Purple Tenuity's imperial procession, mountains call and seas answer (55K words offered, asking for

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Early spring, the 477th year of Ming.

Cheng Xinzhan rode his lion back to Cloud Ladder Mountain and landed on Heavenly Ladder Peak.

Cloud Ladder Mountain's peaks towered steep and sheer. Clouds and mist clung to them year-round, giving the mountain its name. Like the Red Furnace Archipelago, it had originally been a gathering place for minor sects and rogue cultivators. Later occupied by the Southern School, then reclaimed by the Righteous Path, it had changed hands six times, leaving ruin and devastation everywhere. At last, Cheng Xinzhan had recovered it, allowing life to return.

Cloud Ladder Mountain's highest summit, Heavenly Ladder Peak, was flat-topped, small in area, and precipitous on all four sides, with only a single hall atop it. As the mountain changed hands, the hall had also repeatedly changed owners and names.

After driving off Egui Zi, Cheng Xinzhan had recovered Cloud Ladder Mountain, established himself on Heavenly Ladder Peak, renamed the building "Clearheart Hall," and awakened Shi Yujun here.

"Scripture Master."

Zuo Feizi, who guarded Cloud Ladder Mountain, had been meditating on the stone steps before Clearheart Hall. Seeing Cheng Xinzhan return, he immediately came forward to salute him.

Cheng Xinzhan nodded and said directly,

"I will enter seclusion here. Go guard the Cloud-Born Path halfway up the mountain. Until I emerge, no one may reach the summit."

"Yes."

Without another word, Zuo Feizi saluted, immediately transformed into a mass of azure light, and left the summit for the cloud-born stretch halfway down.

After Zuo Feizi left, Cheng Xinzhan summoned the Spell Kerchief, merging it with the clouds and mist surrounding the mountaintop. Next, he summoned the Spell Umbrella, which became a jeweled azure-cloud canopy suspended above Heavenly Ladder Peak. Then he brought out all the Five-Element Dharma Swords nurtured in his five