Chapter 330: The Realm-Crossing Ferry

Once the “Fortune” character paper had been stuck on, it couldn’t be peeled off no matter how hard they tried. Liang Pingle stepped back a few paces to observe, and found it was perfectly aligned and straight. He couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder.

“Dad, Mom, Brother-in-law, all of you, come take a look! This ‘Fortune’ character pasted itself onto the door; it won’t even peel off! ”

This naturally drew family’s curiosity. Zhang Fu, his wife, his children, and the Liang family members all walked to the doorway one after another, looking at the perfectly affixed “Fortune” character.

As everyone was wondering at the events, they stared intently at the “Fortune” character, and suddenly saw a subtle stream of light flash and vanish.

“Hey! Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Uncle, this character is glowing! It must be a treasure! ”

The child’s voice rang out, making those nearby suddenly realize something.

“Yes, I think I saw it too! ”

“So, I wasn’t seeing things?”

“This… this couldn’t be a treasure, could it? ”

Liang Chunlan quickly turned to her husband, Zhang Fu, and asked.

“Husband, back home, did our ‘Fortune’ character also stick to the door by itself when you pasted it? ”

“I don’t know. I just brushed on paste and then stuck it up, but it was also neatly and beautifully aligned. Weren’t we in a hurry to get here? We didn’t look closely…”

Liang Pingle excitedly spoke from the side.

“Hey, Brother-in-law, it must be the same back at your house! Both of these characters were written by Mr. Ji, and he gave us those instructions. These characters might be treasures! I’ve heard that for some scholars of profound virtue and talent, their brush strokes are almost divine; a single essay can be a supreme treasure. These two characters must be the same! ”

Old Liang immediately spoke upon hearing this.

“Oh dear, if these characters are pasted on the door, won’t they be ruined by the elements and sun exposure? What a pity! What if they get damaged? Wouldn’t it be better to have them framed? ”

“That’s right! But we can’t peel it off! ”

“Why peel them off? These are New Year’s ‘Fortune’ characters. Mr. Ji said to paste them up, so just leave them there. ”

“Right, right! Don’t put the cart before the horse!”

Regardless, everyone was in high spirits. The ‘Fortune’ character on the door looked more pleasing the more they looked at it. Even after going back inside to chat, they would occasionally come out to steal a glance.

…

As for the author of that “Fortune” calligraphy, he was currently on the back of a whale, heading towards the boundless open sea. The land had long vanished from sight behind him.

Ji Yuan gazed at the vast, endless ocean in the distance. Even though the world in his eyes was still a blur, that feeling of immense uninterrupted enormity felt as if he were treading on clouds, soaring into the highest heavens.

‘Since I’m here, I’ll make the best of it! ’

With this thought, Ji Yuan no longer held any reservations in his heart. Instead, he grew a little interested. He had originally come out to travel and see the world. Although his plan was to first explore the Eastern Cloud Continent, now that he was heading overseas, even though the journey was exceptionally far, it was still a chance to broaden his horizons.

“General Giant Whale, you have always referred to yourself as such, but I still don’t know your name.”

“Hehe, Mister Ji, you didn’t know? My name is General Giant Whale! If there’s ever a need to state my name and surname, you can also just call me Giant Whale. I wonder if the surname ‘Giant’ already exists? ? If not, then I’ll be the very first!”

This giant whale was clearly quite optimistic. His mood was clearly excellent after having met Ji Yuan and Ying Ruoli, and he spoke rapidly.

Ji Yuan smiled and said nothing more.

“The vast Eastern Sea continues without any known end, and crossing continents and realms no easy feat. Mr. Ji, Lady Ruoli, if you don’t mind, you can come inside my belly. It’s quite spacious in there.”

General Giant Whale swam swiftly amidst the rolling waves, loudly voicing his concerns to the two on his back. His bulk was more than a dozen times that of ordinary whales; even if his belly didn’t contain a universe of dimensional spacewithin, it definitely had ample room. However, neither Ji Yuan nor Ying Ruoli were inclined to do so.

Ji Yuan said nothing. Ying Ruoli merely replied softly:

“Just keep swimming. You don’t need to worry about us. ”

Ji Yuan shook his head. With a flick of his sleeve, a dark wooden desk flew out, followed by the Four Treasures of the Study—brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. The wolf-hair brush, which occasionally flickered with a subtle divine light, was conspicuous among them.

