Chapter 207: Immortal Face-to-face, Brilliant Golden Light
And porpoises prefer to move alone, rarely forming groups. Even when they appear in company, their numbers are unlikely to exceed ten.
Therefore, they are easily divided and killed by those with ulterior motives.
For various reasons, the number of porpoises currently active in the Five Rivers basin of the Capital Region has significantly decreased.
Upon hearing the word “group,” Tun Mengzi’s eyes revealed a hint of sadness, and its voice became somewhat ethereal,
“My group, over the past hundred years, has dwindled from over thirty individuals to seven or eight. This year, only one calf was born, and it’s weak and sickly due to insufficient milk.”
“A hundred years? Wait, how old are you?”
“I’m not sure, but I should be seventy or eighty years old?”
Tun Mengzi pondered for a moment and replied hesitantly.
Chen Shun’an was somewhat surprised.
He hadn’t expected Tun Mengzi to be so old. No wonder its intelligence was so high; it could even imitate human speech.
If it were to achieve enlightenment in a single night, it could likely absorb moonlight and become a demon immortal.
In terms of origin and talent, it was far superior to Silver Scholar and Golden Scaled Perch.
However, it’s hard to say for sure.
Silver Scholar is an exotic silver fish that has lived for over a hundred years, has been deeply influenced by human presence, and is close to becoming a demon. In terms of cunning and scheming, it’s not much inferior to humans.
As for Jin Lin Mei, although seemingly foolish and gluttonous, it can bring good luck and ward off evil, ensuring the peace and well-being of the whole family, and has the effect of suppressing fortune.
It is a mascot.
During this time, the two fish and one insect hibernated at Three Forked Road, avoiding disaster and illness, and reaped many rewards. They even managed to catch a glimpse of General Huang’s Red Scale.
It’s possible that fortune from the darkness has aided them.
As for Tun Mengzi, it is the clan leader of the porpoises, skilled at breaking ice and riding waves, and an excellent mount.
Therefore, Chen Shun’an’s three great generals are all useful and are monstrous talents!
After swimming for an unknown duration, the water ahead suddenly grew darker.
The sky was still the same sky, but the ice layer had thinned, no longer reflecting a shimmering white light.
Here, the sound of water could be heard, flowing from beneath the ice, like the tinkling of jade pendants.
It was the water carrying small ice floes, colliding with the larger ice.
“Pfft!”
“Pfft!”
“Pfft!”
Sounds of water being spouted could be heard.
In the depths of the ice bay ahead, seven or eight porpoises had gathered.
The large ones were over ten feet long, their backs shimmering with a blue-green luster;
The small ones were only three feet long, hiding beneath their mothers, their rounded snouts like suction cups, tightly attached to their mothers.
Upon seeing the strange figure of a ‘person riding a porpoise’ approaching, this group of porpoises immediately became agitated. Several sturdy porpoises swam forward, their snouts slightly raised, emitting low “woo woo” sounds with caution.
However, soon, upon seeing that the porpoise was their clan leader, these porpoises’ hostility dissipated, and they looked at the figure riding their clan leader with slight curiosity.
The clan leader has captured a human and brought it back as a pet?
Seeing this, Chen Shun’an did not hesitate and employed his usual tactic, emitting a wisp of divine might.
【Wish +2】
【Wish +3】
【Wish +2】
…
A moment later, the porpoises also looked at Chen Shun’an with awe.
Chen Shun’an checked the condition of the porpoises present.
Seven adult porpoises, four males and three females, and one young porpoise born just a few months ago.
There were no elderly or disabled ones.
In the struggle for survival, porpoises gather in one place, mostly for cooperative hunting. The old and disabled would leave voluntarily to live alone.
Among these porpoises, Tun Mengzi had the highest intelligence and was worthy of cultivation.
The rest were basically on par with ordinary lesser demons in terms of intelligence.
