Ling Boat Pearl Light Pavilion.
The largest magic artifact shop on the boat.
It’s said that even in the Heavenly River Water Mansion, it ranks among the top.
Chen Mu approached the Pearl Light Pavilion with an indifferent expression.
The shop was narrow and long, about four to five meters deep and seven to eight meters long.
Shelves lined the walls, each filled with items.
Swords, gourds, three-legged cauldrons, seals, Dharma bells, Talismans, and all kinds of other magic artifacts and Talismans filled the space.
The most left side of the wall caught Chen Mu’s attention.
There stood cylinder scrolls, as thick as sea bowls and as tall as a man.
“Are you looking to buy a flying kite?” a woman in her thirties asked with a charming smile in a soft voice.
Chen Mu nodded slightly, “Just looking.”
The woman’s lips curled into a light smile, “Are you interested in the better ones, or the slightly inferior ones?”
Inferior ones?
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Do you think I’m carrying these seven hundred plus White Jade Coins just for fun?
“The better ones,” Chen Mu replied with a calm face.
The woman turned around, took a brown scroll as tall as a person and placed it on the counter.
“Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s Yan-model boneless flying kite, easy to store and simple to manipulate.”
“Its wingspan is a full eight meters, its flight is swift yet its postures are stable, and it comes with a secret Talisman that can break through the wind.”
“Sitting on it feels just like sitting on a meditation cushion, with not the slightest discomfort.”
Chen Mu’s eyes shone bright, “What’s the price?”
“For only one thousand one hundred ninety-eight, you can take home this top-level flying kite artifact.”
Chen Mu: “…”
“Ahem, let me see the slightly inferior ones,” Chen Mu said without changing his expression.
The woman smiled in disappointment, then quickly took a two-meter-long object from the corner, resembling a large folding umbrella.
“Peregrine falcon-type folding flying kite, not difficult to control, with versatile postures and decent speed, just five hundred sixty-nine White Jade Coins.”
Chen Mu’s heart couldn’t help but clench, that wasn’t cheap either.
…
Ling Boat, Cabin Number Right Seven Bingchen.
Lin Su sat cross-legged on a soft couch.
In front of him on a low table, there was a fist-sized three-legged incense burner from which a thin wisp of white smoke rose.
Lin Su stared at the incense burner, his eyes shifting before settling to calmness, though tinged with a gloomy light.
“If one does not act for oneself, heaven and earth will obliterate them!”
He pulled a square piece of silk from his sleeve, densely packed with tiny characters.
Lin Su looked at the scripture, which he had pondered countless times, with a complicated gaze.
Then, without hesitation, he uttered the Curse Words.
Accompanied by a deep and eerie, chant-like sound that seemed to echo from thousands, resonating through the room.
The rising smoke from within the incense burner gradually gathered in mid-air.
Ao!
A roar, not loud but piercing to the soul, suddenly emitted.
Lin Su felt his scalp tighten and involuntarily looked up.
The tumbling smoke surged and a vast shadow began to take form within it.
Sharp horns, golden vertical pupils, tendrils waving as if they had a life of their own, and a body so large only parts could be seen, its full size incomprehensible.
A dragon!
A fierce and terrifying black dragon!
Lin Su only glanced at it once, then became rigid, involuntarily frozen in place.
The cold, indifferent eyes of the dragon looked at Lin Su, and a daunting voice resonated directly in his heart, “You have done well.”
“Serving the true man is my honor!” Lin Su came to his senses and quickly bowed his head to avoid the black dragon’s gaze, respectfully saying.
“After last year’s insect disaster, Song Wujie announced his seclusion. I’ve tried several times to see him but still couldn’t meet him.”
“With the characteristics of his Cultivation Technique, he must be trying to manipulate the Mechanical insects.”
“The Mechanical insect is an Exotic Beast of ancient times. No one has ever controlled it. Not even Song Wujie.”
“He is inevitably facing backlash from his forceful Manipulation.”
“This time the Exotic Beasts are running rampant, yet Song Wujie remains in seclusion, which is clear evidence.”
