Chapter 19: The Heavenly Boat Docks

The Heavenly Boat Docks

Three years later

"The Heavenly Boat, the Heavenly Boat has docked!"

A long cry rang out from somewhere, causing everyone on the street to look toward the horizon, "Four months, it finally reached the shore!"

"It's only been three years since I heard the Heavenly Boat was on its way, and it's already here!" An old man on the street stroked his beard and sighed, "Although it is said that a strong dragon does not suppress the local snake, this time the Heavenly Boat is gathering powerful families... Alas, Southern Zhuzhou is afraid it will be full of trouble from now on."

"It seems it has really docked. Look, the cultivators of the Lower Sect's separate courtyards have already greeted it."

Everyone was discussing, all looking up at the clear sky far away at the edge of the city. This Altar City is actually not by the sea in Southern Zhuzhou, but located in the hinterland on the south side. Because this place is the weakest point of the natural array surrounding Southern Zhuzhou, it has been a pier for boats and horses from other continents to pass through and reorganize since ancient times. On a group of mountains, there is a mountain body that floats like a wine jar, small at the top and big at the belly. When the Heavenly Boat docks, it can stop at the mouth of the jar. The local cultivators of Southern Zhuzhou greet guests in the buildings and streets stacked layer by layer on the body of the jar. However, Southern Zhuzhou is far away from the Central Continent, and there is little coming and going. Usually, there are some merchant ships coming and going with Southern Yanzhou and Southern Lianzhou. A round trip takes at least ten years. Events like the Heavenly Boat from the Central Continent, which only took three years to come from the Central Continent, are events that cultivators in Altar City can see at most once in their lifetime.

Starting four months ago, a giant turtle could be faintly seen in the sky, blocking the sun and covering the Altar City tightly. It was just that the giant turtle's body fluctuated, appearing and disappearing, as if it were just a mirage. Merchant ships passed through it without any obstruction. It seemed to be far away, and it seemed to be close to the sky above Altar City. In a few days, Prosperous Sects like the Yunkong Sect and Menglin Workshop in Southern Zhuzhou came forward to control the Altar City, not allowing merchant ships to dock, and ordered all merchants not to fly at will, making everyone's business very inconvenient.

"Coming from the Central Continent, if you sail on the sea, one trip will take more than a hundred years, and the dangers encountered during the period are not something that even Nascent Soul cultivators can easily deal with. The various continents of our Langhuan Zhou Tian are separated by layers, not only the turbulent Heavenly Star Sea, but also the broken space that appears and disappears like a barrier. In order to facilitate walking, the Central Continent gathered the strength of all cultivators to build three Heavenly Boats, traveling between reality and emptiness. Starting from the Central Continent, even to Southern Zhuzhou, it only takes three years."

Some experienced merchant managers took the opportunity to teach their partners and sighed, "You are young and don't know that thousands of years ago, when cultivators from various continents saw the phantom of this Heavenly Boat, what kind of feeling they had in their hearts. Once this giant turtle appears in the sky, it means it has reached the weakest point of Southern Zhuzhou's array protection. This is its phantom that will come in the future. Once it appears, the causal link is established. Three or four months later, it will definitely turn from emptiness to reality here. During this period, any attack cannot hurt the Heavenly Boat, but will instead accelerate its positioning of the causal link and manifest here."

"Hehe, think about it, such a giant object, appearing above the city, who knows how many fierce cultivators are inside? You know that four months later is the fate of the sect's destruction, but you still have to watch it slowly condense from the void. Such torture is even more terrifying than dying at that time. I don't know how many sects, as soon as the Heavenly Boat phantom appeared, their fighting spirit was lost. There was no need for the Central Continent's cultivators to do anything, and the sect members had already fled."

"What were they fighting for at that time?" The partners beside him, who were at most at the Foundation Establishment stage, were all curious and asked, "I heard that every time the Heavenly Boat moves, it costs millions of spirit stones. Usually, the Central Continent's merchant teams also use boat teams to do business. I'm afraid it's only when something big happens that they use the Heavenly Boat?"

"What are they fighting for? Naturally, they are all very important things." The manager sneered, "There are not many treasures in the world that are worth the Heavenly Boat's dispatch. Coincidentally, the one thousands of years ago was also for the Donghua Sword today."

