Daoist Zhan did not hurry to take him inside. Instead, they strolled side by side. This was her favorite way of spending time together.
"Thirteen people have come from the upper realm, and they're all in Anhe Palace now. They've been here for months, expounding on methods and lecturing on the Dao every day, never tiring of it. They aren't in a hurry, so neither are we. That's why things have dragged on until now. For certain reasons, we need to reach a decision."
Hou Niao was not surprised. Seven had come for the Dual Cultivation Path alone. Judging by the proportions of territory and population, thirteen was hardly many. Even thirty would have been perfectly normal.
"Are all their backgrounds clear?"
"Very clear. Anyone who won't disclose their origins gets turned away outright. But they have nothing to hide, anyway. In fact, they're all from various branches of the Three Pure Ones' Daoist Sect: Taiqing, Yuqing, Shangqing, Taixuan, Yellow Court, Zixiao, Hunyuan, Chisu, Guangling, Dafang, Zhouyi, Dongyuan, Yunji...
"If you trace them back tens of thousands of years, they actually share a single ancestor: the Three Pure Ones' Daoist Sect."
Hou Niao shrugged. "So there's no way of proving whose lineage was originally passed down here? It amounts to the same thing, really. With all those aunts and distant relatives, you can never sort it out. Not one shows up when it's time to contribute gift money, but when the family property gets divided, they all come running.
"Hmm, they're all genuinely from the upper realm? None from the Anchor Chain?"
Daoist Zhan smiled bitterly. "A few came at first, swaggering around with their noses in the air. But once they saw this gathering, they all ran off. They knew their foundations weren't deep enough. Compared with these lineages