365: Let me see what this martial art is all about.

Regarding the Water Ghost mentioned by the Boatman, Shen Bei felt it was nothing special.

It was simply that the Water Ghost merged with the Lengshui River, moving freely and invisibly in the river, making it difficult to eliminate.

But under Shen Bei's blade... wasn't it still dead?

Once the Water Ghost's home ground was cut off, it was nothing.

Shen Bei continued to leisurely sit on the deck at the bow, enjoying the scenery along the way.

Actually, there wasn't much to see on both banks of the river.

Shen Bei yawned and sprawled out, falling asleep.

He had to get good sleep during the day, because he still needed to rest at night.

Two boring days passed.

The Boatman also docked the small boat.

"After going ashore, pass through Shenxiu City, and about ten kilometers further, you'll reach Shenxiu Lake," the Boatman pointed to another direction on the shore.

Shen Bei jumped off the boat, waved his hand, the Boatman's task was complete, and with a push of the oar, he returned.

Shen Bei's current location was the pier.

The pier was connected to a city of considerable scale.

There were also waterways leading into the city.

Looking from afar, there were many pavilions and towers, scattered like chess pieces in an orderly fashion, with many boats of various sizes passing through them.

In Shen Bei's opinion, these waterways must surely connect to Shenxiu Lake.

Shen Bei walked along the bank towards the interior of the city.

It must be said, this place was truly bustling.

It was the most prosperous city Shen Bei had ever seen among all the cave cities.

On the river, there were also some pleasure houses, with flower boats coming and going, and on the flower boats were exotic women from the pleasure houses, holding pipa half-hidden, these flower boats went back and forth by the lakeside, looking at the people on the shore, if a girl had someone she was interested in, then a serving maid or a flower boy would invite the person the girl was interested in onto the boat, to go to the pleasure house together.

Shen Bei was also stopped by several people, inviting him onto a flower boat to enjoy the romance.

Actually, these few exotic people were just pimps.

Although it sounded like an ineffable tale of talented women and beautiful men, worth writing into poems for circulation, in reality, they were just soliciting customers; some people with unstable Heart-Nature, seeing the beautiful girls on the boat, would be blinded by greed and be persuaded in a few words.

Once on the boat, once in the house, those who held beautiful fantasies would still dream of a romantic love affair with the flower girl that could only be understood, not expressed.

But in reality, most would drink flower wine, and perhaps not even see the girl's bedside before vaguely paying a large sum of money, often waking up sober the next day with a long period of regret and sorrow.

Indeed, no matter where, this kind of intimate affair is an evergreen business.

Shen Bei was not a creature driven by his lower body, and moreover, he was a fake exotic person.

After declining, Shen Bei had a question: "Old Bi, do you think there's a reproductive barrier between humans and exotic people?"

This question stumped Zhuang Bifan. After a while, his voice came from inside the mirror: "This is a topic worth researching."

"Haven't there been any experiments in this area domestically?"

"I don't think so. What the hell would an infant created like that be? It's too against moral and ethical Dao."

"Ha." Shen Bei smiled silently: "Wu Bi'an said that in the ancient times of the cave, exotic people and humans were the same species."

Zhuang Bifan retorted with an example to Shen Bei: "According to evolution, in the end, humans evolved from fish, are they the same species?"

"Are you arguing?"

"Are you getting agitated?"

Shen Bei scoffed.

There were still a few days until the tide surge of Shenxiu Lake.

Shen Bei found an inn and settled down.

Shen Bei had also visited the location of Shenxiu Lake in advance.

He particularly enjoyed strolling by the lakeside of Shenxiu Lake, feeling the breeze, and then later in the evening, finding a tall building, standing or sitting by the railing to gaze out.

Sunlight spread from the horizon, casting upon the calm Shenxiu Lake, the afterglow and watercolors reflecting each other. Looking from afar, one could see sailboats silhouetted against the crimson, like fallen leaves on water, like specks in agate.