“His position as the most powerful in the Lower Courtyard is already forfeited!”
“Good,” the black dragon’s cold voice arose, “There are four Condensing Aperture Techniques in Zhongshan Path. Once the matter is settled, you may choose any one of them.”
“Many thanks, Real Person of the White Tower!” Lin Su was overjoyed!
He had been working diligently in the Lower Courtyard on Jilong Road for more than ten years as a prefect.
Yet the Daoist cultivation he had accumulated was still insufficient to exchange for the Condensing Aperture Technique.
But now…
“Go to the Heavenly River Water Mansion.”
“Someone will meet with you there.”
“The day the Lower Courtyard of Jilong Road falls is the day you’ll be granted the Condensing Aperture Technique.”
“I will not disappoint you, Real Person!” Lin Su bowed his head respectfully and saluted.
With a ‘whoosh’, white smoke scattered, bursting into sparks mid-air and then the black dragon’s form vanished completely, as if it had never been there.
Lin Su took a long, deep breath.
“I’ve got the Condensing Aperture Technique.”
“As long as I find the White Jade Plate and break free from the restrictions of the Daoist grounds…” Lin Su couldn’t contain the excitement in his heart.
“Someday, I too shall wield such power!”
…
In the Low Hill Courtyard, in a small hollow.
A shadow spiraled into the sky, circling continuously above the hollow.
“Aooo…” Chen Mu, standing on the Ling Boat, shouted excitedly.
As a result, the Ling Boat wobbled briefly before plummeting toward the ground.
Chen Mu quickly crouched down, grasping the connecting rod between the wings, trying to control the flying posture.
No matter how he manipulated it, the Ling Boat kept spiraling down toward the ground.
Chen Mu’s face was filled with distress as he was forced to swiftly sever the mana supply from his third eye.
The force pulling the Ling Boat down with him disappeared.
The Five Ghosts black cloud that always hovered around him emerged.
Whoosh!
After slowing down several times, he finally stopped falling about half a meter above the ground.
“That was close!” Chen Mu looked down at the pocked and uneven ground, sighing with relief.
“Though it doesn’t hurt, it’s quite embarrassing,” Chen Mu said with a wry smile, his face dusty and disheveled.
This wasn’t the first time he had fallen. The patch-like pits on the ground were all his doing.
Looking at the six-meter-long Ling Boat he was holding over his head, Chen Mu’s face showed a trace of helplessness.
Not hard to control? Versatile in posture? Not slow in speed?
Ha!
“The salesperson’s mouth, a lying ghost!”
The wingspan of the Ling Boat was roughly four meters.
On the side facing the sky, it still had grey fluff, looking like a small hawk or falcon-like Exotic Beast.
On the side facing the ground was tanned brown leather, covered in black spots and threaded patterns.
White bones of unknown origin connected the head and tail wings, forming the frame of the Ling Boat.
The skeleton could be folded and contracted, and once halved and closed, it became a two-meter-long cylinder, convenient for transport.
“Would that boneless version be easier to control?” Chen Mu wondered enviously.
Looking at the item he had almost gone broke purchasing, Chen Mu couldn’t help but sigh, “I’m having some regrets.”
“Well, it’s a Flying Artifact, after all. It’s bought now.”
“I’ll just have to keep practicing…”
…
Low Hill Courtyard.
Chen Mu turned over the tube eggplants drying on the rack, ensuring they were ventilated from all sides to dry quickly.
Entering December, the harvest of Yellow Bud Rice was complete, and the tube eggplants were also ripe for picking.
For the next two months, he would have plenty of spare time.
“It’s a pity I can’t go to the Heavenly River Water Mansion,” Chen Mu shook his head.
He had been in the Lower Courtyard of Jilong Road for almost two years.
More than once, he had heard of the large congregation spot called Heavenly River Water Mansion and longed to visit.
Unfortunately, his status was that of a long-term laborer in the Lower Courtyard.
He could only board ships temporarily but couldn’t go to the Heavenly River Water Mansion.
“If I hadn’t bought the Ling Boat…”
“Forget it, forget it, one cannot have both the fish and bear’s paw.”