Chapter 1: Qing Yun Summits

Chapter 1: Qing Yun Summits

Qing Yun Summits' land size was roughly a hundred kilometers wide. Seven tall mountains stretched high up into the clouds. They were so high that their alpines were completely obscured in the clouds, rendering them out of sight on a typical day. Qing Yun Summits were filled with fascinations and unique, interesting beasts. The scenery of these majestic mountains were breathtaking and yet at the same time, were well known by many to be brimming with danger.

However, the most prominent feature located in Qing Yun Summits was an Immortalism Clan known to many as the Taoist Gateway.

Taoist Gateways boasted a rich history of over two thousand years, and was currently the strongest organisation among the Good and the Evil clans. Legend has it that the founder of Taoist Gateway was a fortune teller who lead a dull life. Feeling unfulfilled at the age of forty nine, he travelled around the world and came across Qing Yun Summits. Immediately he felt that the mountains gave him a very special inkling, and he felt that there were plenty of Life Essence contained within them.

The fortune teller eagerly climbed up the mountains and settled there to study Immortalism. One day, he found a cave deep in the mountains. In the cave, he found an anonymous scroll which contained several extremely powerful but equally mind-boggling magic spells that were hard to discern.

Realising that studying the scroll was going to be an arduous task, he began training onerously with it. Twenty years later, he achieved some success and decided to emerge from the cave and crave a name for himself. While his strength was not adequate enough to conquer the world, it was enough to him to rule over an area. Hence he started an Immortalism clan and named it Taoist Gateway. The scroll's teachings were very similar to Taoism, so the fortune teller dressed himself in Taoist attire and called himself "Qing Ying Zi". His apprentices addressed him as "Reverend Qing Yun".

Qing Yun Zi passed away at an age of three hundred and sixty seven. Before his last breath, he said to his ten disciples "Half of my discipline is on Divination. Because of this, I am able to recognise the huge potential of these mountains. These mountains are like no other. As long as our clan stays within these mountains, one day we will definitely rise to be one of the most pivotal forces in our continent. So, never ever give up. Remember this! "

Seeing that all ten of his disciples took his words to their hearts, Qing Yun Zi passed away in peace. Unfortunately a century later, Taoist Gateway did grow to be a powerful clan. On the contrary, it grew weaker and weaker as time passed. It was debatable whether the world was just particularly cruel to them or whether Qing Ying Zi's divination was a misjudgement on his part.

Among the ten apprentices, two were faced with a premature death while four were killed during a clash with other clans. Among those remaining, one became paralysed while the other vanished. Only two apprentices remained in Taoist Gateway. Fifty years later, a huge and devastating natural disaster hit Qing Yun Summits full across its hundred kilometer wide land, annihilating countless lives and claiming the life of one apprentice. Only one apprentice was left standing. He was unpromising and his powers were weak. His relationship with Reverend Qing Yun were also distant. Now that Taoist Gateway's days of glory were over after Qing Yun's death, people began to covet for the anonymous scroll of Taoist Gateway. Taoist Gateway soon attracted many enemies who were after the scroll and many battles have erupted because of it. Had Taoist Gateway's powerful relics not defend it, Taoist Gateway would have been extinguished from this world.

Taoist Gateway's plight lasted over four hundred years. Taoist Gateway made zero progress and they were always on the brink of destruction. Subsequently, they have lost six out of the seven mountains to their enemies. Only the main mountain Skyhigh Peak remained. Most of the enemies who took over their mountains were bandits, and they used the mountain as a stronghold to rob unsuspecting people dwelling in the mountains. This aroused awful rumors and distrust among the people as they assumed that Taoist Gateway has degraded into a team of bandits, making them an Evil Clan instead of a Good one. The disciples of Taoist Gateway tried their best to clarify the situation but with no avail. They wanted to eradicate the enemies to restore their reputation, but their powers were too feeble. It was indeed a very depressing stage for Taoist Gateway. Even if we were to recall this event to this day, that period were really the toughest time for Taoist Gateway.

However, all these change around a thousand three hundred years ago.

Perhaps Qing Yun Zi's prophecy had finally come true. Perhaps the world had eventually grown tired of toying with them, for the eleventh generation of Taoist Gateway, Qing Ye Dao Ren, was a true born leader. Before he joined Taoist Gateway, he, who goes by the surname of Ye, was poverty stricken student struggling to become a scholar. Though he was very bright, he kept failing his exams. It was true sheer luck that he was accepted by the 10th Grandmaster of Taoist Gateway, Wu Fang Zi, into the clan at a tender age of twenty two.

It took him only a year to absorb all of Wu Fang Zi's sword fighting abilities and spells since the day he joined, and he quickly became the top student in the entire clan. On the following year, Wu Fang Zi was only able to have a stalemate with him in battle due to his powers accumulated from many years of training. Wu Fang Zi was so ecstatic that he quickly took out the anonymous scroll that was handed down by the Founder and entrusted it to Qing Ye so he could study it. Qing Ye took the scroll and retreated to a cave called "Illusion Moon Cave" located at the back of Skyhigh Peak. He studied intensively in there undisturbed for thirteen years.

It was said in many stories that on the day he emerged out of the cave, the moonlight from the full moon boldly illuminated every corner of Skyhigh Peak, making it seem like daylight. A hurricane materialized out of nowhere and a roar so ferocious and jarring like a dragon's shook the entire Qing Yun Summits, making everyone in it very alarmed. A magnificent lilac beam of light shot through the skies with a loud bang, the sealed door of Illusion Moon Cave opened. Qing Ye grandly emerged out of it. His hair and beard had turned ivory white and his body gave off a faint glowing light all over from within. As he slowly but purposefully walked out of the cave, it really seemed as though he had gain immortality.

