# Chapter 145: The Snake's Trail in the Ashes
Chen Ping'an stood at the edge of the well. "Come up here," he said.
The white-robed boy at the bottom shook his head. "No, I won't."
Chen Ping'an spoke calmly, "Let's have a proper talk. I'll reason with you first, won't start fighting right away. Besides, even with my crude strength, if we really fought, could I beat you, Cui Dongshan?"
The boy Cui Chan down below shook his head vigorously. "I won't!"
Chen Ping'an frowned. "Why not?"
Cui Chan shouted, "I'm afraid of the heat. It's cooler at the bottom of the well."
Chen Ping'an took a deep breath, stood up, and began to pace slowly around the ancient well.
A voice soon came from below. "Chen Ping'an, don't pretend. You don't acknowledge me as your student, but I've decided you're my teacher. So I can't hit you, I can't kill you. If you insist on fighting, I'll definitely be at a disadvantage. Also, your killing intent is almost filling this old well. If I went up there and got beaten up, would I be stupid?"
The white-robed boy chatted cheerfully as he stood on the gently rippling water. He reached out to touch the inner wall of the well, covered in smooth, cool, dark green moss.
Though his words were light and casual, his mood was anything but comfortable. This was even more draining than pretending to be a big shot in the great water mansion, consuming both his mental energy and the few assets he had left.
Because after traveling from the riverbed through the underground water to reach the well bottom, Cui Chan realized for the first time that the young man named Chen up above could genuinely threaten his life. Though he wasn't sure what shocking methods Chen Ping'an had hidden, his intuition had always been accurate.
Chen Ping'an was circling above, but he didn't want to beat around the bush with that fellow. He asked directly, "Did you secretly have County Magistrate Wu Yuan tamper with those terrain maps that came from the county office?"
Cui Chan shouted, "Hey hey hey? Chen Ping'an, what did you say? I can't hear you very well."
Chen Ping'an nodded. "That's an answer in itself."
Cui Chan immediately grew anxious. "What? Since when did that count as an answer?"
Chen Ping'an asked, "I only have one question for you. Will you harm Li Baoping and the others?"
Instead of answering directly, Cui Chan countered, "If I give you an answer, will you believe me?"
Chen Ping'an answered without hesitation, "No."
Cui Chan stomped his foot in anger. "Then why the hell did you ask?!"
The boy above fell silent.
Cui Chan pricked up his ears, hearing nothing. He suddenly felt panicked, full of grievance, his expression tragic. He thought to himself: This is really a case of a tiger falling into the plains being bullied by dogs. If this were back at the great water mansion tonight, I could pick out any random ant and throw it in front of you, Chen Ping'an. Let's see if you'd still be so arrogant!
But when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head. The white-robed boy quickly craned his neck and yelled, "Chen Ping'an! Chen Gongzi! Chen Bro! Chen Grandpa! Chen Ancestor! You flat-out refuse to be my teacher, fine, don't be. But we have no grudges, no enmity. Can't you be a little reasonable? If not reason, then at least some martial brotherhood!"
Finally came a response from above. "I promised Mr. Qi that I would deliver them safely to the Great Sui Academy."
At the bottom of the well, the white-robed boy fell completely silent.
Beside the well, after those words, there was also absolute stillness.
Chen Ping'an had never trusted the white-robed boy. He was deeply wary of this man.
From the very beginning, Cui had harbored ulterior motives—that was beyond doubt, obvious even to a blind man.
For example, at this stay at the Autumn Reed Inn, Cui had started with the old City God temple, smoothly leading into the Autumn Reed Inn. His words seemed well-intentioned, but in truth, he used Lin Shouyi's cultivation as bait, making Chen Ping'an take the initiative to search for the old City God site.
