Chapter 538: Separated in a Distant Land
The Kingdom of Shuixiao was a famed land of lakes and marshes. Including the capital, most of its prefectures and counties were built on islands of varying sizes, making water transport busy and boats numerous. There was a large stream flowing into the lake called Peach Blossom Water, with extremely gentle currents, and peach trees planted densely on both banks. The stream was thronged with travelers, most of whom were renowned scholars and celebrities from neighboring countries who had come drawn by its reputation.
Chen Ping'an followed this stream, not heading straight for a lakeside county town, but instead taking a side path to a fairy paradise: Peach Blossom Ferry. Any cultivator needed only to break a crude illusionary barrier of mountains and waters to enter the ferry terminal. Once inside the secret realm, the view opened up. Peach Blossom Ferry had a green mountain, surrounded by a tranquil small lake with dark green waters. Above the ferry, white clouds hung year-round like a green-robed immortal wearing a snowy crown. Ferry boats came and went, all passing through that sea of clouds, and ordinary mortals could never see the true form of the boats.
Peach Blossom Ferry belonged to the foremost immortal residence of the Kingdom of Shuixiao, the Colorful Sparrow Mansion. The mansion housed only female cultivators, who year-round refined the water of Peach Stream and various immortal herbs and flowers. Combined with an ancient inherited secret technique, they wove a standard dharma robe for their mountain gate. Despite exhausting all manpower and resources, the Colorful Sparrow Mansion produced only six such robes per year. It was said that registered immortal masters from various major peaks in the central part of Baoping Continent had already made appointments extending a hundred years into the future. Most of these robes were prepared as gifts for direct disciples of patriarchal halls who were stuck at the bottleneck of the lower five realms, meant as celebratory gifts for when they would eventually advance to the middle five realms.
Chen Ping'an was already well accustomed to taking ferry boats. Inside a splendid high-rise building at the ferry, bearing a plaque inscribed with "Spring at the Stream Head," he inquired about the ferry service, paid, and received a peach-wood token engraved with exquisite warding patterns. The boat would depart at midnight tonight for the Dragon Palace Cave Heaven, making many stops along the way at various immortal scenic spots to allow passengers to disembark and tour the landscapes. This kind of money-making method was actually present both on the underground dragon path of Baoping Continent and on Osmanthus Island of the Fan family in Old Dragon City. Passengers enjoyed it—feasting their eyes on beautiful scenery and purchasing local specialties from various immortal residences—and the local immortal residences welcomed it even more, for the flow of people brought long-legged immortal money; the ferry boats earned some friendly favors from the immortal residences along the route, perhaps even dividends. A win-win-win situation.
The Colorful Sparrow Mansion had specially set up a Heavenly Garment Workshop at the ferry terminal. Visitors could observe more than a dozen stages of dharma robe weaving without paying any immortal money; anyone could enter and admire.
Chen Ping'an naturally wouldn't miss this. He went and, together with the crowd, strolled slowly through corridors and halls. In each room, young female cultivators were busy working with heads bowed. The further back the rooms, the more dazzling and radiant the precious light of a nearing-completion dharma robe.
Chen Ping'an actually had the idea of buying one. But since he was new to the place and a layman regarding dharma robes, he worried about failing to bargain and ending up being taken advantage of. In many mountain transactions, registered immortal masters truly did save more money than wild cultivators. The reason was that it wasn't a one-time deal; when sellers set prices, they would take into account the background of the registered master's mountain peak. As for wild cultivators who lived from day to day, with their heads tied to their belts and possibly falling off any day, which immortal mountain would be willing to earn less money in exchange for favors?
Chen Ping'an believed the Colorful Sparrow Mansion would keep one or two dharma robes of the highest quality on hand, along with a batch of treasured robes stored in their warehouse for emergencies. But if an ordinary cultivator asked, the Colorful Sparrow Mansion naturally wouldn't pay any attention.
Chen Ping'an somewhat regretted that Qi Jinglong wasn't with him. If that fellow were here to help speak up, asking the female cultivators of Colorful Sparrow Mansion for a fairer price wouldn't be too much. If some high-status fairy in the mansion happened to admire this land-dragon of Northern Ju Continent and insisted on selling the dharma robe at the original price, Chen Ping'an couldn't stop that, could he?
