Chapter 198 Sky Crane:
“I’ve had this dream before…” Rong Xie murmured to himself.
"What?" Brother Jiang turned his head.
“However, I first dreamed that Lu Yingqi died tragically, and then I dreamed that the Wuqing Dao Palace was hanging black banners, which must have been hung up to commemorate Lu Yingqi.” Rong Xie frowned slightly. “But Lu Yingqi did not die, and that dream has been proven to be wrong… Perhaps I am overthinking it, or perhaps it is just a coincidence.”
“It must be a coincidence,” Brother Jiang pondered for a moment, then understood Rong Xie’s meaning. “It’s just a similar dream fragment. Your dream was caused by Madam Mei’s magic and has nothing to do with the Albizia Flower Fairy, so none of the things in the dream have become reality.”
"Yes, that should be it." Rong Xie nodded.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Although he despised Lu Yingqi's heartless actions, he didn't want Lu Yingqi to die, just as he didn't want anyone who had fought alongside him to die.
Moreover, he always felt that Xiaozhi probably didn't want Lu Yingqi to die either.
Xiaozhi...doesn't want...
Rong Xie suddenly raised his head and looked at Brother Jiang: "Brother Jiang, may I have a word with you in private?"
Brother Jiang had finished dealing with matters at the Spirit Mirror Sect, and nodded: "Let's go, let's talk outside."
Sect Leader Xue and the elders wanted to know more, but they didn't want to delay Brother Jiang's business, so they could only see him off.
Shen Bingsi followed from the side, staying close to Brother Jiang: "Perfect timing, I also have something to say."
"You two... one at a time," Brother Jiang said helplessly.
In front of the main hall square of the Lingjing Sect, the crowd was still causing trouble, demanding that Sect Master Xue come out and explain how the Grand Elder died and what his last words meant.
Sect Leader Xue escorted the four people down a side path at the back, while he led the elders to the front to quell the situation.
When only the two adjudicators, Rong Xie, and Shen Bingsi remained on the road, Rong Xie spoke first:
"Brother Jiang, do you remember how we rescued many innocent children who were abducted in the Lu family case?"
"Of course," Brother Jiang nodded.
"One of them is named Xiaozhi, who is Lu Yingqi's page. It was because of him that Lu Yingqi agreed to come with me to investigate the Lu family's case."
“That’s right, the two of them had a very good relationship.” Brother Jiang sighed. “But I heard that later, in order to stay in the Xuantian Sect, Lu Yingqi used some drastic methods to prove his Dao, and Xiaozhi is no longer alive.”
“Yes…” Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Brother Jiang had already learned something, which saved him the trouble of describing it again. “But it’s not completely gone. In short, after some changes, Xiao Zhi and the Hehuan Flower Fairy merged together in some kind of contract. I suspect that Xiao Zhi’s spirit is still there.”
"Oh? Is that so?" Brother Jiang asked in surprise.
"Well, so, if we capture the Acacia Flower Fairy in the future, is it possible to separate Xiaozhi's spirit? Is there such a way...? Xiaozhi once helped me. If he hadn't taken out the Acacia Dew, Bing Si wouldn't have been able to save me from the nightmare spell, and I wouldn't be standing here now."
Rong Xie knew that his suggestion was very difficult to implement, and even a bit excessive. In a real battle, both sides would fight to the death. If they had to hold back against the Hehuan Flower Fairy in order to protect Xiaozhi, Brother Jiang would be in a very disadvantageous position.
"I can't guarantee that, but if the opportunity arises, I'd prefer to capture him alive," Brother Jiang replied to Rong Xie after careful consideration.
Upon receiving such a solemn reply, Rong Xie felt a warmth rise in his heart. As expected of the Grand Judge of the Mirror Palace, he was truly reliable!
"I'll be there to keep watch! You can focus on catching the demons," Shen Bingsi interjected from the side.
Before Brother Jiang could reply, the registrar covered his mouth and laughed, glancing at Shen Bingsi: "With your current cultivation level? You can't even beat Xiao Rong. You should just give up."
Shen Bingsi: "..."
Rong Xie: "..." Is it really that shameful to be unable to beat him? He is, after all, a Foundation Establishment expert.
Shen Bingsi rubbed the side of her nose: "Actually, what I wanted to say is this... I also want to go to the Ruthless Dao Palace to see if there's anything I can do to help."
