Li Yan had just been about to enter the cultivation chamber when he suddenly sensed the winds and clouds stirring in the sky above the courtyard. He hurriedly looked up. In an instant, the clear blue morning sky erupted with howling winds, dark clouds blanketing the heavens. Startled, Li Yan had no idea what was happening. His gaze flashed, and he vanished from the courtyard. The next moment, he stood atop a flying sword and shot into the sky.
Above Small Bamboo Peak, fierce winds howled. Thick black clouds from the distant horizon came rolling and surging toward this place. The bamboo forest on the mountain heaved violently like waves, sweeping fallen leaves into the sky. Beneath the pressing dark clouds, the already dark-green mountain appeared even more oppressive and heavy.
Li Yan hovered above his small courtyard. Though his robes snapped loudly in the wind, his body remained utterly still, as though nailed in midair. He looked at the churning black clouds steadily drawing closer, then followed the direction in which they were surging. That was the southeastern corner of Small Bamboo Peak. Li Yan's heart stirred. Looking again at the roiling clouds overhead, he seemed to have formed a guess.
At the same time Li Yan rose into the air, dozens of streaks of light shot into the sky from Small Bamboo Peak. They were Wei Chi Tuo, Gong Chenying, Wen Xinliang, Lin Daqiao, and Yun Chunqu. Li Wuyi and Miao Wangqing, however, had not appeared. The other cultivators who had likewise taken to the air were disciples from the other four peaks who had come here on assignments. Every one of them wore a look of astonishment as they gazed toward the southeastern corner of Small Bamboo Peak. Meanwhile, dozens more streaks of light came whistling in