The celestial gods were using it to track down the Dafang Pot.
Reuniting the pot with its lid was secondary; He Lingchuan had to eliminate this hidden danger. Otherwise, the gods' gaze would dog his every step, leaving him unsafe in any corner of the world. Nor would he dare use the Dafang Pot to his heart's content—assuming he could ever figure out how to use it.
Next was fulfilling Zhu Erniang's commission: retrieving her largest shed carapace.
That thing was likely stuffed into the core of Mount Xu's Spirit Gathering Grand Formation, which meant he first had to locate a formation core that was constantly on the move.
Finally, he had to ensure the order slip from National Preceptor Shuangye in Nian Zanli's hands was rendered useless, so Nian Zanli couldn't borrow any troops.
Of those three tasks, the last was the easiest.
As for the first two, they would likely have to be pulled off together. Whatever ruckus he raised on Mount Xu was bound to be massive; he probably wouldn't get a second chance.
Naturally, the difficulty was five-star.
And from this moment on, he also had to figure out how to escape after the deed was done—which was the fourth task.
None of it was easy, especially with so many rivals glaring at him from the sidelines. He Lingchuan let out a long sigh.
"Bring me a late-night snack!"
***
The next day, He Lingchuan didn't go out either. Grabbing a fishing rod, he went to fish on the lake behind the mountain.
The moment he stepped out the door, the little squirrel leapt onto his shoulder and said, "A message from the master of Songyang Mansion: the three hundred jin of frost-pattern iron you asked for won't be ready until two days from now."
Two days? He Lingchuan calculated the timing. There would still be time.
Frost-pattern iron was a rare metal that was difficult for him to gather on his own, so he had asked Li Qingge to procure it on his behalf. Songyang Mansion was a titan of artifact crafting, with its own supply channels for metallic ores.
The Marquis of Songyang was indeed reliable, and he could even put it on his tab.
The squirrel also handed him a slip of paper.
Its errand complete, it took its nuts and hopped away.
The mountain wilderness was quiet and serene, the lake water rippling gently. Two silver-throated tits landed on the roof of the pleasure boat, chirping softly.
The tiger wanted to sprawl out on the boat too, but He Lingchuan ruthlessly refused it.
He needed to think carefully about his next move.
Unfolding the slip of paper, he found Li Qingge's delicate handwriting. The gist was that glazed gold had too many uses; paired with different metals, it took on wildly different properties, making generalizations difficult. If he insisted on a crude, brute-force way to breach it, he could try extreme-cold flash-freezing, as the material was naturally poor at enduring the cold.
Once frozen, it turned brittle, drastically reducing the difficulty of shattering it.
Of course, glazed gold was a supreme treasure after all; a mere thirty or forty degrees below freezing was child's play to it.
Moreover, "flash-freezing" meant within two breaths of time.
Few magic treasures in the world could produce such extreme low temperatures in such a short window, and Li Qingge currently had none on hand.
As a master crafter of Songyang Mansion, she excelled at problem-solving. After racking her brains, she had pointed out a lead for him:
If such a high-tier artifact couldn't be forged, he could try crafting a single-use talisman.
Some practitioners favored talisman formations and paper amulets—some single-use, some reusable, ranging across paper, copper, and jade talismans, among many others.
Talismans were the easiest to craft, consumed the fewest materials, yielded respectable results, and were versatile in use; their biggest flaw was their lack of durability.
Songyang Mansion could craft a "cold jade talisman" for He Lingchuan. All the other materials were on hand, save for one:
Frost pellets.
Only a cold jade talisman crafted with frost pellets as its base ingredient could instantly freeze glazed gold.
There was no substitute.
And Songyang Mansion's supply channels couldn't procure them either, because they were a specialty of the Fu Realm, found in exceedingly scarce quantities.
"The Fu Realm?" He Lingchuan sighed. The Fu Realm was tied to the Grass Sea, where he hadn't originally wanted to go.
Now it seemed a trip was unavoidable. The core of Mount Xu's Spirit Gathering Grand Formation was forged from glazed gold!
He Lingchuan leaned back, letting the fresh breeze brush his face as he turned his thoughts to the next problem.
Whether approaching the formation core or taking the divine object from Zhaixing Tower, there was an unavoidable obstacle:
Juju.
That formidable rock-fire monster was the guardian spirit of Mount Xu, virtually one with the entire mountain range. When awake, it would know if even a single rock went missing from the mountain.
If He Lingchuan trespassed, he could never escape its notice.
What was more, he entertained illicit thoughts about it—or rather, ulterior motives.
Faced with a behemoth like the Heavenly Palace, his own strength alone was far from enough to snatch the divine object from Zhaixing Tower. Could he borrow Juju's power instead?
In that case, his pressing priority was to establish contact with this rock-fire monster.
He had originally hoped to find a way through the Ke family, as they were closest to Juju.
Yet Lingxu City strictly forbade the common folk from worshipping Juju, and the Ke family had flatly denied it, claiming complete innocence.
In other words, on the surface, no statue or avatar of this mountain spirit existed anywhere outside Mount Xu.
Thus, the path of reaching Juju through private worship was a dead end.
Then... what if he went straight to Zhaixing Tower to seek it out?
Zhaixing Tower was open to visitors during the day anyway; He Lingchuan could walk right in through the front door.
Yet Juju usually slept deep beneath the mountains. Why would it come out to see him?
Furthermore, the monster possessed high intelligence, meaning it might well have picked up some of the foul habits of clever men—such as duplicity or stabbing allies in the back.