A word or two cannot fully describe this creation; three or four stars fell from the sky, full of moon glow; five or six lamp towers reflected the water's splendor; seven or eight beautiful verses and tales; ninety people at the ends of the earth's surface.

The pleasure houses on the lake were all lit up, looking even more beautiful, like lotus flowers blooming in the water, waiting for people to pick them.

At the same time.

On a street near Shenxiu Lake.

Looking down the street, it was a sea of lights, even more people were submerged by this sea of lights, dense and crisscrossing ropes hung with various lamps, obscuring the people walking below. Looking from afar, no figures could be seen, only brilliant lights.

The scene was grand, there were many exotic people, it was no exaggeration to say that everyone was out. In this June weather, even though it was shoulder to shoulder, extremely crowded, the wind from the lake blew over, stirring people's heartstrings, making their bodies feel cool, but their hearts were still burning.

Stacked flower lanterns, sedan chair lanterns, flower-lattice lanterns, ground tree lanterns, house lanterns, hanging cloud lanterns...

Most were red, orange, and yellow, but this did not give a sense of monotony at all; the sheer variety of lamp shapes, whether sharp, soft, graceful, or magnificent, was already dazzling.

Although the essence of a lantern festival is to gather people together to create a lively atmosphere, thereby expressing some meaning or harboring some hope, the rich content truly was a feast for the eyes.

Actually, what surprised Shen Bei the most was that in such a large lantern festival with so many people gathered, and using relatively dangerous oil and candle-fueled ground lanterns, no one deliberately came out to maintain order. Tourists and pedestrians could reach a subtle consensus at that point; even though it was crowded, there was no pushing and shoving, and it didn't give people the oppressive feeling of being crowded.

On the contrary, everyone leisurely strolled and watched the lanterns in unison, and when they encountered some lanterns with riddles, they would gather in twos and threes to guess the riddles and win small trinkets.

The scene was quite harmonious.

Shen Bei only wandered outside for one day.

Besides wanting to scout Shenxiu Lake in advance, he also wanted to try his luck to see if he could spot Heaven-Shaking Slave and others in the dark.

He didn't see them, in the end.

For the next few days, Shen Bei planned to "Cultivate in seclusion."

The so-called seclusion was Cultivation.

He had obtained a Cultivation Technique from Wu Bi'an.

Since throwing it into his Storage Ring, he hadn't even looked at it until now.

He didn't know what kind of Cultivation Technique it was.

Shen Bei still had a trace of worry. Wu Bi'an was a Da Shouzi,

and very likely a Cultivator of the Divine Ability Realm from the world across the sea.

Just from the lineup of Vicious Beasts guarding the nine-story pagoda, one could tell that his strength was unfathomable.

A Da Shouzi's Cultivation Technique must be a good thing.

He was just afraid it was too good, requiring too high a level of Cultivation, which he might not be able to complete.

This was like the pony crossing the river.

Wu Bi'an was a tall horse, while he was just a chicken.

The height of their understanding was definitely not on the same level.

With anticipation.

Shen Bei took out the book.

He opened it.

The text inside was beyond Shen Bei's expectations.

It wasn't exotic script, but a type of clerical script of Chinese characters!

Shen Bei was startled.

"Holy crap!"

Shen Bei had no time to look at the content of the text; just this clerical script font made Shen Bei tremble all over!

This script had a flat, wide shape, with many angular folds in its structure, and strokes that varied in thickness, forming waves and upward flicks.

"One wave, three turns; silkworm head, swallow tail."

It was already very close to Chinese characters.

This is... did Wu Bi'an mean they were from the same source, was it true?

Otherwise, how could there be a Chinese character Cultivation Technique on an exotic person?

Hiss...

Oh my goodness.

"It seems there's a deeper connection between the cave and the earth's surface..."

Shen Bei muttered to himself.