CHAPTER 245: CHAPTER 245 EAST LAKE PORT

"Brother Mo, you seem a bit different lately compared to before."

Wan Mingchuan slightly furrowed his brow as he looked at Yun Mo, who was carefully examining his freshly written calligraphy without a care in the world, and whispered to himself, "Ever since you officially became master’s steed, you seem to have become more and more composed and calm."

It’s known that this great eagle used to emo frequently, sometimes even hiding its head under its wing and sighing while sleeping at night. Since master took him in, he started sighing and dazing less frequently, and later he began diligently learning characters, reading books, cultivating, and now even his demeanor has vaguely changed from before.

Yun Mo felt that today’s few words turned out alright, so he put away the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, shook his head feathers, and smiled, saying, "Being beside the teacher, watching him handle all sorts of trivial matters every day so methodically, my mind inexplicably calmed down.

I used to feel frustrated for not having appropriate cultivation techniques, regretted my lack of diligence in my youth, and worried about my cultivation being inadequate, often even getting distracted while cultivating.

That day when I sent the teacher to Old Dragon Cave, he praised my swift and steady flight, then told me that all I needed to do was come and pick him up when the time came, and not worry about or overthink anything else. I suddenly had an epiphany—just keep moving forward, even if slowly, doesn’t matter.

Getting lost in thoughts and worrying day after day doesn’t help cultivation in any way other than disturbing one’s mindset. Then I thought of you, why can you cultivate so quickly? Besides having good talent and master’s interest in selecting suitable techniques personally, a very important factor—it’s because of your calm mind.

The teacher provides the best environment and conditions for you to cultivate, so naturally, you make double the progress with half the effort, completely focused. The teacher also provides me with the same conditions and promised to help me find a cultivation technique more suitable for me, but I haven’t improved because my mind wasn’t calm.

After figuring it out, I truly felt a sense of relief, and began feeling at ease with whatever I was doing.

The book says: even a slow bird flies first. Although my cultivation speed is slow, as long as I keep moving, I will definitely climb to higher levels one day. Once the teacher really helps me find a suitable technique, I can also have a more solid foundation for cultivation."

Wan Mingchuan blinked his eyes, nodded, and sincerely said, "Yes, master is too good to us! Every day there are delicious meals, comfortable rooms, he gives us cultivation techniques, storage bags, spirit stones... even the clothes and shoes I wear are bought by him, besides cultivation I don’t have to think or worry about anything. Also, he never forces anything on cultivation..."

Saying this, one person and one eagle were completely empathetic, especially as the aroma of tiger-skin pork elbows wafted over, accompanied by Jiang Yuan’s habitual greeting, "Time to eat!"

At this moment, Jiang Yuan’s charm and the value of his small courtyard were simply irresistible.

"Indeed, even cultivators can’t resist the allure of good food." Once Jiang Yuan called for a meal, he received good vibes from his disciple and the contract steed, as well as the two contract pets, feeling in a very good mood.

Especially seeing the delicious pork elbows that took a mere ten seconds to cook, his mood lifted even further, who wouldn’t be delighted by this blissful little life?

After lunch, he left them at home to cultivate and improve their strength while he took the teleportation scroll and headed straight for East Lake Port.

Since he’d never been there, using a teleportation scroll in the system interface felt like navigation—after entering the destination, several options named "East Lake Port" popped up, but most were gray, indicating that the energy of the teleportation scroll could not support reaching there, likely referring to other world locations with the same name.

He clicked and selected the closest East Lake Port, and a moment later, in a flash of golden light, Jiang Yuan found himself standing in front of a "port." More accurately, according to the world background, it should be called a ferry.

In front of him was a wide and turbulent river, and behind him was a town built against the mountain.

The ferry had a dozen large ships docked there, with many ship workers and porters busily at work; the town was nestled against a lofty mountain, faintly visible were scores of cascading mountains behind it, and it seemed that the place where Wan Mingchuan’s master found his disciple would be one of those mountain tops.

"Look at that young man, seems like he suddenly appeared!"

"Could he be a demon?"

"Impossible, where would demons come from in broad daylight?"

"Moreover, our Water Virtue Star Monarch would never allow a demon to enter..."

........

Porters who noticed the suddenly appearing young man gathered together whispering as they worked, none daring to approach rashly.

