Flying Jade Peak had been only one of thirty-six peaks to begin with, but because there was a sword cultivator becoming a shed skin here, it had turned into something of a forbidden territory. From a distance you could sense the harsh mountain seal, more forbidding than either the Sea of Stars or the Discipline Hall. 

The Xuanyin Mountains’ two great shed skins—Lin Zongyi and Zhang Jue—were both kept well outside. 

Lin Zongyi, hands behind his back, faced the fish belly pale dawn at the farthest reaches of the sky. In a rare occurrence, he spoke voluntarily: “Zhi Jingzhai entered the Way due to turbulence in the spiritual mountains. His progress has been quick, previously unheard of. When he has become a shed skin, there will be another upheaval in the cultivation world.” 

The blindfolded Zhang Jue responded expressionlessly, “I am the Dignitary of Fate.” 

Basically everything Lin Zongyi said was an assertion. When he was through asserting, he wasn’t especially concerned with how others reacted. When he was contradicted by the Dignitary of Fate, he didn’t dispute it. He was just about to replace his mouth seal. 

Suddenly, the two of them simultaneously sensed something. Lin Zongyi looked into the distance and saw a youthful figure covered in frost and snow stroll out of Flying Jade Peak. 

His hair crown had gone missing. His hair hung loose down his back. His robe was covered in slashes from a sharp weapon. His gait was unusually lax. While he evidently knew there were people waiting for him, he still wouldn’t hurry up. 

When he reached the mountain pass, he looked down and saw that one of his thin boots had frozen and cracked—he had come in haste and was still dressed in summer attire—so he simply kicked off both shoes. He had no sword. He stepped barefoot onto a tree branch and flew before two of the world’s current shed skin sages. “Gentlemen, it has been a long time.” 

Xuanyin Mountain’s sect rules and general principles—“improve your body, mind, and morals, abstain from luxury, lust, and sloth”—were the first words written on a provisional disciple’s selection card. Never mind encountering a high elder in the inner sect; even if you wore a blue robe in the outer sect, you still had to constantly examine yourself. Who would dare to act with such presumption and wantonness? 

Lin Zongyi was the Dignitary of Rule. Restrictions and regulations were his purview. He frowned at once. 

The newcomer—Xi Ping—noticed it right away. He met his eyes unflinchingly and gave him a rather provocative smile. 

Lin Zongyi’s displeasure deepened. 

Zhang Jue waved a hand and said, “Yuan Hui’s temperament was also like this. Their way…” 

Xi Ping interrupted him languorously: “Whose way? I don’t acknowledge any rotten bones with no one to bury them.” 

Lin Zongyi seemed to reach the end of his endurance. He broke his silence: “Xi Ping, impudence!” 

Each of the Dignitary of Rule’s words was weighty. These words fell onto Xi Ping, pressing down so hard his face turned white. The branch at his feet cracked. 

But he only wavered once, then managed to steady himself. 

Xi Ping had been hunted by a full moon sage, and he had just been planted in the snow for a night by heavenly might. He was boiling with ferocity. He directly engaged the shed skin elder in a dispute. With a fake smile, he said, “If Elder Lin truly can’t stand the sight, why doesn’t he do as Elder Zhang does and cover his eyes?” 

Lin Zongyi’s sleeves moved on their own. The branch at Xi Ping’s feet turned to dust. He fell out of the air into the ground.

His fall left a hole in the ground, but Xi Ping didn’t seem hard-pressed at all—as long as he wasn’t hard-pressed, it was the other guy who’d be humiliated—he took the opportunity to sprawl out on his back and even crossed one leg over the other. Laughing, he said, “High elders, take care. Last time, thanks to your tender care, I got beaten to half a step from an ascended spirit. This time, if you beat me into a shed skin, I’ll have to fight back.” 

Lin Zongyi’s slanting brows practically stood upright. Zhang Jue swept his sleeve and separated the two of them. “Dignitary of Rule.” 

Lin Zongyi’s sleeves billowed out. He stared fixedly at Xi Ping for a long moment, then, without a word, pulled his mouth seal back into place and left with a flick of his sleeves. 

Xi Ping watched him leave with slightly malicious ridicule and remembered the rumor in the street about the Dignitary of Rule High Elder—they said that Lin Zongyi was the first among Xuanyin Mountain’s shed skins, with a will like iron and just as impartial, with the Yuntian Palace Discipline Hall in his charge. Because he stood so high, he viewed all living creatures as merely fulfilling their functions, taking no issue with anyone, as steady as a cultivator of the way of clarity. 

It was said that this ancestor of the Lin clan was, of all those in the Xuanyin Mountains, the person closest to the “Great Way.” 

