Chapter 97: Carving a Boat to Seek What Again

Lanting had once been accustomed to passing the nights in meditative stillness rather than sleep, but ever since joining the barbecue shop, she had happily cultivated the habit of a proper evening slumber.

When the four of them awoke, they felt a profound sense of ease and a complete renewal of spirit, a comfort due in no small part to the protective formation Lanting had quietly arranged.

"Come on, let's get moving! Out to play! I haven't had half my fill of fun yet!" Meng Jingzhou, overflowing with vitality, roused Lu Yang from his bed as though he were herding a stubborn swine.

Lu Yang delivered a swift kick to Meng Jingzhou before reluctantly sliding out from under the covers.

Mangu had departed for the vegetable market long before dawn; he was always the earliest to rise.

He had prepared a massive pot of flour drop soup, beating four eggs into the broth and adding a few drops of fragrant sesame oil, sending a rich aroma drifting through the main hall.

Lu Yang, partial to a sharp tang, added a small spoonful of vinegar to his own bowl, and once the four had wiped their bowls clean, they stepped out into the world, thoroughly refreshed.

Though the four companions set out early, the streets were already teeming with a grand multitude of festive sightseers, and Lu Yang had heard that the inns were entirely booked, forcing many to seek lodging in private homes.

Joyous smiles graced every face, and children leapt and bounded about with windmills in hand, their faces adorned with tofu masks identical to Lu Yang's, while parents clutched their little hands for fear they might be swept away in the throng.

"This place is every bit as boisterous as a temple fair."

"Have you heard? Someone brought a monstrous beast all the way from the southern lands—it is right by the river, hurry, let us go see!" an excited voice called out to a companion.

His curiosity instantly piqued, Meng Jingzhou refused to be left out and hurried the other three toward the riverbank to witness this colossal creature.

The four arrived at the familiar great stone bridge, though this time they stood atop it, its railings adorned with countless small festive flags.

Upon sighting the beast, Meng Jingzhou's face fell with slight disappointment: "And here I thought it was something grand; it is nothing but an elephant."

The banks of the Yinlong River had always been the primary gathering place for revelers each year, and now, with someone flaunting an elephant brought from the south, the crowd of curious onlookers had grown even denser.

Lu Yang, needless to say, had certainly seen elephants before; Meng Jingzhou and Lanting hailed from prestigious clans and had grown up seeing far stranger oddities than Lu Yang had ever heard of; while Mangu, raised in the wild wastes, had even hunted them.

Yet ordinary folk possessed no such worldly experience and found themselves utterly captivated by a creature of such massive proportions.

"Is this a demon beast?" a tourist marveled. "To grow so large, and with such a long nose and tusks?"

The elephant's master was a cultivator of the Foundation Establishment stage, and he explained, "It is indeed a demon beast, though its cultivation realm is difficult to gauge—roughly around the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. However, its sheer size has nothing to do with its cultivation; creatures of this kind are called elephants, and they all grow this large upon reaching maturity."

Another tourist pressed further, "How much does a creature of such immense size actually weigh?"

The elephant's master broke into a helpless laugh; who could possibly know, when no scale existed that was large enough to weigh it?

Another bystander offered a suggestion: "The river is right beside us. You could place the elephant upon a large boat and mark the hull where it meets the water's surface. Then, lead the beast off and fill the boat with rocks until it sinks back to that exact mark. Weighing those rocks would tell you the weight of the elephant."

Curious to know the weight of his own spiritual pet, the master readily agreed.

At his command, the elephant was driven onto the vessel, but the beast was so heavy that the boat could not bear it in the shallow waters, prompting the master to row out to the middle of the river, where he drew a small knife and carved a notch exactly at the waterline.

Just as the master prepared to row back, the elephant happened to lift its gaze and caught sight of Mangu, whereupon it was instantly seized by terror.

