These days, the entire Azure Wave Archipelago had been in an uproar, as though someone had stirred up a hornet's nest, drawing every faction into the turmoil.
Undercurrents also surged through the Three Corpses, Cold Mountain, Heavenly Illumination, and other archipelagos, making the situation ever more complicated.
Yet Xuanji Peak, at the heart of the storm, was as tranquil as a "Glazed Glass Bottle."
In recent years, clouds and mist had drifted around Xuanji Peak's summit, making it ever more wondrous, like an immortal realm.
Lotuses of every kind floated on the pool's surface-purple lotuses, snow lotuses, cloud lotuses, and more, their petals beaded with dew;
Beneath them, various spirit fish swam leisurely, flicking their tails and breaking apart the reflections of clouds in the pool.
In the seat of honor beside the pool, Xuanji True Lord sat cross-legged in a loose, moon-white Daoist robe, with an air of immortal grace all his own.
The Jade Token hanging at his waist shone with a warm, mellow luster, lending him still more of an Earth Immortal's bearing.
In the cultivation world, those at Nascent Soul were honored as True Lords; they were sometimes also called immortals who walked the land, or, in short, Earth Immortals.
He had kindly brows and benevolent eyes, and the smile lines at their corners held the equanimity of one who had weathered centuries of wind and rain.
He held a third-tier high-grade fishing rod made of blackfire red sandalwood spiritwood, keeping it perfectly upright.
The fishing line, however, was no ordinary thread, but something condensed from "true essence," hanging insubstantially into the water without even any bait on the hook.
"Gurgle."
A string of pearl-like bubbles suddenly rose from the bottom of the pool.
Without even lifting his eyelids, Xuanji True Lord gave a slight flick