Apotheosis

The thin, misty wisps of clouds swirled around the light blue sky like steam from a hot spring as a little pebble crashed down about a thousand feet to the earth.

As the forces of gravity sucked it in, the pebble first hit the rocky mountainsides before finally landing with a loud "crack" on the ground.

Zen was deep in thought about Yan's whereabouts as he stood outdoors when the crack of the pebble landing stunned him.

He had been walking around the mountainside before in circles and had almost searched every part of the mountain, but to no avail. He couldn't find a single trace of Yan.

He paused momentarily. 'Where on earth is she?' he thought.

Zen looked up at the summit over him, his eyebrows tightly knitted in confusion.

It couldn't be that Yan was trapped in a higher place, was she?

After thinking more about Yan's whereabouts, Zen resumed climbing up.

While Zen ascended up the mountain's rocky slopes, several people were walking down along the path leading to the summit.

The handsome, noble looking man walking at the helm of the group wore deep purple robes. Although it was quite dark, a faint light seemed to emanate from his being.

Zen continued to observe. A far as he knew, disciples of Cloud Sect generally wore clothes in three colors.

It was common knowledge that the outer disciples were dressed in white robes, while inner disciples wore black robes.

However, some disciples were dressed in purple robes.

In Cloud Sect, disciples who wore purple robes were guided by their masters personally and they directly acquired refinement skills from their maters. Inside this sect, still only quite a few disciples wore purple robes, which symbolized a superior position.

Zen's eyes focused on the man wearing purple robes. "This person has 'intent' as well!" Zen muttered to himself. "It's the homicidal intent of lotus!" he concluded.

Zen further observed that the man was shrouded by a band of lotus-shaped light behind him. The "homicidal intent of lotus" that clouded his body was quite mild like a tangle of soft, worn-out thorns that no longer scared and hurt people.

This "homicidal intent of lotus" was also known as certain temperament or nature.

However, Zen still perceived some sort of threat in that seemingly mild and tame "homicidal intent of lotus." It was said that the power of this intent would be extremely hard to resist once it was brought into play. A strong temptation, one might say.

he misses you very much," after saying this, Vale even made another bow to Zen.

Everyone knew that Vale was one of the most outstanding members of Cloud Sect. Only a very select few people could win such great respect from him, much less a bow. However just now, he had bowed to Zen two times already.

The scene in front of them made the sweat on Perrin's forehead intensified. His back started feeling the same as well.

Seeing how Vale was so polite to him, Zen got more curious and so he asked, "It is the first time that we meet. Why do you treat me so politely?"

Once again, Vale shocked everyone with another unexpected bow before he answered back with a polite smile, "I am so lucky to have gotten acquainted with Yan. You will be my brother-in-law if I have the chance to marry her."

Zen was quite infuriated upon hearing these words. Only just now he had realized why Vale bothered to be so polite to him. His eyebrows shot up to his forehead when Vale rashly mentioned marrying his little sister. He snorted, "You? Marrying Yan? That's crazy! You are just dreaming! You are not good enough for my little sister whatever your Wang family is."

In Zen's heart, Yan was his only family member in the world. It angered him to hear Vale say those words in such a rash and frivolous manner especially that it was the first time that they met. Zen really could not tolerate a man with that kind of imprudent behavior.

People are reluctant to hit one who is very polite in spite of great anger, as the saying goes. However, Zen made one exception. In spite of Vale treating him so politely, Zen fired back coldly without hesitation.