Chapter Seventeen Return

  Everything developed in an instant, a large group of otters drank and sank with a loud whoosh.

  Xu Xian helplessly shrugged his shoulders in sympathy for this group of dumpling brothers. The Dragon King of the River encountering the Dragon King of the Underworld could have what kind of dramatic scene, it's not something he can imagine. Perhaps that Dragon King of the River will very viciously stuff the old man's teeth as revenge, also unknown.

  The big boat's sail was finally repaired and moved to the riverbank where Xu Xian stood, taking him aboard. At that time, the situation was urgent and no one noticed when the fisherman disappeared, thinking he had been scared away by seeing a water thief.

  Only Pan Yu kept his eyes on Xu Xian, watching as the fisherman entered the water and then the surface of the water changed, swallowing more than a hundred thieves. He knew in his heart that it was probably one of Xu Xian's friends who had used magic to rescue them from this crisis.

  Xiang Xian got on the boat, and Pan Yu leaned over and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

  "Let's talk about it tonight."

  The people on the boat were all frightened and the failure of that group of robbers was even more bizarre than their arrival. After this scare, they felt as if something terrifying was lurking beneath the calm surface of the river, ready to swallow the boat at any moment. In fact, they weren't wrong. So these frightened birds asked to leave quickly.

  Jin Shengjie was also in the same mood, where there was no allowed fate, the ship worker quickly set sail. Xu Xian's heart was depressed, he hadn't even gone to the East China Sea yet, how could he just leave like that? He couldn't tell the people on the ship that actually, there were no monsters below, only various dragons. But if he said that, this group of people would probably run away even faster.

  They sailed for a whole time and left the Red Cliff far behind. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief, ordering the boat to anchor temporarily.

  Jin Shengjie's complex tone said: "Brother Pan, I didn't expect your martial arts to be so extraordinary. But in my heart, I wonder if this is still human? In every aspect, you have reached a height that ordinary people can't match. Yet, I don't know how much Pan Yu has paid and sacrificed from childhood to adulthood for all of this."

  Pan Yulou didn't say much, just calmly nodded: "When I was young, my body was a bit weak, so I learned a few moves, didn't think there would be a time to use them." A thousand gold cannot buy a fall from the hall, even if she had practiced martial arts, it's impossible for her to fight with others. With just one order, the manpower and resources at her disposal could almost overwhelm any enemy, so how could she have ended up in a situation where she had to resort to physical altercations?

  Jin Shengjie said with a scowl: "That Chu Jianxiong is really hateful, I originally thought he was a talented person and wanted to make friends with him, but unexpectedly he brought a wolf into our midst and almost harmed everyone." Although Chu Jianxiong was someone who had come aboard the ship, Jin Shengjie didn't say anything about it out loud, but it wasn't that he wasn't blaming him.

  Pan Yuxiao said, "He's just a petty thief. By the time we reach the next town, the warrant for his arrest will have been issued. He'll have no place to stand in all of southern China." The south was the foundation of the Pan family, and this sentence was like casting a net over heaven and earth.

  Xu Xian almost sensed the tragic ending of Chu Jianxiong. Although this world's great heroes are powerful, they always fall short in front of adults; it's still easy for adults to capture great heroes.

  Jin Shengjie gritted his teeth and said, "I'm also willing to offer a reward of 10,000 taels. Let's not discuss the matter of human heads as evidence." In this mundane world, combining power and money has always been invincible.

  Pan Yu said: "That's right, Brother Jin. Wasn't there a fire in Hangzhou City during the last Lantern Festival where someone set fires to rob people? I think Chu Jianxiong is involved."

  Jin Shengjie hastily said: "Right right right I think it was Chu Jianxiong who did this."

  Actually, the two of them didn't know if it was Chu Jianxiong's doing or not. Xi Zhen released a statement saying that even immortals have witnessed what it means to frame someone with false charges. If things continue like this until the warrant is issued, Chu Jianxiong will probably be doomed, with boils on his head and pus oozing from the soles of his feet, and he'll be defecating randomly everywhere, incurring the wrath of heaven and the resentment of men.

  Now, with the pen, ink, paper and inkstone ready, Jin Shengjie, who was quite skilled in painting, took up the brush. Before long, a vivid portrait of Chu Jianxiong appeared on the paper. Everyone who saw it couldn't help but curse him with a few abusive words at first sight.

  "Son of a turtle! That scoundrel." Then he praised Jin Shengjie for two sentences, making him embarrassed.

  Then Pan Yu wrote a private letter and put it in an envelope, waiting for the shore to be handed over to the guard by express horse.

