COZMART: Corner Shop of Visiting Gods

Chapter 132 132 | A Dilemma About Boats

The Melancholic Drizzle had weakened by the time they climbed out of Houyi's Crater, but blue rain still clung to their sleeves and hair, turning everyone slightly luminous under the indigo sky.

Eathan followed the others down a slope of dark stone, one hand pressed to his ribs.

The ache had become an old tenant in his body. He had stopped trying to evict it.

Ahead, the land fell away into a wide silver bank. The River stretched across the horizon, its surface folding over itself in pale currents. Lanterns floated above the docks in long rows. Beneath them, jiangshi ferrymen hopped between boats, their paper talismans fluttering from their hats as they shouted prices, warnings, and discount packages.

A sign above the nearest dock read:

OBLIVION CROSSING SERVICES

Licensed Jiangshi Ferrymen Only

Unauthorized Flight Will Result in Immediate Memory Loss, Reincarnation Delay, and/or Bureau Fines

Chen Mo scoffed at once. "As if anyone here would rely on boats."

The nearest jiangshi ferryman turned his head ninety degrees too sharply and glared with one cloudy eye.

"Try flying past the silver line, pretty boy," he croaked. "River eats qi above water same as below. Chang'e's protocols. You flap, you drop. Then we fish out whatever remembers your name."

Chen Mo's expression cooled.

"Enough." Ji Renshu lifted one hand before he could start another transportation-based incident.

"The protocols are old but effective. Reincarnating souls used to attempt escape by riding stray qi currents." Yue Shiyin folded his fan. "After the third mass queue disruption, Chang'e sealed the airspace over the river. Only ferrymen vessels retain passage rights beyond the inner current."

Eathan looked across the silver water. The memory of diving beneath it came back with an unpleasant clarity.

"So flying is out," he said. "Lovely. Boats it is."

The ferryman hopped closer. His talisman had faded at the edges, and his stiff uniform bore an official patch.

"Tier registration," he said, thrusting a lacquered board toward them. "River boats rented by karmic eligibility. Tier Three and above may rent. Three passengers maximum per vessel, excluding ferryman. Weight of karma, balance of hull, memory corrosion, very complicated. Don't argue. I unionize."

Eathan glanced at the board.

It scanned them in a slow sweep of pale light.

As names appeared one by one, the dock went quiet in a very insulting way.

Yang Mingze leaned over the board, blinked, and looked at Eathan. "You're the highest?"

"…Apparently." Eathan stared at his own name, then rubbed the nape of his neck.

Chen Mo's mouth twitched. "The universe has strange taste."

"That's rich coming from Tier Five." Chewie crossed her arms.

"Reincarnation tiers favour moral bookkeeping, not talent." Chen Mo's eyes narrowed.

"Skill issue."

Eathan was still looking at the water. "The boats are that sensitive?" he asked. "Chewie and I were literally in this river few days ago."

A silence opened—and spread fast enough that even the ferrymen stopped hopping.

Bai Hu turned his head.

His face did not change, but something in his gaze landed heavily enough that Eathan immediately regretted the sentence.

"We wore masks," Eathan added weakly.

"You swam in Oblivion water with tourist-grade protection—" Quine Long looked at him with the patience of a professor discovering a student had eaten the lab sample— "near a primal beast."

Eathan glanced at Chewie, who looked at the river.

They both swallowed.

"Your [Auspicious Aura]," the dragon continued, "is the only reason you are not currently a cautionary pamphlet."

The jiangshi ferryman nodded. "Pamphlet very popular. Many diagrams."

Bai Hu's gaze lingered on Eathan one beat longer. Then he looked back to the boats.

Once the ferrymen confirmed that three boats were necessary came the real problem: seating arrangements.

They had three boats, three renters—Eathan, Quine Long, Bai Hu—which meant three passengers maximum per boat.

Everyone immediately wanted the same boat, though nobody admitted it openly.

Ji Renshu spoke first. "Commander Bai Hu must remain within Paladin oversight."

Chewie turned on her. "He is Area 001."

"He is also under Heavenly retrieval order."

"He is also currently the reason your retrieval order didn't turn into a funeral."

"I—" Chen Mo stepped forward "—shall accompany Commander White."

"No," said four people at once.

He ignored them. "My prior contact gives me comparative advantage."