He couldn't help but shiver, "I just hope that the people of the Central Continent can get what they want this time. Otherwise, the big guys in Southern Zhuzhou are afraid they will suffer..."

While talking, the last wisp of fluorescent light on the turtle's tail flashed, and it completely condensed. The giant turtle hissed at the sky, a long, loud sound, stirring up ripples in the sky, and a giant wind swept over the sky above Altar City, and many cultivators were rolled up and fell backward. The manager was prepared early and sacrificed a copper ring. He was kind-hearted and, in addition to his partners, also protected many pedestrians around him. Everyone thanked him one after another, and some pedestrians were curious, "Old Manager, you are an expert. This Heavenly Boat looks majestic enough, but judging by its shape, it can hold at most a few thousand people—if you say it has no mechanism structure inside, I don't believe it. This time the Central Continent is here to recruit disciples, which is fine, but if it is to conquer various places, how can these few thousand people be enough?"

"Just open your eyes and watch." The old manager only smiled and stroked his beard. Everyone knew he was selling a pass, but they could only suppress their temper and look up, not daring to fly up, for fear of offending the majesty of the Central Continent and bringing unexpected disasters.

The giant turtle hadn't moved for four months. At this time, it finally reached the real place. Its mood seemed to be joyful. It raised its head and hissed three times, its four limbs paddling, leisurely as if walking in water, circling above Altar City, and then settled at the mouth of the jar, holding the mouth of the jar firmly. It made a gesture of trying hard to cheer. On its black-yellow back armor with mysterious patterns, light flickered, and the simple patterns lit up one by one, flashing faster and faster, as if a picture scroll was originally hidden in the back armor, and at this time it was slowly being peeled off from the back armor by someone. Between the flickering spiritual light, one could faintly see that it was a long landscape scroll, in which ink-dyed mountains and rivers, water-paved sun and moon, and even strange flowers and grasses, rare birds and fierce beasts. This picture scroll floated up from the turtle shell, became larger and larger, and with a loud sound of spiritual light shattering, the space above Altar City fluctuated endlessly, revealing a spiritual light-filled cave entrance. Looking closely, one could see layers of cracks, as if the two sides of the cave entrance were not connected to the same world.

"Grotto-Heaven small world!" More than one person in Altar City exclaimed, "This Heavenly Boat actually refined a Grotto-Heaven small world!"

"Not bad, the Central Continent is so rich that it actually refined three Grotto-Heaven small worlds into the three Heavenly Boats, and it has the ability to let the Heavenly Boat carry it to travel the four seas, borrow the causal link, and travel through the void." The old manager sighed, "This is the Heavenly Boat! This is the Central Continent!"

All the cultivators in Southern Zhuzhou were dumbfounded and speechless. In front of the Central Continent, they were all a bit ashamed, but they were unwilling to praise other continents, and could only stutter and fail to speak.

However, fortunately, it didn't take a cup of tea before the cave entrance twisted and became larger, and a group of people with extremely familiar attire appeared in the air. They were all wearing dark yellow clothes, tied with leggings, carrying cargo cabinets on their backs, and waving colorful flags in their hands. There was a commotion in Altar City, "Merchant team! The merchant team is out!"

"Isn't that our merchant firm's flag!"

For the people of Altar City, even if the Central Continent is powerful and wealthy, it still has to do business. Immediately, everyone became busy, either cleaning the shop or checking the accounts, and had long forgotten to praise the Heavenly Boat. At the mouth of the Altar City, the merchant team came out endlessly for more than a day. Ten thousand peddlers came out, either trading in Altar City or turning into streamers and throwing toward the distance. There was no sigh of lost business in Altar City. There were at most a few thousand merchants in Altar City on weekdays. Such a large number of traveling merchants had long exceeded their capacity.

After being busy for several days, all aspects were settled. The old manager took his partners to buy low and sell high, busy and satisfied. He felt that he could earn enough money for sixty years in one year. Although busy, he was also satisfied. One morning, he stole a little free time and sat on the top floor, pouring a pot of spirit tea. Before he could drink it, he heard a Sanskrit chant coming from the mouth of the Altar City. His hand shook, "This is... the great monks of the Wangyou Temple are here?"