Rong Xie's heart jumped, and a mix of emotions welled up inside him. On one hand, he could understand Shen Bingsi's eagerness to go to the front line to capture the flower demon. On the other hand, he was also very worried about Shen Bingsi and did not want her to get involved in such a dangerous matter, especially since his cultivation had not yet recovered.
"You don't need to go," Brother Jiang said firmly, leaving no room for discussion.
Brother Jiang led the recorder away from the Lingjing Sect and directly used the Shrinking Earth Technique to enter the territory of the Xuantian Sect.
On the path behind the main peak of the Spirit Mirror Sect, only Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi remained.
Shen Bingsi gazed in the direction where Brother Jiang had left.
Rong Xie grabbed his hand.
Shen Bingsi turned around and smiled, "Forget it, with my current cultivation level, I really can't be of any help. I can only be a hindrance."
Rong Xie felt a sharp pain in his heart. In the past, it would have been harder for Shen Bing Si to say such words of surrender than to kill him. He could see the faint loneliness between his brows when he forced a smile.
Rong Xie squeezed Shen Bingsi's hand: "Let's go to the Hehuan Sect instead."
"good."
However, the journey to the Hehuan Sect is long and not so easy.
Rong Xie wanted to go back to ask Elder Yunfeng for help and send another senior brother, Shu Yang, to escort them, but Shen Bingsi rejected the idea.
"You still want to ride that little sword and feel the cold wind in the air for seven days and seven nights?" Shen Bingsi used sharp words to help Rong Xie recall his recent experience.
"Hmm... I don't want to." Rong Xie thought for a moment and then answered, but, "We don't have any other choice, can we? We can't exactly take a carriage there, can we?"
“Money makes the world go round,” Shen Bingsi said confidently. “Come on, follow me, I guarantee I’ll find you a quick and comfortable way.”
Shen Bingsi pulled Rong Xie down the mountain, but stopped after a few steps and pointed to Rong Xie's personal pouch: "Take the Yunmeng Boat, let's go back to Huanxue Manor."
"Pfft." Rong Xie laughed and reached for the Yunmeng boat. "I thought the fast and comfortable method you mentioned was to walk there."
Half an hour later, the two returned to Huanxue Manor.
Rong Xie stared at him, thinking he was going to take out some powerful flying artifact from the treasure vault, the kind that was big and wide enough to fly to Liujin City in a day, but he didn't.
That's true. If Shen Bingsi had such a thing, she would never have taken it out when she took Rong Xie out to play before. If Rong Xie found out about this, he would definitely beat Shen Bingsi to a pulp.
Shen Bingsi withdrew a huge sum of money from his private stash and stuffed it all into a golden fish-patterned bag. Then he had Rong Xie sail the Cloud Dream Boat to the mail collection point at the mountain gate.
Please comply.
"This is……"
When Rong Xie saw a small, elegant, pure white crane emerge from behind the black silver fence, he could hardly believe his eyes.
The people at the mountain gate mailroom had never been so enthusiastic. Rong Xie remembered that when he came to collect his mail before, they were as reluctant as if he owed them thousands of spirit stones, and they would only move after being urged several times. But now, they all dropped what they were doing and gathered in the courtyard, warmly greeting him and Shen Bing Si.
Is this... the power of money?
However, while the service was excellent, why does this flying mount look so small and thin?
"Are we really going to ride it all the way to Liujin City? That's thousands... tens of thousands of miles away. Wouldn't that be too cruel?" Rong Xie looked at the poor little crane. It had no idea what it was going to encounter. As soon as it came out of the fence, it strolled around gracefully, as if it was happy to come out for some fresh air.
"We only accept bank drafts for payment; any of the eight major money houses are acceptable." The person at the mountain gate's mailroom was exchanging cash with Shen Bingsi.
“Take a closer look, it’s no ordinary crane,” Shen Bingsi said with a smile.
As they spoke, the crane strolled to within five or six feet of them. Rong Xie stared at it from head to toe and finally noticed something: "Could this be... the Sky-Supporting Giant Crane?"
"Indeed, this is the Sky-Supporting Giant Crane!" The head servant, having received his payment, stood up straight and said proudly, "Master Rong is indeed knowledgeable; many high-level cultivators wouldn't recognize it."