And now, with a couple of sentences, he had sent this “Great Way” running off in a rage. 

Xi Ping slowly got up and, with highly artificial “astonishment,” said to Zhang Jue, “Is the Dignitary of Rule Elder cultivating some kind of ‘great pufferfish art’? How is it that in the decade or so since I last saw him, the venerable old fellow’s temper has grown so much? I do hope he hasn’t encountered some stumbling block.” 

How could Jingzhai have turned out a scoundrel like this? 

Zhang Jue sighed to himself and said, mildly, “At the bottom of the Impassable Sea, he shattered your consciousness in a momentary slip. Meeting you again in the immortal mountains, it is as though he has come face to face with his own error of judgment. Indeed, this matter touches on his Way of the Heart. Some testiness is inevitable.” 

“Oh, so that’s what it is.” Xi Ping rolled up his ragged sleeves, picked up a broken stone, and flew up on it. There was only enough room on the stone for one foot, so he stood on one leg like a rooster. He said, “Here I thought it was because Elder Lin failed to get rid of me back then, and now that he’s had to hold his nose and call me back, it’s put him in a bad mood.” 

Zhang Jue had been a shed skin for nearly a thousand years. Whether orthodox or evil, all who met him were struck with fear, filled with respect. This was his first time dealing with someone so completely indifferent. For a time, even he couldn’t avoid feeling a headache. 

This was his first time finding that it was rather inconvenient not having Zhao Yin around anymore—the Xuanyin Mountains were missing their smooth talker. 

“Let us go. Come down into the Sea of Stars with me.” Zhang Jue waved a hand at Xi Ping. Seeing that he had no lengthy remarks to deliver, he moderated his tone even further and said, “According to Xuanyin’s rules, after a disciple has become an ascended spirit, he may immediately complete his studies and take his place among the thirty-six peak masters. As you have now…” 

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Xi Ping’s rude laughter. 

The Dignitary of Fate instantly shut his mouth. 

“You flatter me, you flatter me, I am truly overwhelmed by the favor.” As Xi Ping laughed, he waved his hand over and over. “The thirty-six peak masters…” 

Before, when he had been a minor disciple who admired the immortal mountains, they had “eliminated evil” without considering his guilt. Now that he was a renowned shit-stirrer who could even receive an invitation to a meeting of the South Sea’s demon host, they wanted him to take his place among the thirty-six peak masters. 

“That really beats anything, haha, no wonder the Dignitary of Rule Elder is as mad as a gourd.” 

The Dignitary of Fate: “…” 

He ought to put a seal over his mouth like the Dignitary of Rule. 

Xi Ping shook the foot that was dangling in midair. “Also, just when did I say that I belonged to the Xuanyin Sect? I’m only a fiend from Flying Jade Peak. It’s up to my shizun to decide whether I’ve completed my studies. There’s no need for your sect to stick its nose in and meddle! …Hey, Peak Master Wen! You’re on your way out? How have you been?” 

Rosy Cloud Peak was next to Flying Jade Peak. Rosy Cloud Peak’s Peak Master Wen Fei had just been about to fly out on his sword when, to his surprise, he had seen that the Dignitary of Fate High Elder had left the Sea of Stars. He had hurriedly straightened his clothes and stood at attention. But before he could say hello, he was forced to overhear these heretical remarks. 

Wen Fei was dumbfounded. He almost suspected there was something wrong with his ears. He thought, Where did this great monster come from? Damn it, he’s so arrogant! Wait, how does he know me? What peak did he say just now? 

Once the two of them had gone by, Wen Fei turned into a comet, “plummeting” straight towards Moon Plated Peak. 

The summit of Moon Plated Peak was no longer the isolated place it had been before, always closed off and declining visitors. Since Master Lin had left seclusion to make tools, it was as if all of Moon Plated Peak had taken on new life. Now, it wasn’t yet daylight, and carts were already racing back and forth over the rails on the slopes. 

Moon Plated Peak’s carts were driven by arrays. They carried sample products up from the toolmaking disciples at the bottom of the mountain to line up for Lin Chi’s inspection. Once he had inspected, if he had any objections, he would write a note and have the cart send the item back. 

Wen Fei arrived outside the arrays at the summit of Moon Plated Peak like a streak of smoke. He waved his folding fan wildly, waving several dozen Master Lins towards Moon Plated Peak’s array in a single breath. Finally, Lin Chi showed himself. 