When he left the Heavenly Garment Workshop, Chen Ping'an was filled with melancholy. When it came to dharma robes, no matter how low their rank, even if you were a sect-level immortal house with a treasury piled high with them, you could never have too many.
The scarcity of military armor pills on the market stemmed from exactly this.
Cultivation was for immortality; time flowed leisurely, unaffected by cold or heat. But the one thing everyone feared was the "what if." Immortal dharma robes, along with the military path's divine dew armor, golden crow warp-and-weft armor, and incense-and-fire threefold armor, all existed to guard against that "what if." When a cultivator descended the mountain for trials, whether or not they had a dharma robe or military armor on their person made a difference like clouds and mud.
Chen Ping'an had just left the workshop when a female cultivator with an extraordinary aura slowly walked toward him.
Since it was a local snake from Colorful Sparrow Mansion coming to find him, Chen Ping'an stopped and waited, then took the initiative to bow.
The female cultivator returned the salute and said with a smile, "I am Wu Qun, the discipline enforcement cultivator of the Colorful Sparrow Mansion's Patriarch Hall. Wu of 'cease war,' Qun of 'mountain lord.'"
Chen Ping'an was puzzled, wondering why this grand cultivator of Colorful Sparrow Mansion, who clearly hadn't been in the workshop earlier, would come to see him. Nevertheless, he followed suit and gave his own alias: "My surname is Chen, given name Haoren."
Not even a trace of redness on his face.
But this female cultivator's name truly had a beautiful meaning.
Not inferior to Chen Haoren at all.
The female cultivator had seen many passing cultivators who concealed their identities, so she didn't take issue with this. After a moment's hesitation, she got straight to the point: "If I may be so bold, Immortal Master Chen, do you happen to know Mister Liu Jinglong of the Taihui Sword Sect?"
Chen Ping'an smiled and replied, "Who in Northern Ju Continent doesn't know Liu Jinglong?"
In Northern Ju Continent, people still habitually used the name recorded in the Taihui Sword Sect's Patriarch Hall, Liu Jinglong, rather than the pre-mountain Qi Jinglong.
Regarding this private matter, Chen Ping'an hadn't asked, and Qi Jinglong hadn't elaborated.
Wu Qun gave a helpless chuckle.
This answer lacked sincerity, but it seemed impossible to find fault with it.
Wu Qun said with a smile, "Our sect master is currently in seclusion, but she was once fortunate enough to travel with Mister Liu for a period, greatly benefiting her cultivation. She has always deeply admired his character, but over the years, Mister Liu never passed by our mountain gate, which our sect master has always regretted."
In truth, Wu Qun was only saying half-truths. The current young sect master of Colorful Sparrow Mansion was, by seniority, Wu Qun's junior apprentice niece. However, her talent far surpassed Wu Qun's, and on the path of cultivation, precedence was given to the one who reached the goal first—cultivators of Northern Ju Continent placed great stock in strength. Their sect master not only admired Liu Jinglong but also held feelings of love for him. So this time, she wasn't in seclusion; rather, she had followed up on some clues from a prior sword sacrifice originating from the Kingdom of Lotus...
Chen Ping'an asked, "May I ask, Senior Wu, what is the price for both?"
Wu Qun didn't give a direct answer. Instead, she smiled and invited, "Immortal Master Chen, would you mind walking and talking? There's a tea house at Peach Blossom Ferry where they brew tea using Peach Blossom Water. The tea leaves are unique to the Colorful Sparrow Mansion's back mountain—there are only twelve old tea trees in total. At the time before Qingming and before Grain Rain, a rare bird raised by the mountain gate, the color-bird, picks them. Then cultivators use a secret method to fry and roll them into cakes. A great literary master once praised them in a collection of poems handed down through the ages, calling them 'Small Xuanbi.' When boiling water is poured over the tea, the soup has the marvelous effect of waves surging and ebbing, the Big Dipper shifting. This tea house is not open to the public; we can go there to chat in detail."
Chen Ping'an naturally followed local customs and accommodated his host.
If this tea cake, Small Xuanbi, could be sold along with the dharma robe, that would be even better.
After all, Chen Ping'an was now a traveling merchant who roamed the world and made deals wherever he went. As long as there was no other like him in the world...