A long wind swept past the clouds, overlooking the river and sky.
The summer waters of the Gan River surged out of the vast mountains to the south like a flood dragon breaking free of its chains, scales heaving amid billowing white waves.
By the time it flowed past the west of Nanchang City, whether awed by the immortal aura of the Longevity Palace on the western bank or subdued by the great city of Nanchang on the eastern bank, the surging river grew slow and leisurely, becoming a boundary between the immortal and mortal realms.
Lush vegetation covered both banks, layer upon layer of emerald woodland like splashed ink. Near the riverbank, smartweed flowers glowed red as cinnabar, while reeds stood green as jade curtains, like radiant clouds.
With the Longevity Palace in sight, the ceremonial procession from Three Pure Ones Mountain gradually descended from the clouds.
Fishermen on the river, anglers along its banks, and people in Nanchang City saw immortals manifesting in broad daylight. They cried out in astonishment, then kowtowed and offered praises.
Within the procession, Cheng Xinzhan was admiring the Gan River. Every journey from Three Pure Ones Mountain to the Southern Borderlands or even the Wuling region took him across it, so he was fairly familiar with it. As the largest river in Yu Zhang, it nourished the land and its people, and he had always felt a particular fondness for it.
Now he suddenly noticed a sandbar rising high in the middle of the river. Its sand gleamed white as fresh snow, winding for a hundred zhang in the shape of a coiled dragon drinking from a stream, remarkably lifelike.
Under the summer sun, its sandy ridge shone like dragon scales catching the light. A narrow trail of sand at its end sank