Moreover, the fluctuations of Yuan Qi upon the lake’s surface grew increasingly violent as time passed.

Zhang Xiaohua also stood quietly like the other young attendants, his eyes gazing at Dianchi under the moonlight.

The emerald waves of Dianchi Lake had already vanished in the night; only the pure white moon radiance poured down, shimmering in rippling brilliance. After quite a while more, the full moon rose even higher. Zhang Xiaohua narrowed his eyes as he looked at the slanted moon and thought to himself: “Unknowingly, it is another night of the full moon. Could it be that this road leading to the Incense Spreading Sect is actually connected to this moon?”

While using his eyes to watch, Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense also blanketed the entire Dianchi Lake. He wanted to see what mystery lay within.

As time passed, the full moon was about to ascend to the center of the sky, and its reflection cast upon Dianchi Lake was blown into fragments by the gentle breeze. Although countless people stood along the lakeside, all of them stood silently, not daring to breathe loudly, the air filled with solemn stillness. Suddenly, all the Incense Spreading Sect disciples made a very strange motion: the fingers of their left and right hands crossed up and down, placed flat before the chest, they closed their eyes, and slightly lowered their heads.

At this moment, the full moon had just moved to the very center of the night sky. At the same time, the sky above Dianchi Lake, where a breeze had been blowing moments ago, became utterly still, without even the slightest trace of wind.

Most bizarre of all was that Zhang Xiaohua, who just moments earlier could still observe everything within Dianchi Lake with his divine sense, now—in this single instant—the entire Dianchi Lake became like a blank void, vanishing from his perception.

Zhang Xiaohua immediately withdrew his divine sense, his eyes filled with astonishment as he looked at everything before him.

Just then, within the reflection of the full moon mirrored in Dianchi Lake, upon that equally round moon, several black dots suddenly appeared in the white disk. Yes, black dots. Though very small, they were exceptionally clear, and those black dots grew larger and larger. In only a few breaths, they expanded dozens of times and were still continuously enlarging.

In merely the time it takes half a cup of tea to brew, those black dots became clearly visible. Not only Zhang Xiaohua, but the other young attendants all stared wide-eyed, their jaws nearly dropping to the ground! A few of the weaker ones even knelt down and began kowtowing.

The final outlines of those black dots were actually enormous wooden ships!

“Above the moon! Above the moon!!” Zhang Xiaohua finally understood why rumors in the jianghu said that the Incense Spreading Sect was upon the moon. Wasn’t it so? Emerging from the moon’s reflection—wasn’t that precisely being upon the moon?

And at the same time, Zhang Xiaohua felt a different kind of emotion!

“What is going on here?!” Zhang Xiaohua almost shouted in his heart. “Old Man Long, Old Fire—didn’t you both say the Immortal Dao had already vanished, and that it’s been extinct for ten thousand years? I even thought I myself was the only inheritor of the Immortal Dao in this world, the sole Qi Refining practitioner under heaven. But look—this gateway for entering and leaving the Incense Spreading Sect is truly a peerless method of the Immortal Dao. The Incense Spreading Sect is still passing down Immortal Dao cultivation arts and formations. If I go in like this… wouldn’t that be like a sheep entering a tiger’s den?”

“Alas, poor Piaomiao Sect. Let alone the Incense Spreading Sect, Dalin Temple, and the Heaven’s Way Alliance joining forces—even the Incense Spreading Sect alone could wipe them out. Only their mountain-protecting grand formation might still carry some such majesty, I wonder?”

At once, Zhang Xiaohua did not dare delay. He immediately circulated the incantation for Guiding the Spirit, having already made up his mind that from this moment on, unless absolutely necessary, he must not reveal his identity as a Qi Refining practitioner. This Incense Spreading Sect was simply too dangerous.

While Zhang Xiaohua pondered, the disciples of the Incense Spreading Sect also raised their heads. The dozen or so enormous wooden ships had now fully appeared; they were actually not much smaller than the river vessels of the South Sea Flood Dragon Palace from years ago. The dozen ships crowded the entire shore of Dianchi to the brim.

Though it was night, everyone by Dianchi Lake had torches for illumination. Yet those wooden ships, beneath the moonlight, emitted a faint pale radiance, making them perfectly visible—truly like small vessels that had come from the Moon Palace.

At that moment, a clear and ringing voice sounded from the foremost wooden ship: “Junior Sister Qingleng, you’ve worked hard. During these past months, nothing unusual has happened, I trust?”

All raised their heads to look. At the prow of that enormous ship stood a Daoist Nun in a dark robe, her face veiled, speaking toward the shore.

They saw Abbess Qingleng step forward from the crowd and smile. “Many thanks for Senior Sister Xuezhen’s concern. Everything here at Dianchi has been as usual, with no particular disturbances. I have merely stayed a few extra months by the lakeside—there is nothing hard about it. All the disciples have completed their tasks perfectly. The details can be discussed once we reach Yixiang Peak.”

Abbess Xuezhen nodded and said with a smile: “As long as all is well. I ask Junior Sister to make ready and arrange the disciples to board in order—we do not have much time.”

Abbess Qingleng said: “Everything has long been arranged. Please, Senior Sister, receive them.”

After hearing this, Abbess Xuezhen waved her hand. It was unclear whether it was her doing or that of the disciples aboard the ships, but from the dozen or so wooden vessels, several planks shimmering with faint radiance immediately extended out, reaching straight to the shore.

The Qiankun Hall disciples who had long been waiting on the bank did not dare delay. According to their previously assigned positions along Dianchi’s shore, they promptly arranged for people nearby to board the ships.

