Chapter 235, Banquet

After the reception, the Empress announced a banquet.

The banquet was held in a special state banquet hall. In the spacious state banquet hall, in the middle is a beautiful carpet of about eight zhang in length and width, surrounded by a carpet, and the smooth solid wood floor around it is full of rows of several cases, each side has four rows, each row is more than 20 sheets, and the least is 6 cases, naturally the front row is large and few, and the back row is small and many.

Each case is filled with a variety of delicacies from the mountains and seas, spiritual fruits and wines, and the waiters guide the empress and the emperor's relatives, civil ministers and military generals and even Qingshi and other distinguished guests to sit at the table.

In the north row were naturally the Empress and her sister, brother and eldest princess, and behind them were other royal relatives.

The six leaders of the Xuanhu Gang such as Qingshi sat in the six seats in the front row of the west, and behind them were the envoys and guests of various countries.

On the east and west sides are princes, ministers, and celebrities.

The specifications of the state banquet are truly extraordinary. In Qingshi's opinion, although it is still a little less interesting in terms of cooking skills, it is already very good, at least higher than the level of the Tianlong Continent, and as for the rarity and rarity of the raw materials of the dishes, it is extremely extravagant and breathtaking.

In addition, the banquet provided three different styles of drinks, each of which was very good, and one of the spirits called 'Heat Wave' was appreciated by even the three Qingduan Chen, who were accustomed to drinking 'a line of fire'.

Although it is a state banquet, the etiquette of the court of the mirage is open and informal. After three rounds of drinking, the empress withdrew from the banquet and went to rest, and everyone was no longer confined to their seats, or two people sat opposite each other and drank, or three or five people gathered in a group to talk and laugh. Pushing cups and changing lamps, staggering, strange and strange theories, bragging and firing cannons abound, and the atmosphere is very warm.

Chubby worked hard and ate happily; Chen Tianye, Duan Wutian and Hu Hailong drank the wine, no matter who the toaster was, they would not refuse, and the bowl was at the bottom; Xiang An talked loudly, full of strange and strange things in the Tianlong Continent, and listened to the surrounding princes and ministers in amazement.

Qingshi eats as usual and talks and laughs freely.

A slightly chubby man, with a kind face, and a golden goatee on his chin came over to toast Qingshi, and said with a smile: "The master of Qingshi, who is in Xialian Mountain, is the owner of Qibaofang. Today, I have the opportunity to know the big master, I am very honored, I salute the big master! ”

After Lian Shan Kai finished speaking, he drank a glass of wine, and said, "The small shop is in the East Market, and he is free to become a big man in the future, so he might as well go to the small shop and sit down!" I should personally serve wine to the great masters! ”

Qingshi took a sip of the wine and said with a smile: "If Qibaofang is a small store, I am afraid that there will be no big store in the entire Wanshan Sea area!" Even the boss came to sit, why should he drink alcohol? Wouldn't it be wonderful for us to borrow the Empress's wine today? ”

For a period of time, Qingshi paid attention to the information on navigation, and knew that this Qibaofang was the first refining treasure house in the mirage, and Lianshan Kai was known as the God of Wealth, with a bold hand and a wealth that rivaled the country. Although he was a wealthy man, he was not afraid of the risks of the sea, and often traveled around, exploring and searching for treasures, buying and selling treasures, and was not only the god of wealth, but also a famous maritime adventurer in the Mirage.

This time, in order to thank the bluestone, the empress gathered enough five elements of strange things to give to the bluestone, among which the divine wood fruit, the golden spirit crystal and the earth spirit crystal were all found by Lian Shankai, and the cost was very huge.

Bluestone Lalian Shan Kai sat with him. Qingshi wanted to learn about the sea route to the east through Lian Shan Kai, and Lian Shan Kai wanted Qing Shi to tell them about their experience of traveling all the way from the Tianlong Continent, and the two exchanged information and had a good conversation.

Qingshi learned from the opening of the mountains that from the mirage to the east, it is Zhengxu country, and further east of Zhengxu country is a vast ocean called the sea. This vast ocean is nearly 10,000 miles, and the opposite shore is the Shenmu Continent. In the past, although it was difficult to travel by sea between the Shenmu Continent and the Wanshan Sea, there were still occasional merchant ships communicating with each other, however, in the past five hundred years, there was no contact between the two places.