After leaving Da Li's Yefu Pass, this stretch of the journey had been too smooth compared to the earlier hardships. Lin Shouyi focused on cultivation, Li Huai was carefree and young. Though Li Baoping didn't say much, the matter of Zhu He and Zhu Lu had wounded the little girl. And she was the most diligent of them on this study journey, often pondering strange questions. Compared to Lin Shouyi, who was already a Qi practitioner, and the gifted Li Huai, Li Baoping was the one who suffered the most on this path of learning.
As for Xie Xie and Yu Lu, they had been brought into the group by the white-robed boy, so that was a different matter.
Though Chen Ping'an was busier than anyone from dawn to dusk—taking care of their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, practicing his fist forms while traveling, nurturing his body with the standing stake sword furnace during breaks, and mending his flaws—through all the battles at Qidun Mountain, Zhu Lu's assassination attempt at Hongzhu Town and Zhentou Post, the danger from the bride ghost, and the arduous trek through Huangting Kingdom...
Chen Ping'an had never forgotten one thing: he was escorting Li Baoping, Li Huai, and Lin Shouyi to study in Great Sui.
Tonight at the pavilion, before leaving, Lin Shouyi had warned that Cui Dongshan wanted something from Chen Ping'an—not necessarily a physical object, but something big and intangible, related to a cultivator's great path.
Li Baoping had also mentioned casually that Cui was incredibly skilled at chess. She and Lin Shouyi could only calculate a few moves ahead, but Cui could calculate far into the future—so far that even she, Lin Shouyi, Xie Xie, and Yu Lu couldn't imagine. When playing with them, Cui was probably thinking about the middle game, or even the endgame, from the very first move.
After Lin Shouyi left the pavilion, Chen Ping'an stared at the old well and felt an unresolved knot in his heart.
He thought it over, but instead of clearing things up, his mind became even more tangled. Finally, having no other choice, he tried to set aside all the complicated matters and push everything back to the very beginning.
Like his hometown.
Like their first meeting.
Then Chen Ping'an thought of an outsider: County Magistrate Wu Yuan.
Where there was a magistrate, there was a county office. The real source of all those terrain maps he carried wasn't Miss Ruan Xiu—it was that county office.
After returning to his room, Chen Ping'an spread out those maps. He studied them for a full hour.
He still couldn't find the exact truth, but faintly, Chen Ping'an saw a line.
This line, across all the maps together, might not even measure a zhang in length.
But that little bit of length had made Chen Ping'an and the others walk so far, enduring so much hardship.
---
Cui Chan raised both hands. "I surrender. I'll swear to the heavens, okay? I, Cui Dongshan, swear I will not harm Li Baoping, Li Huai, or Lin Shouyi—those three little brats!"
"Cui Dongshan."
Chen Ping'an hesitated. "Are you serious?"
Cui Chan slapped his chest so hard that the people at the well mouth could hear it. "Trust me just this once!"
Just then, a crisp, cheerful voice rang out, "Little Master! You really are here!"
A little girl in a red cotton-padded jacket charged forward, dashing noisily to the pavilion. She leaped, arms flailing in the air, and landed with a thump, both feet hitting the ground almost simultaneously. She stood straight outside the pavilion, swaying left and right, wobbling, before finally steadying herself. Then she spotted the well and sprinted toward it.
Chen Ping'an opened his mouth, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Get used to it, he told himself. He walked quickly toward her and asked, "Can't sleep?"
Li Baoping sighed in an old-fashioned way. "Xie Xie was snoring, kept me awake."
Chen Ping'an smiled but said nothing.
The little girl immediately confessed honestly, "Fine, I admit she doesn't snore. I had a nightmare and woke up scared."
Chen Ping'an glanced at the well mouth, then looked away and asked with a smile, "What kind of nightmare?"
Li Baoping shook her head. "I've had dreams almost every day since I was little, but I never remember what they were about when I wake up. I only remember if it was a good dream or a bad one."
Chen Ping'an took her hand and led her back to sit in the pavilion.
The little girl chattered on. "Little Master, we've been away from town for almost half a year now. According to the maps, we're more than halfway there. Time flies so fast—faster than I can run, right?"