“This scene, this setting, is rather like ‘A Dream of Wandering in the Clouds.’ River Goddess, please make yourself comfortable. I will just will just do some calligraphy. ”

Ji Yuan spread out a sheet of paper and held it down with a paperweight. Ying Ruoli naturally walked over to his side, extended a slender finger, and tapped the inkstone. After gathering a wisp of fine stream, with one hand she pulled back her long, flowing sleeve, and with the other, she picked up the ink stick from the side and slowly began to grind the ink.

“Uncle Ji, once we leave the Eastern Sea, was will be thousands of li from the Tongtian River. If you keep calling me River Goddess, others might easily overthink and perhaps cause some trouble. Just call me Ruoli! ”

The Dragon Daughter’s words were indeed reasonable. Although Ji Yuan had always been accustomed to using honorifics, his relationship with the Old Dragon’s family was quite close, so it wasn’t a problem.

However, it wasn’t necessary to try calling her that right now. Ji Yuan simply said, “That makes sense,” then picked up the wolf-hair brush, ready to dip it in ink.

The Dragon Daughter smiled faintly, moved the ink stick away, and watched as Ji Yuan dipped his brush in the inkstone, picking up some freshly ground ink, then lifted his brush to write on the paper.

What he began to write was precisely “A Dream of Wandering in the Clouds.” However, this time, it was neither the ordinary text he had copied for the Wei family, nor the original book’s intrinsic meaning, rather, it incorporated Ji Yuan’s own insights.

Ink instantly dried upon touching the paper, before vanishing, clearly indicating that this was Heavenly Script.

Ji Yuan had never formally learned how to write in Heavenly Script, but with an immortal artifact by his side and a mental connection with it, his comprehension of Heavenly Script had naturally deepened over time, removing the need for any special study.

This time, Ji Yuan wrote very, very slowly. Although no strange phenomena arose, the Dragon Daughter beside him watched intently.

…

It was already the end of the twelfth lunar month. On the eve of Chinese New Year, Ji Yuan was still slightly bent over the desk, writing slowly. Whenever the ink ran out, the Dragon Daughter would immediately grind more ink.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”

“Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”

Thunderstorms raged in the sky, gales swept through the surrounding waters. The waves on the ocean surface churned violently, but neither wind nor rain reached Ji Yuan’s desk.

“Boom, rumble, rumble. . . ”

“Whoosh! Crash! Crash! Crash!”

The storm poured down. Ji Yuan had reached the final few characters of his version of “A Dream of Wandering in the Clouds.”

As the last brushstroke fell, Ji Yuan looked up at the sky. Lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and the wind howled.

“Tonight is New Year’s Eve, which is somewhat connected to my cultivation. ”

The Dragon Daughter was absorbed in reading the text on the desk. Hearing Ji Yuan’s words, she also looked up at the sky.

“Uncle Ji, do you want me to disperse these thunderclouds in the sky? ”

As a water goddess and a member of a lineage of dragons, this wouldn’t be difficult for her.

“No rush. Such a violent thunderstorm out here at sea is quite rare. ”

Ji Yuan raised his hand and waved it towards the sky. A golden light shot out from within his sleeve. As soon as it appeared, faint thunder rumbled, then it abruptly disappeared into the clouds.

Whoosh

!

Golden lightning unfolded across the sky, transforming into four large characters, each entwined with electricity: “Exorcise and Bind Evil.”

Ying Ruoli had heard her brother mention this before, though in truth it was Gao Tianming of Tianshui Lake who had spoken of this matter to her brother, which then reached her and her father’s ears.

Now, looking at the sky, she immediately understood what it was.

‘Uncle Ji’s Edict Lightning Talisman! ’

As responding to the Dragon Daughter’s thoughts, the lightning and thunder of the storm intensified the moment the lightning talisman unfolded in the sky.

“Crack… rumble, rumble, rumble…”

“Boom! Rumble, rumble…”

“Crack… boom…”

Bolts of lightning struck the lightning talisman one after another, faster and faster, in increasing number.