Rong Xie thought to himself, of course he wouldn't recognize it. Even the sect leader might not choose such an outrageously expensive flying mount. How could a high-ranking disciple recognize it if he had never seen it before?
When at rest, the Giant Crane looks almost exactly like an ordinary crane, and is even a little smaller. However, once it is ready to take off, it grows ten times larger, and carrying eight to ten people on its back is no problem.
However, the price of hiring it to fly once is too high. The Spirit Mirror Sect, which has always lived frugally, still prefers to let cultivators above the Golden Core stage travel by sword. Those below the Golden Core stage generally cannot afford to spend that much money to ride it.
The head servant lured the expensive crane with a special elixir and led it to the cliff outside the mailroom at the mountain gate.
He beckoned Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi over, asking them to tell the crane their destination. The crane was very intelligent and could understand human speech, though it couldn't speak. Just now, when Rong Xie recognized it, it proudly flapped its wings, its long red legs gracefully crossing the small mud puddle with a lighter touch.
“We’re going to the Mita Temple in Liujin City. Do you know where Liujin City is?” Following the servant’s instructions, Rong Xie tentatively stroked the crane’s feathers.
The crane lowered its head, as if paying its respects to Rong Xie.
"That means you know," the head servant explained.
Rong Xie was overjoyed and stroked the crane's silky feathers again: "Then do you know where the Mi Tuo Temple is?"
This time, the crane did not lower its head, but stared at Rong Xie with its bright black eyes.
“That’s what we don’t know,” said the head servant.
"Understood." Rong Xie stroked the crane's feathers again and said to it, "It's alright. When we get to the skies above Liujin City, I'll point it out to you. Wherever I point, you should land there, okay?"
The crane bowed its head in greeting again.
The two, one human and one crane, communicated without any obstacles.
The next question is—how do we get up there?
Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi looked at the small crane. Its back looked so small that it could only bury its little head to sleep, and there was no way it could fit two adult men.
The crane looked innocently at Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi, and for a moment the two sides were deadlocked.
“It only grows bigger when it flies,” Rong Xie remembered that was recorded in the mythical beast encyclopedia he had read. “But when it flies, it is extremely fast, and we can’t catch up with it at all.”
"Don't worry, step back!" The head servant waved his arm to block the two of them from behind, then whistled and turned back to explain, "Whistle like this when you come back, and it will know it's time to take off, but don't do it in buildings or crowded places."
Soon, the head servant showed the two why they couldn't do this in crowded places—
Guided by the whistle of the head servant, the crane first took elegant small steps, then larger steps, its two long red legs crossing a few times, and then it took off into the air, spreading its wings with a "whoosh," its wingspan reaching more than ten feet, and easily flew towards the cliff.
Suddenly, white light burst forth from the crane's feathers, and its wings, each a zhang long, stretched outwards to ten zhang. The crane's head and tail also swelled and enlarged, growing in harmony with its wings. It grew from a tiny crane into a colossal ship, easily piercing through the clouds and creating a large hole in the cloud-covered mountains. It then easily circled back, hooking its feet onto the cliff face and stopping steadily at the end of the mountain path.
"Wow, that's amazing." Rong Xie exclaimed sincerely.
This time, they don't have to worry about the little crane not being big enough for two people.
It was practically a giant crane feather carpet, large enough to cover the entire main hall of the peak. Rong Xie carefully stepped on it and walked towards the center. The crane flew very steadily, and it was almost impossible to feel it hovering in the air, but there were still slight vibrations. Rong Xie walked for a long time before reaching the middle of the crane's back. There was a patch of very soft down there, and Rong Xie and Shen Bing Si sat down.
"What should we do now?" Rong Xie was unsure. He looked back and nervously realized that the head of the handymen hadn't followed him up.
"Whistle?" Shen Bingsi tried to imitate the technique of the head servant and whistled a long whistle.
The crane shook its wings twice, turned its huge head back, and stared at Shen Bingsi with its huge black eyes, which were as big as lanterns.
Rong Xie felt a chill run down his spine, but then he realized that the giant crane was only doing this because it didn't understand them. Rong Xie tried to say to it, "Fly, to Liujin City!"
The crane stared at Rong Xie, then lowered its huge head and bowed to the passenger on its back. Then it turned its head, let out a loud crane cry, spread its wings, kicked off the cliff, and flew into the air.
The crane leaped so violently that Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi had to hold on tightly to its feathers to avoid falling.
