The River-Churning Mirage Dragon.
The Mirage Dragon was one of the dragon breeds. Though less exalted than a true dragon, it possessed a unique innate gift-illusions. The mirage vapor it breathed could draw people into illusions without their knowing. In milder cases, they lost their way; in worse ones, their minds were seized, leaving them forever lost within.
If a Mirage Dragon really lurked on West Mountain Island, then this fog...
Lu Changfeng waved the peddler away and pondered for a moment.
Was this fog part of an arrangement Guo Pu had left behind all those years ago, or a ward the Guo Family had established later?
Or was it a phenomenon naturally triggered by the emergence of the Imperial Seal?
Whatever the answer, he could not act rashly now.
He turned toward Ajiu.
"Ajiu."
Ajiu had been listening quietly beside him. Seeing him look over, she hurried forward. "What are your instructions, young master?"
"You've been hiding underwater for the past fortnight," Lu Changfeng asked. "Have you seen that fog?"
Ajiu nodded, then shook her head. "I have, but I never noticed anything wrong with it."
Recalling what she had seen, she said earnestly, "I always thought it was just ordinary mist over the river. It rises every morning and evening. Hiding in it actually made me safer... and I never saw any Mirage Dragon."
She paused, then pointed toward a spot east of the lake's center. "The cave you're looking for is over there, young master. It's about three li from West Mountain Island, thirty zhang underwater. There's an undercurrent at the entrance, and whitefish live there. Ordinary people can't get inside, but I went in and out every day without any trouble."
Lu Changfeng looked in the direction she indicated, committed the location to memory, and turned