Jing Jiu had known about it many years ago, and he had talked about it with them in person, so he was in a good mood. It would be many years before the day came.
Zhao Layue walked to his side and looked at the highest peak in the ocean of clouds in the distance, asking in a low voice, "How long will it take?"
Jing Jiu replied, "One hundred years."
Zhao Layue understood what he meant. She calculated Guo Nanshan's age in silence, and found he had less than a few decades left.
…
…
A few days later, Elder Yue Qianmen of Zhongzhou School and the Master of Xilai Peak, Fang Jingtian, finished their discussion, and returned with their disciples on the Cloud Boat.
To the surprise of the disciples of Aoyama, Jing Jiu didn't leave, and neither did Bai Zao.
Later, a new rumor spread among the nine peaks, and people learned that Jing Jiu had rejected the proposal of Zhongzhou School without hesitation.
The words "without hesitation" and "refusal" in the rumor were obviously added by someone on purpose.
This person must have been at Shenmo Peak at the time, so it was obvious that his family name was either Gu or Yuan.
The disciples of Aoyama were a bit surprised, but they thought it was natural, because this was the style of the Young Senior Master.
The girls of Qingrong Peak were very happy. They held a "Hundred Flower Banquet" on the pretext that the summer was about to end.
The caretakers brought two hundred barrels of aged wine and a dozen baskets of fresh mountain fruits from Shiyue Peak.
At night, the starlight illuminated the cliffs, and the gentle wind of autumn passed through the pavilions.
The girls ate the fruit, drank the wine, laughed, sang and danced, and were very happy.
After thirty rounds of drinking, the girls, who had intentionally not used the Sword Source to dispel the drunkenness, started to feel tipsy, and started to talk about their worries and stories instead of singing and dancing happily.
The worries were about the troubles in Cultivation, and the stories were about the Cultivation world and the nine peaks, old or new.
The main topic of their conversation was, of course, the matter between Jing Jiu and Bai Zao. Thinking of Bai Zao's seemingly calm but actually somewhat lonely figure that day, for some reason, the previous joy gradually turned into loneliness. The pavilion gradually became silent.
A female disciple who had drunk too much said with a blushing face, "It's really … a heart full of affection … all in vain."
A female disciple sighed and said, "Spring sunshine is always wasted."
Another female disciple reminded, "Today is the Autumn Solstice."
The female disciple said faintly, "Can you let down the beauty of autumn?"
The air was filled with a sense of loss.
They looked at the nearest mountain peak.
Under the starlight, Shenmo Peak seemed even more desolate.
Nan Wang was also drinking.
She was on the top of Qingrong Peak, leaning against a huge rock as smooth as a mirror, with a flowering tree behind her.
She was holding an alcohol jar with two fingers, her expression lazy. The starlight shone on her plump body and beautiful face, making her look exceptionally attractive.
She was also looking at Shenmo Peak, her eyes devoid of any emotion. "He's so heartless," she said nonchalantly, "like his dead Master of his."
…
…
Shenmo Peak was indeed desolate, no different from when the Immortal Jingyang was here.
The blooming flowers in spring, the fruits in autumn, the rainstorm in summer, and the heavy snow in winter couldn't change this peak, and it seemed that it had nothing to do with the people living here.
If someone asked Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue, they would say that since the Great Formation of Aoyama existed, there shouldn't be any spring, summer, autumn, and winter, so there was no need for them to do anything unnecessary.
They were talking about Qingrong Peak.
Qingrong Peak asked the Great Formation of Aoyama to open a gap at a few specific times every year to let in the spring wind, the summer rain, the autumn wind, and the winter snow.
Jing Jiu had no choice but to accept the winter snow.
Zhao Layue preferred the spring rain, because it would remind her of the eaves of Taichang Temple in Zhaoge City after being soaked by the spring rain, looking like an old dragon.
And the Jing House, which could enjoy such a view.
There was a wooden hut among the cliffs. It was built by Gu Qing and the monkeys when he stayed on Shenmo Peak as a guest. Xiao He lived in it now.
It was unclear if this hut would become the official residence of Shenmo Peak in the future.
Gu Qing moved to the peak top.
There were many rooms in the manor cave, and there were many rooms in the Daoist Hall outside. However, Yuan Qu had many questions about Cultivation that he wanted to ask, so he asked Jing Jiu to be his neighbor.
