Mount Laojun, Luanchuan, Luoyang.
Dawn had just broken. Clear torrents rushed through swirling clouds and mist, like a fresh, ethereal ink painting. Taoist temples stood everywhere from the mountainside upward.
Jia Huan changed his appearance with a disguise and questioned the Taoists along the way, leading his party toward the Hall of the Three Pure Ones.
After a full two hours, they finally reached a simple, narrow wooden building perched beside a cliff. A fence enclosed the ground to its east, where flowers and plants grew, accompanied by two white deer.
Hearing footsteps, a tall woman emerged from the building, her white skirt fluttering. She stood a full seven feet six inches tall, her black hair dancing in the wind.
She stood motionless, watching the visitors.
Jia Huan cupped his fists in greeting and asked with a smile:
"Are you Madam Jiuli?"
The woman had snow-white skin and exquisitely alluring peach-blossom eyes, with a beauty mark at the corner of her lips. Though she was in her thirties, her bearing remained as youthful as a maiden's. She was a rare beauty indeed.
She looked exactly as Sect Master Qin of the Guangling Sect had described!
"And you are?" Madam Jiuli's voice was clear, her eyes filled with wariness.
She had seen through his disguise.
Jia Huan approached step by step, speaking gently:
"I heard that your zither music is unrivaled, Madam Jiuli. I came expressly to seek your guidance."
In an instant, his figure became elusive as drifting mist.
Shock filled Madam Jiuli's eyes. Knowing she was no match for him, she flicked a poison pill from her sleeve and swiftly slipped it between her red lips.
They were now within arm's reach.
"Who are you?!" Madam Jiuli's face turned icy. What terrifying movement technique was this? She continued coldly: