Jing Jiu's pity seemed somewhat unusual, less directed toward the Azure Bird than a reflection on the mortal world.
The same was true of his words about being too late.
The Azure Bird paced to the edge of the Go board and gazed beyond the cliff, thinking of True Person Taiping, who had just left, and of the tens of thousands of years in Yunmeng Mountain. Complex emotions arose in her eyes.
She knew Jing Jiu would not let her seek out White True Person, because that would be too dangerous.
Even True Person Tan's Ten Directions Demon-Subduing Tower had restrictions placed on it by the Bai Household. Who knew what tampering the Zhongzhou Sect might have done to the Azure Sky Mirror?
Then who should stop White True Person? Or was it truly too late, as Jing Jiu had said?
Beyond the cliff lay a sea of clouds made even whiter by the starlight. A vast gap lay on its far side, where Shangde Peak had once stood.
Now it was a stretch of black ground, its rock exceptionally dense and solid, its surface extremely smooth. It looked like an enormous black jade disc.
Countless threads of cold seeped from the black jade disc, turning the mist into fine falling snow. That was why there were no clouds there.
The Snow Nation Queen had not swallowed the entire cold vein beneath Shangde Peak. A small portion still remained.
Fine snow drifted down. Corpse Dog lay quietly in the center of the enormous black jade disc, looking like a black stone statue seamlessly joined to the ground. There was something sacred about him, as well as a solemn beauty.
No Green Mountain disciples dared look directly at this godlike Guardian, making Qing'er's gaze in that direction particularly conspicuous.
Corpse Dog