The midday sun beat down on the broad flagstones of the central avenue.
Thousands of wandering cultivators, sect envoys, and wealthy merchants had gathered outside the newly christened Taichu Myriad-Blessings Mall. They packed the sidewalks and tea-house balconies ten people deep, craning their necks to stare at the plaza.
Lined up in five neat columns sat one hundred Taixu Class Flying Spirit-Boats.
Their hulls were fifty feet long, forged from deep-sea spirit-iron that gleamed with dark blue luster. Pure wind-arrays hummed beneath their rudders, causing the heavy ships to hover two inches above the stone paving. The air smelled of hot pine oil and spirit-iron polish.
Lin Mo strode out the grand double doors of the mall. Behind him walked Su Wan, Chu Lingxiao, Grandma Chen, Little Guo’er, and newly promoted President Xiao Bai, who held her glowing presidential terminal firmly against her chest.
Little Guo’er held a bamboo stick with three candied hawthorns, her bright eyes wide with delight as she pointed at the blue ships. “Look, Brother Lin! Big flying fish! Can we put dragon bells on the front so they jingle when they fly?”
“If you want dragon bells, Master Bram will hammer some out before sunset,” Lin Mo said with a gentle smile.