"Ah, if only Great Sui were at the southernmost tip of Bottle Gourd Continent. Then I could see the ocean with you, Little Master."
"Little Master, if the Tiefu River and Xiuhua River are that big, how big must the ocean be? My big brother said there's an Old Dragon City down south, and from the city wall looking south, the waves are as high as a ten-story building. Isn't that terrifying?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "If we went that far, we'd wear out a lot of straw sandals. But this time we're going to the Great Sui Academy. I hear that once we enter Great Sui territory, there won't be many mountain roads. You'll be able to wear comfortable boots instead of straw sandals."
Li Baoping looked down at her thick straw sandals, then looked up with a grin. "When we get there, I'll wear the same kind of boots as you, Little Master. Just different sizes. It's a promise."
Chen Ping'an teased her. "What, worried that if your Little Master keeps wearing straw sandals instead of boots, I'll embarrass you?"
The little girl widened her eyes in exaggerated surprise. "Wow, Little Master, you actually know how to joke now!"
Chen Ping'an was taken aback.
Li Baoping sat on the bench, swinging her feet in their little straw sandals. She looked up and happened to notice a string of wind chimes hanging under the eaves.
The little girl said suddenly, "Little Master, I feel like Mr. Qi is thinking of us."
Chen Ping'an nodded.
Li Baoping rested her head against the vermilion pillar of the pavilion, closed her eyes, and listened.
As if it were the last spring breeze of the world, stirring the chimes under the eaves.
Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-ding-dong...
The little girl waited a long time, but the second set of chimes never came. Suddenly she jumped off the bench and dashed away, turning her head as she ran to wave. "Little Master, I'm going to sleep now!"
Chen Ping'an waved back with a smile, then returned to the old well.
The white-robed boy remained where he was, neither leaving from the bottom nor appearing at the mouth.
---
West of Longquan stretched a mountain range, one of which was called Luopo Mountain. A literary secretary named Fu Yu—County Magistrate Wu Yuan's chief confidant—had gotten into a conflict with outsiders in the county town earlier. Wu Yuan didn't want to cause more trouble at this sensitive time or give others ammunition for gossip, so he sent Fu Yu to oversee the construction of a mountain god temple on Luopo Mountain. In truth, it was a way to have him lie low.
On a night with bright moonlight and sparse stars, this young man from a prestigious Da Li clan who had fallen to a lowly clerk position came alone to find a strange fellow who was building a bamboo lodge on Luopo Mountain.
When the man saw Fu Yu, he asked with a smile, "Shouldn't it be County Magistrate Wu, that student of Grandmaster Cui, coming to see me in person?"
Fu Yu's expression was indifferent. He got straight to the point. "Wu Yuan is a pawn that Her Highness planted beside his master. I am a pawn that Grandmaster Cui planted beside the Longquan County Magistrate."
His handsome features, aristocratic bearing, cold eyes, and icy tone—this was a completely different Fu Yu from the gentle, refined image he presented at the county office.
After revealing this truth with a single sentence, Fu Yu extended a hand, palm open before the other man.
The man picked up a black chess piece from Fu Yu's palm and gestured for Fu Yu to sit on a bamboo chair. His face was full of mirth. "I see. So we have a case of 'you charge an exorbitant price, I bargain it down,' conducting sordid business under the bright moon and clear breeze?"
Fu Yu looked at this former Northern March Deity of the Divine Water Kingdom, nodded, and showed no anger at Wei Bo's sarcasm. He sat down calmly on the small bamboo chair and turned to look at the unfinished bamboo lodge in the night. It was small, and after much time, it was less than half-built. This was because Wei Bo hadn't hired any able-bodied young men from town nor asked the Longquan County office to borrow a batch of Lu family convicts. He insisted on doing everything himself.