On that night, he said to Wu Fang Zi, "Please wait, Master. Your disciple needs to finish some matters and will be back in a day."

Everyone was perplexed at this. A day later, Qing Yun flew back on his sword after all the enemies residing in the six mountains have been killed. Qing Ye's formidable powers and his ruthless actions stunned the entire Immortalism world, and Taoist Gateway's reputation soared.

A year later, Wu Fang Zi bequeathed the Grandmaster title to Qing Ye and retired, leaving Qing Ye with the responsibilities of the clan. As the new Grandmaster, he was very strict with his recruiting process and he spent a great of effort training his selected apprentices. With his staggering powers and astounding capabilities, Taoist Gateway became the backbone of the Good Immortalism Clans some fifty years later. Two centuries on, it rose to become the leading organization of the Good Immortalism clans.

Reverend Qing Ye passed away at an age of seven hundred and fifty one. As he was very strict in recruiting students, he only had seven disciples. Each of them were bestowed a mountain to lead, making the seven mountains the property of Taoist Gateway which can be handed down to generations after generations. The six mountain were chaperoned by the primary mountain Skyhigh Peak, coincidentally the heart of Taoist Gateway.

In the present day, Taoist Gateway had almost a thousand students. Many of these students have strong reputations and were powerful, influential people. Together with Buddhist Sanctuary and Fiery Incense Valley, these three clans stood at the pinnacle of the world. The current Grandmaster, Reverend Dao Xuan, was one of the most powerful beings in the world.

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At the base of Qing Yun Summits, fifty kilometers North-West from He Yang City, there was a little village called Straw Village. There were about forty households living there, making a humble, honest living chopping trees from the nearby woods and selling cut planks to Taoist Gateway. Everyday they watched the apprentices from Taoist Gateway flew in and out of the place with admiration. They looked so enchanting that the villagers believed they were immortals. Taoist Gateway had always watched over the villages within Qing Yun Summits and were very friendly towards them.

One day, many dark clouds flew low across the sky, giving off a thick, stifling feeling.

Qing Yun Summits' pinnacle were barely visible from Straw Village. It's ghastly, irregular rocky terrain gave off a very intimidating feeling. However the villagers, having lived here for many generations gazing at the mountains countless times, didn't pay much attention to them. This was especially so for the kids.

"You puny scumbag! Where are you heading off to?!" Half smiling and half chiding, the voice belonged to a child of around ten years old with beautiful, delicate looking eyes. Followed by four or five other children, he chased a kid in front of them. The child in front was a couple of years younger and a little shorter than the former. Smiling from ear to ear, he ran with all his might while turning around to make a face.

"Zhang Xiao Fan, I dare you to stop!" The kid behind yelled. The child that was named Zhang Xiao Fan sticked his tongue out and blew a raspberry at him. "Do you think I am an idiot?!" He ran even faster.

As they kept on running, they approached an old, dilapidated temple covered in straw located at the northern part of the village. From the outside, the temple looked very weather-beaten and shabby. One wonders just how many events have it seen in its time.

Zhang Xiao Fan was the first to rush inside. He accidentally tripped over the doorstep and fell over. The elated children rushed over and pounced on him at once. The delicate looking kid said to him with a complacent face, "I caught you! What can you say for yourself?

Zhang Xiao Fan rolled his eyes at him and retorted, " That doesn't count. You tricked me! How can that be counted?" The child was stunned and replied, "Since when did I trick you?"

Zhang Xiao Fan said, " Ling Jing Yu, can you vouch that this doorstep here was not placed by you?"

The child called Ling Jing Yu exclaimed loudly. "That's ridiculous!"

Zhang Xiao Fan pursed his lips tightly together, raised his chin defiantly and looked away. Ling Jing Yu, intoxicated with fury, grabbed his neck said, "You said that you will admit defeat if I caught you! Do you admit defeat now?"

Zhang Xiao Fan showed no reaction.

Ling Jing Yu's face became beet-red and he strengthen his grip. "Are you going to admit defeat or not?!" He shouted.

Zhang Xiao Fan's throat was so tight that he had difficulty breathing. His face was also starting to become crimson. However, he had a very strong personality for a child so small, and he still refused to utter a word back.

Ling Jing Yu's blind rage escalated and his grip grew tighter and harder as he repeated over and over under his breath. "Do you admit defeat?! Do you?! Do you admit defeat?!"

The other kids started to sense that something was wrong and they tacitly withdrew from the scene, leaving the two of them to themselves. The two naive children were unruffled and refused to give up their positions, ending in a stalemate.

Just when a tragedy was about to happen, the voice of Buddha permeated the shabby straw temple. "Amitabha, Please stop at once."

A skeletal looking hand came out of nowhere and, pressing the tip of its index finger to the thumb, it flicked at Ling Jing Yu's hands. Having received a powerful blow, he released his grip immediately.

Zhang Xiao Fen gasped loudly for air, evident of being strangled. Both children were momentarily dumbfounded and reflected back on what just happened. Immediately, they became fearful of the incident.

Ling Jing Yu stuttered, "Xiao Fan, I am so sorry. I don't know what did I.."

Zhang Xiao Fan shook his head from side to side as his breathing gradually stabilized. "It's ok. Uh, you are?"

The other child followed his gaze and saw an old monk standing at the center of the temple. The monk, whose face appeared weather beaten and full of wrinkles, was wearing a tattered cassock and he looked very filthy. What was unusual was this striking jade chaplet in his hands. The crystalline clear prayer beads gave off a dim but eye-catching green light. The most bizarre of all was this single bead that was anything unlike the other luminous opaque beads in the jade chaplet. Though being the same size as others, it looked like it was neither made from jade nor stone. The rich, dark purple bead was also dull looking, not giving out the faintest glow.