He stood up and looked into the distance, and sure enough, he saw several black-robed monks coming out of the cave entrance, all wearing straw sandals and holding tin staffs, chanting Sanskrit at the cave entrance to say goodbye, each throwing toward the distance, not as eye-catching as when the merchant team came out. The old manager's expression was solemn, and he muttered, "How did they get involved too? Thousands of years ago, the Wangyou Temple closed its mountain gate and didn't mix in at all."

Starting from the Wangyou Temple, the people of various Prosperous Sects gradually appeared. There were those who were magnificent and powerful, and there were those who were silent and appeared and left. The old manager was busy with business and couldn't look at them one by one, but he paid some attention in his heart, secretly thinking, "It's been two days, why haven't the Mao Sect people come out yet? Could it be that the Prosperous Sect cultivators haven't finished walking? Did so many people come this time?"

By the afternoon of the next day, enchanting music drifted from the entrance of the Altar City. Many beautiful and ethereal fairies, all dressed in opulent and elegant attire, emerged from the cave entrance, surrounding a white jade palanquin. The light gauze around the palanquin fluttered, allowing only a glimpse of a young man in white sitting upright inside. Amidst the fluttering white gauze, one could occasionally see his skin like porcelain and his spirit like jade. Yet, he kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart; despite being surrounded by these beauties, his expression remained cold and indifferent, as meditative as bamboo. Many businessmen who craned their necks to watch the spectacle clearly did not see his full face, only catching a fleeting glimpse of his silhouette, yet they all revealed expressions of infatuation.

"Young Master Yue of the Xuanpo Sect!" The old manager's heart tightened, "How many strange insects did he bring? The Blood-Thread Golden Insect must have been brought. This insect appears... Alas, Young Master Yue is here. If he doesn't achieve his goal, Southern Zhuzhou will really be devastated."

Even if he knew early on that the Green Sword appeared in Southern Zhuzhou, Southern Zhuzhou would inevitably suffer a disaster, but seeing these proud sons of heaven appear here one after another, the old manager was still terrified. He looked up at the sky and couldn't return to his senses for a long time. He only saw Young Master Yue's sedan chair hadn't gone far when a whirlwind rolled out of the cave entrance. In an instant, the sky above Altar City suddenly darkened, black Qi covered the sky and the sun, ghosts cried and chirped, and a giant hand condensed from the black Qi, grabbing Young Master Yue. In the black Qi, a wild and arrogant voice laughed, "Yue Tan, stop pretending!"

Young Master Yue seemed not to hear. When the black hand fell, the sedan chair and people twisted, making him grab the air. When the fingers loosened, the sedan chair continued to move forward, but those fairies and heavenly people with high buns and cloud temples were all grabbed and extinguished by the black hand, only the gorgeous clothes were still dancing and twisting in the air, carrying the sedan chair forward. The scene was indescribably strange.

The black Qi rolled, and a long-browed martial general appeared in the air. He was handsome, tall, with ape arms and wasp waist, looking outstanding, but there was a wild and fierce spirit between his brows. Looking at the white jade sedan chair gradually moving away, he laughed, "Hmph, what a coward."

"Senior Tai Shi Yi, please be safe."

A female cultivator walked out of the cave entrance, opened her mouth and scolded, "This is not your Yanzhi Mountain, a place of trade, don't interfere with traffic."

Tai Shi Yi glanced at her and laughed, "A mere Golden Core junior, dare to speak to me like this? This is not Yanzhi Mountain, is it the Shangqing Sect?"

While speaking, the black hand appeared above the female cultivator's head silently and grabbed her. The female cultivator seemed to be completely unaware, not dodging or avoiding. A piece of jade pendant on her waist emitted a pale white fluorescent light, which blocked the black hand. Tai Shi Yi's expression moved, he gave an 'eh', and shouted, "What treasure is this? Who are you?"

"Shangqing Sect Xu Shaowei, met the Order Master."

