Serpent Dragon Ferry by the Xi Yue River

At first light, the sky was faintly cool.

In the nameless little village that lay on the only route to the Xi Yue River, three hurried travelers arrived.

All three wore gray monk's robes, their heads bare and gleaming at a glance—they were clearly monks who had renounced the world.

Soon, when they reached the end of the village and saw the chaos there, they came to an abrupt stop.

One of the monks halted before a pile of black ashes, scooped up a handful, and examined it closely. He also spotted a few scraps of clothing scattered across the ground.

"It is exactly the same as the remains of the Holy Bodhisattva. The one who acted was the same person."

"We were still one step too late. In this direction... he must have gone to the Xi Yue River."

"Then should we still pursue him? That is Mother Diviner True Person's territory."

One of them asked.

"The Xi Yue River and our White Buddha Temple have always kept to their own waters, neither offending the other. Going there rashly will certainly provoke Mother Diviner True Person's displeasure. But with the Communal Feast Convention fast approaching, we can pretend to attend it and act in secret."

"Should we report this to the abbot? Without his command, if we rashly enter the Xi Yue River and something goes wrong, we cannot bear the consequences."

"It is no matter. The Holy Bodhisattva was destroyed and the Holy Bone taken. This concerns White Buddha Temple's grand plan of a hundred years. If the Holy Bone cannot be recovered, the abbot will not spare us either.

"But if we can bring back both the Holy Bone and the killer, then the ownership of this Holy Bone will surely let the three of us rise above the rest. Any one of us may have the chance to inherit the Holy Bone.

"You two—are you going or not?"

"Then we shall follow Senior Brother Guangdu's words and go together!"

The other two hesitated briefly, but in the end, they still listened to the monk named Guangdu.

The temptation of the Holy Bone was simply too great for them. None of them wished to give it up.

Before long, the three left the nameless village and headed toward the Xi Yue River.

Meanwhile, after leaving the nameless village, Yang An and the other two had traveled through the night. By the time a night had passed, they had covered more than half of the remaining journey. If they moved a little faster, they expected to reach Serpent Dragon Ferry by the Xi Yue River not long after nightfall.

At this moment, though the three were traveling together, the positions they kept relative to one another were rather strange.

Yang An silently followed behind the two of them, his gaze drifting about as though he were admiring the scenery—or as though he had a guilty conscience and did not dare speak.

Pan Yu walked alone at the very front, utterly ignoring the two behind her.

Pan Shi, meanwhile, kept pace at Pan Yu's side, chattering away without pause.

"Junior sister! You must stay calm! You must restrain yourself!"

"Fellow Daoist Yang saved us. Without him, we might already have been harmed by that Filth Daoist. Compared to that, it was merely having your Small Sumeru Bag carry something. Do not lose the big picture over a small matter."

"Besides, your Small Sumeru Bag is a superior Dharma artifact. Whatever is placed inside is isolated separately, without affecting anything else. You... you can just treat it as an utterly ordinary stick."

"..."

Pan Yu, who had been striding along without paying him the slightest heed, abruptly stopped at those words and turned to glare angrily at Pan Shi.

"If you mention the stick again, once we return to the mountain, I will tell Master about you and Senior Sister Min!"

"Alright! I will not mention it, I will not mention it! You truly are my dear ancestor."

"Hmph!"

Pan Yu let out an indignant snort, turned away again, and continued onward without another word to Pan Shi.

Pan Shi immediately looked like a defeated rooster. He slowed down and walked alongside Yang An, an awkward expression on his face.

He gave Yang An an embarrassed smile.

"Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Yang, do not mind her. Well... women, you understand. They love saying one thing while meaning another. Do not take it to heart. As her senior brother, I still have at least a little dignity."

"Cough, cough... Fellow Daoist Pan is absolutely right, absolutely right!"

Yang An pretended he had seen nothing.

The two could not help exchanging a smile. As though they understood without words, they quickly averted their gazes again and looked elsewhere.

Time flashed by, and before long, night had fallen.

Despite hurrying all the way, the three only finally reached Serpent Dragon Ferry by the Xi Yue River in the dead of night.

According to Pan Shi, to enter the true Xi Yue River, they first had to cross Serpent Dragon Ferry.

