Not So Vast

The group walked to the ferry landing on Mandarin Duck Islet, bound for Bao Fu Zhai on Parrot Continent to broaden their horizons.

There were Chen Ping'an, Li Baoping, Li Huai, the Young Taoist Priest, and one outsider: Madam Tuoyan, whose name was now entered in the Dragon Elephant Sword Sect's register. Then there was Liu Chicheng, the greatest outsider of all and the one least inclined to think of himself as such. He was secretly discussing with the Young Taoist Priest which people around the four ferry landings were still worth cursing out—or fighting.

Chen Ping'an had not deliberately kept Madam Tuoyan away when he gave the young Flower God his advice. She had heard every word clearly.

Madam Tuoyan was still worried. "Are you really comfortable letting Rui Feng'er visit Zhang Wenqian alone? Aren't you afraid she'll say the wrong thing and ruin everything? Fat Immortal is notoriously difficult to deal with. Why doesn't Lord Yin Guan go himself? Wouldn't that be safer?"

And perhaps you, Lord Yin Guan, who never rises early without the prospect of profit, could use the chance to make Fat Immortal's acquaintance, then climb that branch all the way to Su Zi.

Naturally, Madam Tuoyan did not dare say that last part aloud.

Zhang Wenqian was one of the four scholars under Su Zi. His imposing appearance and stature, far larger than an ordinary man's, had earned him the name "Fat Immortal."

Chen Ping'an smiled. "It's only a few sentences. What could the Balsam Flower God get wrong?"

That would be looking down far too much on a Flower God Her Majesty of the Hundred Flowers Blessed Land.

Besides, at the end of their earlier conversation, Chen Ping'an had offered her a piece of reassurance that was not quite an argument. He told