Inside the Daoist monastery, both of them paused. Neither had expected today's visitor to be not a cultivator from north of the river, but Master Canxia of Yellow Mountain, south of the river-the master Zhou Qingyun regarded as a loving mother.
The Daoist glanced at the woman and noticed the panic in her eyes, but saw no trace of resistance on her face. He therefore instructed those outside the monastery,
"Please show our guest in."
With that, he rose as well and went to the entrance to welcome her, as he always did.
The flustered Zhou Qingyun came to her senses at this and hurriedly rose with him. Of course, this time she did not retreat to the rear courtyard, but went along to welcome the visitor.
The Daoist stopped at the monastery entrance, where he had always received and seen off his guests. The woman, however, walked outside and went all the way to the end of the little cliffside path on the hilltop to wait.
Her steps were hurried and her expression flustered. She kept looking toward the mountain gate, seeming both expectant and worried.
Before long, Master Canxia arrived.
The female Daoist wore a rosy robe patterned with crimson cranes and a crown of layered mountains. She looked about forty, well preserved, fair-skinned and beautiful, with a graceful, dignified bearing. She landed before Zhou Qingyun and looked at her beloved disciple, whose head was deeply bowed, with an exceedingly complicated expression in her eyes. How could she ever have imagined that a chance encounter on Yellow Mountain sixty years ago would bring about such an ill-fated bond? Still less could she have imagined that the little First Realm Daoist surveying Earth Qi back then would now have grown into True Lord Evolving Transformation, someone even she could