Song of Adolescence

Chapter 263 A White-robed Immortal

"Beili Year 21, 12th month, 10th day. Day 29 of the Qingzhou Mu Office Golden Cross sailing for Three Snake Islands. Light winds, clear day, anchored at Three Snake Islands. Caught 236 golden line snakes, harvested 226 intact snake galls and two jars of snake venom. Caught 17 silver banded snakes, harvested 17 intact snake galls. Caught 1 iron crystal snake, harvested 1 intact snake gall. Fellow passengers from Xi’nan Town, snake chiefs Kui Luo and Kui Ba, were killed in the midst of capturing the iron crystal snake. Xiao Se, Lei Wujie, Tang Lian, Sikong Qianluo borrowed a boat and traveled on towards the east and will return seven days later. Logged by Qingzhou Mu Office, Manager of Words, Tian Mozhi." Tian Mozhi sat under the light of the stars and silently finished writing his Ship’s Log before placing it carefully into the box.

Mu Chunfeng sat down beside him. "Manger Tian, do you think Xiao Se and the others have arrived at Penglai Island?"

"Young master must be joking. I’ve never been there, how would I know if Penglai Island really exists?" Tian Mozhi shook his head.

"I hope they can come back alive," Mu Chunfeng murmured.

"Young master, do we really wait seven days for them?" Tian Mozhi said suddenly.

Mu Chunfeng was stunned for a moment. "Naturally."

"For so many years, I’ve never heard of anyone who travelled to Three Snake Islands and went further east managed to survive and come back. Even if they were consummate in their martial arts, in this vast and open sea, what are those martial arts worth? My advice to young master is better to…" Tian Mozhi said quietly.

"Stop right there." Mu Chunfeng, who had always been quite respectful to Tian Mozhi, suddenly scolded him. "Even if there’s only a small chance, we’ve given our word, so how can we go back on it? Our Qingzhou Mu family must be true to our word. Manager Tian, would you want me to betray my faith and abandon what’s right?"

"I’m not saying to break your faith. But, the snake catchers we’ve recruited seem a little anxious to go home." Tian Mozhi fished out his smoking pipe and inhaled a breath of smoke.

Mu Chunfeng frowned slightly. "So, they’re in a hurry to go home."

Tian Mozhi retrieved his smoking pipe and knocked it lightly on the ship\'s board.

"It’s dawn."

Ye Ruoyi spoke in a soft voice as she looked at the great white star to the east.

Lei Wujie, Tang Lian, and Sikong Qianluo all slumped on the boat, exhausted. They had already run out of energy. They had been exerting their qi all night to move the boat but they didn’t even know if they had passed through that undercurrent. But, whether it was the Yaoguang star in the east or the Dijun star in the west, both were already too dim to be visible. And, the sudden violent tides from before did not happen again. This could be considered good news though.

But, a fog suddenly appeared over the sea.

They moved into the fog, and the surrounding scenery began to blur. Xiao Se sat at the bow, slowly rowing the oars and proceeded carefully.

"Have we passed that undercurrent?" Lei Wujie asked in a soft voice.

Sikong Qianluo and Tang Lian exchanged a glance, Xiao Se frowned slightly but none of them spoke. Only Ye Ruoyi hesitated before she answered him, "We’re indeed not in the undercurrent anymore."

"Then, where’s that immortal mountain beyond the sea?" Lei Wujie looked into the distance, and slowly, something that looked like an immortal mountain emerged. He couldn\'t help but exclaim happily, "We’re here!"

Tang Lian and Sikong Qianluo also stood up. "The legend is actually true! We’re here!"

Xiao Se, however, was still frowning, not looking the least bit excited.

Lei Wujie released a long sigh of relief. "Then, we might as well use our last bit of strength to hurry up."

"Wait." Ye Ruoyi stepped forward suddenly, looking at the immortal mountain which was gradually becoming more and more clear, and frowned slightly. She stretched out her right hand, and whispered, "Disperse."

The thick fog in front of them seemed to waver for a bit, and the immortal mountain that was originally fairly discernable suddenly disappeared.

"What\'s going on?" Lei Wujie was puzzled.

"It\'s a mirage," Xiao Se said faintly.

"It was recorded in ancient books that in the Dengzhou sea, fog appears from time to time, and all sorts of things can be seen, like palace halls, towers, battlements, people, carriages, government officials. This is what they called a mirage[1]. In other words, “it was the breath of a jiao-shen.” They say this is a result of the jiao-shen exhaling from its mouth. If you enter it, you will enter the mouth of the jiao-shen," Ye Ruoyi explained.

Lei Wujie was stunned. "So unorthodox?"

"In fact, it\'s not completely right. Sometimes the mirage will look like scenes from the past, yet sometimes, it shows a scene from thousands of miles away before it happens. At least we can be certain of one thing. Whether it was something from the past or something thousands of miles away, there’s indeed an island here besides the Three Snake Islands," Ye Ruoyi said.

Tang Lian smiled bitterly. "I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be comforting."

Xiao Se suddenly put down the oars, looked ahead, and said in a deep voice, "Someone’s there."

"Someone’s there!" Everyone was shocked and hurriedly looked up.

They could make out a faint image of a small boat in the distance and there was clearly a figure standing on top of it. The person rowed using a long oar, pushing the boat towards them.

"Another mirage?" Lei Wujie gripped his long sword.

"No." Ye Ruoyi felt her palms starting to sweat. "This time it\'s real."

In the thick fog, they couldn’t make out the person standing on the boat. He rowed one more time with a powerful stroke, then he put away the oar. The small boat suddenly sped up and came straight towards them at full speed.

"Be careful," Tang Lian said solemnly.

Sikong Qianluo and Lei Wujie quickly held down their weapons and walked to Xiao Se’s side. Xiao Se inhaled a deep breath and said softly, "Come on."

They broke through the fog, and the tip of the other small boat collided with Xiao Se’s boat. Finally, the appearance of the person on the other boat was revealed.

Was he the immortal beyond the sea who rode on the wind to come over?

Or was he an unexpected guest hidden in the open sea?

The man stood on the boat without speaking.

Because it couldn’t speak.

Lei Wujie was dumbfounded. "Why… why is the one rowing the boat a big monkey?"

Standing on the boat was indeed a huge ape. It was tall and stood upright, looking no different to a human from a distance. Hearing Lei Wujie\'s words, the ape seemed a little indignant and started growling impatiently.

"I guess this is a guide sent by the immortal?" Ye Ruoyi said, after a thought.

The ape seemed to understand humans, and when he heard those words, he turned to look at Ye Ruoyi, nodded, and growled again. But this time, there seemed to be a bit of joy in his tone.

"So, we go ahead and follow its boat?" Tang Lian asked in confusion. "But no matter how you look at it, it’s here to block our way."

Xiao Se shook his head. "I think I understand what it wants." After speaking, he lifted his foot, stepped onto the bow and made a small leap to jump onto the ape\'s boat.

"Danger!" Sikong Qianlu cried out anxiously.

But the ape just nodded, glanced at Xiao Se with praise, and then stepped aside.

"So that’s what it wants. It wants us to board his boat." Everyone came to the same realisation and followed one after the other. Seeing that everyone had boarded its boat, the ape picked up the oar and stroked vigorously, leading the group deeper into the dense fog.