A tower raised on a lofty terrace, its summit touching azure clouds (an Earthly Immortal wishes college entrance exam students

success in claiming the laurels and a smooth ascent into the azure clouds)

Late spring of Ming year 465, the twenty-ninth day of the second month, Qingming.

The sky was clear and the air crisp.

At the hour of the Hare, the sky was barely light, and the air still faintly chilly.

Cheng Xinzhan had prepared to flee a thousand li in a single escape, and the two boys had already returned to the mountain. Still, he had no intention of abandoning Kanli Mountain entirely. He had cultivated there for eight or nine years, and his attainments in the Five Elements, earth veins, and formations were enough to construct an extraordinary grand formation.

In fact, he had considered this as early as when he first came to Kanli Mountain to establish his monastery. By now, the Five Poisons Cloudsmoke Miasma guarding Kanli Mountain had indeed reached the stage of five-element rotation and mutual generation of yin and yang. Anyone wishing to break through by force would have to overturn the entire mountain. But Kanli Mountain stood beside the Dadu River, and even someone in the fifth realm would have to proceed carefully to overturn the mountain without affecting the river.

That was the advantage of formations. Provided one adapted to the terrain and possessed sufficiently sophisticated methods, time could be exchanged for power. Heavenly Scabbard Mountain was a fine example. Of course, its formation had linked the mountains and waters for thousands of years, making it naturally more formidable than his.

Before leaving, he altered several restrictions, rendering all the passage tokens he had previously distributed to friends in Kham-Shu useless.

After sealing the monastery and closing the mountain, Cheng Xinzhan came to the snowy summit. Lion was already prepared. Having slept for so many years, he had finally risen