Tilting his head, the white-clad youth grinned, “He who walks by the riverbank often is bound to get his pockets burned.”

Old Hao, the ferryman, seemed oblivious to the strange words of the young man. He simply continued to pole the boat towards the Huanghe Islet pier, intent on earning his keep.

Cui Dongshan leaped nimbly, landing lightly on the boat’s railing. With hands clasped behind his back, he strolled along the edge, reciting, “Once his name soared above the stars, now he’s fallen into this miasmic sea. A lone green ox visits the Jade Palace alone, yet he leaves a Yellow Crane to guard the Golden Elixir.”

Old Hao remained indifferent.

Cui Dongshan chuckled, “Accustomed to riding wooden horses among the Northern Dipper stars, yet Dongshan comes to pole a rusty iron boat on the water.”

Old Hao glanced at the handsome youth and replied, “Star Lord pours fine wine, offering each dragon a cup.”

They each revealed the other’s origins, but left room for ambiguity, only hinting at a fraction of their true foundations.

Cui Dongshan revealed that the old boatman, using the alias Ni Yuanzan in the Cloud Grotto Blessed Land, had deep connections with the Daoist temple of the Eastern Sea. He was once a celestial Yellow Crane who traveled far to the Northern Dipper constellations, eventually staying to guard a Golden Elixir in the mortal realm.

And the old boatman, in turn, spoke of the origin of Cui Dongshan’s current form, once an ancient dragon of the Shu Kingdom, capable of ascending to the starry river, fortunate enough to have been toasted by the Northern Dipper Star Lord.

However, their words only touched upon their respective forms, both ancient and from distant times, perhaps even considered half-acquaintances from a bygone era.

Cui Dongshan mocked, “Do you know that in Lotus Blossom Blessed Land, there was a woman named Sui Youbian, whose lifelong wish was to ascend to Tiantai Mountain with her husband, leisurely sweeping fallen flowers with immortals? If she knew that her former teacher, whose swordsmanship and divine abilities were only a step away from becoming the first to ascend from the Blessed Land, now wears a ridiculous crane feather robe, acting as a wretched ferryman earning a few snowflakes for daily bread, even addressing others as ‘teacher,’ wouldn’t it break her heart? Do you know that Sui Youbian also left the Blessed Land, even becoming a cultivator of the Divine Seal Peak of Jade Tablet Sect for several years? Did you two not meet? Didn’t the old abbot ask you to wait for her to form her Golden Core here?”

Old Hao sighed, “Sometimes it’s better not to know.”

The story of the “Slaying Mosquitoes on the Jianghuai River,” a celestial feat, was performed by the very man poling the boat at that moment.

The mosquitoes slain were no ordinary creatures, but a Jade Purity Realm demon capable of secretly stealing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. This elusive thief of the world had nearly driven Jiang Shangzhen to despair, searching for its tracks with great effort. At that time, although Jiang Shangzhen had entered the Jade Purity Realm, he had not yet earned the reputation of “a willow leaf can slay immortals.” Jiang Shangzhen had failed to slay the “mosquito” twice, the difficulty akin to a mortal standing on the shore, trying to hit a mosquito in a stream with a pebble.

And this old boatman, at that time, was not necessarily higher in realm or swordsmanship than Jiang Shangzhen, but a unique divine ability paired with his swordsmanship happened to restrain that elusive Jade Purity Realm demon.

However, ultimately being able to slay the mosquito on the river with a single sword was still an extraordinary feat that an ordinary Jade Purity Realm sword immortal could not accomplish.

If this person had not come from the Daoist Temple of Lotus Blossom Blessed Land and was the teacher that Sui Youbian constantly remembered, Cui Dongshan wouldn’t have bothered with him, allowing him to remain anonymous and pole his boat for ten thousand years. Furthermore, this person had deliberately probed his teacher with words. Cui Dongshan couldn’t tolerate it. What “resigning from office and returning home,” what “biographies of assassins,” in fact, were all cryptic wordplay. His teacher was magnanimous and could ignore it entirely, taking it as a chance encounter, easy come, easy go. But as a student, how could he tolerate an old ferryman spouting nonsense there?

The key was that old abbot’s words, leaving this person to “guard the Golden Elixir,” which was no ordinary thing, hidden in the cliffs of Huanghe Islet, a relic Golden Elixir of an ancient crane ancestor.

Cui Dongshan scoffed, “The Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper are high, my teacher carries a knife at night, be careful he slashes you half to death.”

Old Hao, using the alias Ni Yuanzan, smiled, “With no grievances or hatred, that teacher is not you, he wouldn’t harm people without reason.”

Cui Dongshan held out a hand, saying, “Let’s not beat around the bush, give me the Golden Elixir, I’ll help you transfer it to that Golden Core guest disciple of yours who hasn’t reached the Nascent Soul stage yet.”

The old boatman shook his head with a smile, “The old abbot told me to wait here for a fated person. If Sui Youbian can meet me, I will naturally go with the flow and send out the Golden Elixir. But since we are so close, yet have not reunited, then it cannot be considered a fated person. At most, there is fate but no share, since there is fate but no share…”