After rebirth, the eldest sister voluntarily abdicated and gave way to the wise.

Chapter 426 Mirage

After the play had been performed three or four times, Jiang Liqian set up the restriction and began to discuss serious matters.

Su Yanqing finished the last sip of spiritual wine in his cup before leisurely asking, "Do you know about mirages and overseas immortal mountains?"

Shui Lian'er was the first to raise her hand: "I know, I know!"

"Legend has it that there are three fairy mountains overseas: Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou."

"'Before arrival, they appear like clouds; upon arrival, they are found submerged underwater. When approached, the wind carries them away.' The three immortal mountains are elusive and unpredictable, and mortals have nowhere to go. Some say they are the work of dragons and sea monsters, luring people to seek the mountains, only to be swallowed by them. Many who have not returned from the sea have fallen into their trap."

"However, the most famous treasures are those on the three immortal mountains. Legend has it that Penglai has the elixir of immortality bestowed by the Queen Mother of the West, Fangzhang has a blessed land for immortals to cultivate, and Yingzhou has a spring of longevity that can prolong life. However, no one has ever actually seen any of these, and we don't know if they are true or not."

Su Yanqing raised an eyebrow: "Although Miss Lian'er has never left the sect, she is quite experienced."

Shui Lian'er stood proudly with her hands on her hips and her chin held high: "That's right!"

Look at how many storybooks she's read; how could she not even know this little bit of legend?

Su Yanqing poured her a glass of wine as a way of thanking her for answering the question.

Then he said, "The entrance to the black market that Fellow Daoist Jiang is looking for is right here in this mirage."

Jiang Liqian remained silent, her eyes filled with confusion.

Su Yanqing didn't keep them in suspense any longer and said, "The reason why Sanhai City is so lively and prosperous is not only because the city lord is well-governed, but also because every half month or month, a mirage appears on the sea. Sometimes it is just a phantom, and sometimes it is a secret realm of various sizes. Moreover, some people claim that they have seen the shadow of a fairy mountain here."

"The entrance to the black market is located to the west of the entrance to the Mirage Realm. Whenever the Mirage Realm appears, the black market will gather there, and vice versa, which is why it has always been very mysterious."

Xu Youan said, "So, if we want to get into the black market, we have to wait here for the mirage to appear, and it has to be a real secret realm, not just a phantom, right?"

Su Yanqing nodded: "Once the Mirage Secret Realm appears, tickets for the ships to the Secret Realm will be sold along the coast of Sanhai City. If you can't get a ticket, you won't be able to enter the Mirage Secret Realm. We need to be prepared, because these tickets are in high demand. Every time the Mirage Secret Realm appears, cultivators scramble for them, and they are often in short supply."

"How long until the next Mirage Realm?" Qin Beiyao asked.

Su Yanqing then turned his head towards the stone: "Well, I'm afraid we'll have to ask Fellow Daoist Shi for help."

Everyone slowly turned their attention to him.

Although he claimed to be a disciple of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion, they never saw him perform any rituals, tell fortunes, or even offer any basic protection against misfortune along the way.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so unlucky as to be hit by someone and end up in Chang Le City, and Jiang Liqian would have almost died.

When Shi Tou saw that everyone was looking at him with suspicion, he became angry.

"You don't believe in my abilities?"

No one spoke.

Shi Tou rolled up his sleeves and rummaged through his Qiankun bag until he pulled out a handful of yarrow stalks. He then divided them into two piles. Jiang Liqian watched him work on them and even counted how many yarrow stalks there were.

Yes, exactly fifty, no more, no less.

But he only used forty-nine of the yarrow stalks, which is probably the meaning of "the number of the Great Expansion is fifty, of which forty-nine are used, and one is omitted".

He looks quite capable; do they really all underestimate him?

However, this idea was quickly proven wrong three days later.

"Where is the Mirage Realm?" Shui Lian'er stared blankly at the empty, undulating sea.

Without batting an eye, Shi Tou took out the yarrow stalks and fiddled with them for a while: "Unexpected things can happen, and accidents are normal. This time, we'll reschedule for five days later."

The crowd thought there was some truth to what he said, so they patiently waited for another five days. Five days later, the sea was still empty, and the boatmen on the shore were still soundly dozing off.

Stone's expression didn't falter; he wanted to continue calculating, but Jiang Liqian decisively stopped him.

The disciples of Tianji Pavilion are few, but each one has extremely high talent. Anyone who goes down the mountain to travel becomes famous. However, she had never heard of the name "Stone".

She should have realized that this guy was all show and no substance, lacking in skill. This time, he might be sent down by his own master and suffer some hardship.

Jiang Liqian glanced around at the surrounding shore, then walked up to a boatman who looked very experienced. She politely interrupted him and asked about the Mirage Secret Realm.

The boatman gave a perfunctory reply, seemingly not wanting to pay any attention to Jiang Liqian.

Jiang Liqian took out a mid-grade spirit stone from her Qiankun bag and handed it to him. Her words were still polite, but rather very humble.

The boatman picked his teeth and glanced at Jiang Liqian sideways.

He accepted the spirit stones, but didn't talk about the legends or origins of the Mirage Realm. Instead, he knocked on the railing and said, "Come tomorrow. Six boat tickets, sixty high-grade spirit stones. Pay now."

Jiang Liqian was slightly taken aback, but without uttering a single question, she obediently handed over sixty high-grade spirit stones to him.

This time, the boatman gave Jiang Liqian a proper look, then pulled out six crumpled fish-skin boat tickets from his old clothes and gave them to her.

"Tomorrow at 5:15 AM, no exceptions." The boatman said this, turned and went into the cabin, ignoring her.

Jiang Liqian bowed and thanked them, then waved the boat tickets in her hand as she walked back, giving one to each person.

"We will board the ship at 1:15 AM tomorrow."

Shi Tou stared dumbfounded at the smile on Jiang Liqian's face, stammering, "Just... just like that, it's done?"

Jiang Li raised an eyebrow: "Otherwise?"

After a pause, she still kindly comforted him: "But your calculations are actually quite accurate, just one day off. With a little more practice, you will definitely become one of the top disciples of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion in the future."

"..." Why did he feel that she was implying that he wasn't paying attention to his cultivation and was being lazy?

Shui Lian'er was somewhat worried: "Li Qian, is that old man deliberately lying to us?"

Jiang Liqian didn't care at all, and smiled slightly with her eyebrows arched: "Probably not, but if he dares to lie to me, I will personally take his bones off one by one and feed them to the fish."

Everyone suddenly shuddered.

Help! Why can you say such terrifying things in such a calm tone?

"Senior sister, shall we go back? The sun is too strong at the beach, it's not good to stand for too long." Xu Youan put away the boat tickets and made the suggestion.

After all that trouble over the past few days, my senior sister is only just recovering from her serious injuries.

Jiang Li nodded slightly, and the group headed back home.