Currently, only a few mountains including Luopo Mountain had no mountain restrictions, so woodcutters and villagers could still enter Luopo Mountain to gather firewood. The other peaks all had various gods and immortals having mansions built, bustling with activity, dust flying every day.
Rumor had it that Luopo Mountain had a bottomless cliff and stone cave, with a huge crushing mark visible nearby. Many of the clerks and laborers building the mountain god temple there claimed to have seen a black snake as thick as a well mouth, frequently going to drink from the streams. When it saw them, the massive creature neither feared nor attacked—it just drank its fill and slithered away.
Wei Bo had made himself an elegant bamboo-handled paper fan. He sat on the bamboo chair, crossed his legs, and fanned himself gently.
The entire summer this year had hardly any scorching days, and now autumn was arriving, catching everyone off guard.
It was as if that little girl in the red cotton jacket from Fulu Street had been hopping along the charcoal squares she drew on the ground, and had suddenly jumped from spring straight into autumn.
Fu Yu hesitated, then began with a topic unrelated to the main matter. "Though we're on different sides, Magistrate Wu is a good man. He'll be an even better official in the future."
Wei Bo smiled dismissively. "That's assuming he lives long enough."
Fu Yu's expression darkened.
Wei Bo pretended not to see this, slowly waving his fan as the mountain breeze came gently, stirring his hair at the temples. He looked more immortal than an immortal.
Wei Bo said lazily, "I don't have much to offer in this trade. Why don't you first tell me what I can get?"
Fu Yu took a deep breath. "Becoming the Northern March Deity of Da Li!"
Wei Bo's expression remained calm as he smiled. "If I remember correctly, your Northern March Deity is still alive and well after that great war. The Da Li Emperor can't just casually remove such an important god's seat, can he?"
Fu Yu lowered his voice. "Previously, His Majesty proposed elevating Piyun Mountain here to the new Northern March of Da Li. That was shelved, but recently there's been new progress. His Majesty has decided to push this matter forward boldly."
Wei Bo asked, "Is that true?"
Fu Yu nodded. "True."
Wei Bo smiled meaningfully. "Isn't that a bit hasty? Not only have you not even taken the Huangting Kingdom from the Gao clan of Great Sui, but you're already placing the Northern March at the southernmost tip of the kingdom?"
Fu Yu remained firmly silent, tight-lipped, refusing to comment on the Emperor's decision.
Wei Bo put away his folding fan and thought for a long time. He sighed emotionally. "Da Li has drawn a mighty big pie for me."
He stood up, tapped his palm with the fan, and glanced back at the bamboo lodge.
"Haha, your Da Li Emperor has good eyesight. I, Wei Bo, am someone who got stabbed by A Liang and still came out kicking. So I'm more than qualified to be this Northern March Deity."
Finally, he fixed his gaze on Fu Yu and said through narrowed eyes, "Alright, now tell me: what exactly do you want me to do?"
At this moment, Wei Bo was no longer the white-haired Earth God who had first appeared at Qidun Mountain's stone terrace.
Nor was he the handsome youth who carried a delicate yellow wood box.
Nor the pitiful man who had brushed past a certain girl on the mountain path.
Fu Yu felt nervous.
Because the man before him was very likely to become the most important Northern March Deity in the entire Eastern Bottle Gourd Continent—bar none.
---
More than two hundred li west of Hongzhu Town, on the upper reaches of the Xiuhua River, stood a small lone island in the river, commonly known as Bun Mountain. The incense offerings at the Earth God temple there were merely mediocre.
A stocky man "walked out" of the badly peeling clay statue of the Earth God. After landing, he reached into the incense burner and lifted out a vermilion-clad boy, no more than a palm's height in stature. This was the only incense boy remaining in the temple. The man placed him on his shoulder and began to walk out. The river roared, but the man simply stepped onto the water and walked across.
The drowsy vermilion-clad boy lay on his shoulder, cursing, "What the hell! Why are you disturbing my sleep?! You've been acting strange ever since that failed encirclement mission. What, did seeing those seductive boatwomen in Hongzhu Town get you all hot and bothered, and now you can't afford to sleep with them?"
