Chapter 26 — A Master of the Daoist Sect

In a secret chamber of one of the side halls within the Jade Void Palace, upon a floor of spotless white jade, lay a fire-red cushion carved from red jade. A maiden sat upright upon it in Daoist attire—bright-eyed, white-toothed, with delicate features, beautiful beyond all describing—her hands folded before her breast in the textbook posture for breathing exercises.

Had Zhou Xuan been present, he would surely have recognized her: this maiden was none other than Ling Yan, whom he had rescued from the hands of Mitsui Taro, and then played for a fool once more in Las Vegas.

Above Ling Yan's head hung wreaths of misty vapor tinged faintly with five colors, taking the shape of lotuses that gathered and dispersed by turns. Every half hour the five-colored vapor grew a little denser and its hues a little clearer, as the spiritual essence of the surrounding air was gradually drawn into Ling Yan's body, transformed into five-colored mist, and left to drift above her head. How long this went on, none could say, until at last the five-colored vapor congealed and ceased to drift, settling steadily into three five-hued lotuses the size of fists, radiating five-colored light in every direction. She drew a long breath, and the three lotuses slowly merged into the crown of Ling Yan's head and vanished.

A faint pure radiance flickered over Ling Yan's whole body, and her eyes blazed the brighter with it, her gaze grown so solid it seemed to have substance—clear proof of a great advance in power. With a sharp *chi!* and a maiden's cry, Ling Yan sprang into the air, swept both hands, and five streams of immortal qi, more than a zhang long and as thick as teacups, shot in azure beams at the white jade floor.

"Up to your tricks again!" An azure figure flashed, and out of nowhere the secret chamber gained an old Daoist in a robe of blue cloth, white-haired and youthful-faced, the skin of his face as smooth as an infant's. The old Daoist rubbed his palms together, and a pure breeze swept past, falling silent and soundless upon the five ferocious beams. Without a single sound, the beams that seemed hard as steel scattered at the breeze's touch, dissolving into tiny azure motes that sprinkled the white jade floor and then vanished.

"This Jade Void Palace is the peerless immortal abode opened by our Kunlun founder, the Celestial Worthy of Original Beginning. In memory of the founder's peerless divine power, no arts are permitted within these walls. Have you forgotten?" the old Daoist barked at Ling Yan.

"Master! Why must you shout so loud? You frightened me out of my wits—I just forgot for a moment!" Ling Yan dropped to the ground and grumbled at the old Daoist. This old Daoist was none other than the current Kunlun Sect Leader, whose Daoist name was Qianjizi, a man whose cultivation was truly unfathomable. Together with the Shushan elder Lingxu Daoren, the Maoshan daoren Kaiyang, the Longhu Mountain Celestial Master Daoyi, and the living Buddha of Tibet, he was numbered among the Five Great Masters of the World. It was said that Qianjizi's cultivation stood firmly first among them, only a single step from breaking through to the immortal realm of Refining Spirit and Returning to Void, where the flesh is deathless.

Yet for all the depth of Qianjizi's cultivation, he was helpless before this disciple of his. Shaking his head, Qianjizi's ordinarily placid eyes suddenly shot forth a keen light as he studied Ling Yan closely, then said with delight, "Well done! Your aptitude is truly fine, to have comprehended the first scroll of the Upper Clarity Purple Palace Immortal Formula so quickly. True, the spiritual essence in this Jade Void Palace is a hundred times denser than outside, but even so it is rare." Qianjizi stroked the half-foot beard on his chin without pause, nodding in admiration.

"Master, I still don't have a flying sword. I want a flying sword, just like my brother's. Watching my brother ride his sword through the air is so thrilling!" Seeing the old Daoist Qianjizi nodding there, Ling Yan seized the moment to press her demand.

"Sword cultivation is a side gate and a crooked path. Its progress is swift and its killing power great, but let your guard slip for an instant and it wounds others and yourself alike. Its foundations are most unstable; carry it to the higher reaches and the odds of qi deviation and demonic obsession are considerable. In those days your brother, craving quick results, was the reason I passed him the Flowing Ripples Sword and the way of the sword cultivator. You need not learn it. Those who cultivate the Dao prize a calm and level heart—why study a method so heavy with killing intent?" Qianjizi expounded at length, but judging by Ling Yan's look, it likely went in at the left ear and straight out the right.

"I don't care, I want to ride a sword through the air." Seeing her demand fail, Ling Yan at once clung to Qianjizi and wheedled.

"Ride a sword through the air—even with a flying sword you could not do it! Your power now is only at the middle-to-late stage of Drawing Qi, still a little short. Besides, the Upper Clarity Purple Palace Immortal Formula I passed to you is the secret transmission of our Kunlun; I did not even pass it to your brother. It is nobler by far than that way of the sword cultivator, and its arts are exquisite. Within it is the Phoenix Soaring a Thousand Li, and Master Hu Gong's art of shrinking the earth: once you cultivate to the higher reaches, a thousand li is reached in the blink of an eye, far surpassing the method of riding a sword." Qianjizi had long since grown immune to Ling Yan's wheedling and was unmoved.

"Master! Never mind the flying sword, but you must give me a formidable magic treasure to protect myself, no? This time I was ambushed by that little devil, and it was all because I had no treasure to defend myself." Ling Yan rolled her eyes half a turn; seeing wheedling fail, she devised another scheme.

"That is true enough. But how did you escape in the end? That little devil's arts, though crude, were still formidable. You said someone saved you—who exactly was it? Why will you not speak plainly? Let us see which sect's disciple he is; no common man, to be sure. One of these days we must go and thank him." Hearing Ling Yan say this, Qianjizi grew puzzled.

At the mere mention of the affair, Ling Yan's hatred for Zhou Xuan itched to the very roots of her teeth; and now hearing Qianjizi propose that she go thank the man, she nearly burst with rage. Yet she could not vent it before Qianjizi, so she said through clenched teeth, "Yes—once I come down the mountain, I shall go and 'thank' that person properly!"

"By the way, Master, do you know whether our Shuzhen Sect has a Shuyiao Faction?" It suddenly occurred to Ling Yan that she had come up the mountain to beg her master to teach her immortal arts precisely so that, once her power grew great, she might seek out Zhou Yan and Ma Heng; but now it struck her that she still did not know who Zhou Xuan really was. She vaguely recalled Zhou Xuan saying something about being the sect leader of his Minglun Faction, and she had no notion what sort of sect the Shuyiao Faction was, nor where its mountain gate stood. So she asked Qianjizi.

Little did she know that the Shuyiao Faction was a fabrication of Zhou Sui's own devising, and had not yet spread through the cultivation world at all. Qianjizi, for all his wide experience—Daoist immortal arts, Buddhist and Daoist secret methods, demonic ways, devilish cults' divine powers, even Western magic, of which he knew no small amount—found himself muttering over this Shuyiao Faction.

"I have never heard of such a sect! There is only the Five Elements Faction, the Pure Yang Faction, the Yin Talisman Faction, the Qimen Dunjia Faction! How could a Shuyiao Faction have appeared in the cultivation world?" the old Daoist murmured to himself, wholly without the bearing of a generation's master.