Night.
In a stretch of Black Pine Wood, several miles from the Cangyun Sect.
The woods were pitch-black, and the evening wind whispered through the trees.
Vice Sect Leader Xie Songnian stood alone in a clearing.
He wore a long, blue-gray robe, his figure slender. He had black hair and a white beard, and his face was gaunt.
But a persistent weariness was etched upon his features.
He stood with his hands clasped behind him, his fingers fiddling restlessly, betraying a hint of anxiety.
He was waiting for someone.
Someone he didn't want to see, but had to.
Suddenly, the shadows not far in front of him seemed to spring to life, silently twisting and coalescing into a figure draped in a wide, black cloak.
The person was extremely tall but abnormally gaunt. They were completely wrapped in heavy fabric, their head and face concealed in the darkness of a deep hood, leaving their appearance a complete mystery.
