362: The increasingly prosperous cave

After the barrier that Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan broke into completely collapsed, the two of them didn't know where they appeared.

The only thing that was certain was that it was definitely not near Hongye Town.

It might have been a spatial crossing.

At this moment, Zhuang Bifan's left arm was torn when he attracted monsters to buy time for Shen Bei.

If it were in the past, Zhuang Bifan would undoubtedly be extremely grieved, as even if the arm was reattached successfully on the earth's surface, there would still be hidden injuries on the left arm, preventing him from performing at his normal strength.

However, at this moment, they were not flustered at all; there was still Shenxiu Lake that could reattach an arm without damage.

Thinking about it, even Heaven-Shaking Slave came down to reattach his arm, so it was definitely not a legend, but a fact.

Zhuang Bifan could not travel quickly, partly due to his injury, and partly because his human appearance and aura would 100% attract attacks from the Outsiders.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of finding Shenxiu Lake.

So, the task of traveling was left to Shen Bei.

Shen Bei wore an odd object mask on his face; this item had a corrosive effect on the original appearance.

Not to mention Shen Bei, even Bai Wei was affected, with indiscriminate erosion.

But now, he had to wear it even if he didn't want to!

Shen Bei carried him, flying through the air, with the cloud bed slowly drifting above his head, more and more scenery coming into view. The mountains were majestic and continuous, like coiled Dragons, entrenched on the earth's surface. The vegetation was dense, either green or red, a riot of colors, with many varieties. Hidden among the trees were groups of Vicious Beasts, their roars and bird calls incessant.

Observing the whole from a single point, a vibrant surge of life immediately washed over him.

Shen Bei continuously scanned his surroundings, like an eagle searching for signs of prey.

Now, Shen Bei needed to find a populated area to inquire about the specific direction.

And then ascertain the location of Shenxiu Lake.

Finally, after flying for about five hundred li, the scenery changed. Mountain ranges lay across the earth's surface, some a hundred li short, others stretching a thousand li.

After thousands of mountains, Shen Bei had just flown halfway.

His sixth sense suddenly pricked him like a thorn in his back.

Without thinking, Shen Bei immediately stopped flying and rapidly descended, finding a large tree to hide his figure.

He focused his gaze forward.

From within the bare black mountain, a white bone beast head, tens of meters high, emerged like an illusion, and then two hundred-zhang-long bone wings unfolded. An Outsider made of white bones flew out of the black mountain, circling the vicinity of the black mountain, constantly patrolling.

This Outsider was entirely made of white bones, shaped like the skeleton of a giant bird, but its head resembled a crocodile or a flood Dragon, and its tail had a thick, massive bone tail. Its entire skeleton was like jade and gold, and densely packed Dao patterns were imprinted upon it. Countless runes burning with black fire, like living creatures, constantly moved in and out of its bones.

With a spread of its wings, the cries of ten thousand ghosts faintly echoed in the air, and its two eyes projected two thick black lights, continuously scanning the area around the black mountain.

Shen Bei exclaimed, "Holy crap."

No matter what kind of strange Vicious Beast this was, he definitely couldn't afford to provoke it.

Fortunately, he discovered it early, otherwise a head-on collision would truly be a 'GG' for him.

He instantly applied the Hidden Breath Technique to himself, to prevent this Outsider from discovering him and endangering his life.

The next moment, the giant white bone beast suddenly turned its head, and the black light bursting from its eyes covered an area of about a li, continuously scanning where Shen Bei had just hidden. Wherever the black light shone, all colors were lost, turning into black and white, and even shadows dissipated.

After the Outsider's gaze swept for a moment and found no abnormalities, it continued to patrol for a while, then plunged into the black mountain, disappearing without a trace.

"Phew~~"

Exhaling a mouthful of turbid Qi, Shen Bei, with a pounding heart, leaped out from behind the tree and slowly resumed flying through the air.

"The Catacombs truly live up to their name; danger is always present."

Shen Bei sighed.

If this were on the earth's surface, where would there be such brutal monsters and Vicious Beasts? He could walk sideways without a care.

The dire Catacombs...

Shen Bei flew low over the mountains, his thoughts slowly drifting.

The completion rate of this mission was good.

Above the Martial God is the Divine Power Realm. As for how to enter the Divine Power Realm, he probably only knew by going to the other side of the sea.

Another so-called Martial Dao Pinnacle was Longevity, and going deeper, Eternal Life.

That is to say, in the Catacombs, Longevity was not a vague legend.

Wu Bi'an was probably at this Realm; if he hadn't been backstabbed, he could have lived for at least a thousand years?

Shen Bei had no comparative data on this, so he could only make wild guesses.

But one thing was certain: to achieve Longevity, one either went to the other side of the sea, or experienced the hardships of the human world, trying every profession to deepen one's understanding.

The other side of the sea was almost a dead end; only the Da Shouzi of the Central Continent knew how to get there.

Or rather, how the Outsiders from the other side came here.

"When I came over a few days ago, an Outsider said that the barrier on the other side of the sea was loose..."

Shen Bei frowned: "Perhaps this is also an opportunity."

"Forget it, there are still a few Ranks until Martial God; thinking about these things now is useless."

Shen Bei was currently a Five-Rank Martial Artist; there was still a long way to go on the path to becoming a Martial God.

Haste makes waste; he would take one step at a time, focusing on stability.

Of course, Shen Bei also had some unanswered questions. Wu Bi'an said that Outsiders and humans were the same race in ancient times.

This was a bit too much...

Combined with the fact that some cultures in the Catacombs were very similar to ancient cultures on the earth's surface.

Shen Bei had a faint guess: were the Catacombs a fractured space-time from ancient times?

This answer indeed gave him a headache. Shen Bei stopped thinking about it; when the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.

Unconsciously, Shen Bei flew at a low altitude, crossing these sprawling mountains.

At a glance, Shen Bei's expression shifted.

He saw cities, like chess pieces, scattered neatly between the mountain ranges, with winding water veins, as if a large net connected all the cities.

Upon seeing signs of human habitation, Shen Bei instead became less hurried. He flew for a while longer to observe, and casually counted, finding nearly a hundred cities and villages. Qin Yang couldn't help but be secretly amazed; to support nearly a hundred cities in such a small area, the abundance of resources and fertility of the land here were probably far beyond his expectations.

Moreover, this was only what he saw along this path; adding other directions, a quick calculation suggested that with such a population density, the surrounding thousand li radius probably had over a hundred million people.

And most importantly, with so many people living here, their confidence was not ordinary; either they were confident that no humans would dare to attack, or they were confident in their ability to repel enemies from a thousand li away.

Whatever the reason, it indicated one thing: the strength of the Outsiders in this surrounding area was extraordinarily powerful!

After Shen Bei completed his circuit, he entered the city with a group of Outsiders from a hidden corner.

Most of these Outsiders were merchants and farmers who went out to cultivate land.

Shen Bei seemed to have a natural affinity, and quickly blended in with this group of Outsiders.

After all, when he was working, he could get along with laborers, let alone mere Outsiders.

One must know that there was also competition among laborers.

If you took a job, others couldn't.

For Outsiders like these, who had no conflict of interest, Shen Bei could handle them in minutes.

During their conversation, he learned that the city before them was called Hengshan City.

When he inquired about Hongye Town, these Outsiders began to shake their heads, all saying they had never heard of it.

Alright then.

Shen Bei still had to spend money to find a Immortal Storyteller in the city to inquire about information.

Of course, anything that could be solved with money was not a problem.

Time to enter the city!