Night fell over the docks outside the city.
A thousand sails gathered in the harbor, and carriages and horses streamed like dragons along the official road. Men and women of the Jianghu who traveled far and wide gathered before the dockside noticeboard, chatting:
"Senior brother, when we enter the Capital this time, can you take me to Purple Emblem Mountain? I've heard of the 'Daoist Sect's Number One Beauty' since I was little. I want to see just how beautiful she is..."
"Forget it. Fairy Nangong is famous for being coldly beautiful as an immortal, and she's a Daoist Sect ancestor. Even if we met one of her attendant disciples, we'd have to respectfully call them a Daoist master. What right would we have to meet her in person...?"
"You're barely over twenty and already Fourth Grade, senior brother. Even that wouldn't catch a Mountain-Peak Ancestor's eye?"
"Fourth Grade? You know Xie Jinhuan, right? He ranked among the Ten Under Heaven at such a young age, and only then was he worthy of becoming Fairy Nangong's son-in-law. If Fairy Nangong hadn't recognized a pearl with her discerning eye, treated Xie Jinhuan as her own, taught him through word and deed, and raised him like her own son, how would he have gotten where he is today...?"
"Are you jealous, senior brother?"
"What do I have to be jealous of? Fairy Nangong belongs to the Daoist Sect and has nothing to do with worldly passions. Even if Xie Jinhuan became the Martial Ancestor, wouldn't he still only be able to daydream, just like me...?"
On and on they chattered...
Their sour, jealous conversation drifted up to the riverbank along with the clamor of the docks.
Beneath a willow on the bank, a figure in a veil hat stood motionless in the