And it was precisely when Chen Shun’an was surveying the condition of the entire porpoise group.
From behind him, a clear question suddenly came,
“Excuse me, brother, how do I get to Banye Ferry Crossing?”
Instantly, Chen Shun’an’s hair stood on end, his qi and blood surged, and his glabella felt as if it were being pricked by a needle. He almost instinctively wanted to use the formless and shadowless technique to escape at high speed.
The cold wind froze the Grand Canal.
In the depths of this river, ships were almost invisible, a veritable death zone.
How could someone be here to ask for directions?
And without making a sound, allowing Chen Shun’an to not sense them approaching from behind.
A Slaying the Six Thieves or a Martial Dao Grandmaster?
Or perhaps…
Reason triumphed over instinct.
Chen Shun’an’s face tensed, and he looked back.
On the calm river, he saw a middle-aged man dressed as a Daoist priest, carrying a Male and Female Treasure Sword on his back, holding a turtle shell, with gentle eyes, bowing to Chen Shun’an.
How could this person stand on the river water?
Chen Shun’an was somewhat puzzled.
As this thought arose, something seemed to appear beneath the middle-aged Daoist’s feet, supporting his figure as he floated.
Chen Shun’an subconsciously rubbed his eyes.
Oh, it turned out to be a sampan. Its hull was coated with tung oil, almost the same color as the ice surface, and was invisible if not looked at closely.
That made sense.
And Chen Shun’an, riding a porpoise in the river, was an extremely astonishing sight to ordinary people.
But this middle-aged Daoist priest’s expression remained unchanged, as if he were accustomed to it.
Chen Shun’an fell silent for a moment, then looked up at the sun, calculating the daylight and shadows to determine direction. He pointed the way and said,
“Go this way. Daoist priest, do you see that patch of ice slush there? Keep going straight. If you can’t tell the direction, it’s the northerly monsoon now, blowing from the continent to the sea. You can go against the wind.”
Chen Shun’an explained very meticulously.
The middle-aged Daoist priest nodded and said,
“Thank you, brother. Farewell.”
With that, the middle-aged Daoist priest rowed his boat and set off towards the ice slush.
Seeing the middle-aged Daoist priest going further and further away, Chen Shun’an gradually relaxed.
Perhaps he was overthinking it?
The middle-aged Daoist priest was ordinary and had to row a boat to ask for directions. He didn’t match the legends of Martial Dao Grandmasters or even Immortals.
As this thought arose, Chen Shun’an immediately dispelled his suspicion of the middle-aged Daoist priest, thinking he was just a lost fisherman.
Not worth mentioning.
“This young man is really strange. It’s the middle of winter, and the ice pillars on the river are so thick, yet he’s still wandering around here.”
Chen Shun’an instinctively acted like an elder and casually said to Tun Mengzi,
“What young man?!”
To his surprise, Tun Mengzi, hearing this, spouted water and widened its eyes, saying fearfully,
“I met that person once sixty years ago. He was also rowing a boat on the river, asking fish for directions. He looked exactly the same as he did sixty years ago! I heard my father say that he and his father, my grandfather, had also met him! Those were one hundred and twenty years ago and one hundred and eighty years ago, and he looked like that then too!”
“What?”
Chen Shun’an was shocked to hear this.
One hundred and eighty years without aging, drifting on the waves?!
A cultivator?!
In an instant, in Chen Shun’an’s mind, the grass talisman glowed with a faint light, and the Water Origin Divine Palace trembled.
Chen Shun’an faintly heard the sound of some barrier shattering in his ears.
The suspicion, wariness, and guesswork he had just felt towards the middle-aged Daoist priest surged into his heart.
How could that person be a fisherman?!
The north wind was strong and mournful, making the oars difficult to move.
Even the most skilled fisherman would die here, one by one!
Wait, a sampan?
The middle-aged Daoist priest earlier was clearly moving as if by wind, stepping on empty space. Where did a sampan come from?
