When All Were Drunk, I Alone Remained Sober

Illusionary Insect Corpse?!

Not a lotus seed!!

An insect corpse?!

When Yang An saw that consuming this insect corpse would cause hallucinations, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood, a terrifying thought suddenly rose from the depths of his heart.

In other words, this thing did not actually possess the ability to repel water. The reason it made others believe they could avoid water after eating it was really an illusion. And it was highly likely that everything else they saw afterward would also be affected by those hallucinations!

Hiss!

At that moment, Yang An suddenly felt that this Communal Feast Convention was not as simple as Pan Shi had claimed.

Why had Mother Diviner True Person passed off Illusionary Insect Corpses as Water-Repelling Lotus Seeds and made the other cultivators consume them?

Did she not want these cultivators to see something they should not see? Or did she have some other scheme?

Since they could not repel water, would they still enter the river next?

If they did not enter the river, where would this wooden boat take them?

Countless questions surfaced in Yang An's mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt there might be some conspiracy behind all this.

Yang An suddenly regretted following Pan Shi here. Had he known it would turn out like this, he would have been better off parting ways from the very beginning and staying out of this muddy mess.

But it was too late to say any of that now. He had already boarded the pirate ship; getting off would not be easy.

Before boarding, if he had chosen to withdraw and not participate in the Communal Feast Convention, perhaps no one would have said anything.

But now that he was already holding the lotus seed, suddenly choosing to withdraw would make it difficult for others not to suspect that he had discovered something.

Although there were only the three of them and the snake Daoist Black Brow aboard the wooden boat, who knew what people might be hidden in the dark? Otherwise, where had that voice come from?

In other words, from the moment they boarded, every move of everyone on the boat had already been watched by someone unseen!

It seemed he had no choice but to eat this insect corpse.

After thinking it over, Yang An realized that he seemed to have no other option. He could only take things one step at a time.

"Fellow Daoist, please consume the Water-Repelling Lotus Seed at once!"

At that moment, the voice conveniently urged him again. Everyone else was waiting for Yang An to swallow the Water-Repelling Lotus Seed. He was the only one on the wooden boat who had yet to take it.

"Alright."

Yang An nodded, doing his best not to reveal anything unusual. Then, without hesitation, he chose to purify the object in his hand.

Illusionary Insect Corpse: Formed from the corpse of an Illusionary Insect after death. Round and emerald-green in appearance, resembling a lotus seed, and exceedingly difficult to distinguish.

Cost of use: None.

Status: Purified!

The cost of the Illusionary Insect Corpse vanished instantly. Suppressing his nausea, Yang An tossed the thing that looked like a lotus seed but was actually an insect corpse into his mouth and swallowed it with a gulp.

Fortunately, the Illusionary Insect Corpse had no peculiar taste after entering his mouth, as though it truly were merely a lotus seed. Otherwise, Yang An might not have been able to stop himself from vomiting.

"Fellow Daoists, do not blink next. This wondrous sight beneath the water must not be missed. This old Daoist priest has been here several times, and each time it has remained unforgettable. It is truly breathtaking."

Seeing that Yang An had swallowed the Water-Repelling Lotus Seed, Black Brow chuckled and began his explanation, unable to help praising it.

At his words, anticipation appeared on the faces of Pan Shi and Pan Yu as well.

To conceal himself, Yang An likewise put on an eager expression.

"Fellow Daoists, please!"

At that moment, the voice appeared once more.

At the very same instant, Yang An keenly noticed faint surprise on the faces of those beside him. It was as if, in their eyes, the wooden boat beneath their feet had suddenly begun sinking toward the bottom of the river. Like tourists gazing upon an undersea vista, they were utterly entranced.

Yet in Yang An's eyes, what he saw was an entirely different scene.

It was only a breeze brushing across his face. Gentle ripples appeared on the river's surface, followed by a splash of water that rose like a water dragon emerging from the sea. Waves rolled across the river, forming a vortex perpendicular to the surface.

The wooden boat beneath his feet remained utterly still, as though it had taken root there, unaffected by the waves in the slightest.

Only when a semicircular arc appeared upon the water before the boat—formed by the sweeping waves, like a towering archway with ripples undulating across its surface—did anything change.

Only then did the wooden boat slowly sail forward, finally passing straight through that vortex.

Yang An nearly kept his expression perfectly synchronized with that of Pan Shi and Pan Yu, as if he too were admiring magnificent scenery beneath the water. Yet inwardly, he was quietly alarmed.

Just as he had guessed, the wooden boat had not taken them underwater. Instead, it had brought them to another place unknown to others.

When they passed through the vortex, the sight that appeared was equally shocking.

A moment ago, they had still been on the river beneath the night sky. Yet now they had arrived before an island, surrounded by dense mist and hazy in every direction, while daylight shone brilliantly.

The sudden reversal of day and night made Yang An instinctively want to raise a hand to shield his eyes from the abrupt glare, but he forcibly restrained himself.

Only when Pan Yu beside him let out a cry of surprise, as though she had seen some astonishing sight.

"This is Mother Diviner True Person's Daoist grounds, and also the Tianjiang Dragon Manor that once belonged to the Xiyue Flood Dragon King!"

Black Brow promptly explained it to them.

"This is practically an underwater dragon palace!"

Pan Shi exclaimed with great exaggeration.

Yang An immediately understood. What he saw and what the others saw were still two separate scenes. The hallucination caused by the Illusionary Insect Corpse remained in effect.

But he saw through it without exposing it. Since he had already arrived here, Yang An also wanted to see exactly what this so-called Mother Diviner True Person was up to.

"Eh? Senior Brother, your face..."

At that moment, Pan Yu suddenly gave a soft cry and looked doubtfully at Pan Shi. She then swept her gaze over Yang An and Daoist Black Brow, immediately voicing her shock.

Pan Shi thought something had happened and touched his own face, but he did not notice anything different.

Yet when he looked at Pan Yu, then quickly at Yang An, he too discovered something strange.

"Haha, Fellow Daoists, there is no need for alarm. After entering the Dragon Manor, everyone's identity and appearance will be veiled by water mist, making them impossible for others to recognize. That way, there is no need to worry about being targeted by those with ulterior motives at the Communal Feast Convention.

"This is all to protect everyone and ensure your transactions can be completed smoothly, preventing incidents of murder and robbery."

Although Black Brow had attained the Dao from a cold-blooded snake, he was quite warmhearted. He immediately explained it to them.

Hearing this, Pan Shi and Pan Yu no longer found it strange.

That made sense. The Communal Feast Convention had become a mixed bag of fish and dragons in recent years. Without such measures, some disgraceful incidents really might occur.

If such things were allowed to happen, the Communal Feast Convention's reputation would only grow worse and worse, and fewer and fewer people would participate in the future.

It had to be said that Mother Diviner True Person had thought everything through.

Yang An stood quietly to the side without saying a word. In his eyes, nothing had changed; everyone's faces remained perfectly clear.

And the water mist Black Brow claimed could conceal appearances was, as expected, another hallucination caused by the Illusionary Insect Corpse. In truth, from the moment they swallowed the Illusionary Insect Corpses, everything they saw had been false.

Only Yang An saw what was real.

It gave him the feeling that while the whole world was muddy, he alone remained clear; while all others were drunk, he alone remained sober.

Yang An sighed softly to himself, unsure whether that was a blessing or a curse.

Before long, the group disembarked from the boat.