"Goddess Yunxi's First Rain" - Riding through the azure heavens, where the path to immortality might lie within reach

Ling Yier's bashfulness lasted only an instant. Steadying herself, she tried to speak in her usual tone:

"Xing Yan, have you heard of the South Sea Water Marquis?"

"Yes."

Xing Yan thought for a moment, then, not quite certain, asked for confirmation:

"Is he that South Sea water god who painted your portrait and studies it all the time?"

"...Yes!"

Ling Yier gave a shy little scoff at his words, then said with a perfectly straight face:

"Yes, that tiresome Third Prince of the South Sea, Meng Zhang. A few days ago, he sent someone with an invitation, saying that the sea epiphyllums in his Spirit Bud Palace were blooming, and he wanted his immortal friends from far and wide to come admire them. The flower viewing is tomorrow evening. Our Four Rivers Dragon Palace received two invitations as well."

"General Fuyou usually escorts me to gatherings like these. But this time, I wanted to ask you to accompany me, so that you, a Daoist hall master, could broaden your horizons and see what a sea epiphyllum looks like-a flower that blooms for only five days every five hundred years."

"So that's it!"

After hearing Lingyi's explanation, Xing Yan was quite excited too. Surely the South Sea Dragon Palace would present an entirely different spectacle from the Four Rivers Dragon Palace, and would greatly broaden his knowledge.

Amid his excitement, however, a question suddenly occurred to him, and he asked Lingyi:

"If we go tomorrow evening, when will we be able to return?"

He was thinking that the South Sea Dragon Palace must be at least ten thousand li away. Who knew how many months or years the round trip might take? As he worried, Ling Yier seemed to read his thoughts and broke into a smile:

"Don't worry, Xing