The sound of wind and snow could not conceal Shen Lian’s voice which gradually reached somewhere in the snowstorm forest right in front.

　　The black tiger opened its bronze-bell-like eyes wide and all it could see in front was a snowstorm. It still felt surprised because after all, there were only a number of people who could be considered as an eminent master by his master.

　　Soon, it saw a person walking out from the forest filled with snow. A grey-haired old man with his white brows dropping and his white beard fluttering in the air. He was in a white robe which seemed whiter than the snow. Even the shoes sewn with cloud-shaped patterns that he was wearing was made with white hemp except for the bamboo crutch in his hand that was a greenish jade color which filled with the joy of life. It seemed to stand out in this land covered with ice and snow.

　　Although its cultivation was ordinary, the black tiger had been following Shen Lian for many years and his judgment was already well trained. It was looking at the old man who was walking in the snowstorm towards it, but it did not seem like there were traces of snowstorm on his body. It was as though he was walking in a different dimension.

　　That was not the only strange thing about this man. Through observation, it felt as though his body was giving out an indescribable fluctuation of divine Qi. While looking deep into his heart and soul, the black tiger’s heart filled with awe.

　　From all these observations by Xiao Hei, it clearly proved that the old man was extraordinary.

　　In Shen Lian’s eyes, it was a different scene. Regardless of how profound the old man was, he was not stronger than Shen Lian. However, Shen Lian was unable to make a precise judgment about how profound the old man’s cultivation experience was. It was because the old man’s solid mana that was accumulated after countless years. Shen Lian could not help but to bemoan about his insignificance in the face of this great old man.

　　This old man was like a Qi cultivator who had been cultivating since ancient times. If one were to savor it, he could taste an ancient aura with a long passage of time.

　　The old man spoke from afar, “State Preceptor could detect me so easily. You really do have a supernatural power, knowing all that is under the heaven, as what I’ve heard from the rumors. But what’s even more praiseworthy is that you’re not even old, and you’ve not even the at the age of eighty. It really amazes me.”

　　He gasped with admiration upon looking at Shen Lian because Shen Lian did not use any extra action or trick to connect the vital forces of heaven and earth, he did so naturally. Shen Lian was always at the mysterious state of the unity between universe and human. This mountain was still a creation of the universe, but in fact, it already became almost a part of Shen Lian. Thus, when the old man appeared, he was instantly discovered by Shen Lian.

　　The fact that Shen Lian could easily connect with the universe was something that he had been going after in his entire life. The feeling inside his heart was indescribable upon seeing how Shen Lian could do this at this young age.

　　On the other hand, after he heard the old man’s speech, Shen Lian was slightly touched because the old man said that he was not more than eighty years old which were the years he added up after three generations. The fact that the old man could clearly know made this point had made him even more mysterious again.

　　He said, “You didn’t come for nothing, how about following me to the Qing Xuan Cave to have a chat inside?”

　　“Thanks for your hospitality, national advisor.” The old man softly caressed his white beard. With one step, he reached the cliff outside of Qing Xuan Cave.

　　Soon, two persons and one tiger had entered into the Qing Xuan Cave. Shen Lian used the chanting technique and instantly, there were a stone table and chairs in the stone room in which all resembled nature itself of the highest quality. There were also a variety of illustrations on them that were filled with celestial fun.

　　Then, Shen Lian took out a canteen and goblets and he poured two cups of water which had the aroma of a wine.

　　Upon seeing the water in the goblet, the old man said, “State Preceptor is really generous. There are only nine wine springs in this world and each wine spring produces no more than ten drops a day. I’ve been living for so many years but I’ve only had five cups in my entire life. It’s surprising that this is my first meeting with the national advisor and yet you’re already willing to serve me with this.”

　　“This was gifted to me by the Boyi Tribe. I have another jar here. If you like it, you can have it,” Shen Lian never had a concern about material possessions. If he was in a good mood, he could gift even more precious things to the others.

　　Moreover, when he reached the stage of Taiyi, the things that he created would have spirits, and he would be able to create a majority of the priceless treasures in this world.

　　The old man smiled and said, “It’s alright. The taste of the wine would not be as good if it isn’t shared with people like State Preceptor, you.”

　　Shen Lian responded with a deeper meaning, “It looks like the five times when you drink this wine, you must be with some extraordinary people.”

　　The old man said, “State Preceptor is right. This wine was tasted the very first time when I was with Si Wenming. As for the rest of the four times, the taste of the wine was slightly worse than the first time.”

　　Shen Lian soon realized that the old man was trying to uncover the fact that he was a Qi cultivator of the same generation with the king founder of Xia Kingdom through the topic of wine. Instantly, he understood the old man’s identity, then he smiled, “So you’re Peng Boshou from the Dapeng Kingdom.”

　　The old man was surprised, “I didn’t expect the national advisor to know who I am.”

　　Peng Boshou was a very old Qi cultivator. A long time ago, he accidentally took an exotic fruit which was one of the immortal spiritual medicine that mortals could take without side effects. Peng Boshou was originally a mortal. After taking the immortal spiritual medicine, he had nothing to worry about the shortening of his life anymore. From another point of view, he was no different from the walking celestials of the earth.

　　Later on, he traveled around the entire world and began to learn some techniques on the cultivation of Qi. Besides, he also learned some supernatural power and even became friends with Si Wenming. After Xia Kingdom was established, a manor named the Dapeng Kingdom was given to him.

　　The Dapeng Kingdom was located at the east of Dongyi which was surrounded by Yellow Springs. Three hundred years ago, the overflowing Yellow Springs flooded and inundated the Dapeng Kingdom. From then on, nobody knew the whereabouts of Peng Boshou.

　　Even the seniors in Xia did not know much about this mysterious secret. Little did the old man expect that Shen Lian could see through his background so easily.

　　Then, he was clear about the reason and he continued saying, “It seems that the rumor that the national advisor has a good relationship with Guan Longzi is actually true. I’m pretty sure he had shown you all the various types of ancients books and records of Xia. I remember that he didn’t allow when I wanted to go to take a look at Xia’s ancient books.”

　　Shen Lian said, “An elderly senior like Uncle Peng shouldn’t have many mysterious secrets that you don’t know of. Why’d you have to take the trouble to go to Xia’s library to find out about something?”

　　“I’ve been concentrating on the augury methods since thousands of years ago. Then, I gained some knowledge about it and predicted that I’d have to face a trial of death but I couldn’t find out the origins of it. This is a serious matter and thus I wanted to borrow the fragmented River Map from Xia’s library to improve my augury technique so that I’m able to find out everything about the trial of death in advance in order to escape from it. I didn’t expect that Guan Longzi wouldn’t want me to look at it,” Peng Boshou said.

　　Shen Lian drained the cup of wine with one gulp, his mouth was filled with the exquisite taste of the wine. After pondering over the wine, he said, “I think Uncle Peng doesn’t need the fragmented River Map anymore since you can clearly calculate the cause of trial of death, I’m sure your augury technique is already perfect. Could it be that your trial of death has anything to do with me?”

　　Upon hearing what Shen Lian said, Uncle Peng got up from his seat and he held his greenish jade bamboo crutch and approached Shen Lian in an attempt to gift it to him, “National advisor, please save me.”

　　Shen Lian’s eyes fell on him, then he said, “Uncle Peng, why do you have to do that? You can be frank to me about what’s on your mind.”