Pawn Crossing the River

Early the next morning, the owner of the house told Qi Xuansu that Qiniang had left.

Qi Xuansu was not surprised. Qiniang had always been elusive, coming and going without a trace. After having breakfast, he also left this contact point and prepared to go to the Taoist ancestral court.

The Taomen Ancestral Court is located in West Kunlun.

Kunlun is the ancestor of all mountains and the origin of dragon veins in the world. It is located at the end of the Western Region to the west of Liangzhou, tens of thousands of miles away from Huainan Mansion where Qi Xuansu is currently located.

A round trip from the Central Plains to Kunlun would take at least several months, which was extremely inconvenient. Moreover, the journey was full of desolation, with people sleeping in the open air. Many Taoist disciples regarded returning to the ancestral court to report on their duties as a first-class chore.

Daomen felt this and added flying boats in various places.

The so-called flying boat, as the name suggests, is a large ship that can travel on the sea of ​​clouds. Its manufacturing process is very complicated. It is said that the skeleton of the dragon is used as the keel of the ship, and the dragon's dragon beads are used as the driving force, supplemented by various talisman formations. This caused the big ship to leave the ground and fly in the sky like a dragon, so the flying boat was also named dragon boat.

With the flying boat, it only takes a day and a night to travel from various places to Kunlun.

For this reason, Daomen hunted dragons on a large scale, causing dragons in coastal waters, rivers and lakes to flee to remote seas that were inhabited by people, and it is now difficult to see them.

Currently, the Dao Sect has a total of twenty flying boats, and each flying boat can carry a hundred people. Due to the restrictions on the number of flights and the number of people, non-Dao Sect disciples are not allowed to ride the flying boats. Even the Dao Sect disciples cannot ride the flying boats for free.

Dragons love water, and dragon balls need to absorb water vapor to replenish their own consumption. If it is on a sea with rich water vapor, the airship will seem to be traveling with the wind and consume very little. If it is on an arid land with thin water vapor, the airship will seem to be traveling against the wind and consume very little. big. Kunlun is located in the northwest inland, and the water vapor is scarce. In order to ensure that the airship can reach Kunlun smoothly, "Xuanhuang" must be used to replenish the water vapor in the dragon ball.

The so-called "Xuanhuang", "Jiuding Shendan Jingjue" says: "Take ten kilograms of mercury and twenty kilograms of lead, put them in the alchemy cauldron, put them under a strong fire, the lead and mercury will spit out their essence, and they will be purple, and take them with an iron spoon. Take it and call it Xuanhuang.”

"Xuanhuang" belongs to gold, and metal generates water, so it becomes the "tonic" of the dragon ball and the fuel of the flying boat.

The Taoist Sect has a Xuanhuang Division that specializes in refining "Xuanhuang" to maintain the operation of flying boats. Many Taoist people are engaged in this kind of business. Each person's monthly salary is three yuan of Taiping money, which is thirty-six yuan of Taiping money a year. According to a family of three, one person Calculating the annual expenditure of ten yuan in peace money, he can not only support his wife and children, but also have a surplus of more than twenty yuan, which can be said to be extremely generous.

There are more than 1,000 Taoist people in Xuanhuang Division, and the annual labor expenditure alone is nearly 40,000 Taiping money.

The price of raw materials is not cheap. Not counting the consumption of lead and coal and kerosene, one yuan of peace money can buy six kilograms of mercury, and twenty kilograms of mercury can be used to refine one or two "Xuanhuang". A round trip by flying boat costs about one thousand. Eight hundred pounds of "Xuanhuang".

Because of this, the price of riding a flying boat is quite high, costing 100 Taiping per person one way. Unless you are on official business and have relevant certificates, you can ride for free.

Qi Xuansu has no errands. If he wants to take the flying boat, he must spend 100 Taiping coins to buy a boat ticket. If he is reluctant or is short of money, he can only rush to Kunlun by land, which may not be available before August 15th. Arrived promptly.

After much deliberation, Qi Xuansu reluctantly decided to take a flying boat to the Kunlun Ancestral Court.

Furthermore, flying boats are not available all the time. Only on the first and fifteenth day of every month will a flying boat go to the Kunlun Ancestral Court. If you miss it, you have to wait for half a month.

Today is already July 13th, and there are only two days left until July 15th.

Fortunately, Huainan Mansion is the capital of a state, and there is Feizhou Port on Taiping Mountain outside the city. It is not far away, only half a day's journey.

Qi Xuansu did not dare to delay and immediately left the city for Taiping Mountain.

Although Qi Xuansu has never been to Taiping Mountain, Taiping Mountain is not difficult to find. In addition to its function as a Feizhou port, it is also the location of the Luzhou Taoist Prefecture, with a second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest in charge.

Taiping Mountain has continuous mountains, with stone steps built from the foothills to the mountainside. After Qi Xuansu arrived at Taiping Mountain, he climbed up the stone steps in the mountain. After walking for about an hour, we could vaguely see the continuous terraced fields, with distinct layers. From a distance, they looked like steps built for the gods in the sky. At this time, many Taoist people were working hard in the terraced fields.

After another journey, the mountain road gradually became steeper, undulating along the mountain, and finally came to the foot of a cliff. There was a huge hanging basket, almost the size of an ordinary carriage. There was an iron lock connected to the top of the hanging basket. It leads upwards to a place filled with clouds and mist.

There is a huge cross-shaped mechanism next to the hanging basket, which requires both hands to operate. Next to the mechanism is a ninth-grade Taoist priest.

After Qi Xuansu showed his ultimatum, he walked into the hanging basket. The ninth-grade Taoist priest next to him triggered the mechanism, and then heard the "click-click" sound of the mechanism. The hanging basket began to rise slowly. It turned out that there was a noose and winch on it. The hanging basket was hoisted up.

