Lin Luoran spends five taels and orders two best rooms of the inn.
This place is close to the harbor. The salty sea breeze blows through the wooden window. The porridge is made with polished round-grained rice. On the table, there is Crystal Goose Breast and Marinated Beef. Most of the dishes are seafood like Loofah Scallop and Braised Sea Cucumber. From west to north, Lin Luoran’s trip has covered the land of Penglai and she knows a lot about the local price. Such a meal may cost one tael. Paying three taels for best rooms with food is not expensive.
The price may be affected by the war more or less. Good rooms close to the port will certainly be more expensive at peacetime. Lin Luoran tries finely sliced pickled cucumbers with sesame. It tastes sour, salty, refreshing, and a little spicy. Together with the porridge, she can ignore the astringent water.
Sang Ye is now a sorehead prince. Bumping all the way and doing inferior job every day, he sees the great food but can still contain himself.
Lin Luoran is not a prisoner abuser. She also asks the inn guy to bring hot water for Sang Ye to have a nice bath. He changes into new clothes bought by the inn guy and the handsome seventh prince is back.
“Now we can talk about Mount Penglai.”
Lin Luoran makes a cup of hot tea. It’s the best Tieguanyin. The tea is golden in color and refreshing in taste. Sang Ye frowns when he tastes it.
“… I have never tasted this kind of tea.” Sang Ye puts down the cup and makes a conclusion.
“You are not from Penglai.”
Lin Luoran doesn’t nod nor deny, “You have also been looking for Spirit Mountain in these years. Are there any gains?”
Sang Ye shakes the teacup, “What can I benefit by taking you to find Penglai Mountain?”
Lin Luoran frowns slightly. The seventh prince lords it over her again. He was quite hardworking as a manual labor on the sea. Surely enough, some people can’t be treated with nice food and clothes.
A flash of spark pops from Lin Luoran’s fingertip and runs towards the teacup in Sang Ye’s hand. Sang Ye drops the teacup in a panic. The ray of fire engulfs the fine porcelain teacup and the cup evaporates together with water under his nose!
“I don’t mind killing people if it is necessary, not to mention if you lie to me… If the cyan phoenix birthmark is useful, I can just cut off your flesh. Don’t even try to challenge my bottom line again. ”
Lin Luoran finishes her words and turns around to leave this room and go to another room.
Sang Ye is still frightened. How can a person’s finger bursts into such powerful fire?
She isn’t a warrior. She seems to be more like immortals recorded in the ancient book he read in his childhood.
Sang Ye touches a delicate tube in his hair and he is not sure whether to send a signal or not. He can return to the palace from the emperor’s mausoleum and he has the nerve to take the army to hunt down the caravan. Of course, he has many secret forces and supporters.
Even in this northmost Tianshui City, he also has several hidden strongpoints.
Sang Ye is hesitating now. Not just because of Lin Luoran’s strong strength, he also suspects this is also his chance to win the throne. If he can take her to find Mount Penglai… won’t it be possible to ask her to help him with an easy thing?
Sang Ye’s eyes flicker and he hides the iron pipe in his hair.
After self-cultivation all night, Lin Luoran opens the door and feels very refreshing. It’s still cold in the morning and the sea breeze is gentle. There is a wonton stand near Tianshui Port. Grain ships are unloading. A bowl of steaming wonton can eliminate most of boatmen’s fatigue after working for half a day.
After thinking all night, Sang Ye finally decides to cooperate.
The first sentence he says to Lin Luoran is—
“We need to prepare food and drinking water.”
Lin Luoran is eating a bowl of wonton with hot pepper. She nods vaguely and greets Sang Ye to have breakfast.
People on this continent don’t like spicy things. Sang Ye smells the spicy smell. Looking at her red soup, he still chooses the mild broth.
After they finish the wonton, Lin Luoran gives the inn guy some money to let him prepare food and water for her—mainly for the sake of Sang Ye. She has space in hand. Not to mention that a cultivator of Bearing Essence can live even without food and water.
