannot understand or know until you become the Celestial Master."
"I know."
"Good. Go home. Don't