"Your comparative advantage," Eathan said, "is making everyone uncomfortable."

Chen Mo smiled at him. "You're projecting."

"I'm observing."

Mei Yuling rubbed two fingers against her temple. "I am begging everyone to remember we are beside a memory-erasing river."

"Put me where ever." Yang Mingze scratched his jaw. "I can sleep standing."

Yue Shiyin's fan opened with a soft snap. "There are three eligible renters. If Eathan rents one, Lord Qing Long rents one, and Commander Bai Hu rents one, the distribution must keep combat capacity balanced. Also, Chen Mo should not be placed within arm's reach of Commander Bai Hu."

Chen Mo's smile thinned. "Shiyin."

"Professional recommendation."

Chewie's patience snapped visibly. She spun toward Bai Hu. "Boss, you choose."

Everyone looked at him.

Bai Hu stood near the dock with the river's silver light touching his hair. He took in the ferrymen, the three boats, and the people arguing over him. If Mei Yuling's suggestion still had any hold on him, Eathan couldn't see it. If Bai Hu was pretending, he was doing it well enough to make the uncertainty feel deliberate.

After a moment, he said, "Eathan with Chewie and Yue Shiyin."

Eathan opened his mouth.

"Qing Long with Ji Renshu and Chen Mo," Bai Hu continued.

The Azure Dragon's brows lifted. Ji Renshu's face stayed controlled, though her fingers tightened faintly around her spear. Meanwhile, Chen Mo looked as if someone had offered him poison in a gold cup.

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Bai Hu finished, "Mei Yuling and Yang Mingze with me."

The silence came back, stronger.

Mei Yuling looked up from the folded coat.

Yang Mingze grinned. "Good boat."

Eathan stared at the white-haired man.

There was no warmth in the answer. No explanation. Yet, for some reason, the choice felt deliberate in a way that made his earlier bitterness shift uneasily.

The ferrymen were already moving. Three narrow boats slid forward against the dock. Each hull was lacquered in oil, and lined with talismans that pulsed every time the River lapped too close.

Boat One took Eathan, Chewie, and Yue Shiyin. Their ferryman had a cracked talisman and a voice like someone had buried gravel in a jar. Eathan stepped in first, then Chewie, then Yue Shiyin, whose robes somehow remained unwrinkled despite the spider crash.

Boat Two took Quine Long, Ji Renshu, and Chen Mo.

Quine Long leaned back the moment he sat down, one sleeve draped elegantly over the side, fingers hovering dangerously close to the water until their jiangshi ferryman whispered prayers under his breath, then batted at his hand with an oar.

On the same boat, Chen Mo leaned so far toward Boat Three that Ji Renshu had to hook two fingers into the back of his collar and pull him upright without looking.

"Chen Mo."

"I am observing."

"You are leaning."

"I observe intensely."

"You will observe from inside the boat."

Boat Three drifted in the middle.

Bai Hu sat at the front, posture relaxed in a way that made the ferryman visibly nervous. Mei Yuling sat across from him, hands folded over her knees, spine so straight she looked one complaint away from leaning back once and for all. Yang Mingze had already folded his arms and closed his eyes with immediate commitment.

"Wake me when something screams at us."

"This is the River of Oblivion." Mei Yuling looked at him. "Something is always screaming."

"Then wake me when it screams specifically at me."

The three boats pushed off from shore.

The docks fell away quickly. Sound from the bank thinned until only the ferrymen's oars and the low rush of silver water remained. The boats moved in a staggered line, close enough to see one another, too far to speak without raising voices. The River around them looked smooth, but beneath the surface darker veins shifted in slow curls. Once, a bubble rose beside Eathan's boat and popped, releasing a woman's laugh that ended in a sob.

Chewie glared across the water at Bai Hu's boat. Eathan tried very hard not to do the same.

Yue Shiyin watched both of them over the edge of his fan. "You know," he said, "your expressions are remarkably easy to read."

Chewie's eyes cut to him. "You know your face is remarkably punchable."

"Frequently mentioned." His expression did not change. "Rarely acted upon successfully."

"Please don't start." Eathan sighed. "The river already hates us."

Across the water, Bai Hu had started speaking to Mei Yuling.

