This time, the lots were for the four directions: east, west, south, and north.
Cheng Xinzhan drew south, while a man in white drew north.
The mirror scenes merged, and the two exchanged greetings.
"Cheng Xinzhan of Three Pure Ones Mountain. Greetings, fellow Daoist."
"Yu Qingsi of Tianzhu Mountain. Greetings, fellow Daoist."
Tianzhu Mountain? Cheng Xinzhan had heard Zhou Qingyun mention it while searching for earth veins on Yellow Mountain. It was the most famous retreat for secluded cultivators in Qingzhou, and indeed south of the great river. The immortal Zuo Ci had once built a hut there.
Yu Qingsi had a modest, gentle bearing and an approachable face. The sword in his hand was a longsword with white cord wrapped around its hilt and a snowy-white, frost-coated blade. Its Sword Qi was snow-white and biting, quite at odds with its master's disposition.
"Fellow Daoist, please."
Yu Qingsi was also a qi-nurturing Dharma Sword practitioner. His opening move was a crescent of frosty Sword Qi.
The Sword Qi swept through the void, its chill condensing the moisture along its path into beads of ice that fell to the ground.
Seeing the cold approach, Cheng Xinzhan recalled that earth subdued water. He opened with earth-element magical power, swinging out a heavy streak of hazy yellow Sword Qi.
But as the two streaks of Sword Qi approached each other, the thick-earth Sword Qi froze instantly, then shattered under the frosty Sword Qi.
The frosty Sword Qi flashed past, almost grazing Cheng Xinzhan. Cold wind struck his face and coated even his sleeves in white frost.
Cheng Xinzhan realized he had been mistaken. This man was not cultivating water arts, but using water arts to cultivate the Taiyin Dao.
He tested him with water arts and wood arts in turn, but both were