Chen Ping'an gently released his fingers. A leaf drifted away from the high platform, tumbling in the wind for a long while.
Yin Ji smiled. "Vast blue waves, long-lingering country songs. The bitter sea has no shore; a single leaf serves as a skiff."
Chen Ping'an picked up the Wine Gourd and shook it. There was still a little wine left.
Yin Ji asked curiously, "When did Mountain Lord Chen realize this was a dead end?"
Chen Ping'an said, "When I left the city wall and entered Old Ying Lake."
Yin Ji clapped his hands and laughed. "No wonder even an Immortal like Li Ba could not use heartfelt speech to warn you of Xie's Great Dao origin. Had you already locked down your Dao heart by then?"
"Xie deliberately built that arched bridge and tried to lead me back to the Great Shou Dynasty. It was all fake. She had long since made up her mind to destroy True Dragon Wang Zhu's 'land where the dragon rises' in this life."
"Still, I worried that Mountain Lord Chen might change his mind at the last moment and deliberately let Xie return to the Central Divine Continent, turning the painstaking plan I had spent thirty years on into water down the drain."
Hearing that, Chen Ping'an smiled. "Just call me by my name. There is no need to keep emphasizing 'Luopo Mountain' and 'half of one.' It only makes me seem not clever enough and you too stupid. Now that things have come to this, why not be more open with yourself and with each other? Wouldn't that be better?"
Yin Ji nodded. "It is time to open the skylight and speak a few bright words."
Chen Ping'an shook his head. "You lot are not even as good as the prime