Chapter 48

Brother Qian Chen put on his Heavenly Luo Umbrella again and changed into his newly ordered Daoist robe.

He tied the red-skinned gourd around his waist, which contained the Primordial Qi pills he had refined last time, as well as the spirit grain and spirit spring sent by Cui Dan; the universe bag contained the spirit talismans, spirit pills, magic treasures, and other external objects left by Master Miaokong, as well as the prayer mat, bed, and other sundries he had bought last time; the two-world copper plate in his bosom hid the worldly objects like gold, silver, and weapons that were of no value to him.

The Dragon Sparrow Ring was still hanging on his hand, while the Seven Malevolent Banners and the Black Gold Black Malevolent Hook were hidden inside the ring.

Ever since he used this to secretly plot against Hong Hong Sihai last time, Brother Qian Chen felt more and more that it was convenient to hide magic treasures like this.

With this outfit, Brother Qian Chen's weight did not exceed ten jin. Compared to the convoy Cui Dan was traveling with and the heavy luggage of the passing travelers, it could truly be called traveling light.

"How do you read this map?"

Brother Qian Chen stood on the Flying Cloud Pouch, about tens of miles away from the ground, looking at the winding mountains and rivers below, and observed the map in his hand with a black line on his forehead.

The maps here were not the satellite maps with contour lines and mountain and river forms from his previous life, but the maps of the Great Jin Dynasty, which had cities, official roads, and even trade route distributions, as well as mountains and rivers, but they were all drawn according to the impressions of traveling merchants. For example, there was a mountain on the road to Jiuzhen Commandery that was drawn very tall, more than a dozen heads taller than the surrounding mountains.

When Brother Qian Chen flew over from the sky, he paid great attention to this road sign along the way...

As a result, after flying over three or five desolate mountains, he realized he had taken the wrong road. When he found the place and looked, it was a very low mountain head. Not to mention comparing it with those tall mountain peaks, it was even inconspicuous among the dozen or so mountains next to it.

Brother Qian Chen was so angry that he stopped the cloud head to ask for directions. As a result, among the passing merchants, this mountain really had quite a reputation.

After asking for the reason, he learned that this mountain was the only place on the trade route that needed to be crossed. If it were very tall and steep, there would be no trade route passing through it at all. The strange thing about this mountain was that it was neither high nor low, it was not worth going around, and it was a bit tiring to climb over. There were also bandits often appearing on the mountain to rob the road, so it was a quite important checkpoint when traveling along the road.

As for whether other mountains were high or not?

Passing travelers didn't need to climb them, so what did it matter if they were high?

Therefore, this mountain appeared very tall in the map. As for those desolate mountains and wild ridges where few people went, even if they were steep, since they were not on the road, it was enough to lightly outline a circle with a pen to indicate that the mountains and rivers were complex and difficult to pass. Why draw them in detail?

Brother Qian Chen suddenly realized—the map was for people traveling on the ground, and it was also quite important for the two countries to fight and mobilize troops, but it was useless for people like him who flew high and low.

If there was no flying magic treasure, even a cultivator in the Penetrating Law Realm could only raise a light and fly for tens of miles in one breath, which was already a sign of thick true qi and quite remarkable. Like Brother Qian Chen, driving the clouds hundreds of feet high and flying away leisurely was an extremely luxurious thing—equivalent to driving a Maybach and whistling past on the highway in his previous life.

It could attract the envious eyes of passing travelers.

Brother Qian Chen was driving the flying magic treasure that was like a supercar among cultivators, and it was not a flying sword or flying boat, which were common short-distance flying magic treasures, but an extremely rare cloud-prohibition flying magic treasure that only the orthodox Daoist sects were good at. It was equivalent to a Ferrari with aristocratic blood in supercars—among loose cultivators, this was already broad enough to attract heaven's anger and people's resentment.

The speed of the cloud-escape magic treasure was not fast, but the comfort was extremely high, and the consumption of magic power was also low, equivalent to the luxury airship in Brother Qian Chen's previous life...

After all, other cultivators traveling required speed... The Buddhist sects might also require stability and stronger defense, while the side-door loose cultivators must require cheapness, less consumption of heaven and earth treasures, and less hard work needed for refining...

In this way, flying swords could be used for self-defense and killing outside, and for driving light and escaping inside, which was naturally the first-class practicality for side-door loose cultivators. As for whether the flying sword was comfortable to fly and whether the consumption of magic power was a bit large, they were not considered. And the Buddhist sects preferred lotus flowers, precious banners, and the like... It didn't matter if it was fast or not, what mattered was safety.

Only the true-tradition Daoist sects had the need to fly a little higher, a little more stable, and consume a little less, because flying magic treasures were not only used by them for traveling, but were also essential magic treasures for their daily cultivation and qi gathering. When the true-tradition Daoist sects gathered the clear spiritual qi of the dry heaven, they often needed to spend several hours, and it was not used for a moment, but often required flying into the clear underworld for daily homework.

In addition, the magic power of the Daoist sects often belonged to the clear qi of the dry heaven, so refining cloud-prohibition magic treasures was often more convenient, and the magic power was also very compatible.

Therefore, cloud-prohibition magic treasures had a deep Daoist sect bloodline in the Central Lands. Except for the Daoist sects or the separate lineages of the Daoist sects, only the overseas dragon race liked to refine these flying magic treasures. Driving a cloud-prohibition magic treasure to go out was equivalent to driving a luxury car in his previous life, with a "Don't touch me" halo. When loose cultivators encountered it, they all knew that such people had a Daoist sect background, and the trouble they attracted was less than others.

Brother Qian Chen suppressed the cloud corner and didn't care about the map. He flew straight in the direction of Jiuzhen Commandery... As he thought, since Jiuzhen Commandery had a great marsh, then flying in one direction and stopping when he reached the marsh, he would always be able to find the place.