Zhang Xiaohua’s group had originally been stationed beside Abbess Qingleng, with Kong Que at the front. As soon as the ships appeared and the Qiankun Hall disciples began preparations for boarding, Kong Que left the carriage line and walked straight toward Abbess Qingleng. Chen Chen, Xia Qing, and the other inner sect disciples also immediately left their teams and gathered there. Then, under Abbess Qingleng’s guidance, they stepped onto the plank before them and went directly aboard the large ship where Abbess Xuezhen stood.

Once they had boarded, the plank—half real, half illusory—gradually withdrew back onto the ship, like fading light dispersing.

For Zhang Xiaohua and the others, boarding was somewhat troublesome, for there were not only people, but also carriages and horses—and, of course, Zhang Xiaohua’s odd beast carrying the Prajna Heavy Sword.

In truth, the moment he saw the wooden ships, Zhang Xiaohua had been extremely worried. Boarding himself would not be a problem—but what about his Prajna Sword? Yet upon seeing those planks like pathways from an immortal realm, he relaxed. The divine abilities of the Immortal Dao were unfathomable—if they could not even bear weight, how could they be called Immortal Dao arts?

Sure enough, the Qiankun Hall disciples covered all the horses’ eyes and led them forward, pulling the carriages straight onto the planks. The odd beast followed behind them as well. When Huanhuan stepped onto the plank, the radiance seemed to tremble slightly, but then steadied. Until Huanhuan reached the great ship, the vessel did not sway in the slightest.

Only then did Zhang Xiaohua finally feel at ease.

Before long, after the disciples of Wuming Hall had boarded, it was Zhang Xiaohua’s group’s turn. Zhang Xiaohua deliberately walked at the very end. He nudged the plank beneath his feet with a kick and found it no different from an ordinary wooden board. Then, cautiously, he released a thread of divine sense. The plank actually repelled it, preventing it from penetrating. Shaking his head, Zhang Xiaohua completely gave up hope. This formation was clearly not something someone of his level could pry into.

There were many people and horses by Dianchi’s shore, but there were also many arriving ships. The Qiankun Hall disciples seemed thoroughly familiar with the process; everything proceeded in perfect order, without the slightest mistake. Before long, everyone had boarded the great ships, and the entire lakeshore was left empty.

Abbess Xuezhen had been standing at the prow of her vessel the whole time, quietly watching the scene. Abbess Qingleng, along with Kong Que, Chen Chen, and the others, stood beside her. When she saw that all had boarded, the Abbess gave a light call: “Are the passengers of every ship accounted for?”

At that moment, from one side of the fleet came a strange resonant tone, ship after ship sounding it in succession. When it reached the end, Abbess Xuezhen listened and smiled at Qingleng. “Junior Sister, another year completed in full success. Truly gratifying.”

Abbess Qingleng, however, looked somewhat worried and said: “This year is not like previous years. There have been some irregularities. Senior Sister must not be careless—best remain on guard.”

Abbess Xuezhen was startled and grew more vigilant. She swept her gaze across several nearby mountains illuminated as brightly as day by the moonlight, then asked, “Why is that? What strangeness is there?”

Abbess Qingleng replied, “The hour is already late. Better to return to the sect first; it will not be too late to speak of it then.”

Abbess Xuezhen nodded and stretched out her hand. On all the other great ships, the planks withdrew almost simultaneously, rapidly retracting back into the vessels. Until they had completely drawn in, nothing unusual occurred.

Only then did Abbess Qingleng let out a breath of relief.

In truth, she had worried excessively. Zhang Xiaohua had already swept the surroundings again and again with his divine sense as night fell, afraid that some petty thieves of the jianghu might spoil his fine chance of entering the Incense Spreading Sect. He had even made one last inspection before the ships emerged. Only after confirming there was nothing unusual did he focus his attention on Dianchi.

Alas, poor Zhang Xiaohua—before he had even stepped onto the Incense Spreading Sect’s plank, he had already begun to toil for them like hired labor.

After the planks were fully withdrawn, Abbess Xuezhen smiled and said: “There should be no trouble now. Junior Sister, let us go inside the cabin and speak.”

With that, she led the others into the ship’s cabin. On the other great ships, the people and horses likewise entered their cabins one by one under the guidance of Qiankun Hall disciples.

By now, the full moon in the sky had begun to tilt westward. Abbess Xuezhen’s great ship started first, and the others followed, steering straight toward the moon’s reflection in Dianchi.

Just as when they emerged, the enormous wooden ships grew smaller and smaller the farther they sailed in, gradually shrinking into black dots that slipped into the round mirror of the reflection, fading away until nothing at all could be seen.

Then, as if suddenly, a faint breeze once more appeared above Dianchi. The breeze gradually strengthened, returning everything to how it had been before. Upon the lake’s surface, emerald waves rippled again; the reflection of the full moon shattered once more… The moon in the sky had tilted noticeably and dimmed somewhat… Soon after, the entire Dianchi became incomparably tranquil. The surrounding mountains stood just as they always had, as if so many people had never gathered there at all. There was only the wind, the moon’s shadow, and the chirping of insects…

Inside the wooden ship’s cabin, the young attendants all sat, their faces flashing with excitement, unease, and anticipation. Only Xiaohua sat quietly, a faint furrow in his brow. He was carefully sensing, comparing the difference between this and when he had previously ridden seagoing vessels. This wooden ship seemed to move far too silently—there was none of the pitching or swaying of a sea vessel.

Thus, Zhang Xiaohua could not help but release his divine sense again. But just as it extended outside the ship, his expression abruptly changed…