“Where is that place?”
“It used to belong to Penglai but was occupied by Ying hundreds of years ago. It takes more than a month to travel by land and we will pass by the place where the two countries are at war. The waterway is twice faster and it is easier to find that place. ”
“Then take the waterway.”
It takes more than a month to travel by land. Penglai used to have a very large territory. Unfortunately, later generations were not prominent and lost almost half of the land.
Sang Ye has already chosen the water way. The inn guy finds some food and wraps it in kraft paper. He has prepared some bread and buns which can store for a long time in the sultry weather. There are also a few bags of fresh water in leather bags. Sang Ye seems to think it is not enough. Lin Luoran asks him to carry all things alone. They are heading for the port.
Sang Ye suggests to find a big ship but Lin Luoran ignores him. She buys a small fishing boat and launches out following big merchant ships.
The seventh prince frowns. Waves coming and going on the sea are unpredictable. How can this small boat survive?
But now Lin Luoran is the boss so he does not express his opinions. Thinking of her fishing on the deck that day, he thinks maybe Lin Luoran like raw food.
Or maybe immortals do not need to eat… perhaps, she is just a witch who knows magical camouflage and how to make elixirs?
When the boat reaches an uninhabited place, Sang Ye sees that Lin Luoran suddenly gets an exquisite bone boat on her hand.
It is a delicate model about an inch long. Sang Ye sees the light from Lin Luoran’s hand and then the little bone boat grows up in the wind, becoming the size of the fishing boat they are riding.
Sang Ye’s pupils shrink. The camp soldiers could not see them before and the fire from her finger burned the cup. If these are just magical camouflage, what about this gleaming bone boat like jade?
She couldn’t hide such a big boat with her.
Sang Ye’s previous doubts have all vanished. Lin Luoran is either a monster or an immortal. He now just wonders why she is searching for Spirit Mountain?
Lin Luoran is keenly aware that the proud seventh prince has become docile but she says nothing. She drags Sang Ye onto the Bone Boat and casts the spell. The Bone Boat shots out like a sword and surfs on the vast sea.
Sang Ye is totally stunned.
The Bone Boat is extremely swift. It passes by a group of merchant ships occasionally and those fast merchant ships can only see its shadow.
Originally it takes seven days to travel but now they arrive at the land of Ying in less than one day.
Lin Luoran takes shipping lanes into consideration or it will even be faster.
They departed from Tianshui Port in the morning and now arrive in Ying at night. Sang Ye hasn’t even imagined such a thing before. When he was nibbling the pancake at noon, Lin Luoran was having steaming grilled fish. She still added some red oil he had saw in the morning. It smelt really good.
She also got a watermelon out of nowhere and greeted Sang Ye to have it together. He refused.
—Who knew where this watermelon had come from. Sang Ye was very cautious.
Lin Luoran has no comments about it. Under the guidance of Sang Ye, she quietly boards the ship near a port in Ying.
Unlike the flourishing Tianshui Port, this Xinlin Port is big but it looks somewhat in stagnancy. Lin Luoran feels very wired. When they go ashore, all inns make them go away as soon as they know she is a foreigner from her accent. She is like plague for them.
In the end, the owner of a hostel can not bear the temptation of money and arrange a wide bed for them.
Mules of vendors are screaming in the yard. The owner brings them steaming noodle soup.
The hostel is no better than an inn. It is just a place where businessmen pass by and rest. It is a humble abode. Lin Luoran doesn’t need to rest. As an ordinary person, Sang Ye has to sleep and eat. But she thinks it is also fine for him.
Recalling the depression in the city, she asks the shop owner. The middle-aged man is somewhat panicked and tells Lin Luoran that there is an outbreak of plague in Ying. The disease is reaching coastal cities so people in this city are very alert against foreigners.
Both Lin Luoran and Sang Ye are puzzled. Why is the front line battle still so fierce since there is the outbreak of plague?