Master Lin had changed to a light grey robe. He waved a hand to open a hole in the array that had intercepted the uninvited guest. “Wen-shixiong, wh…” 

Wen Fei landed in front of him, words quickly popping up on his fan: Was there a complication when you repaired Zhaoting for Zhi Jingzhai? Otherwise, with him always in seclusion and the mountain sealed, where would Flying Jade Peak have picked up such a great monster? Truly evil, I’m telling you, he challenged the Dignitary of Fate High Elder to his face, utterly fearless…

Lin Chi couldn’t read so quickly. His eyes blurred from hopping around. “Wait, slow down… What complication?” 

Wen Fei said, A great monster with his clothes all in disarray has shown up on Flying Jade Peak! He shook his foot in front of the Dignitary of Fate High Elder! 

Lin Chi went blank for a moment, touched something in his sleeve, then, unperturbed, led his guest inside. “Oh, he’s back—Wen-shixiong, don’t you remember, that’s the direct disciple General Zhi took in.” 

Wen Fei chased after him. Which direct disciple? 

“What do you mean, which?” said Lin Chi. “Doesn’t General Zhi only have one direct disciple? The one who let off those fireworks that brought down the north slope.” 

As Flying Jade Peak’s busybody good neighbor, of course Wen Fei had seen Xi Ping, but that had been fourteen years ago. Wen Fei only remembered that that boy was good-looking, sweet-talking, quite a lot of fun… It wasn’t that Peak Master Wen had a bad memory for faces. Put anyone in his place, they wouldn’t have been able to connect the charming boy from back then with the mysterious master who had just flown by on a rock. 

The writing on Wen Fei’s fan turned into wild, barely legible cursive: What do you mean “he’s back”? Didn’t Zhi Jingzhai’s little disciple go into seclusion with him when the mountain was sealed? Anyway, that was an ascended spirit! Listen to me, is there such a thing as an ascended spirit under fifty? Tell me the truth, Master Lin, is Jingzhai dying? Did he use some evil art to transfer his whole lifetime’s worth of cultivation to his disciple on his deathbed?!

Lin Chi: “…” 

Xuanyin Mountain did not advocate the use of external objects in cultivation; the higher one’s cultivation, the fewer opportunities there were to use elixirs; such that some medicine making masters did very little work themselves and spent all their time immersed in bizarre stories from the mortal world. 

“Don’t joke. A person isn’t a sack. Cultivation isn’t something that can be transferred,” Lin Chi said. “It’s a long story…” 

Lin Chi had known Xi Ping for many years. Even though he hadn’t gone out of his way to ask, from casual conversation, he had still picked up most of Xi Ping’s story. So, covering up Hui Xiangjun’s part as much as he could, he gave Wen Fei a rough explanation of the whole history. Then he picked up Wen Fei’s dropped fan and handed it back to him. “The immortal mountains have acknowledged him, but the way he walks isn’t orthodox, after all. Speaking of it openly would unavoidably cause dispute. You’re on friendly terms with General Zhi, so let this matter stay with you. Don’t tell others.” 

Wen Fei waved his fan slowly. For a long time, no more words popped up. 

Finally, a line of writing haltingly passed over his fan: You’re saying that the one who started all of this…that half-evil cultivator who provoked Jingzhai into leaving the mountain, the one who possessed a child…

Lin Chi said, “Was the former nominal general commander of Heaven’s Design Pavilion, named Liang Chen. What a pity, he was once…” 

Wen Fei waved a hand to interrupt him: That’s not the important part—you said just now, there was a dragon in his shadow? 

Lin Chi said, “He didn’t obtain the complete Way of the Heart of the ungovernable way. He attempted to use Jinping’s Dragon Vein to rebuild his body. Therefore, there was a dragon in his shadow. After all, you and I don’t understand crooked techniques like this.” 

Wen Fei frowned, shaking his head. No…the imagery is highly inauspicious. You were in seclusion at the time and don’t know—did you ever hear why a shed skin elder accepted a mortal as his disciple? Zhaoting began as mundane iron—did you ever hear how it became the Sword that Mended the Heavens?

Lin Chi froze. 

Wen Fei said in a rush of writing on his fan: When Lancang invaded Jinping, I was still an established foundation disciple, part of the main workforce. Many mortals in the Jinping area were impacted by the battle. Either there were changes to their bodies, or their spiritual eyes were forced open. There was a need for a large quantity of open-eyed grade restorative pills. When the Dignitary of Fate High Elder went to repair the spiritual veins, he took me along—that was when I met Zhi Jingzhai. Guarding the borders and suppressing bandits are both drudge work. Naturally the Zhi family didn’t amount to a distinguished line. They had no association whatsoever with Xuanyin’s great families. But Elder Zhang took one look at him and asked whether he wanted to become his direct disciple. After being refused on the grounds of “My father and elder brother have aged, the nation is not yet secure,” he said he would leave the position open for him. When he was through with matters in the mortal world, he could enter the sect directly. 

