The sky was a clear blue, unsullied by wisps of cloud; distant mountains wore a dark blue-green hue, and a gentle breeze carried warmth.
Two men and an ox walked down the mountain road.
"I... didn't do anything strange before, did I?"
Monk Changqing asked uneasily.
Li Ping'an thought of the stool that had been ravaged and pressed his lips together.
"...No... nothing strange."
Changqing cautiously tugged up his trousers. Why did he suddenly feel...
...so much pain down there?
The proprietress leaned over the second-floor railing of the inn, her heavy breasts resting on it.
She gazed in the direction the two men had gone and smiled.
"More and more interesting."
The Vast Sea was an expansive stretch of sea connecting Cloud Province and Central Province.
Rivers crisscrossed its shores, with more than a hundred waterways large and small.
Its earliest record appeared in the Cloud Province Record of Strange Things.
Shayu County.
"Sir, your rolling fish noodles are here. Master, your vegetarian noodles are ready too."
Rolling fish noodles were actually loach noodles.
Eggs were added as well, making the loach flesh even smoother and more tender.
The loaches had to be marinated raw, not cut into pieces.
Only then could they retain their original flavor, fresh without being fishy, soft without falling apart.
Li Ping'an tasted them. They were very good indeed.
Fresh, tender, spicy, and fragrant-just to his taste. He could not help taking big mouthfuls.
"It really wasn't easy getting this far. It feels like a dream," Li Ping'an said with a smile.
"Indeed."
Monk Changqing smiled too.
Li Ping'an said calmly, "Though the road is long, walk it and you will arrive; though the task is hard, do it and you will succeed."
Monk Changqing was eating his noodles when he abruptly raised