The sky and sea beneath the clouds was illuminated by dense flashes of lightning, as if countless cameras were continuously flashing away. After half an hour, the great thunderstorm that had previously covered the horizon had significantly weakened.

With a wave of his hand, the lightning talisman returned, seemingly unchanged, to Ji Yuan’s grasp.

This was Ji Yuan’s proudest achievement regarding this lightning talisman. After achieving the Five Elements Returning to Origin state, Ji Yuan had gained new insights into this technique. Just as it had absorbed the dissipated water essence and lightning from Mo Rong back then, the thunder talisman could now also draw in thunder and lightning.

The prerequisite was that the scale of the thunderstorm had to be large enough. If it were an ordinary thunderstorm, the lightning absorbed might not even compensate for the energy expended when the lightning talisman was activated.

“Uncle Ji, shall I disperse these rain clouds now? ”

“I would be much obliged!”

The Dragon Girl smiled and directly leapt up into the air, transforming into a gigantic flood dragon. Aside from the red light emanating from her own body, there were also multicolored divine lights swirling around her. She gracefully ascended to the sky, directly vanishing into the clouds.

“Roar—”

The dragon’s roar echoed through the clouds. An enormous dragon tail could faintly be seen sweeping through the clouds, pulling them into shape along the dragon tail.

“Roooo…. Roooo…”

The clouds in the sky resembled a basin of calm water that had been haphazardly stirred, creating a peculiar turbulent sensation.

Before long, the heavy rain had stopped. Then the clouds gradually dispersed, revealing the starry sky behind them.

Ying Ruoli circled once in the sky. The thunderstorm clouds had dispersed, but she did not immediately descend. Instead, she gazed towards the distant horizon. There, a flying ship was sailing through the sky. Judging by its size, it measured about half a li from bow to stern.

Ji Yuan’s gaze also fell upon the distant flying vessel. He hadn’t even sensed such a ship before, as it had been blocked by the thunderstorm earlier. Judging by its shape and the faint aura of spiritual energy emanating from it, he couldn’t help but murmur:

“This must be some kind of realm-crossing ferry. ”

Meanwhile, the realm-crossing ferry sensed a sudden decrease in the power of the lightning within the storm clouds below them, and suspected that something unusual might have occurred. Then they saw a flood dragon churning and swimming among the clouds, briefly dispersing the storm.

Realm-crossing ferries were naturally a means of long-distance travel created by cultivators, but their passengers were not necessarily all cultivators or even accomplished practitioners. On top of those with shallow cultivation, there might even be many mortals.

At this moment, some people by the ship’s gunrail suddenly caught sight of the flood dragon in front of them, and immediately started shouting in excitement.

“A dragon! There’s a dragon! Come quick and see, it’s a huge dragon! ”

“Where is it? ”

“There, there! ”

“Come and see. . . go, quickly call Senior Brother to come take a look too! ”

“Oh my goodness, dragons are so large! Is this a flood dragon or a true dragon? ”

More and more people gathered by the ship’s railing. They were people of all ages, some calm and some excited. Soon, a True Immortal cultivator from the realm-crossing ferry stepped forward, loudly reprimanding them.

“Everyone quiet down! Do not offend the flood dragon in the sea! ”

Another True Immortal also appeared beside the cultivator with the tall hairpin crown, as if their body had teleported.

“Senior Brother, this flood dragon has no horns and is covered in rainbow light. This must be a legendary hornless flood dragon, I presume? ”

“No doubt about it. This type of flood dragon is generally rarely malicious. As long as we don’t offend it, there should be no problems! ”

After a brief discussion, they saw the flood dragon turn its gaze towards them. The two dared not be negligent, and bowed together with cupped hands as a gesture of greeting and respect.

Ying Ruoli glanced indifferently at the distant flying ship, then descended from the sky, transforming back into human form and landing on the whale’s back.

Only at this moment did the cultivators with exceptional eyesight on the flying ship notice the giant whale in the ocean. A desk had been set up on its back, and beside the flood dragon, who had just descended and transformed into a woman in flowing robes and tassels, sat another person with their back to the sky, looking towards the flying ship. He held a brush in his hand behind his back, clearly indicating that this person had been writing on the desk in front of him.