The hanging basket kept rising. Qi Xuansu looked up and saw a vast expanse of white mist. After a while, he could see clouds and mist floating over his head. After a while, he entered the clouds and mist and looked down, but saw a vast expanse of white mist. What? Out of sight too.

After a long time, the hanging basket stopped. We have reached the top of the mountain, and the first thing that comes into view is a huge archway made of white jade. The four golden characters on the archway "Peace and Worry-free" shine golden light in the sun.

Ordinary people would think it was a philistine who actually made the names of Jin Yuan and Yin Yuan into a memorial arch, but people who knew the inside story would not think so. They would only think that the Taoist sect was grand and majestic, because the names of Jin Yuan and Yin Yuan came from this building. You can get the archway. It can be said that this archway came first, and then worry-free money and peace money came.

Not far from the archway is a huge wheel, which is ten feet high. It is slowly turning and flowing continuously. The giant wheel is connected to many long unicorn arms, leading to nowhere.

It was the first time for Qi Xuansu to come here, and he felt extremely shocked.

The top of the mountain is the same as below. There is also a cross-shaped mechanism next to the huge winch. There is also a ninth-grade Taoist priest standing there. He is already not surprised to see Qi Xuansu's appearance. He introduces: "That is the Tianji Wheel. Only Taoist brother can do it." It is because of this thing that there are nine Tiangang Wheels in the mountain, which maintain the operation of the entire Taiping Mountain. "

Qi Xuansu didn't understand the word "run" very well. It was simply the word "run". Of course he knew what it meant. As the saying goes, "the sun and the moon move, one cold and one hot". To put it bluntly, it means running over and over again, but Shanshan It is a dead thing and cannot move like the sun, moon and stars. How can it move?

But he didn't want to show his timidity and continued to move forward without asking further questions.

After passing the archway, there is a straight stone road, and then there is an extremely long step.

When he got closer, Qi Xuansu suddenly discovered that these steps made of unknown materials were actually movable and divided into two. The left side moved up and the right side moved down. As long as he stood on the steps, he didn't have to take a step. It will go up and down with the steps under your feet. A clear "click click" sound came from the bottom of the steps. Qi Xuansu looked carefully and saw through the gaps between the steps that gears of various sizes were rotating continuously.

Qi Xuansu was even more surprised.

Are these steps alive? Is it also because of that Tianji Wheel?

In the blink of an eye, the steps have reached the end, and there is a magnificent palace, three feet high, with carved beams and painted pillars, and the main color is white, just like a palace in the sky. There is a huge sundial and a huge hourglass on the left and right in front of the door to calculate the time. Stepping into the palace, the floor is paved with black marble, which is like a mirror and can reflect people's shadows.

Qi Xuansu accidentally raised his head and glanced up. The dome of the palace was actually a star map. He didn't know what kind of material it was made of. The big and small stars not only emitted faint light, but also moved slowly according to a certain pattern. At this time, During the day, it is not obvious. If it is night, I don’t know what a magnificent scene it is.

At this time, Qi Xuansu was like a country bumpkin entering the palace, feeling dazzled.

In any case, Qi Xuansu, a seventh-grade Taoist priest, has seen some things in the world. Even if he is like this, it is conceivable that if ordinary people come here, they will definitely think that this place is a fairyland in heaven. It is no wonder that some people call the Taoist ancestral court "Heaven". Bai Yujing.

Qi Xuansu calmed down, looked around, and found a black marble counter not far away, and walked quickly over.

Standing behind the counter was a beautiful female crown who was also a ninth-grade Taoist priest. Seeing Qi Xuansu showing the ultimatum, she smiled and asked, "Is this fellow Taoist going to the Kunlun Ancestral Court?"

Qi Xuansu had already put the prepared large ticket in his sleeve pocket. At this time, he took out a large ticket with a faint scent of ink and said in a deep voice: "A boat ticket to the ancestral court." "

"Okay." Nu Guan took the official ticket with a denomination of one hundred yuan Taiping money, and skillfully took out a special jade plaque and handed it to Qi Xuansu, "Fellow Taoist, please go to the back hall to wait for the flying boat. Please show it when boarding the boat. Fellow Taoist's ultimatum and this jade tablet."

Qi Xuansu took the jade plaque and looked through it. There was nothing surprising about it, except that the number "sixty-three" was embossed on the front, which meant that Qi Xuansu was the sixty-third person to take this flying boat.

Qi Xuansu put away the jade plaque and followed the direction of the female crown's finger to the back hall.

When I came to the apse, I suddenly felt enlightened.

The entire north-facing wall of the apse is not a masonry structure, but replaced with Western glass, so the scene outside the hall can be clearly seen.

I saw a lake outside the hall, shining with colorful light in the sun.

Inside the hall are futons arranged like a chessboard. At this time, there are many people sitting in twos and threes. They are all Taoist disciples, mostly sixth-grade Taoist priests and fifth-grade Taoist priests. There are also a few fourth-grade wine-sacrifice Taoist priests, like Qi Xuansu. Seventh-grade Taoist priests are rare. After all, one hundred Taiping coins is not a small amount. With the wealth of a seventh-grade Taoist priest, it is not easy for him to be so extravagant.

However, no one dared to underestimate Qi Xuansu. The seventh-grade Taoist priest who could spend one hundred Taiping coins to ride on the flying boat was going there again.

The Kunlun Ancestral Court probably has a great background.

Many people just glanced at Qi Xuansu and then closed their eyes again to rest.

Qi Xuansu sat down cross-legged in an inconspicuous corner, closed his eyes and rested, waiting for the flying boat to arrive.

It is not difficult for an innate person to meditate for two days without eating or drinking.

A day passed like this, and suddenly someone said: "The flying boat has arrived."