Eathan couldn't hear the words. The River swallowed sound beyond a certain range, bending voices into distortion. Still, he saw the shape of the exchange: Bai Hu's head angled slightly, Mei Yuling's shoulders stiffening, then lowering by the tiniest degree. Yang Mingze remained asleep, useless and peaceful.

What could they possibly have to talk about?

Yue Shiyin's fan tilted.

"Commander White has always been effective at drawing truth from people," he said mildly.

Eathan looked at him. "Did I say something out loud?"

"No, but your face did."

Chewie muttered, "Hate this boat."

Yue Shiyin's fan widened by a fraction. "Commander White's attention is rarely casual. If he speaks to Yuling, he has likely found her valuable in some way."

"That's supposed to comfort?" Eathan asked.

"Merely an observation."

"Since you're apparently reading faces now," Chewie said, leaning back, "might as well explain why the Paladins are suddenly so cooperative."

Yue Shiyin smiled.

It was a very nice smile. That immediately made Eathan distrust it.

"Our cooperation follows the order we were given," he said. "His Greatness values Commander Bai Hu highly. Whatever disagreements exist among the Council, the White Tiger's core is not a common relic to be left alone. Bringing him back incomplete would dishonour the order and weaken the very balance we were dispatched to protect."

Chewie's eyes narrowed. "That sounds very rehearsed."

"It has the advantage of being true."

"But not complete," Eathan said.

Yue Shiyin's gaze moved to him, interested.

Eathan rubbed his thumb along the edge of his scanner. "Out of everyone, Heaven had sent the Elite Force. You're not exactly made to assist in recoveries."

"No," Yue Shiyin agreed. "We came because the situation could not be left to sentiment."

Chewie made a low sound.

Yue Shiyin did not look away. "You both love him. That makes you brave. But it also makes you dangerous around decisions that require rationality."

"And the Jade Deity doesn't have sentiment?" Chewie arched a brow.

"His Greatness has memory," Yue Shiyin said. "He remembers what Commander Bai Hu is at full strength. He remembers what happens when Guardians fracture. He remembers, perhaps better than any of us, what the realms lose when one of the Four becomes a wound instead of a pillar."

He had a way of talking, Eathan realized, that made people want to believe in his words. Beside him, Chewie seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

"You're pretty good at this," she said begrudgingly.

Yue Shiyin's smile warmed by a fraction. "A useful family trait."

"Big Heaven family?" Eathan asked, partly to redirect, partly because the man kept offering half-doors and he was tired enough to walk through one.

"Related to Lady Vortex, distantly enough to be useful when convenient and irrelevant when blame is assigned."

"Sounds complicated."

"It is Heaven," Yue Shiyin said. "Complexity is tradition."

Chewie snorted despite herself. "And her?" She nodded toward Mei Yuling on Boat Three. "She doesn't strike me as someone who joined for glory."

Yue Shiyin's fan dipped.

For the first time, the man looked away from them and toward the center boat.

"Mei Yuling is Minister Mei Haoran's daughter."

Eathan glanced across the water. Boat Three was rocking gently. Mei Yuling sat very still, listening to Bai Hu with a wary tilt of her head.

"Karmic Minister," he said.

"Yes."

"Close to the Jade Deity?"

"Close to many things," Yue Shiyin replied.

Chewie rolled her eyes. "Meaning?"

"Minister Mei Haoran has survived many occasions, from court restructuring to ideological purges." Yue Shiyin's tone stayed pleasant. "He understands which doors open before the official announcement."

"You're saying he's opportunistic." Eathan looked at him.

"I am saying he has an admirable instinct for timing."

Yue Shiyin's fan hid his mouth, but not the faint amusement in his eyes.

"Mei Yuling inherited his reading of consequence," he said. "Unfortunately for her, she also developed a conscience."

Chewie drew her brows. "Is that bad?"

"For court life? Deeply."

"Sounds like you know her well. How about Ji Renshu?"

Yue Shiyin gave her a sideways glance. "You're not subtle either."

"Which do you like better?"

"I knew the captain first," he said. "Yuling came later. The Minister's daughter did not need the Paladins for status, which made everyone wonder why she joined."

"And?"

"She dislikes waste," he said. "Her own talent most of all."

"You're dodging." Chewie pointed at him. "See? This is why I don't trust polite people."