Besides that, Shenmo Peak didn't seem to have changed at all.
But the lack of change was a problem.
Liu Shisui had returned to Aoyama, but he hadn't been here for many days.
Gu Qing thought something must have happened.
Jing Jiu learned what had happened the other day when the monkeys brought the information back to the clan from the foot of the mountain.
As the person who had contributed the most to the elimination of Bulao Lin, Liu Shisui should have been rewarded; but for some reason, the reward hadn't been given yet. Liu Shisui had encountered some difficulties in trying to keep Xiao He in Aoyama. The Elder Mo Chi of Tianguang Peak had written a letter in person, and Guo Nanshan had accompanied him for many days, but it was all in vain.
Most importantly, someone had been investigating Liu Shisui in secret.
Duan Liantian of Shangde Peak had suddenly left Aoyama, which made some people feel it was a bit strange.
Guo Nanshan, who had a mild temperament, was a bit angry, and had a heated argument with the Xilai Peak.
The Aoyama Sect carried out the sect rules and rewarded and punished the disciples in Shangde Peak, but all the human affairs had to go through Xilai Peak.
Human affairs were everything.
The two things related to Liu Shisui hadn't been done because they were stopped by Xilai Peak.
Xilai Peak, which had kept a low profile for more than two hundred years, suddenly showed its edge through the confrontation with Tianguang Peak.
People in Aoyama finally remembered that the seemingly ordinary master of Xilai Peak, Fang Jingtian, was the undisputed third most powerful person in Aoyama Sect.
Gu Qing didn't know why Fang Jingtian did this.
But he suddenly remembered that the whole Shenmo Peak was on guard against a formidable enemy … not the one with Bai Zao.
At that time, he and Yuan Qu had guessed that the powerful man hiding in the clouds should be a master in Aoyama.
Could that person be Fang Jingtian?
Gu Qing was a little worried. He couldn't stand it anymore. He walked to the edge of the cliff and said to Jing Jiu, "Master, I think you should know about this."
Jing Jiu looked at the sand in the porcelain plate and said without raising his head, "I know."
Gu Qing was taken aback, thinking that this wasn't what he meant.
…
…
At the top of Xilai Peak.
Liu Shisui turned around and left in silence.
He still couldn't get anything today.
Fang Jingtian didn't even want to see him.
The disciple of Xilai Peak sent him to the edge of the cliff. He looked back at the tightly shut door of the Daoist Temple in confusion.
In the depths of the temple, Fang Jingtian looked out of the window with his hands behind his back.
The mountain wind blew in.
His silver eyebrows fluttered.
His sage-like demeanor.
Unfathomable.
He didn't look like his usual self anymore.
He didn't need to hide when no one was around.
He made up his mind. He leapt into the air and walked to the window, falling down with the wind like the first leaf in early autumn.
Behind the Daoist Temple of Xilai Peak was a precipitous stone wall, with thick clouds and fog at the bottom.
Fang Jingtian fell into the clouds and fog.
There was a stone beam in the clouds and fog.
Few people knew that this stone beam connected Xilai Peak and Shiyue Peak.
The stone beam was still surrounded by clouds and fog, so deep that one couldn't see the bottom.
A faint energy was exuding from the clouds and fog.
The energy wasn't very powerful, but it had a very eerie and mysterious feeling.
Even a disciple in the State of Undefeated would be swallowed by the energy when he rode his sword in this patch of clouds and fog, and he would fall down and die.
Fang Jingtian's silvery eyebrows fluttered slightly, and the clouds and fog dispersed a little, exposing the ground of the stone beam.
A dozen marks were scattered on the ground of the stone beam, as if they were made up of bamboo leaves. They seemed to be random, but they were actually leading to a certain place.
Fang Jingtian's line of sight followed the marks of the bamboo leaves, and eventually stopped at a certain place.
A dark shadow could be vaguely seen in the clouds and fog there.
"If there isn't one, then what about two?"
Fang Jingtian said while looking at that place, "Lei Poyun had been shouting this before he died. He shouted it in the Sword Jail, and he was still shouting it after he escaped."
The clouds and fog in that place suddenly began to move rapidly. The dark shadow didn't show itself, but it was obvious that he was paying close attention to this matter.
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