Each had a ferry landing, each a boat home. Fortunate to meet in peaceful times, with calm winds and still waters.
Two green-robed scholars of vastly different ages stood shoulder to shoulder at the cliff's edge. Sea and sky merged into one; heaven and earth seemed a single whole.
No wonder so many people from below the mountains sought traces of the Dao and immortals among the cliffs.
Chen Ping'an was somewhat surprised. The Sage of Ritual had invited him here and escorted him all the way to the Temple of Literature for its deliberations. Now, as he left, the Sage of Ritual had accompanied him to the East Sea shore of the Central Divine Continent, as though waiting for the Night Voyage Ship to arrive.
He could never have guessed that his own teacher had persuaded the Sage of Ritual to make this trip with his Final Disciple by arguing that "parting on good terms is a fine thing."
The Sage of Ritual smiled. "When it comes to business, your skills border on the divine."
Chen Ping'an felt a little embarrassed. He certainly had not been idle during the deliberations.
The Sage of Ritual smiled. He was teasing this money-loving young Yin Guan about a deal he had bungled. Outside the Temple of Literature, with Lu Zhi making the introduction, the Qingshen Mountain Madam had been willing to give Luopo Mountain several bamboo plants for free. Yet this brat had charged straight in and insisted on paying. He probably still thought he had come out ahead.
Chen Ping'an worked up his courage and asked carefully, "May I ask you something? Why was the Fifth Continent named the Five-Colored World?"
The Sage of Ritual smiled. "You could understand it as a kind of hope held by Venerable Master Confucius. A