The crane's back tilted almost vertically as it broke through the clouds and reached the clear, crystal-clear sky.
After that, it adjusted its posture and began to fly steadily.
Rong Xie and Shen Bingsi also recovered from the extreme exertion, and both of them felt a little nauseous.
"That head servant didn't even warn us... how despicable!" Rong Xie couldn't help but complain. Only then did he have the chance to take out two immobilization talismans and fix himself and Shen Bingsi on the back of the crane.
"Cough cough... I'll go back and complain to Xue Baoshan about him." Shen Bingsi patted her chest and then stared at Rong Xie from head to toe.
"I'm fine," Rong Xie knew what Shen Bing Si was looking at. "Don't forget, I'm a Foundation Establishment expert now, much tougher than you, a mere Qi Refining cultivator."
"Haha, that's true." Shen Bingsi laughed.
Rong Xie applied a stack of talismans to the two of them—for warmth, wind protection, and sun protection—and after a flurry of activity like a spinning top, he finally finished protecting them and comfortably sprawled out among the crane feathers.
Shen Bingsi also lay down, and the two of them looked at the clear blue sky, neither of them speaking for a moment.
"How much will it cost to fly here?" Rong Xie couldn't help but ask.
When Shen Bingsi and the head of the menial servants discussed the price, they did so in a small room in the mailroom, which Rong Xie was unaware of.
"It's better if you don't know," Shen Bingsi said.
“I think so too,” Rong Xie said. “Anyway, it’s a special case, and we only take this once. We save money for this kind of situation. Otherwise, what’s the point of saving up so much money? Just to sit there and watch?”
"Four hundred taels of silver," Shen Bingsi said.
"What?!" Rong Xie sat up abruptly, staring at Shen Bing Si in disbelief. "Four thousand spirit stones? Six rides would be enough to buy a photovoltaic white orchid!"
"The price of the 'Radiant White Orchid' is 30,000 spirit stones. You must have encountered a swindler to get that price from you," Shen Bingsi couldn't help but correct her.
"That's not the point. The point is—this is way too expensive! Our situation is not what it used to be. You've lost your position in the Mirror Palace, and your status in the sect isn't as high anymore. Your ways to make money have greatly decreased. Plus, your cultivation level isn't high enough to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, so it's difficult for you to even take on a treasure hunting mission. We also have a huge Huanxue Manor to support. This is clearly just sitting around and wasting our resources!"
"..." Shen Bingsi shrank back uncomfortably, feeling a little restless.
“We can’t keep spending money like this,” Rong Xie said seriously. “What’s wrong with Senior Brother Shu Yang’s flying sword? It’s just a couple of days of cold wind and a bit of a squeeze, but we can make do with it. Think about what other jobs can earn four thousand spirit stones in two days?”
"..." Shen Bingsi felt a heavy weight on her body and protested, "I just wanted to save time and make the journey more comfortable... Once we get to the Hehuan Sect and find Elder Hong, my cultivation will be restored, and then the money will come back to me quickly, right?"
“That makes sense.” Rong Xie stroked his chin.
"Right?" Shen Bingsi tugged at Rong Xie's sleeve. "Lie down quickly, don't waste our four thousand spirit stones."
Upon hearing this, Rong Xie immediately agreed and lay back down in the crane feathers, fully enjoying the comfortable ride and expansive view.
In fact, Rong Xie could understand why Shen Bingsi wanted to spend a lot of money to ride the Sky-Supporting Giant Crane.
Although he appeared relaxed on the surface, he was probably very anxious inside. He wanted to quickly restore his cultivation and go to the Ruthless Dao Palace to fight the Hehuan Flower Demon head-on.
"How long do you think it will take for me to recover my cultivation?" Shen Bingsi asked casually, gazing at the sky.
“I think it should be soon,” Rong Xie said, slipping his hand through the soft crane feathers and placing it on the back of Shen Bingsi’s hand. “The most difficult time is over. Can the dawn be far behind?”
As night fell, the giant crane descended onto the cliffs near Liujin City.
The crane shook its wings and quickly curled up into a small ball. Shen Bingsi picked up the crane, and the crane tucked its head into its wings and fell asleep.
Rong Xie set sail on his cloud-dream boat, carrying two people and a crane, towards the golden roof of the Mi Tuo Temple, which shone brightly under the moonlight.
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