For once, the man didn't scold this foul-mouthed incense boy. He said heavily, "We're going to Hongzhu Town to find that carp spirit and give him a snake gallstone from Lizhu Cave Heaven. He'll soon become the Water God of Chongdan River. If you want, you can hang out with him instead. A Water God temple's incense is way better than this crappy little Earth God temple of mine..."
The vermilion-clad boy was first stunned, then enraged. He jumped up and slapped the man's cheek, slap after slap. But such a tiny creature hitting a genuine Earth God was no more than an itch. The incense boy shouted as he jumped, "What the hell! Don't you dare insult me!"
Finally, the vermilion-clad boy slumped on the man's shoulder, sobbing bitterly.
The man grinned. "Don't want to go enjoy the good life? Fine, stay home and suffer. I couldn't care less."
Hearing this, the incense boy quickly wiped his tears and broke into a smile. "A golden nest or silver nest is no match for my own thatch nest. Don't get me wrong—I'm not attached to you or that broken temple. It's just that incense burner I can't bear to leave!"
The man said nothing.
The incense boy was silent for a moment, then asked softly, "You're the longest-serving Earth God in our prefecture. Many of your former colleagues from the same generation have become City Gods at the very least. You're clearly on good terms with them. Many want to visit Lone Island, so why do you absolutely refuse to see them?"
The man clearly didn't want to talk about this. He remained silent.
But the incense boy who shared his fate wasn't willing to let this go. He babbled on, "Our neighbor, that slutty Xiuhua River woman—she always sneaks glances at you, her eyes all watery. Even I can barely hold myself back. Why are you so hard-hearted? If her shrimp soldiers and crab generals knew you had such connections, would they dare bully us every day? Any aquatic creature with a bit of intelligence comes to our Lone Island shore to spit at us. It drives me crazy! Because of you, whenever I go into town, my kind never wants to hang out with me. They look down on me for being poor and low-born. It's all your fault!"
The man was in a good mood and chuckled. "A son doesn't despise his mother for being ugly. You talk too much."
The vermilion-clad boy rolled his eyes and grumbled, "I've heard all sorts of rumors over the years. Some say you offended some big shot in the Da Li capital's Ministry of Rites. When the whole family came to Lone Island to burn incense and pray, not only did you fail to treat them properly, you were downright rude to them. Others say you defiled some virgin daughter from an immortal's mansion, lost yourself to love, and ruined your great path. The sect leader put pressure on the Da Li court, making you guard this broken temple as an Earth God for life. And then there's..."
The man laughed. "Enough, enough. Those old, moldy debts are all forgotten. Why are you guessing? The emperor isn't anxious, but the eunuch is."
The vermilion-clad boy jumped up and slapped the man across the face. "Who are you calling a eunuch?!"
The man didn't mind the little fellow's rebellion. He suddenly took out a sparkling, translucent jade-green stone from his bosom and placed it on his shoulder. "This is the legendary snake gallstone. Feast your eyes. For water creatures, especially those of the dragon and serpent kind, if they can manage to swallow this and survive, their cultivation realm will skyrocket with no side effects. It's like a first-class immortal elixir."
The vermilion-clad boy quickly steadied the "man-sized boulder" with both hands and asked curiously, "Who gave this to you? Why didn't they give it directly to that carp named Li Jin?"
The man shook his head. "I didn't bother asking then, and I can't be bothered to guess now."
The vermilion-clad boy cupped his face in his hands, looking as if he wanted to cry. "Heavens above! Why did I get stuck with such a shiftless master? As compensation, at least give me a lively, beautiful, well-educated, and high-born girl as a wife!"
The man took back the snake gallstone and teased, "You? In your next life."
The vermilion-clad boy angrily climbed onto the man's head, sat amid the messy hair, was still for a moment, then started squirming.