If it struck an agreeable bargain with He Lingchuan on the surface, only to turn around and sell him and his plans out to the celestial gods, what then?
Human nature was untrustworthy, and this rock-fire monster was no more reliable.
So, should he attempt to contact it or not?
The bobber suddenly twitched; another fish was biting.
He Lingchuan reeled in his line and soon hauled up a shimmering, five-jin bighead carp.
Pianxiang Villa had sat abandoned for years, and with weasels and other monsters dwelling here, few anglers ever snuck into the back mountain.
The fish in the lake were both plump and foolish. With just a clump of dough for bait, He Lingchuan could teach them the wickedness of the world.
With such a fat, chubby head, wouldn't it make a wonderful chopped-chili fish head?
As He Lingchuan held the plump fish and inspected it, a laugh rang out from the shore. "Fine skill, Young Master He!"
He turned to look and found, to his surprise, that Fang Canran had arrived.
He quickly rowed the boat to the pier and called out, "What wind blew you here, Master Fang?"
Fang Canran pointed at the young servant beside him. "I came to discuss some business with His Highness and was just heading back."
The servant belonged to Pianxiang Villa.
In terms of status, Fang Canran was the chief manager of the Jinjiao clan; he wasn't qualified to have the crown prince personally see him to the door.
Lingxu City was just such a place of rigid ranks and ironclad hierarchies.
"How's the catch?"
"Not bad. Care to try your hand?" Deep waters bred big fish, not to mention this deep lake had gone undisturbed for a long time.
In just one two-hour watch, He Lingchuan had landed three large fish and over a dozen small fry.
He had baited the hook quite frequently, but most of the bait had been nibbled away by little fish.
Too many small fry in the lake was a nuisance in its own right.
"Alright, let me have a go."
Fang Canran hopped onto the pleasure boat with crisp agility.
He poled the boat out to the center of the lake himself, took the fishing rod He Lingchuan handed him, and expertly baited and cast the line.
"So Master Fang shares this passion as well." This man was a seasoned angler, unlike He Lingchuan, who was merely dabbling.
Fang Canran glanced at him. "Like Young Master He, I only wait for the willing to bite."
Both men chuckled.
Their laughter remained low, lest they frighten the fish.
He Lingchuan set a kettle on a small brazier, lit the charcoal, and began boiling water to brew tea.
"The scenery here is exquisite, and the flora hasn't been over-trimmed. It's a wonderful place to cultivate the mind and nourish one's nature."
He Lingchuan smiled. "Indeed. A pity there are too many worldly chores to truly lose oneself in the mountains and waters."
Fang Canran suddenly whipped back the rod. A small fish the length of a little finger came flopping out of the water.
"So fast? Impressive, Master Fang. Little fish like this love stealing bait the most, and they slip the hook easiest."
Fang Canran scoffed lightly. "I've fished enough—how could I let them slip away?"
He went ahead and pierced the little fish onto the hook as bait before casting it back into the water. "Wealth is sought amidst peril, yet greedy haste brings death. Alas, these little creatures never understand, even in death."
Inside He Lingchuan's robes, the mirror clicked its tongue twice. "What riddles are you two speaking in?"
He Lingchuan chuckled. "It seems Master Fang is well versed in the art."
Fang Canran smiled faintly. "Having seen much, one naturally gleans some insights."
Soon enough, something took the bait.
Seeing the rod bend into a deep arch, He Lingchuan chuckled. "Looks like a big one."
Fang Canran was in no hurry to haul it in, letting the fish thrash through the water for dozens of breaths until its strength gave out, only then giving the rod a sharp tug.
The fish traced a parabolic arc through the air, whipping its head and thrashing its tail with fierce vigor.
"What a massive snakehead!" It had to weigh seven or eight jin, its body patterned with striking markings.
"With things like this around, fish can't multiply much in the lake." Fang Canran tossed the snakehead into the water bucket. "Though big fish eat little fish, rarely are they this ferocious. With it here, all the small fry are doomed."
The mirror grumbled discontentedly, "What are you talking about? Aren't there two fish kings in this lake?"
"Oh, right. There are two fish kings that have become demons in this lake," He Lingchuan said with a smile. "It's not this snakehead's place to run rampant."
"All the better, then." Fang Canran looked at him. "With fish demons preying on the snakeheads, the little fish at the bottom actually stand a chance of surviving."
Hooking fresh bait, Fang Canran cast the line again, and both men fell silent.
Only the charcoal in the brazier crackled softly.
The mirror knew both of them were waiting for the other to speak first.
In the end, it was Fang Canran who broke the silence: "Young Master He, have we truly never met before?"
"I believe not."
Fang Canran twisted the signet ring on his finger. "What about this? Does it remind you of anything?"
He Lingchuan smiled. "Perhaps I remembered wrong."
Fang Canran sighed softly. "What a pity."
He Lingchuan looked at him and said, "Why not stay for dinner, Master Fang? We had agreed last time, yet it fell through."
Last time, Fang Canran had readily agreed, only to slip away early.
Fang Canran smiled. "Actually, I have to stop by Yuexiang Villa for a tasting. They've brought in a new head chef from Wujing. Well, people say 'dine in Lingxu, savor in Wujing.' At least thirty percent of Lingxu City's finest chefs hail from Wujing, and this new recruit at Yuexiang Villa is said to excel at surf-and-turf roast."
"How about He Xiao comes with me to taste the dishes?" He pointed at the fish bucket. "We can use the fish caught right here to put my new chef to the test."
Chapter 615