"So, no one has been to the Shenmu Continent for five hundred years?" Puzzled, Qingshi asked, "Why is that?" ”

"The reason is very simple," Lian Shankai said, "It's nothing more than the wind and waves and the sea beast and the kraken!" ”

"But the wind and waves and the sea beast and the kraken have always been there?" Qingshi was still puzzled, "Why was it navigable five hundred years ago, but not after that?" ”

"No one can tell!" Lian Shankai said, "It is said that five hundred years ago, there were often sea ships coming and going between the Shenmu Continent and the Wanshan Sea, and at that time, although the sea was also full of winds and waves, every seventeen years, there would be a golden sailing period of more than three months. During this time, the weather is good, the wind and waves at sea will be much less, and there will be many fewer vicious sea beasts in the sea. During this period, people on both sides of the strait navigated the sea, and the success rate was no less than 60 percent. But later, this golden period disappeared without knowing why, and no one knows why.

"Since I was a child, I have been determined to be like my ancestors, traveling to all continents and seas in the world, for two hundred years, I have sailed countless times, experienced countless storms and sea beasts, and died nine lives, but after all, I can't get out of the sea of ten thousand mountains!

"Originally, I was already discouraged about going out of the Wanshan Sea, but your arrival filled me with hope again." The more Lian Shan Kai spoke, the more excited he became, and he got up and shook Qingshi deeply, "I already know that the master of Qingda has a magic weapon that can fly in the air, and I implore the master of Qingda to sell one with me, no matter what price you offer, I will accept it!" ”

"Even Boss!" Qingshi smiled slightly and said, "This magic weapon you said should refer to the airship that Xiang An sent the eldest princess and Wu Bo back to the dynasty!" It's called a jet ship, and we came here from the Celestial Dragon Continent, and we didn't just rely on this jet ship! Let's talk about the purchase of the ship later! ”

"Oh!" Lian Shan Kaiqi said, "Listen to the meaning of the big boss, could it be that you have a treasure weapon such as a jet spaceship, and there is no guarantee that you can cross the ocean?" ”

"Exactly!" Qingshi said, "We came to the Great Mirage Country from the Heavenly Dragon Continent, which lasted seven or eight years and spanned tens of thousands of miles. Of these, only less than 30% of the sea routes are completed by jet ships. On the way ahead, I took other means of transportation.

"But no matter what kind of transportation you take, it's just as dangerous, to be honest, this jet ship is more dangerous than our previous vehicles, whether you can rely on it to cross the ocean to the Shenmu Continent, I'm really not very sure!

"Besides, I'm just such a jet ship, and I don't have any extra materials to build a new one."

Although the jet ship can fly above the sea without aura, it also has many problems, such as its flight altitude is very low, far from reaching the height of the true qi airship, which makes it impossible to avoid the impact of strong convective weather, and violent storms and lightning strikes may cause fatal damage to it.

Another example is that its drive is not yet mature, and along the way, a third of the 'kegs' have failed in one way or another, and four of them have been completely scrapped. On the whole, jet ships are indeed far less safe than real airships.

After coming to the Great Mirage, Qingshi has been looking for fabrics similar to Miyun Silk in an attempt to rebuild the True Qi Airship, but unfortunately he has not found a suitable material so far.

"You're going to the Shenmu Continent?" I heard a voice next to me exclaim, "No! Don't have this idea! ”

Qingshi and Lian Shankai turned their heads to look together, only to see that the person who spoke was dressed as a military attaché, and it was the admiral of the Great Mirage Navy.

"General Yu!" Lian Shankai called it like this, obviously like Qingshi, although he knew Yu Denuo but was not very familiar with it, "The master of Qingda can come here from the Tianlong Continent, why can't he go to the Shenmu Continent?" In terms of distance, the Tianlong Continent is much farther! ”

"That's right!" Qingshi invited Yu Deno to sit down, poured a bowl of wine and pushed it in front of him, made a gesture of invitation, and asked, "It is said that the Shenmu Continent is about 10,000 miles away from here, and we came here from the Tianlong Continent and traveled about 50,000 miles. Supposedly, it seems that it shouldn't be more difficult than before to get to the Shenmu Continent! General Yu told me not to think about it, why is that? ”

"In the past five hundred years, there have been thousands of monks who have tried to go to the Shenmu Continent, but none of them have succeeded, almost all of them have been buried in the sea, and even the boss who has repeatedly ventured out and sailed can escape with his whole body, that is also one in a hundred!" Yu Denuo said, "Master Qingda, I don't know what you have encountered along the way when you come here from the Tianlong Continent, but I know very well what you will encounter when you go to the Shenmu Continent from the Wanshan Sea Area!" ”