Eathan turned to Chewie. "Were you about to start something?"

Chewie stuck out her tongue at him. "Maybe."

"Well." Yue Shiyin's expression softened in a practiced way. "For Renshu, I've known her since we were children. Her mother served in my family's estate."

The fan closed slowly.

"She used to watch me train. Calligraphy, sword forms, qi refinement, etiquette until the tutors went hoarse. I was expected to become impressive, so everyone tried very hard to make it happen."

"Did it?" Chewie asked.

"Moderately."

"That's such a rich person answer."

Yue Shiyin shook his head with a chuckle. His gaze drifted toward Boat Two, where Ji Renshu sat with Chen Mo under strict collar-range.

"My master then was Li Tieguai, the Iron-Clutch Immortal. He visited the estate during my second century of training and found Renshu correcting my footwork from behind a pillar."

Chewie perked up. "Oh?"

"She was a servant's daughter with no formal instruction yet had been caught trying learn noble techniques. Master Li laughed for nearly a minute, then gave her a breathing formula to see what would happen."

Chewie leaned forward. "What happened?"

"She mastered it in eight days."

She let out a low whistle.

"Within a year, she had built a foundation. Within ten, she had surpassed most entry disciples. By eighty years, she crossed into the Heavenly Realm on cultivation alone." Shiyin's voice remained smooth, but something quieter moved beneath it. "Erlang Shen and Master Li both took interest after that. His Greatness did too."

"And then she became the head of the Paladins?" Eathan asked.

"The fastest in three hundred years."

Chewie's grin turned sharp. "That must've pissed you off."

"Chewie," Eathan said automatically.

"What?" She shrugged. "You were the noble kid getting all the training. Then your servant friend speedruns Heaven and outranks you and becomes everyone's favourite spear saint. I'd be furious."

Yue Shiyin went quiet. His gaze stayed on the water, but the fan in his hand stopped moving.

"Yes," he said after a moment. "I was."

The answer was so plain it silenced both of them.

Then he smiled, smaller than before.

"Anyone who says otherwise is lying or trying too hard to look virtuous. I was young, proud, and very accustomed to being praised for progress that had been arranged for me since birth. Renshu's rise made my achievements feel… purchased."

The oar dipped. Silver water whispered along the hull.

"And now?" Eathan asked.

"Now I respect her," Yue Shiyin said. "And I am occasionally still annoyed. These truths coexist peacefully because I have excellent manners."

Chewie stared at him.

Then, very slowly, she grinned. "You're less boring than you look."

"High praise from a warlord in headphones."

Eathan glanced toward Boat Two. Ji Renshu sat upright, one hand still gripping Chen Mo's collar when he leaned too far toward Bai Hu's boat again.

Then the river moved.

The change came without warning. One moment, the three boats drifted in a steady stagger. The next, a rough current surged between them, twisting hard enough that Eathan's boat lurched sideways. He grabbed the rail; his palm slid on silver condensation. The hull tipped.

Chewie caught the back of his jacket and yanked him down before he pitched over the side.

"Again?" she snapped. "Why are you always trying to enter rivers face-first?"

"I'm not doing it on purpose!"

Their jiangshi ferryman had gone rigid. The pole in his hands trembled.

Yue Shiyin rose at once, fan open. "Ferryman."

The jiangshi's talisman fluttered wildly. His mouth opened, shut, then opened again.

"It—it's here."

Across the water, every head turned.

Boat Two shifted. Quine Long's lazy posture vanished. Ji Renshu released Chen Mo's collar and lifted her spear. Chen Mo, finally allowed to move, looked toward the deepening silver water with a smile that had no business existing.

Boat Three rocked in the center current. Yang Mingze's eyes snapped open. Mei Yuling's hand rose, karmic threads already gathering between her fingers.

Bai Hu stood up from where he was, white hair fluttering in the gust.

The river around them darkened. Beneath the surface, something vast moved under the silver skin of the water. A pale shape rolled through the depths, then another, and another. The current tightened around the boats until the hulls creaked under pressure.

Eathan's [Calamity Radar] flared before the first head broke the surface.

PRIMAL HORROR DETECTED

HOST IS RECOMMENDED TO LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY!

A low wail rose from beneath the River of Oblivion, nine voices layered into one.

The Infant had found them.