  At night, Xu Xian told Pan Yu about the old dragon king's affair, but naturally omitted what happened with Paul.

  Otherwise, Pan Yu was stunned by a sentence. However, just mentioning the identity of the scumbag father made Pan Ya extremely surprised.

  "It's really a dragon. Or it could be the Dragon King of the Yangtze River"

  "Yeah, he's fierce, but I still managed to subdue him. In the end, he insisted on becoming sworn brothers with me, how could I possibly agree?" Xū Xiān said, and then started talking nonsense.

  Pan Yuzhen naturally distinguished between true and false words and laughed: "My family's Han is the most powerful"

  "Sleep, sleep."

  Pan Yu smiled lightly and let you fool around with me.

  The pearl that Long Jun gave was taken out of the quilt, round and transparent, shining like a light bulb. It's not an ordinary thing at first glance. However, after studying it for half a day, Xu Xian couldn't figure out how to use it to increase his cultivation by one grade, so he had to give up.

  But the thing that Long Jun gave was not an ordinary object. This was originally obtained from a shell by the Dragon King when he was young and fought with a Pa Jing for two days and three nights, but the Pa Jing was no match, so it used a magical method to escape, leaving behind this bright pearl, which is not inferior to the inner elixir that can be absorbed and used.

  Long Jun was not as powerful as he is now when he was young, but he had strong physical strength and fierce emotions. In terms of combat power alone, he wasn't much different from his current self. That big drum could fight with him for a day and night, and still be able to run away afterwards, which shows that its cultivation was quite impressive. The bright pearl originally contained the mighty water spirit's power, and it had been carried by Long Jun as a spoil of war for many years, nourished by the water spirit's energy, truly extraordinary.

  However, the old dragon has been the water god of the Yangtze River for many years and has merged with the river's waters. He no longer relies solely on his own power. Anyone who wants to compete with him in this river must weigh their options carefully. But this pearl is useless to the Dragon King now; manipulating the river's waters is just a thought, requiring no tools or instruments.

  Cai Feng hummed a little tune while lying on the bed, bouncing her small white legs.

  "Miss, you're done for."

  Cai Feng was momentarily stunned."

  "Look at you now, still thinking you're the clever and wise Cloud Big Sister, but in fact, you're just a lovesick fool!"

  "You're the one who's infatuated, I just didn't expect Pan Gong to have such a handsome set of skills." Cai Feng muttered to herself, lost in thought.

  "Whatever, I'm done with you."

  Riding the wind and waves, going with the flow, the speed is not comparable to when he came. When he returned to Jinling City again, Chu Jianxiong's portrait was already posted everywhere. As expected by Xu Xian, half of the accumulated difficult cases in Jiangnan over the years fell on his head. This robbery attempt originally would have been punished with just a knife cut at most, but according to the current crime, he must be sentenced to death.

  At this time, there were still not many people who could read, so one person would stand in front of the bulletin board and read it aloud to the crowd, which would then discuss it heatedly.

  "This Chu Jian is really not a good person, even a 70-year-old old lady squatting in the toilet won't be spared."

  "Look at him, so dignified and majestic, who would have thought he's actually such a scoundrel. The poisoning case in Nancun village was also his doing, and that involved over a dozen pigs, all dead."

  "Whatever, whatever"

  A man wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat listened with his whole body trembling, and the corpse suddenly jumped up. If someone lifted the bamboo hat, they would recognize that this was none other than Chu Jianxiong, the current number one evil person in Jiangnan. He was also a top-notch hero in the Jianghu, and from these two failures, he had sniffed out the key to the matter - Xu Xian.

  Although twice Xu Xian sat on one side with his hands clasped together without stretching them out.

  The first time in the alley, Xu Xian caught up with him. Xu Xian was eating wontons at a stall with Shen Gongbao, who was defeated by his own side. The second time, Xu Xian drank with an old man, and then the old man suddenly disappeared, and all of his subordinates sank into the river. It must also be related to something big.

  The mysterious and powerful Chu Jianxiong, who had mastered the art of ghostly painting, was not someone to be trifled with. With his exceptional martial arts skills, he had never feared anyone. After all, once one's internal energy is cultivated to a deep level, it is equivalent to having refined one's essence and transformed one's spirit. Although this step did not involve any specific technique or method, it was impossible for ordinary magic spells to have any effect on him. There was once a Taoist priest who specialized in puppetry and had sent several paper men and wooden soldiers to sneak up on him, but they were all unsuccessful and were instead killed by Chu Jianxiong himself. He didn't take these people who practiced mysterious and obscure techniques very seriously.

