Immediately afterward, Jade Lake Peak Master Cheng Youtian, Mochi and Guo Nanshan representing Heavenly Light Peak, and the elders of the various peaks all came forward to pay their respects.
Not everyone had come to welcome his return. Nan Wang, for instance, and Fang Jingtian.
The most important thing for Daoist cultivators was cultivation. A single period of seclusion often lasted more than ten years, or even longer, and nobody could fault them for that.
Likewise, not everyone welcomed Jing Jiu's return. The newly appointed Cloud-Traveling Peak Master, for instance, had paid his respects along with everyone else, but his expression remained cold.
Ping Yongjia had not returned to Green Mountain in a hundred years. He asked Yuan Qu quietly, "Senior Brother, who is that?"
"Jin Sidao," Yuan Qu said. "Since Fu Wang died, he's been Sword Peak's Peak Master."
Ping Yongjia had a particular fondness for Cloud-Traveling Peak and had been quite curious about its new Peak Master. Seeing the man's expression and bearing, he could not help feeling a little disappointed. "That's all there is to him..." he murmured. "He's not even as good as me."
His voice really was extremely quiet. Only Yuan Qu and the others could hear him, and they nearly laughed.
Nobody expected Jing Jiu to suddenly say, "Then you can do it."
Not a crow or sparrow stirred beside Sword-Washing Creek.
A light breeze brushed the water, faintly disturbing its shimmering surface.
The elders and disciples of the various peaks thought they must have misheard. Then they came to their senses, stunned into silence.
Jin Sidao's expression turned ugly.
Fortunately, Jing Jiu had only said it in passing and did not actually do anything.
Next, rather than returning to Divine End Peak to see his monkeys or hurrying to Heavenly Light Peak to