As long as he flew a little lower, he thought he wouldn't miss such an eye-catching target.

It was the time of Qingming, and the south was drizzling. Along the way, it was the beautiful scenery of the south of the Yangtze Chuanhe. From a high place, Brother Qian Chen saw green fields everywhere, shrouded in the misty spring rain, and the earth was green and dripping.

It just matched that sentence: The south of the Yangtze Chuanhe is good in March, looking at the misty rain...

Farmers were busy in the fields wearing bamboo hats and coir raincoats. White egrets flew up from the paddy fields, leaving behind clear cries.

The drizzling rain was misty, and the heaven and earth were misty. Brother Qian Chen flew under the cloud layer and could see clearly from the sky. But looking up from below, he couldn't see the traces of the Flying Cloud Pouch at all.

Even if someone occasionally saw a figure wrapped in wisps of smoke and mist, drifting in the clouds, they would only think they were dazzled.

After flying like this for a day, he stopped to gather qi and practice for a night. When the sun rose the next day, Brother Qian Chen saw from afar that the front was sparkling, and just one glance saw that the thousands of acres of water surface were extremely vast, stretching in a line on the horizon, like the sea. Brother Qian Chen didn't know that this was a huge lake and marsh.

The water mist on the great marsh was wispy, just like a layer of fine smoke. Only at the moment of sunrise did it reveal its true face for a moment.

Suddenly, with the rain starting again, it gradually covered its veil again.

Brother Qian Chen lowered the cloud head, looked for a place with human smoke, and landed next to the field ridge. He didn't feel it when he was protected by the Flying Cloud Pouch in the sky, but when he landed, the fine rain hit his face, as light as mist. After a while, the Daoist robe on his body was wet.

He had to raise his Heavenly Luo Umbrella, walked in the rain, and headed towards the village in front.

"Since the Heavenly Luo Umbrella fell into my hands, this is the first time it has performed its duty!"

Brother Qian Chen felt the spring breeze on his face and the fine spring rain. Not only did he not hate it, but he even enjoyed this feeling, and didn't care that his body was wet. He just operated his true qi, and soon the rain silk falling on his body evaporated into water vapor.

The early-rising farmers were busy with crops in the fields. At this time, it was the time for transplanting rice seedlings, but the hour was still early, and the dew was too heavy. Only the particularly diligent villagers got up early to organize the seedlings. Brother Qian Chen looked for an old man with gray hair and asked at the edge of the field: "Old man! Is this Jiuzhen Commandery, and is that the Jiuzhen Great Marsh in front?"

The old man held his bamboo hat and shouted in the field: "This is Jiuzhen Commandery. Who are you? What are you doing in our village?"

Brother Qian Chen smiled: "Old man, I am a Daoist priest passing by, preparing to go to the Jiuzhen Great Marsh. I happened to pass by your precious land and came to ask for directions."

The farmer looked carefully, barely seeing the Daoist robe on Brother Qian Chen through the rain mist, and then believed him by two points. He waved his hand and said: "What precious land or not, this is Sanyang Village... nearby is Jiaobu Town, which is indeed adjacent to the Great Marsh." Saying this, the farmer simply put down the wooden plow in his hand, stepped on the mud back to the shore, washed his feet by the water channel next to the field, and walked towards Brother Qian Chen.

Getting closer, he could finally see Brother Qian Chen's appearance. Brother Qian Chen was wearing a green Daoist robe, and his hair was simply tied into a noon bun with an ice jade hairpin on his head.

That is, the hairpin was inserted from the center of the forehead, straight through to the back of the head, and all the hair was tied up.

Brother Qian Chen stood there easily, and one could see at a glance that he was not old, and had a somewhat Daoist appearance.

Looking at Brother Qian Chen's young appearance, the old man first let go of some defenses, and then looked at the fine stitches of the Daoist robe. The ice jade hairpin was as transparent as ice, and he thought it must not be cheap. The old man couldn't see that the ice jade hairpin was actually an ice needle, which was transformed by the ice soul true qi, and only thought it was some kind of rare ice jade, but this outfit was definitely the dress of a wealthy family.

Although wealthy families are not necessarily good people, they would not go to rob houses openly.

The old man bowed and said: "This little Daoist master, this place is not far from the village, let me take the little Daoist master into the village!"

"Is there any trouble for the old man?" Brother Qian Chen asked with a bow.

"No trouble... I was about to finish work anyway. Strangers are rarely seen in the village, and it is inevitable that there will be some trouble without someone leading." The old man was also telling the truth. This Jiuzhen Commandery was remote, and strangers were rarely seen in the countryside. The village was not on the official road, and every day he saw familiar faces. Occasionally there were strangers, who were also passing peddlers. Suddenly a stranger appeared, and he didn't know how to guard against it.

That is, Brother Qian Chen had a young face, looked like he had a good background, and spoke politely. If he had cut hair and tattoos, and a barbarian appearance, the old man would have run back to call the young and strong in the village.

Although there were few bandits in Jiuzhen Commandery, the various strange things in the Jiuzhen Great Marsh and the nearby barbarian tribes were also a disaster.

Brother Qian Chen said thank you and entered the village with the old man... The village was not small. The old man first led Brother Qian Chen to his house, and enthusiastically invited Brother Qian Chen to enter the house for a drink. Brother Qian Chen saw that the old man also had three tile-roofed houses, and saw the old man's daughter-in-law feeding chickens in the fence yard. She was a bit shy when she saw an outsider and turned back to the house.

Brother Qian Chen politely declined the old man's invitation with a smile, and the old man didn't persuade him, just went home to put away his bamboo hat and coir raincoat.