This was Heavenly Mountain's unique "jade anointing," passed down for thousands of years.
In those mist-shrouded myths, the Master of the Western Sea dwelled on Group Jade Mountain, and Heavenly Mountain was his immortal court. When its divine attendants stepped out of the Immortal Kingdom into the mortal world, they wore clouds from the Heavenly Pillar as robes and jade from Group Jade Mountain as pendants.
In countless ancient texts, Heavenly Mountain traced its origins to this, and even now, wearing jade remained its deepest expression of identity.
When he had first entered the sect, his elders had tapped his head and told him with a smile to keep his pendant on him when he traveled-perhaps it would let him and the Immortal Master of the Western Extremity recognize one another. Later, when he became an elder himself, he often made the same joke to the younger disciples when speaking of the Cloud-Mist Pendant.
It was hard to say what place these legends occupied in the hearts of the Heavenly Mountain Disciples. They were clouds and mist, half real and half illusory, beyond reach; no one truly dared take them as fact. Yet deep within, they were also a bright, mysterious jade hook. Whenever one touched it, one's thoughts would often soar beyond the heavens, leaving one dazed for half an hour.
Later, when An Zang could shoulder responsibilities alone, he did learn that Heavenly Mountain had spent centuries pursuing those elusive things without pause, and he himself became part of that pursuit. But... it was a road so long that its end could not even be seen.
They sought everything from antiquity, roaming the Western Realm for the faintest traces of King Mu's Western Inspection. In truth, it was only so they might seize a lead like this one,