The quarters assigned to Hou Niao were rather ordinary, hardly befitting his status. But since that was what he had requested, they obliged him. In his own words, here in the Anhe Daoist Sect, he was simply an ordinary Anhe disciple.
To be honest, becoming an Anhe disciple had been his childhood dream. What was an original aspiration? This was it.
After he had been expelled from Shanmen Quanzhen, Xiao True Person had taken him as a true disciple. The news had spread throughout the Jinxiu Xiuzhen Realm, becoming a much-told tale for a time. In reality, however, he had never returned to complete the formalities. His name was on the rolls, but some of the requisite procedures had never been completed, such as issuing his Daoist Register, command talisman, and so on.
This time, if he was going to put on a show, he would perform the whole act: first, to fulfill his childhood dream; second, to disgust certain people. Didn't these Daoist Sect heavenly emissaries from the upper realm dislike having him meddle in their affairs? Well, he simply wasn't leaving!
When it came to getting under people's skin, he was a professional.
To welcome the heavenly emissaries from the upper realm, the northern and southern branches of Anhe had reached agreement on certain matters and come together again. As before, everyone had returned to Anhe Palace, using the organizational structure from before the split.
It was not that they had forgiven each other or eliminated their differences. Rather, both sides wanted to seize this opportunity to swallow up the other with the upper realm emissaries' power, champion their own ideals, and refute the other's twisted arguments.
This stitching together left them united in appearance but divided at heart. Fortunately, the Anhe Daoist Sect's split had always remained