After traveling several miles by boat without reaching shore, the disciples handling the vessel had already been changed. The banks of the channel had become cliffs and sheer precipices, where the cries of apes and cranes rose and fell in succession. The cliff faces, too, were lush with greenery, much of it veiled within the clouds and mist.
Zhang Xiaohua looked around in curiosity, pointed at the greenery on the cliff, and asked, "Brother Liang, what kind of herbs are these? I have never seen them before!"
Liang Cangxu glanced over and smiled. "Junior Brother Ren, you have mistaken them. Those are not herbs at all, but... tea trees!"
"Tea trees?" Zhang Xiaohua was taken aback. "Those green leaves are tea leaves? Why do they look different from what I usually see?"
"Of course they are different." Liang Cangxu said, "What Junior Brother Ren has seen has already been processed. These are growing on the tea trees, so naturally they are different!"
"Hehe, I understand." Zhang Xiaohua smiled. "Reading ten thousand volumes truly cannot compare to traveling ten thousand miles. If I had not come to your sect, how would I have known tea leaves looked like this?"
As they chatted and laughed, the great boat continued upstream and entered a small pool. When it finally docked by the shore, Zhang Xiaohua could not help sighing. "An island within the water, and water within the island—immortal ways... truly are wondrous..."
On shore, a white-haired elder with a white beard was waiting with several disciples. Once they had leapt ashore, Liang Cangxu introduced him. "Young Hero Ren, this is Hall Master Li Xu of our Huiming Hall."
Hall Master Li smiled broadly, his mouth splitting wide as he cupped his hands. "On behalf of Sect Leader Bai of our sect, Li