Why did I instinctively imagine him rowing a boat on the river…
It’s the Saint Dynasty’s obstruction of perception that blinds the senses!
That middle-aged Daoist priest just now was a true immortal!
An immortal whose strength and realm far surpassed Saint Tian Xuan!!
Chen Shun’an’s eyes widened in horror, his mind shaken, but one thought repeatedly urged him.
Don’t look.
Don’t look at that person.
Don’t think.
Don’t think about that person anymore.
You will die.
You will truly die.
Just treat him as an ordinary fisherman asking for directions.
Just treat yourself as an ignorant mortal.
Even an immortal appearing in person would meet him as if through mist gauze.
…
“Huh? I can’t collect his ‘foolish mist gauze qi’? Could it be that he has already sensed my immortal identity?”
From afar, a faint green escape light suddenly stopped.
Master Zhang formed a hand seal, and a spiritual light condensed at his fingertip, as if he were drawing something.
However, after a long time, the spiritual light flickered for a while, and then, as if blown away by the wind, it dissipated. Nothing was drawn to him.
Master Zhang raised an eyebrow, a hint of thought flashing in his eyes.
“Slaying Five Thieves. Strange, I can’t discern the origin of his divine martial arts. Could he be an exceptional talent chosen by one of the other three great academies? Have they already opened the Mist Gauze Heavenly Law for him?”
Master Zhang shook his head and stopped thinking.
He then looked towards the vast white clouds.
He merely shook the turtle shell in his hand. Inside, there was a pool of pure Primordial Qi, colliding wantonly within a small space, emitting sounds like rumbling thunder.
In an instant, the ice and snow, which were originally ordinary human landscapes, changed their appearance in Master Zhang’s eyes.
The Grand Canal beneath his feet, the Yongding River flowing north from the Grand Canal towards the Capital City, Sanchadi, Yanziwu, various mountains and rivers, temples, and famous historical sites.
And even the various wells within Wuqing County, such as Grit Well, Crouching Tiger Well, and Spring Well…
Each had a Brilliant Golden Light rising to the sky, illuminating the heavens, as if they were all possessed objects, emitting different intentions.
They swallowed clouds and mist, exhaled heavenly light, and transformed into cultivators of various appearances and distinct auras.
Some wore a crimson purple nine-beam Daoist hat, a silver hairpin, and an eight-trigram immortal robe, sitting on a cloud platform, looking like a true immortal who had attained enlightenment.
Or a huge green scorpion, segmented and covered with barbs, exuding demonic energy from its writhing mouthparts, obscuring the heavenly light.
Or a beauty lazily lying on a flying carriage made of intertwined ganoderma lucidum, immortal herbs, and precious ginseng, applying rouge and powder to her bone-like face, with candlelight flickering.
Thus, under the interference of these Brilliant Golden Lights.
Master Zhang hesitated, glanced at the sun in the sky, and then discerned the ‘northerly monsoon’ mentioned by the person who gave directions earlier…
He was lost again.
But Master Zhang, with a confident expression, did not hesitate. He casually chose another direction, and his escape light flashed, disappearing.
What does it matter if he’s lost?
Choose a path, walk to the end, and if you’re stopped, you’ll know if it’s the right one.
…
The north wind, carrying ice pellets, whistled against the stone piles at Three Forked Road Dock.
The tower ship was docked at the pier.
The boatman, squatting by a stone pile with his hands in his pockets, immediately tied the hemp rope thrown from the tower ship to the stone pile to steady the vessel.
Lu Jing disembarked with a somber expression and headed to the public office without a word.
Not only did he fail to tame the porpoise, but the porpoise also ran off with someone!
And the person taken away was Chen Shun’an!
If the protective Zhao Guangxi found out, wouldn’t he come looking for trouble with me?!
If Zhao Guangxi, who is protective of his own, finds out, won’t he come looking for trouble with me?!