Lin Chi thought, What’s so unusual about that? 

Master Lin thought everyone was impressive, and as for Zhi Xiu, an ascended spirit after a century and a shed skin at two hundred, able to subdue a disciple like Xi Shiyong, Lin Chi looked up to him as a god. The strange thing would be for a god to be left out in the dust of the mortal world. 

Then he saw a line of writing flash across Wen Fei’s fan: For those in the medicine making way like me, it is necessary to be able to see where the focus of a person’s infection lies. Even if we encounter a person whose cultivation is slightly higher than our own, as long as the difference doesn’t constitute a whole boundary, we’ll still be able to pick something up from looking at them. But back then, I couldn’t see Jingzhai clearly… He was already not entirely human then. 

At the bottom of the Sea of Stars, while Xi Ping understood nothing of the star sand swirling all around, his ascended spirit’s spiritual sense kept prodding him. 

There was fog of varying density everywhere. While passing through a patch of thick fog, Xi Ping, as though sensing something, couldn’t help himself from extending his consciousness to peer outward, faintly glimpsing the lines drawn by the star sand… The map that flashed there for a moment was familiar. 

But when he tried to distinguish it, his consciousness was bounced back by the fog. The center of his brow stung. His spirit wavered. 

“Do not look at random.” A strip of gauze fell, covering his eyes, and the Dignitary of Fate High Elder’s voice spoke. “The places where the fog appears thick and impenetrable to you have karmic connections to your fate. You must not pry into them.” 

Xi Ping ignored him. Enduring the pain in his head, he continued considering what he had just glimpsed. Suddenly, in a flash, he remembered: it seemed to be Jinping. 

So he asked, “My family is in Jinping, so that means it has a karmic connection to me?” 

The Dignitary of Fate was silent a moment. “Your shifu is also in Jinping.” 

Xi Ping was bewildered. He thought, Shizun didn’t go down the mountain once in a hundred and eighty years. Does it count that he ordered a bowl of wontons in a shop in Jinping? 

“When Jinping’s Dragon Vein broke, Zhaoting, as mundane iron, held off Lancang’s army. Before I could repair it, the Dragon Vein chose your shifu, entrusting itself to him,” the Dignitary of Fate said slowly. “Or you could think of it as your shifu being the living Dragon Vein. Back then, the Sea of Stars passed judgment, saying that when he had become a shed skin sage, there would be no more need to repair the Dragon Vein. All would be at peace, impregnable to evil. Even if the four nations’ spiritual mountains all collapsed, there would still be nothing that could shake Great Wan… Shiyong, before that happens, we must undergo a period of upheaval.” 

Chu’s Sanyue Mountains—

Elder Xiang Ning withdrew his consciousness from a routine inspection of the great mountain array. Brow tightly furrowed, he opened his eyes—the spiritual mountains’ spiritual energy had once again grown scarcer. 

After Sect Leader Xiang Rong had “returned” to the spiritual mountains, all of Sanyue’s spiritual energy had at first been unprecedentedly dense, replete. But over the last eight years, with Chu’s political situation unstable and the Xiang family losing power, the spiritual energy had unavoidably scattered outward…until now, when the density of Sanyue’s West Peak was about the same as in Great Wan’s Xuanyin Mountains. 

As a shed skin elder, Xiang Ning was well aware that the human world and the immortal mountains reflected each other. 

The spiritual mountains determined the nation’s boundaries and terrain, and the mortal world’s order in turn maintained the stability of the spiritual mountains. When an event like one of Southern Shu’s clans defecting occurred, the immortal mountains might even collapse. 

In other words, if they couldn’t stabilize the situation with all haste, Sanyue might end up as the next Lingyun. 

The Luwu…it was all the Luwu. 

Those toilet bulletins that could get in anywhere—starting at the top from the spiritual mountains and going down all the way to the black market, there was no place where they didn’t have their spies. And what made Xiang Ning most uneasy was that the Luwu likely already knew that the sect leader was dead, and they might leak it at any time. 

If the hyenas all around knew that the Xiang family’s mainstay was gone…

Just thinking about it, Xiang Ning’s scalp went numb. 

Suddenly, his spiritual sense was touched. Xiang Ning waved his sleeve, sending out a beam of spiritual energy. “Who’s there?!” 

An invisible spiritual beast had at some point snuck into the Sanyue Mountains. When Xiang Ning took it down, it fell to the ground, twitched twice, then died. It spat out a lotus seed. 

The lotus seed rolled on the ground. From it emerged a face to give you nightmares. 

Xiang Ning abruptly stood up. “You?” 

“Xiang-shishu,” the face on the lotus seed said, slowly adjusting its features, “how about we strike a deal?”