Xu Shaowei was extremely beautiful, her appearance was not inferior to Xie Yan, but Xie Yan was atmospheric and broad, while Xu Shaowei was beautiful and gentle, faintly somewhat cunning and spoiled. She seemed to have grasped Tai Shi Yi's pain point, raised her hand and bowed, laughing, "This is a small toy that Senior Sister Xie gave me before, let the Order Master laugh."

Tai Shi Yi lost a few points of arrogance on his face, snorted, "So you are the junior sister that the Matriarch likes the most. Good, today I will not kill you for the sake of the Matriarch, but you don't be too proud. If you provoke my temper, even if I don't kill you, I have many ways to clean you up."

As he spoke, he turned into black light and threw himself toward the north with great momentum, and there were still lingering sounds coming, "Besides, I am making things difficult for Yue Tan, what does it have to do with you? Don't you be fascinated by him? The Shangqing Sect is also one generation worse than the other, what kind of things are they..."

Xu Shaowei stood by the cave entrance, her beautiful eyes flowing, and she just smiled sweetly when she heard the words, not angry. A few more cultivators walked out of the cave entrance, men and women, all like gods, faintly headed by a green-clad male cultivator. The green-clad cultivator was gentle and elegant, and one could see that he was a person who was appropriate everywhere. He looked at Xu Shaowei with helplessness and a trace of love, sighed, "Shaowei, you are causing trouble again."

Xu Shaowei said, "Where did I cause trouble? Second Senior Brother, the Yanshan Demon Lord has always been bold and reckless, and Tai Shi Yi is the first order master under him who is not afraid of things. If he really finds the Sword Envoy and kills her with a sword, wouldn't it be a huge leak? I specially wore the jade pendant that Xie Nie gave me in the past, and led him to take action, just to form such a causal link with him. Second Senior Brother, I will walk separately from you and follow him, and I will also accept a few disciples along the way. If he finds the Sword Envoy, I will call you over."

She was high-spirited when she spoke, full of pride. Second Senior Brother shook his head, "Alas, you are always so willful. If your little uncle knows, you will be punished when you return to the sect."

Although he said so, he didn't mean to stop Xu Shaowei. Xu Shaowei giggled and turned into a streamer, following Tai Shi Yi to the north. Second Senior Brother shook his head slightly, and the other four or five cultivators said, "Senior Brother, how should we act?"

Second Senior Brother said, "You can go to some places at will, and if you see any children who are pleasing to the eye, it's good to accept them. If not, then forget it. Our Shangqing Sect doesn't have to come to Southern Zhuzhou to snatch cultivation seeds."

Everyone laughed, "Understood."

As they spoke, they each threw toward the distance. Eldest Senior Brother looked left and right, and fell into the interior of the Altar City. Several managers walked over. The old manager looked at it and nodded secretly, "The Shangqing Sect naturally has its own forces in Southern Zhuzhou. Like them, the pillars of the sky, it is not surprising. Chen Jun, as the second senior brother of this generation of the Shangqing Sect, also has to ask about business."

He calculated in his heart before, Yanshan and Shangqing Sect didn't come out, and he always felt that it was not complete. At this time, the people of the Shangqing Sect came out, and he knew that the Prosperous Sects had all come out. It was estimated that it would take another half a day for the Mao Sects to dare to appear. He couldn't help but sigh, "Just the Prosperous Sects have come so many, let alone the Mao Sects? Southern Zhuzhou's mountains and rivers are afraid they will be combed again. Even if there is a trace of abnormality, it can't escape the eyes of so many cultivators."

"They all throw in all directions, looking for the Sword Envoy, I think it's the result of divination, but the Donghua Sword suppresses fortune, I'm afraid the divination result is also extremely blurred, I don't know, where is this Sword Envoy hidden, and which sect will get it, I'm afraid if one is not careful, it will cause bloodshed and lead to huge trouble..."

He stroked his beard and pondered for a long time, then ordered the partners beside him, "Xiao Ci, go feed the cat, and then bring the accounts for me to calculate. In troubled times, business matters must be more cautious."

Xiao Ci, who was dressed as a peddler, blinked his eyes and listened curiously to the manager's muttering. At this time, he responded lightly, turned around and ran downstairs, and went to feed the cat.

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First chapter of V ===== CHAPTER 20 =====