At noon, the sun hung high in the sky.
Chen Ping'an set the bamboo pole on the ground, rose to his feet, flicked the wine flask up with his toe, took a sip, and said, "Let's talk as we walk."
Lu Chen temporarily stayed at the old man's roadside inn and took a walk with Chen Ping'an beside the stream.
To outsiders, it did not seem at all strange. Uncle Bai, Caiyu Mountain's mining official, had always been on good terms with Chen Jiu, the outer sect receptionist.
Chen Ping'an said, "It is merely an imagined false appearance. Why did Sect Master Lu have to make such a grand fuss, even violating the Confucian Temple ritual system to sneak into the Vast Heaven and Earth? Unless..."
Lu Chen smiled and picked up the thread. "Unless this poor Daoist originally had one of his mind-images here, one that was never recalled and had long drifted through the Vast Heaven and Earth. Since this poor Daoist did not come from White Jade Capital, it does not count as violating the Temple of Literature's rules."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "Unless Sect Master Lu wants to immediately enter the Fifteen Realm, filling the vacancy left after Venerable Master scattered his Dao and before Sect Master Senior Brother returns to White Jade Capital, thereby intimidating Azure Sky World's Fourteen Provinces. Since both the Vast Heaven and Earth and the Wild Desolation can be regarded as a Void-Crossing Ferry, Azure Sky World presumably can as well. As the old saying goes, 'If a ruler does not cultivate virtue, everyone in the boat becomes an enemy state.' As for whether invincible truly means invincible, Sect Master Lu, as an observer, surely has your own answer. Yet after your deductions, you discovered that the likelihood of breaking