Demon beasts were acutely sensitive to a warrior's aura; the ancient barbarian tribes had hunted elephants across the wilderness for generations, and that fierce, murderous instinct flowed in Mangu's very blood. Though the elephant understood none of this consciously, the mere sight of him struck a chill deep into its marrow—a submission born of ancestral dread.

In a panic, the elephant thrashed, plunged into the water with a tremendous splash, and sank straight to the riverbed.

The crowd on the shore gasped, shouting for the master to rescue his beast, but to everyone's surprise, the master unhurriedly carved another notch on the boat at the precise spot where the elephant had fallen in, declaring, "This is where the elephant went under."

The onlookers were baffled, and the master offered no explanation until they neared the shore, where he pointed to the notch and said, "My elephant fell in right here, so it must still be right beneath this spot!"

The crowd burst into laughter, assuming it to be a jest, when suddenly the river's surface churned into a violent whirlpool, and the elephant actually flew up from beneath the marked spot, flapping its two enormous ears.

It was a native specialty of the southern continent: the Great Flying Elephant.

Witnessing this spectacle, Mangu furrowed his brow in deep thought, then suddenly struck his palm in enlightenment: "I remember now! We learned this idiom in class—it is called 'carving the boat to find the elephant'!"

He now felt a profound, firsthand understanding of the phrase.

Lu Yang: "..."

What on earth were they teaching you in that classroom?

Meng Jingzhou laughed, "I still remember when we found that first Reverse Longevity Talisman right beneath this bridge. I was truly shocked back then to learn such a dreadful thing even existed. Thank goodness we reported that villain."

Lu Yang was about to join in the jest, but his eyes fell upon the small flags before him. His smile vanished instantly; as if struck by a sudden realization, he yanked a flag from its mount, frowning deeply as he held it up to examine it against the sunlight.

When Lu Yang saw the hidden details of the flag illuminated by the sun, a cold dread gripped his heart.

"What is it?" Meng Jingzhou noticed the sudden shift in Lu Yang's demeanor, realizing something was amiss when his friend failed to offer a witty retort.

With a solemn countenance, Lu Yang pointed to the faint, translucent pattern on the flag: "Look at this design. What does it look like to you?"

"The Reverse Longevity Talisman?!" Lanting was the first to react, her familiarity with the pattern far exceeding the rest.

Meng Jingzhou’s eyes widened; the imprint on the flag was incredibly faint, utterly invisible unless held directly against the light. Even if someone managed to glimpse it, they would merely mistake it for a decorative feature of the Herb Harvesting Festival. How many common folk could possibly recognize the pattern of a Reverse Longevity Talisman?

"Do not lose your composure; it is entirely possible the Reverse Longevity Array has not yet been completed!" Meng Jingzhou tried to reason himself out of panic.

Lu Yang analyzed the situation with cold precision: "Impossible. Do not forget, this is not a matter of one or two flags—the entire Yanjiang Prefecture is covered in them!"

Small flags bearing the hidden Reverse Longevity Talisman were concealed amongst ordinary festival decorations; who could have possibly suspected it?

Lu Yang continued, "In other words, the Reverse Longevity Array is already complete. It has been laid out in plain sight before everyone's eyes, yet not a single soul noticed!"

"Then why hasn't the array been activated?" Meng Jingzhou recalled the conditions required for its invocation. Aside from arranging the Reverse Longevity Talismans into a formation, it required a blood sacrifice.

For someone daring enough to cast such an array, slaughtering a few people would be an effortless task; what was he waiting for?

Lu Yang's voice turned icy: "He is waiting for more people. The crowds for the Herb Harvesting Festival are not yet large enough, and an endless stream of travelers is still pouring into Yanjiang Prefecture!"

The Reverse Longevity Array plundered the lifespans of mortals to convert them into cultivation power for the caster; the more mortals snared within, the greater the advancement in strength!

Meng Jingzhou likewise remembered: "According to tradition, on the night of the second day of the festival, the people gather in the streets to sing, crowding the riverbanks to feast and hold grand singing competitions!"

And today was the second day of the Herb Harvesting Festival.