Before departure, Emperor Eritus Qin Kaige, accompanied by the pregnant Empress, ca to see them off, which surprised Su Pan’er, since she hadn’t inford anyone about their departure.
The big ship set sail, heading towards an unknown journey.
Su Pan’er sighed in relief.
"These past few days, my brows have been furrowed with worry, feeling like sothing big was about to happen. Now that we’ve successfully set sail, I finally take a deep breath of relief!"
"Don’t even ntion it, the sudden appearance of Ah Mann also gave a real scare!"
Qin Yi took Su Pan’er’s hand, his wise eyes fixed solely on her: "Pan’er, once your dream has been fulfilled on this trip, let’s return to the Valley of Ghosts. I really like that place and have already ordered for its repairs. By the ti we return, the scenery will surely transform into sothing exceptionally beautiful. In the future, we can practice swordsmanship, play music, and go hunting in the mountains together, always side by side. What do you say?"
Su Pan’er glared at him with feigned annoyance, and reprimanded with a soft shout.
"You’ve already said everything, what else do you expect to say?"
Qin Yi couldn’t stop laughing.
Just as they were celebrating, a sudden rush of footsteps ca from the deck.
A guard ca to report: "Report! Emperor Eritus, Grand Empress Dowager, we have discovered sothing in the cabin area..."
Qin Yi and Su Pan’er were both shocked, springing to their feet.
They hurried to the cabin, and upon seeing the situation inside, were both stunned.
Who could it be in the cabin, dressed in a Taoist priest robe, if not Taoist Priest Liao Chen?
Behind him, a pig’s head was peeking out cautiously.
As soon as it saw them enter, it quickly retracted its head, leaving only its tiny pigtail swinging left and right behind it.
Su Pan’er tried to suppress her laughter yet couldn’t help feeling exasperated.
"How co you are here?"
Taoist Priest Liao Chen’s lips moved as if to speak, but no one answered.
Su Pan’er slowly walked behind Liao Chen, fixing her gaze on the rascal pig that was covering its small piggy eyes, clearly attempting to ’bury its head in the sand.’
"Speak!"
Su Pan’er was both amused and annoyed, deliberately scowling and demanding an answer.
"Hehehe, good Pan’er, I... I... wasn’t it just... I an..."
Seeing there was no escape, the rascal pig slowly removed its hooves from its eyes, all smiles: "I... the grandpig just wanted to have fun at sea, so I followed you here! Stinky Daoist, right?" It nudged Liao Chen with its pigtail.
Liao Chen’s eyebrows twitched slightly, continuing to chant sutras without saying a word.
"Very well! You despicable rascal pig, are you lying again? You’re asking for a beating!"
Su Pan’er, furious, went forward to grab the rascal pig by its chubby cheeks.
But the rascal pig deftly dodged.
Loud wailing soon followed: "Disaster strike, soone’s going to slaughter a pig! Help, help..."
The ship journeyed farther into the vast sea.
As the ship rocked on the ocean, surrounded by endless water, fierce winds and great waves, rocks and shoals, and sea monsters lurking everywhere, the party brushed close to death ti after ti. From the initial excitent, to when everyone no longer had the energy to play, even the once playful rascal pig was nowhere to be seen.
Ti passed unmarked at sea, and Su Pan’er, lying in Qin Yi’s embrace, watched the sunrise slowly ascend from the horizon, contentedly biting into an apple he held to her lips, her smile extraordinarily radiant.
"How wonderful it would be to have a day like this every year!"
"It will be, for sure!"
Qin Yi promised with all seriousness.
One of the elite guards rushed up, looking extrely anxious: "Bad news, sothing’s happened below deck!"
Inside the cabin, a pig was coiled up in rest.
Surrounding its body, a faint halo was gradually spreading from where it lay, growing brighter and more intense until it nearly blinded everyone inside the cabin!
When Su Pan’er and Qin Yi entered, this was the scene they witnessed.
"All of you, go up to the deck. Without my command, no one is allowed to co down!"
Su Pan’er frowned and waved everyone away.
Seeing that Qin Yi was still by her side and about to speak, he was stopped by her.
"Pan’er, I will always be by your side!"
The transformation of the rascal pig had not ceased, its body growing larger by the mont. In just half an hour, its body had grown so large it reached the top of the cabin.
Not only that, its shape was changing drastically too, an image of an Azure Dragon enveloped it entirely.
Outside the cabin, influenced by the rascal pig, endless currents of air were stirred, causing nurous whirlwinds around the ship, making it rock and sway, teetering on the brink of danger.
The people on the deck were panicking!
Hasty footsteps and screams echoed; everyone was in chaos, desperately seeking a way to escape.
Su Pan’er was already stunned by everything happening with the rascal pig!
She instinctively clutched Qin Yi’s hand tightly, staring at the pig’s shadow amid the vortex, reluctant to even blink.
"Every drink and morsel is predestined by Divine Will. This day has finally arrived! Imasurable Longevity Lord."
A salutation echoed.
Taoist Priest Liao Chen appeared slowly from the staircase, holding a sacred whisk, a strange smile on his lips as he watched the transforming rascal pig, his eyes gleaming brightly.
Suddenly, he erupted into loud laughter!
His eerie laughter echoed through the cabin, so piercing that the people around couldn’t help covering their ears, unable to bear it.
"I have waited for this day, for so very long, so long that I almost gave up. Fortunately, today it has finally co! My fortune has arrived, ha-ha-ha...!"
Qin Yi and Su Pan’er exchanged a glance, holding each other’s hands tightly.
"Liao Chen, what exactly is going on right now?"
Qin Yi demanded sternly.
Liao Chen seed to have had his fill of laughter and looked at him with a look of pity in his eyes.
"What’s going on? You should be asking the woman beside you! You, a lonely soul from a Different World, Su Pan’er, isn’t it true what I say?"
Qin Yi turned back to look at Su Pan’er in surprise.
Yet Su Pan’er was looking calmly at Liao Chen.
"Originally, Monk Liao Jue was calculated by you, wasn’t he? Although he had also sensed this truth, he didn’t understand the cause and effect of the matter. Thinking it over, the only person capable of masterminding all this and putting it into action, could only be you!"
Liao Jue could deduce her origins, but he didn’t have the capability to do this.
Only Liao Chen!
Liao Chen laughed incessantly: "You’re correct! That Old Bald Donkey Liao Jue, always plotting against Poor Daoist, yet he doesn’t realize that he is but a chess piece in Poor Daoist’s hands too! Do you know what this scene ans?" He pointed at the rascal pig.
"What is it?"
Su Pan’er asked in a deep voice.
"Let Poor Daoist tell you! This is an opportunity, this is the mont Poor Daoist has been waiting for for hundreds of years. Poor Daoist can follow this mont and reach that free and divine realm he yearns for. From then on, to live a life of happiness and fulfillnt..."
Liao Chen’s speech grew more triumphant, his face alight with open-hearted laughter.
"So, for many years, you’ve been scheming, even willing to take advantage of Great Zhou’s Imperial Family, even risking the entire Valley of Ghosts, just to satisfy your own selfish desires?"
Su Pan’er’s face was grave as she asked calmly.
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