The man asked, "What are you doing?"
The incense boy said angrily, "What you just said hurt my feelings. I'm thinking of taking a dump on your head."
"Three days without a beating, and you want to tear down the house!"
The man in a fit of anger grabbed the little fellow and hurled him toward the opposite bank.
The vermilion-clad boy tumbled through the air, laughing joyfully. "Whoa! I feel like an immortal riding a flying sword!"
The man striding across the river laughed despite himself. "You little bastard."
---
A thick black smoke surged from underground and emerged before a magnificent mansion bearing a plaque that read "Elegant Waters and Lofty Winds." Thousands of lanterns lit up simultaneously, sending red light into the sky.
A woman with a pale face flew out from inside the mansion, hovering before the plaque. Her expression was fierce. "What are you doing here again? What, you weren't beaten enough last time when you went mad and nearly destroyed my mountain root and water source?"
For some reason, the female ghost was no longer wearing that blood-red wedding dress.
The Yin spirit said, "Do you want to leave this place? If you do, you'll have to pay a considerable price—for instance, letting me become the new master of this mansion."
The female ghost cupped her belly and burst into exaggerated laughter. "Madness. You've truly gone mad this time."
The Yin spirit said expressionlessly, "You know I'm not joking. Don't you want to go to Guanhu Academy, to fish that skeleton out from the bottom of the lake? Don't you want to search for clues and avenge him? You've waited so many years already. Wait any longer, and those old enemies will have lived out their comfortable lives and died one by one."
The female ghost fell abruptly silent.
She asked a key question. "Even if I agree to hand this place over, how can you make the Da Li court recognize you?"
The Yin spirit answered perfunctorily, "I have my ways. You need not worry, madam."
The woman floating in midair turned to look at the plaque, then turned to look at the distant mountain path.
Once upon a time, on that very path, a thin scholar carrying a worn-out book trunk had trudged through a rainy night, reciting Confucian classics loudly to give himself courage.
A poor scholar heading to the capital for the imperial exams—his eyes had been so bright.
She drifted down to the ground and asked, "Can this plaque stay as it is?"
The Yin spirit nodded. "Why not? At most a hundred years, and I will return this mansion to you intact."
The female ghost walked forward slowly, brushing past the Yin spirit, and set off into the distance.
She murmured to herself, "Mountains and waters meet, but never meet again."
She turned her head and smiled. "The mansion's hub is in the plaque. I've relinquished control over it. How much of the mountain and water fortune you can obtain from now on depends on your own skill."
The Yin spirit asked with curiosity, "Don't you hate the Da Li dynasty? They deliberately hid the truth from you, just to keep you here to stabilize the local fortune."
The female ghost said nothing and drifted away into the distance.
---
A villa was hidden in the northern mountains of the Huangting Kingdom, surrounded by steep terrain. However, because there was a scenic spot nearby—a cliff face by the river covered with obscure cliff inscriptions, each character as large as a bamboo hat—tourists came constantly. Add to that the wide carriage road the villa owners had built, and it wasn't exactly remote. People frequently passed by and asked to lodge or rest.
The villa's owner was a sprightly old man past seventy, a former Vice Minister of Revenue in the Huangting Kingdom. He had always been hospitable, treating grand officials and peasant woodcutters alike with warm reception.
Tonight the moon was full, covering the mountain forest and river with its silver light.
At a small ferry landing that no one had used all year, an old man carrying a dim yellow lantern and a yellowed ancient book under his arm walked out of the mansion alone. He descended the mountain to the landing, where not a single boat was moored. He took a small wooden boat model, no longer than a thumb, from his sleeve and gently tossed it into the inlet. When it was still a zhang above the water, the small boat suddenly grew, becoming the size of an ordinary vessel. It crashed into the water, splashing everywhere—a spectacular sight in the dead of night.
The old man boarded the small boat, but there was no oar to row with.
