The Yaksha dharma form stood three zhang tall — even seated cross-legged, it was like some tall tower.

It sat with eyes closed, resting its spirit.

Still the most dazzling existence in the field.

And yet across the mountain peak, two old foxes with human bodies and beast-faces played their game of weiqi in perfect ease, taking that golden body wholly unto no account.

Had that Spirit-Transformation golden-body cultivator come in person, that would have been one thing.

But this was a mere husk of remains, a monkey dressed in a tall hat playing at being a man.

Who would care.

They'd originally only dispatched people to search out the whereabouts of the clan's elder, never expecting to learn from Xuanguang Cave the true state of Great Qian today.

A starved camel, and still it dared throw its weight around.

The Qingqiu of today, resting and recovering on the strength of its neutral standing all these many years, had long since ceased to be the existence anyone could bully at will.

Since Great Qian was given face and would not take it, then it could come down off that lofty offering-altar.

That seat — Qingqiu could sit it too.

The reason the two sides were still in a standoff was chiefly the man standing between them.

Tang Yuan's renown was considerable; both Qingqiu and Great Qian acknowledged his standing, but his face alone wasn't quite enough to command the situation.

The root of it lay in his representing Perfected Master Qingfeng, having come a step ahead.

Tang Yuan's word was the equivalent of Perfected Master Qingfeng's decree.

"Be at ease, no need for haste. Once my teacher arrives in person, he'll naturally give both sides a reasonable explanation."

Tang Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, suspended in the air.

Blazing flame coiled about him, quietly dormant, yet no one dared make light of his strength.

A prodigy of his generation, in the bearing of a strong one.

As the words fell, he stole a glance toward Great Qian's side, then inwardly sighed.

Though a near-Spirit-Transformation golden-body husk sat…