The sunshine of almost April shone on the sea, creating sparkling ripples. A solitary ship rose and fell on the sea level. A transparent fishing line was hung obliquely over the side of the ship. The buoy moved with the ship, causing slight ripples that were then covered by the rising and falling waves.
Lu Liangsheng moved a small stool and sat at the bow, staring straight at the blue sea, calculating how many miles he had sailed in the past few days and how far he was from the destination drawn on the stone slab in the mermaid's memory.
On the small recliner nearby, there was the rustling sound of someone getting dressed.
"Liangsheng, we have been walking in this direction for five days, right? How many miles is it to Guixu? Do you have an idea?"
"It's almost the fifth day... it shouldn't be here yet."
Lu Liangsheng shook his head and continued to sense the vast sea around him. In the past two days, he also saw some land, but most of them were deserted. Looking at the sparkling sea, he collected his thoughts and smiled: "What I saw in the mermaid's mind that day was not comprehensive. It should be a stone tablet of their tribe, perhaps hidden by their ancestors, engraved on it after seeing the land of Guixu. It should be difficult for us to find it from the sea."
"I can't help you either." On the small recliner, the toad changed into a short-sleeved flowery dress, with its white belly exposed, lying leisurely, with a slender bamboo tube at the side of its mouth, reaching out to take a sip of the iced Hanhan melon juice that appeared next to it, and said casually: "However, if those gods really come down again, I will fight them."
Lu Liangsheng stopped the spell and let the ship move on its own for a while. When he heard the master's words, he tilted his head and said, "Then I will have to rely on the master to raid the battlefield."
“Hmph.” The Toad Taoist grunted twice, took out the bamboo tube and sat up, “Thinking back to the past, my master’s cultivation was so high that there were so many people who wanted to slay demons and monsters, and the magic weapons blocked the sun! Although I have never defeated immortals, I can let them know that there is a person like me, the Purple Star Taoist, in this world!”
"Haha, maybe they already knew about it."
"Well... I know, so why would I be afraid of them?"
"Master, from your tone, you seem a little unsure..."
"Really? No."
The Toad Taoist rolled his eyes, took the bamboo tube and put it back into his mouth, then lay down again, turned to lie on his side and looked at the other side of the sea. Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips and continued to look ahead. The sea breeze blew on his face, and his hair fluttered. He whispered:
"Thank you, Master."
The short figure lying on the side with his back moved, tilted his head slightly, glanced over there with his toad eyes, and turned back.
"Who told you to be my disciple? If I don't help you, who else can I help?!"
Wow!
Wow~~
Amid the sound of waves hitting the hull, on the deck behind the man and the toad, four scholars took off their wrinkled robes, found some boatman's shorts from the cabin, and worked barefoot on the deck, pulling the ropes together and shouting slogans to raise the sails up the mast little by little.
After a few days on the boat, we gradually got used to it and learned to eat, fish, clean the deck and cabin, and do everything within our ability, as the four of them said.
"How can a scholar accept food given out of pity? He must do something to be entitled to eat."
The reason for learning to raise the sail was to reach the place where the Imperial Master wanted to go as soon as possible, so that they could return to Chang'an as soon as possible. As the four of them were pulling the rope and retreating, Ma Liu suddenly saw something in his peripheral vision and turned his head hurriedly.
"Look, what is that?!"
The remaining three people tilted their heads at the same time, and heard the sound of "哗" (splash) of the waves. A huge figure rose from the sea surface where the boat was level, revealing a dark and smooth back. With a "puff", a column of water gushed out.
The four people were dumbfounded and unconsciously loosened the rope in their hands. The sail lost its traction and fell down instantly, pulling Zhang Ti who had not let go yet. With a scream of "Ah--", he went straight to the mast from between the four people, hanging in the air, struggling and kicking his feet.
At the bow, Lu Liangsheng heard the noise and turned his head, and naturally saw the big fish. It sprayed out a column of water several feet high, swung its huge tail, and made an ethereal cry, as if it was greeting them.
"A large scaleless fish. The one Sui An encountered back then should be of this type."
After a casual glance, Lu Liangsheng estimated that the big fish with half of its body still underwater was indeed as Sui'an and the First Emperor had said, and should be the size of an ordinary house.
Taoist Toad had seen mountains, rivers and big streams, but he had never seen such a big fish. The fins on both sides were like bird wings, so incredibly big that he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
"It should be enough for a few meals."
At this time, the three scholars over there ignored Zhang Ti who was hanging over their heads, and ran to the side of the boat, shouting towards the big fish excitedly. As if in response, on the sea surface more than ten feet away, the big fish hummed and tumbled, and in the waves beside it, a "small" fish that looked the same as it emerged from the water. It seemed to be a mother and son, swimming happily under the mother's body, and occasionally coming over here, looking at the people on the deck curiously.
Meow~~~
The young fish chirped twice towards the people on the boat, then turned over, swam back to its mother, and gradually swam to the other side. Lu Liangsheng saw a scene that he had never seen before on the foothills of the land, and he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
“Everything in nature has spirituality.”
As he was speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a small wave of water surging behind the boat. His spiritual sense spread and conveyed a sense of familiarity. Lu Liangsheng frowned, walked down the bow and came to the fence. He could vaguely see a fish tail in the white waves.
"That mermaid from before? Following the ship, is it possible that he still hasn't given up?"
But the scholar's spiritual sense sensed other sea surfaces and did not find any other aura similar to that of the mermaid. It was obvious that she was the only one following behind.
However, just as his consciousness swept across the sea, Lu Liangsheng's eyes suddenly widened, and he hurried back to the bow. The Toad Taoist on the recliner asked him, "Liangsheng, what's wrong?"
"There's something weird here."
Lu Liangsheng pinched a spell and pointed it at his brow, and a light blue light appeared, like a human eye, covering the turbulent water in front of him.
The next moment after the magic light penetrated the sea water, the magic power was suddenly cut off. Lu Liangsheng stumbled back a few steps as if he had suffered a heavy blow, but his face was filled with joy.
"Master, this is it. Under this sea water should be the place of Guixu... the place where all things and phenomena finally return."
Ming Oh
Suddenly, a roar came from behind, and the figure following the boat raised its upper body in the water, revealing its white, tender and smooth skin. Its face showed some anxiety, and it waved its arms towards Lu Liangsheng. Its webbed fingers kept pointing in one direction, and from time to time it puffed up its cheeks with gills to make a fierce expression, or stretched out its tail to slap the water surface hard.
Like a warning of something.
Because they were too far away, Lu Liangsheng couldn't use his telepathy to communicate with the mermaid, but the warning was naturally apparent. Even the Toad Taoist stood up from his recliner, walked to the front of the bow with his flippers on his back, and squinted his eyes.
As a demon, he has always been sensitive to danger, not to mention that he is now at the level of a demon king.
"Liangsheng!"
Toad suddenly spoke, looking at the gradually darkening sky in the distance on both sides of the front of the ship, and whispered: "Go down and look for Guixu, and your master will guard this place for you."
The scholar followed his gaze and saw dark clouds gathering on both sides of the sky in the distance, forming four funnel-shaped clouds that were spinning and gradually becoming huge as they stretched over the sea. Lightning flashed and thunder roared among the spinning dragon-shaped clouds.
Boom—
Thunder roared and echoed on the sea, dark clouds pushed over from the other side and blocked the sunlight, and in the flickering bluish-white lightning, four tornadoes showed the outlines of four huge figures holding umbrellas, pipa, swords, and iron whips. They were dressed like fairies wearing golden armor, took a step forward, raised ten-foot waves, and walked over the sea.