Cheng Xinzhan strolled among the clouds.
The Mountain-Guarding Grand Arrays of the Immortal's Cave and Azure Dragon Cave each had their merits. The latter concealed green mountains in nothingness and transformed spiritual energy into the image of a bell, hiding all traces and standing impregnable as walls of metal and a moat of boiling water; the former used clouds and mist as a barrier, leaving its mountain somewhere deep in the clouds, its whereabouts unknown. Anyone wishing to attack first had to remove the Cloud Mountain outside.
The Immortal's Cave had been founded during the Northern Song, over two thousand years ago. Enemies had naturally come knocking during those two millennia, but no one had ever been heard to breach this Cloud Mountain, nor had anyone entering it ever found the Immortal's Cave within. That alone demonstrated the mysteries of its Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.
There was also a rumor that this Cloud Mountain had been transformed from the Cloud Tablet held by its founding Patriarch, the renowned Northern Song Immortal Cao Guojiu. It was a magical treasure he had left behind before ascending, meant to preserve his Dao Tradition's foundations for ten thousand generations. No one below an Immortal could hope to breach it.
It was precisely the mysteries of this Cloud Mountain that had kept the Immortal's Cave safe through several Demon Tides. This time was no exception. Once the Immortal's Cave locked down its Cloud Mountain, the turmoil outside had nothing more to do with it.
But Cheng Xinzhan did not see it that way.
Cheng Xinzhan respected truly secluded sects. Su Xian Ridge and Wuyi Mountain, for instance, pursued longevity and attainment of the Dao above all else. They kept their mountains sealed year-round, observing retreats and sustaining themselves through their own farming. They neither accepted incense