"Master?"
Lu Ren jolted in surprise.
Could the Withering and Flourishing Pavilion Master before him once have been Dao Wujun's servant?
"To think you actually met my master!"
The Withering and Flourishing Pavilion Master sighed. Her expression then returned to calm, and she cautioned him, "Lu Ren, you must not tell anyone that my master sent you to find me!"
Lu Ren nodded, then asked, "Pavilion Master, how did Sect Master Wujun come to be your master?"
The Withering and Flourishing Pavilion Master sank into distant memories. Then she looked at Lu Ren and said, "Senior Wujun guided me for a time."
"Back then, I wanted nothing more than to follow him, but he refused."
"Later, he founded the Great Dao Sect and taught the peoples of the Great Dao River through his own Dao."
"In just a few tens of thousands of years after the Great Dao Sect was founded, the overall strength of the Great Dao River's peoples underwent an earth-shaking transformation."
"Later, I joined the Great Dao Sect too. My master guided me a few more times, but then told me our bond had run its course and that I need not seek him out again."
At that, the Withering and Flourishing Pavilion Master walked slowly to the pavilion doorway and gazed toward the mist-wreathed peaks in the distance.
"After that, the Primordial Force appeared, and the entire balance of the Great Thousand World changed drastically."
"From then on, I heard nothing more of my master."
The Withering and Flourishing Pavilion Master's voice gradually sank.
"Many years later, when I finally heard news of my master again, it was the terrible news of his death."
As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, and tears quietly welled in them.
Lu Ren was a little surprised that the Withering