  And the Shen Tuo he encountered was a master of martial arts, plus his innate talent and having devoured countless ghosts and monsters, even ordinary ghostly creatures that had cultivated for a hundred years couldn't match his strength. This is how he could completely suppress those so-called masters of the martial world, it's like an extremely hard iron plate. As for the Dragon King of the Great River, there's no need to mention him, in his true form he's like an ancient version of Godzilla or a magic-wielding Godzilla. He's truly a titanium alloy plate. Chu Jian Xiong's strongest counterattack against him was just barely enough to stuff his opponent's teeth, that's all.

  Chu Jianxiong, although he was full of passion and ambition, at this moment felt a bit disheartened and frustrated. Revenge? He did think about assassinating him, which was also the forte of Jianghu figures. But if he were to encounter Xu Xian again, who would take care of his food and drink, having a bowl of wontons or drinking some wine... it was uncertain whether he would be able to resist or not. The first two times were just luck, but if he tried again, he might really lose his life.

  Right then, a hand suddenly grabbed him. Chu Xue's heart was startled and he knew that he had encountered an expert. In just these few days, the people who were chasing him had already changed shifts countless times. Not only were there officials with duties on their minds, but also some friends from the Taoist community who knew that he was in trouble and didn't want to add insult to injury.

  There are those who want to make a name for themselves by being chivalrous and generous, some for the sake of the 10,000 taels of silver from the Jin family, others to offer his head as a gift to curry favor with Master Pan. Anyone with even a slight interest in swords, guns, clubs or sticks has come after Chu Jianxiong.

  Chu Xingyun's aura shook violently, but he couldn't shake off that hand, which was as hard as if it were cast in iron. Xingyun shouted "I'll die before I'm poisoned!" But then a foolish and straightforward voice said: "Don't be alarmed, King Chu."

  Zhu Jianxiong immediately recognized the voice of Shi He Shang. The two walked out of the crowd and Shi He Shang led him to a secluded place. Zhu Jianxiong asked, "How did you know I was here?"

  Shi Weng said: "It was guessed by the military advisor."

  Chu Jian's heart skipped a beat. That eccentric scholar had only been with him for a short time, yet he was able to figure out his mind. What a clever person!

  "Then he asked: 'Where are we going?'"

  Shi Weng only took big strides forward and would know when he got there."

  He arrived at a Taoist temple in the suburbs, where Chu Jianxiong had been hiding with a broken pot and a broken heart. He didn't care if there were any ambushes and followed the monk into the temple. However, he only saw two people inside, no ambush, so he let out a sigh of relief.

  "Chu Jianxiong said a word 'Military Advisor'" The next words couldn't be spoken and only turned into a long sigh.

  But then he heard a fellow scholar of the same ghostly realm sitting opposite that Taoist priest exclaim in surprise: "Your Excellency is also a man with a noble aura, how did you end up in such a predicament?"

  Chu Jianxiong was shocked and asked: "Master Dao, why did you say this?"

  The Taoist said: "I understand some of the methods of divination. Although the dragon and tiger are coiled on top of your head, you can't get the wind and clouds to form a great trend."

  The theory of qi and destiny is indeed mysterious and obscure. However, there is a principle that when the time comes, heaven and earth will work together to make things happen, and heroes cannot escape their fate. This is also reasonable.

  Chu Ge looked at Xiong with a slanted eye and the military advisor hastily said, "This is to lower our profile. We should temporarily avoid this place for a few days before making further plans."

  Chu Jianxiong then recounted the various things that had been said recently. The Taoist listened and sighed, saying: "I don't know what kind of person Xu Xian is, but if he can make you suffer defeat after defeat, he must be a high-ranking master of the Mystic School. It's better to hold back your edge for now."

  Several people were kneeling on a tatami mat. Chu Jianxiong slapped the floor beside him, shattering it, and said: "Is there no chance for revenge?"

  The military advisor also hastily bowed: "Please instruct"

  That man sighed and said: "If you have great power, it doesn't matter if you are a fairy or a real immortal, you can't easily move him. Why worry about just one Xian?"

  Chu Jianxiong wanted to ask further but saw the Taoist priest waving his hand and saying, "The heavenly secret cannot be revealed. The two of you should rest here for now and wait till tomorrow."

  At this time, Shi and Shang joined their hands together and said: "Now that the sentiment is complete, I want to leave." He was supposed to board a small boat in Japan, but his heart moved and he stayed by the side of the military advisor on the high ground by the river, watching with his own eyes the strange phenomenon on the surface of the river. Although standing aside, it was also frightening. He knew that if he were also on those boats, there would only be one way to go.

