The mountain wind howled, and the peaks stood in stark isolation.
Whirling clouds tumbled across the sky, the moon shone bright and the stars were sparse; tonight's wind seemed especially cold.
No birds chirped, no insects buzzed; they too sensed danger, and all beasts fell silent.
Standing atop a stone pillar, Xuanyuan Mingjing called out, "Are you here to stop me, or to kill me?"
The man in black sitting on the branch of the Guest Welcoming Pine yawned, stretched leisurely, and said discontentedly, "If you hadn't come soon, I would have fallen asleep."
Such thin and soft pine needles seemed to possess infinite strength, actually able to support his heavy body.
Even with his grand movements, the branches did not shake in the slightest.
Xuanyuan Mingjing's expression was serene as he said, "Why forsake reading the true scriptures, and refuse to worship the immortals? Why bother wading into these muddy waters?"
