363: Don't look directly underwater

After Shen Bei entered the city in his 'Outsider' guise, he first booked an inn and rested briefly.

Then he went out and found a teahouse. Seeing that there was a Immortal Storyteller inside, he walked in.

It was the same old routine; he tipped generously, becoming the top patron.

After Immortal Storyteller finished his storytelling, he came over to express his thanks.

Shen Bei took the opportunity to inquire about some news, chatted for a while, and then left.

Back at the inn.

Shen Bei said to Zhuang Bifan inside the Mirror World, "This time, we've made a huge leap. We are now a thousand li away from Hongye Town."

According to Immortal Storyteller, Hongye Town, located on the Lengshui River, is not close to Hengshan City.

It's a full thousand li away.

No wonder the Outsiders entering the city hadn't heard of it; it was simply too far.

Even on earth's surface, where information and communication are developed, some people are vague about how many towns are in their county.

Let alone the Underdark, where communication is so backward.

At this moment, Zhuang Bifan gasped, somewhat surprised, and said, "It's no different from instantly crossing a thousand li!"

Shen Bei nodded, sniffing, "A Da Shouzi is indeed a Da Shouzi. The spatial inverse compression of the barrier… truly amazing."

"What was the strength of that Wu Bi'an? Did you figure it out?"

"No, it was just a wisp of Divine Soul remnant. Or perhaps he had strength that my abilities couldn't discern."

"You should have inquired about it."

Shen Bei shrugged, "It's not like I'm investigating a household registry; digging deep isn't necessary. At least I know that Wu Bi'an's strength in his lifetime definitely surpassed a Martial God."

Zhuang Bifan 'Oh-ed' with great curiosity, "Is there really a Realm beyond Martial God?"

Since leaving Wu Bi'an's tomb, Shen Bei had been searching for a path and hadn't elaborated much to Zhuang Bifan.

Now that this topic came up, Shen Bei spoke bluntly, "Yes, it's called the Divine Power Realm. But entering this Realm is not easy. Perhaps the Outsiders of the Central Continent have a way, and the world across the sea has even more methods."

"That makes it a bit difficult then…" Zhuang Bifan sighed.

"It's not something for us to worry about. We're just small fry; we still have a long way to go before reaching the Martial God Realm."

After speaking, Shen Bei paused, then spoke again, "Do you want to hear what the Martial Dao Pinnacle is?"

Zhuang Bifan's voice quickly came from the mirror, "No, you can tell Bai Wei later. Right now, I only want to know how far we are from Shenxiu Lake and if we can make it."

Shen Bei rolled his eyes. Zhuang Bifan had said before that he didn't want to hear about the Martial Dao Pinnacle, and it was still the same. Shen Bei had thought he was just pretending, but he didn't expect him to actually be able to resist.

Shen Bei smiled, wiped his mouth, and put on a standard, irritatingly smug expression, "Oh, that's far, several hundred million li."

"Do you think I'd believe that nonsense?"

Shen Bei laughed, lay on the bed, and corrected himself, "Our luck is good. The direction we came out in wasn't south of Hongye Town, but north."

"Now we are only a short five hundred li from Shenxiu Lake."

Zhuang Bifan was extremely excited, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Shen Bei lay on his side, propping his head with his hand, "What's the rush? I asked, and Shenxiu Lake still needs ten days to open. There's no point in going early. Tomorrow, we'll head west for fifty li, reach the Lengshui River, then rent a boat and slowly make our way there."

Zhuang Bifan agreed, as long as they could make it to Shenxiu Lake.

After a while, Zhuang Bifan suddenly remembered something and said with some concern, "Can Shenxiu Lake heal a group of people, or just one person? Heaven-Shaking Slave is a big problem; we can't beat him."

Shen Bei had already thought about this question but kept it to himself.

"How many it can heal, Immortal Storyteller truly doesn't know…"

Shen Bei sighed leisurely, "I don't think it could be just one person, right? Otherwise, Outsiders would have heard about it and described the brutal competition. Since there are no such rumors, it means that the Outsiders who went for healing in the past were all satisfied."

Zhuang Bifan smacked his lips, "Let's hope so."

"Don't worry, even if it can only heal one person, I'll find a way to arrange it for you."

Shen Bei's guarantee was a bit hollow.

Zhuang Bifan, of course, could tell, but he was not polite, "There's nothing Shen Bei can't do."

Shen Bei: …

"I was just being polite. Are you really going to put me on the spot?"

"This is called motivation."

"How about some money… Wait."

Shen Bei's eyes suddenly lit up, and his thin lips formed a baffling smile, "If I help you sort it out, you just give me one yuan as payment, how about that?"

Zhuang Bifan was stunned for a full minute before asking, "What kind of trick are you playing?"

Shen Bei's eyes curved, and he smiled, waving his hand, "Never mind that, are you giving it or not?"

"You have no ambition." Zhuang Bifan's tone was somewhat disdainful, "I'll give you two."

"Oh, double the joy! Haha."

Zhuang Bifan: …

The reason Shen Bei made this request was that he wanted to help, turning it into a task. As long as there was money as a settlement, the settlement panel would be activated.

This time in the Underdark, besides the bounty board's acquisition tasks, Shen Bei didn't want to waste any opportunity to gain attribute bonuses.

Shen Bei estimated that after leaving this time, once the tasks were submitted, becoming a Six-Rank Martial Artist was a certainty.

He might even kick open the door to the Seventh Rank Martial Artist Realm.

"The Underdark is really powerful," Shen Bei muttered.

Night fell very quickly; there was no transition, and then it was dark.

Shen Bei ate some simple food, chatted with Zhuang Bifan about some details, and then went to bed.

…

The next day.

Shen Bei carried the Floor-Length Mirror out of the city.

He proceeded west along the road.

Hengshan City was still some distance from the Lengshui River port.

Looking into the distance, below were lush mountain ranges, winding like Dragons, sprawling across the earth's surface. In the distance were towering mountains and rugged, oddly shaped rocks, a range of stone mountains with diverse forms.

Shen Bei walked unhurriedly with many Outsider teams heading to the port.

More than two hours later.

They arrived at the port without incident.

This port was not as prosperous as Hongye Town; it was more like a village.

Fortunately, the boats on the Lengshui River also stopped here, picking up passengers and unloading cargo.

This time, Shen Bei no longer wanted to take a passenger boat.

So he rented a small boat.

The Boatman was a burly Outsider.

He had rich experience in crossing rivers and rowing boats.

"We will need about three days to reach Shenxiu Lake."

The Outsider Boatman said while rowing the oars.

Shen Bei nodded, sitting upright on the bow deck, looking out at both sides of the riverbank.

It was still a landscape of rolling mountains.

In the low valleys between the mountains, a river meandered with clear, gurgling water, where fish and shrimp frolicked.

In the winding river, the wooden boat left ripples on the water.

The current was not fast, and the wooden boat moved leisurely, making Shen Bei on board appear particularly relaxed.

After half a day of travel.

Shen Bei suddenly heard several strange 'thumping' sounds.

It sounded like something was knocking against the bottom of the boat.

Shen Bei turned his head to look at the river water outside the boat.

Just then, the Boatman shouted, "Oh no, that sound is… a water ghost! Don't look, quickly close your eyes!"

Shen Bei: ???

What would happen if he looked?