As the only ferry within several dozen li, Serpent Dragon Ferry belonged to Gold Horse County and was located in Qishan Village within the county. Yet this place was sparsely populated, and few ever came here.

Local legend said that a flood dragon god lurked in the Xi Yue River. Passing boats were often overturned by some massive creature beneath the water at Serpent Dragon Ferry, and so fewer and fewer people dared cross the river from there.

Furthermore, these past years had been marked by war and chaos. Many commoners had suffered collateral damage from the flames of war and been left adrift, and Gold Horse County was no exception—it had been grievously afflicted.

Even the county itself had become bleak and desolate, let alone how many people remained in this village far from the bustling streets.

People enjoyed believing in ghosts and gods, and many tales were fabricated rumors, but there truly had once been a Flood Dragon Demon in the Xi Yue River.

What they did not know was that Mother Diviner True Person had slain that Flood Dragon Demon more than a decade ago. It had long since become dry bones; otherwise, there would never have been the later Communal Feast Convention.

"If we wish to enter the true Xi Yue River, we need only wait here for a while. Someone will naturally come to receive us."

Pan Shi had evidently already learned from his fellow disciples how to enter the Xi Yue River.

Fortunately, they had arrived before dawn. Otherwise, they would have had to wait another full day until nightfall.

Sure enough, after the three waited there for a short while, a faint glimmer of light slowly appeared upon the pitch-black river in the distance.

As the light drew closer and closer, an utterly ordinary wooden boat eventually came to a stop at the ferry.

That light was merely a lantern hanging from the wooden boat, casting a dim yellow glow.

Yang An took one look and discovered that there was not a single person aboard the boat. It was completely empty.

But in the next moment, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Are you fellow Daoists here to attend the Communal Feast Convention? Please reveal your true identities before boarding this vessel!

"If there is any falsehood, please stay away from this place. Otherwise, the Xi Yue River does not welcome you!"

Yang An's heart jolted. Following the direction of the voice, he finally discovered that it was coming from the lantern on the boat.

"I am Pan Shi, and this is my junior sister, Pan Yu. We are disciples under True Man Rou Shu of Three Pine Mountain, and we have come specifically to attend the Communal Feast Convention. As for this Fellow Daoist Yang An..."

Pan Shi was the first to announce his identity, but when he reached Yang An, he paused. Only then did he remember that Yang An had never mentioned which sect he belonged to. Neither he nor Pan Yu knew which reclusive sect Fellow Daoist Yang was a disciple of.

Yet attending the Communal Feast Convention required one to declare one's identity and forbade falsehood. At last, they would be able to learn where Fellow Daoist Yang's immortal mountain lay. Pan Shi could not help looking expectantly at Yang An, and Pan Yu's eyes were likewise filled with curiosity.

Feeling their gazes turn toward him—especially that lantern on the boat, though there was clearly no one aboard—Yang An still felt as if someone were watching him.

His sect?

What sect did he have?

He had not expected that attending the Communal Feast Convention required declaring one's background. Yang An immediately began to panic. Pan Shi had never mentioned this before; he had thought he could simply tag along with Pan Shi and Pan Yu.

In that brief instant, countless thoughts flashed through Yang An's mind.

It seemed that falsely claiming some fabricated sect and identity would not be enough to muddle through.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he recalled the only two methods he currently possessed.

One was a Bone Relic, originating from White Buddha Temple. Yet White Buddha Temple was neither too far nor too near from the Xi Yue River. Yang An did not dare use the name of White Buddha Temple, afraid it might lead to entanglements.

But the Lighting Method he knew came from a sect he had never heard of—Fate Crane Sect!

Even though he had repeatedly used the Lighting Method before Pan Shi and Pan Yu, they did not know what kind of technique it was. This showed that Fate Crane Sect was surely some obscure little sect without a name.

And since he had mastered the Lighting Method, and since the Lighting Method had come from Old Man Fate Crane of Fate Crane Sect, he could be considered half a disciple of Fate Crane Sect from another perspective.

Then it would not be false, would it? After all, Fate Crane Sect was a real sect.

Decided. He would use the name of Fate Crane Sect!

With that thought, Yang An found his confidence and followed Pan Shi's example.

"I am Yang An, disciple of Old Man Fate Crane of Fate Crane Sect. I too have come to attend the Communal Feast Convention!"