"Really?" Qingshi said, "In this way, I will ask General Yu, what is the danger from the Wanshan Sea to the Shenmu Continent?" ”

"Siren!" Yu Denuo said, "Boss Lian is a great expert in sea adventures, how can he not know? ”

"Of course I do!" Lian Shankai said, "The risks on this sea are nothing more than storms and krakens. But in my opinion, the bad weather of a storm is more dangerous than the Kraken! Far more people have died in the storms and waves than in the claws of the sea beast and the Siren. General Yu doesn't talk about wind and waves, but he talks about the kraken, why is this? ”

"Even Boss," said Yudeno, "there have always been Krakens in this sea, and although they are dangerous, not all Krakens will necessarily hurt people, and not all Krakens that hurt people cannot be dealt with. But the kraken I'm talking about is different, this kraken is not only powerful and monstrous, but also specializes in attacking human monks. Since it appeared in the Mighty Sea, in the past five hundred years, no one has been able to cross the Mighty Sea to the Shenmu Continent. ”

"General Yu!" Lian Shankai said, "What you said is just a legend that everyone knows, who knows if it's true or not?" In my opinion, it's mostly false. The sea is so vast, no matter how powerful this kraken is, it is impossible to detect any situation on the sea at any time, right? If two fleets set off for the Shenmu Continent at the same time, one team took the southern route and the other team went north, and the two teams were separated by thousands of miles, then how could this kraken know the route of the two teams, and how could they both attack? ”

"It is said that this kraken can control the entire sea area, so its strength is monstrous!" "Over the years, more and more shipwrecks have proved that this is not a legend but a reality. To tell you the truth, I visited Mu Zhenren on Rising Sun Island last year, and even he said that the Kraken was real, how could this be false? ”

"Really?" Lian Shankai couldn't help but ask, "Are Mu Zhenren sure that there is really a sea monster?" I've also visited Mujin, but he didn't say that. ”

"It's true!" Yu Deno said, "What I just said about the Kraken was all said by Mu Zhenren himself. Mu Zhenren said that he could confirm the news, and it was only ten years, and even the boss visited Mu Zhenren for more than ten years, right? ”

"That's right!" Lian Shankai said, "It's been twenty years since I went to Rising Sun Island. ”

"Is there really such a big siren?" Hearing only a voice sound, Qingshi turned his eyes to look, but it was Wu Bo who also came to the bluestone table with a wine glass, "This is really ...... By the way, why did the golden nautical period, which appears once every seventeen years, disappear? What do you have to say about Mu Zhenren? ”

"I don't know about that," said Yu Denuo, "I also have these questions, but I don't have that much face for Mu Zhenren to answer them for me." ”

"You also said that there was a risk missing," said Wu Bo, "and pirates, and there are many pirates active around the Wanshan Sea, including many powerful gangs like the Giant Kun Gang. If we hadn't come to the aid of the leaders of Qingdao University this time, I am afraid that we would have fallen into their hands. Boss Lian, you have organized caravans from various countries to try to cross the sea many times, and each time the ship was destroyed and people died, except for the strong wind and waves, several of which were done by this giant kun gang, right? ”

"yes!" Lian Shankai seemed a little embarrassed and said, "For us merchants, pirates are naturally terrifying. But for a young hero like the bluestone master, pirates naturally don't have to worry, you just said that the Giant Kun Gang was defeated by the Xuanhu Gang this time! ”

Qingshi listened to the words of several of them, and secretly thought that this time to go east, it was best to visit this Mu Zhenren first. At the moment, I asked the two of them where this wooden real person was sacred, and what was the origin of the title of 'real person'.

It turned out that after the cultivation realm broke through the elixir realm, the Tianlong Continent was called the Shenyuan Realm, and the Wanshan Sea Area was called the 'real person'. There are a total of four real people in this Wanshan Sea Area, and Mu Zhenren is one of them, this Mu Zhenren is known as the God of Thunder, and the name is the best in the entire Wanshan Sea Area. This Mu Zhenren has high mana and a good heart, and the navigators who venture east are often rescued by him, including even Shan Kai has also been rescued by him.

The three of them continued to talk about navigation, and it was better for someone to shout loudly. Looking back, it turned out that Duan Wutian was drinking with a general, and everyone in the audience cheered when they saw that they had each made their first bowl.

This competition of drinking and eating meat was originally an entertainment item in the army of the Great Mirage, but now they have made it to the state banquet, and no one has objected, and the ministers of civil and military affairs are all in high spirits and the atmosphere is warm.