The youthful figure didn’t look very old, his attire wasn’t particularly luxurious but was clean and neat, towering and strikingly appearing—better not to provoke him, in these chaotic times infested with wilderness demons, it’s safer to mind one’s own business.

Having surveyed his surroundings, Jiang Yuan intended to find someone for inquiries.

Old Man Wan’s recollection mentioned he vaguely remembered picking up Wan Mingchuan at the foot of a mountain with an octagonal pavilion. Without further system prompts and no other leads, he could only start by seeking out this pavilion.

Behind him were heavy layers of mountains, he pondered on asking local folks about which mountain foot had pavilions, to quickly narrow down the target range. Even if Old Man Wan recalled incorrectly, it’s likely near the mountains with pavilions.

However, upon turning, he saw those boatmen and porters backed away with alarmed expressions, realizing they might have seen his teleportation. He wondered if those outside the desert island knew of the existence of cultivators, but seeing them frightened, Jiang Yuan decided not to trouble these miserable folks.

Walking a short distance along the ferry, he saw a beggar curled up in a corner, with an empty broken bowl placed on the ground—it appeared he hadn’t obtained a morsel to eat by noon.

"Sir, may I ask you something?" Jiang Yuan casually took out a roasted chicken from his storage bag, the sizzling aroma catching the beggar half-sleeping and waking him abruptly.

The beggar licked his lips, his eyes fixed on the roast chicken, croaking, "Young sir, what would you like to inquire about? I’ve been begging at East Lake Port for several years now, know all sorts of neighborhood affairs big and small! Hehe, you’ve come to the right person for information!"

Fearing he might be deceived, the beggar lifted his matted hair and asked, "If this satisfies the young sir, this roast chicken..."

"The roast chicken is yours to eat." Jiang Yuan saw that he was quite old and pitiful, considered for a moment, and exchanged for a handful of silver coins to show him, saying, "If the information is accurate and I find the right place, this money is yours too."

In fact, these silver coins exchange for just the value of one gold coin, but he figured one gold coin suddenly appearing with a beggar might not be a good thing, specially swapping for silver coins for his ease of spending.

The beggar immediately straightened up, "Please ask!"

"Are there pavilions at the foot of those large mountains?"

"Pavilions?" The other thought he wanted to inquire some secret, quickly going over potential local ones who might offend affluent folks in his mind, and yet he wanted to ask where pavilions were?

The beggar was taken aback momentarily and replied, "East Lake Port is a famous ferry nearby, merchants from afar have to pass through Wan Zhong Mountain Gate to cross the river, naturally there’s an official road with long pavilions, not only are there many but countless."

"Are there many red-tiled octagonal pavilions too?" Jiang Yuan was surprised that the mountain had official roads; if octagonal pavilion numbers were many, just the investigation might consume considerable time.

The other carefully thought about it, counting on his fingers and explaining, "I know of six, one of which had a red top before being refurbished to a green one later, let me tell you which mountains they’re on."

The old beggar explained in detail, even drawing him a simple map on the ground.

After giving the beggar the roast chicken and silver coins, Jiang Yuan felt troubled, as he hadn’t yet mastered sword flight, venturing deep into the mountains on foot would be too time-consuming, using teleportation scrolls lacked precise destinations, and riding a paper crane might alarm the townsfolk.

While pondering how to quickly and conveniently reach various mountain tops for examination, he suddenly noticed in the contract interface that there was a green summoning button behind the pet and mount icons.

"Eh? They can be summoned over?" Jiang Yuan was intrigued, instinctively clicking on the summoning contract mount.

The next moment, a storm surged, just as the beggar hiding his silver coins clung tightly to the roast chicken, eating messily, a gigantic demon beast descended from the sky!

"Teacher." Yun Mo’s mind was also at a loss, but quickly reacted by courteously bowing.

Earlier he was in the midst of cultivation, suddenly sensing that the teacher might need him.

Before he could respond, with just a blink, he found himself transported to unfamiliar lands standing before the teacher, and in a heartbeat, Yun Mo felt immensely honored and unpromptedly admired Jiang Yuan’s mysterious methods.

Being beside such an adept and kind teacher, who treats his subordinates excellently, is there anything left to worry?