  And with his extraordinary internal force, he vaguely saw from top to bottom that the river seemed to be a long black shadow that twisted and disappeared. The military strategist standing beside him didn't understand martial arts and definitely hadn't seen it. But for some reason, he also didn't mention what he had seen to anyone.

  "Where are you going, Monk Shi?" Chu Jian asked sternly. "If someone were to betray themselves and be surrounded by a large army, it would truly be a case of having no way out in heaven or on earth."

  Dozens of bows and crossbows were set up, no matter how excellent your martial arts skills are, you would definitely be unable to withstand them.

  Shi Weng simply said: "I want to go back to the temple and take a look" Unknowingly, he thought of something and the fierce and sinister air on his face actually faded a bit.

  Chu Jianxiong knew his roots and frowned: "Can you still go back?"

  Shi Weng said with certainty: "I want to try and see if I can get it" The sound of the bell from Lingyin Temple had been echoing in his ears for days. He was suddenly tired of the wind and rain that he had long been accustomed to on his Jianghu journey.

  The military advisor gave Chu Xiong a look. Chu Xiong pretended not to notice and said, "You can go now. I hope there's still a chance for us brothers in the future."

  Shi Weng again expressed his gratitude and slowly backed out of the door. Only after he had exited the gate did he finally relax his tense breath, turn around, and walk away with large strides.

  The military advisor frowned and said: "Why didn't you just now."

  Chu Jianxiong said, "He can speak frankly and leave, which already shows his intention. How can brothers who have been through thick and thin suspect each other a little and fight?" But in his heart, he thought: You don't know martial arts, you don't know what state he was in just now, if we were to engage in a fierce battle, it would be impossible to kill him, that would be a huge trouble.

  The Taoist sat on one side with a faint smile, seemingly unaware and yet somehow enlightened.

  Xu Xian's face lit up as he took over a yellow bamboo tube, opened the tube cap and pulled out a black long tube. It turned out to be a Wumu long tube. He opened the tube cap again, fortunately, there were no more tubes inside, but instead, there were two transparent crystal chips.

  This ebony is the body of the telescope. Xian took it up and looked far away, and indeed, the view was as clear as if it were near. The excitement in Xian's heart need not be said. After crossing so many years, we have also created high-tech products.

  Jin Wancheng smiled and said: "Young Master, are you satisfied with this Thousand Mile Mirror?"

  "Very good, very good!" said Xu Xian in succession. The magnification of this telescope should be enough. The tube body is also finely carved and obviously made by a skilled craftsman. It can produce such an item in such a short period of time, and such an item was only theoretical not long ago. The human, material, and financial resources spent on it are by no means ordinary.

  If let Xu Xian do it himself, it may take a year and a half to take shape.

  Jin Wancheng took out another brocade box from his bosom and gently placed it on the table. This time, he relied entirely on his clever nephew's idea to repay the kindness of my Jin family. The old man did not dare to forget that this time, preparing to go out to sea, was actually exhausting all the family's wealth, and for a while, he couldn't take out much as a thank-you gift.

  Xu Xian waved his hand and said, "Let's talk about it when you're in a better mood." Unbeknownst to him, Pan Yu was secretly scolding him for being unable to think ahead, but seeing that he had already agreed, she couldn't stop him...

  Jin Wancheng was overjoyed and said, "This time we went to sea and got the Thousand Mile Mirror, which added a few more points of certainty. Why don't you, my virtuous nephew, contribute some capital and share in the profits? We can divide it by the cartload or by the peck."

  Xu Xian heard that it made sense and was about to respond when he suddenly felt a pain in his waist.

  Pan Yu took over the conversation and said, "That makes sense. Uncle Jin didn't say it, but I also had this intention. However, we need to carefully discuss how to implement it." He then led Jin Wan Cheng to the outer room.

  Jin Wancheng secretly thought that this virtuous nephew was difficult to deal with, but could only smile and follow Pan Yu out to talk.

  Xu Xian looked up at the sky and said, "Ming Yu, I'm going out." He hastily exited the door, hired a carriage, and arrived at Shitou Mountain outside Jinling City. It was just dusk. The weather was pleasant, with a gentle breeze and warmth, making it perfect for stargazing. At this historic moment, the great ancient scientist Xu Xian proudly held up his telescope and gazed westward, eyes wide with wonder.

  Where is Mercury?

  As a new era university student who has received four years of compulsory education and university education, he suddenly found that he originally did not know the position of Mercury. He only knew that it was the planet closest to the sun and also the second star he wanted to light up.