He raised the lantern in his hand, then let go of his fingers to pull out the book from under his arm. The lantern, which should have fallen, hung eerily in midair, emitting a soft white light.
The old man sat cross-legged, one hand holding the book, the other turning the pages. The small boat moved on its own, leaving the inlet and heading toward the connected river.
The old man turned the pages extremely slowly. Tonight the river was unusually calm, the boat barely rocking.
When the old man reached the cliff face, he finally looked up at those ancient characters that no one could decipher.
Actually, to be precise, someone had recently given the correct answer. It was a white-robed youth from Da Li, no more than fifteen or sixteen, who had seen through the mystery in a single sentence, declaring it was "inscribed personally by a Thunder Department Heavenly Lord, the Heavenly Emperor's reprimand to a dragon."
Even though the old man had witnessed the cycle of spring and autumn countless times, his heart had been shaken like a stormy sea at that moment. He just hadn't shown it on his face.
Now, withdrawing his gaze, his emotions were complicated. He sighed softly.
The tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease.
Beneath the river surface weighed down by the small skiff, every living aquatic creature—fish, shrimp, snakes, crabs, turtles—lay prostrate at the riverbed, trembling.
The old man put away his lantern and book, letting himself and the boat bathe in the quiet moonlight.
He produced a wine flask. Not in a hurry to drink, he looked around and sighed sentimentally. "When the reading lamp is blown out, the body is clothed in moonlight."
"All the sages of antiquity were lonely; only drinkers leave their names behind. Let's drink!" The old man laughed heartily and began to drink, mouthful after mouthful. The small flask looked like it held no more than a catty and a half, but the old man had already drunk at least a hundred mouthfuls.
Finally, he drank himself thoroughly drunk, his head wobbling. He casually tossed the flask into the river, then fell backward with a splash, lying flat in the little boat, and began to snore loudly.
The small boat continued upstream. Suddenly, its prow tilted upward, lifting off the water, and then the whole boat left the river, floating up into the sky.
Higher and higher.
The boat pierced through layer after layer of clouds. The great river had become a thread, the entire Huangting Kingdom a soybean, and the Bottle Gourd Continent an inch-long bottle.
When the old man slowly woke up, he didn't know how far the boat had traveled from the earth or how close to the heavens.
The boat rocked gently.
It was another great river, but unlike the mortal realm—this river seemed endless, stars shining brightly, magnificent beyond words.
The old man's expression was tragic, his lips trembling. He murmured, "Where's the wine?"
He lay back down again, closed his eyes, as if recalling the most unbearable memories. His face twisted in pain as he repeated over and over, "My wine... my wine... where is my wine..."
Drunk, he didn't know the sky was in the water; the boat full of dreams pressed down upon the Milky Way.
---
A refined Confucian scholar stood on a cliff beside the great river, waiting for the little skiff to return.
This was Cui Minghuang of Guanhu Academy, one of the two most famous Confucian junzi on the Bottle Gourd Continent. He had personally participated in the closing of Lizhu Cave Heaven.
After receiving two secret letters, he had come here to negotiate with this old dragon on behalf of Grandmaster Cui Chan and Old Man Yang from the town.
Because Da Li now possessed the last half-dragon in the world.
This was the biggest bargaining chip—in fact, the only one.
---
The old City God site, Autumn Reed Inn.
At the well mouth and well bottom.
Two youths stood, similar in apparent age but worlds apart in status.
Chen Ping'an stepped lightly onto the edge of the well, leaning forward slightly, looking down into the deep, dark well. He called out, "Cui Dongshan."
The white-robed boy clasped his hands behind his back, raised his head, and smiled mischievously. "What, finally come to your senses?"
Chen Ping'an continued, "The first time we met, what did you call yourself?"
In an instant, the boy Cui Chan became alert. His scalp tingled. His heart lake boiled.
Immediately after, a streak of white light shot from the well mouth into the well bottom!
Sword aura cascaded like a waterfall, filling the entire well.