Several days later, outside a marketplace at the southeastern corner of Qinghe County.
The marketplace lay beside the Qinghe River. Several large ships were moored at the docks, where quite a few people bustled about moving cargo.
It was the bitter twelfth month of winter, and many people had already wrapped themselves in thick cotton clothes. Yet a young man in a thin azure robe walked along the marketplace street by the riverbank.
Seeing the newcomer staring at the cargo ships ahead, a steward with a short mustache at the corner of his mouth hurriedly stepped forward.
"Immortal Master, are you looking to take a ship south? Our Longsheng Pavilion vessel departs tomorrow and can reach Guyang Prefecture in no more than half a month. It certainly will not delay your journey."
"No need. I'm just looking around."
The young man merely waved him off, making his refusal clear.
The steward could only nod in disappointment. Before leaving, he gave the other man a puzzled glance, though he did not dare say more.
"Strange. What is there to see in this river?"
Ignoring the puzzlement on the man's face, the green-robed man strolled upstream along the riverbank. Before long, he arrived beside an old small boat at the edge of the docks.
The fishing boat seemed to have docked only recently. A white-haired elder, holding a bamboo pipe in his mouth, was tugging at a fishing net in his hands.
Beside him was a sturdy youth of fifteen or sixteen, dragging a fish basket as he carried the river fish they had just caught from the boat onto the shore.
Hearing footsteps approach, the elder hurriedly stood and looked up.
"I heard that the scenery upstream on the Qinghe River is quite good. Would you be able to give