Chapter 81: Peach Blossom Source

Outside were still mountains, endlessly repeating mountains, layered upon layered, like ripples formed when space crumples on a tiny scale.

After Yu Sheng recovered from the heart-pounding acceleration, deceleration, and dizziness of this journey, he saw those "endlessly repeating mountains" Hu Li had described.

The continuous mountain ranges stretched like spreading ripples, extending infinitely within his field of vision; between the mountains, a hazy mist shrouded everything, and amidst the swirling fog, no outline other than "mountains" could be seen.

Yu Sheng frowned tightly, staring for a long time at those mountains in the distance that seemed copied and repeated infinitely, then suddenly remembered the coffee shop where he had met Bai Liqing—back then, that coffee shop had also repeated and extended infinitely just like this, all the way to the end of his vision.

But the situation was different in one aspect: that coffee shop only repeated and extended infinitely in the front and back directions; besides that, at least its street-facing display window remained a clear "boundary," yet these surrounding mountains in front of him... no matter which direction he looked, no clear "end" could be seen.

"This... there shouldn't be an end if we go out, right?" Erin grabbed Yu Sheng's head, peering anxiously across the mountain ridge, "Should we keep moving forward?"

Yu Sheng fell silent, simultaneously gathering his focus, recalling the perspectives he had "seen" when first establishing a connection with this valley, while sensing the surrounding environment.

After a while, he suddenly bent down, casually picked up a small stone from the ground, and threw it forcefully toward the distance.

The stone flew into the air, yet vanished before everyone's eyes before it could hit the ground.

"Eh?" Erin, seeing this scene, let out a sound of surprise.

Yu Sheng walked forward slowly, arriving very cautiously at the spot where the stone had disappeared.

Ahead, it seemed there was nothing, yet it felt as if an invisible "boundary" existed; he bent down again, picked up a small pebble from the ground, and gently tossed it forward.

This time, he saw the process of the pebble disappearing much more clearly—it instantly passed through a "limit," and at the very moment it vanished, a brief and faint ripple spread through the air, just like on water.

Yu Sheng raised his head, looking along the ridge line to both left and right.

He felt it.

The mountains rose and fell, then converged at a distant end, while that invisible boundary enveloped the entire valley on all sides, reaching from the sky above down to the ground below.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Yu Sheng finally took a light breath and stepped forward to continue walking.

"Hey hey hey! You're really going forward!" the small doll suddenly shouted loudly on his shoulder, "I feel this is a bit eerie! If we go over, will we just..."

Before she could finish speaking, Yu Sheng had already crossed that invisible boundary; accompanied by the spreading of a slightly trembling ripple in the air, a brief sensation of weightlessness appeared and then vanished, and before their eyes blurred, the two of them were standing again somewhere in the center of the valley.

"... can't come back..." Erin was still shouting out of habit, and only after finishing the last two words did she snap out of it, looking around in disbelief, "Ah, we're back?"

Immediately after, she saw a larger ripple appear beside her, and the huge silver-white demon fox passed directly through the air, appearing beside her and Yu Sheng.

"Benefactor!" Hu Li, as soon as she arrived, searched anxiously; seeing Yu Sheng and Erin standing safely nearby, she relaxed, and carefully rubbed Yu Sheng's body with the tip of her tail, "You suddenly disappeared, you scared me!"

"Space closes at the boundary and points unidirectionally toward the region's center," Yu Sheng thought for a long time before finally breaking the silence, "I just don't know if other foreign realms have this same structure."

Erin listened, stunned, and after a long while finally reacted: "So, no matter what, we can't walk to the 'outside'?"

"There is simply no 'outside'," Yu Sheng shook his head, "This valley is the only 'valid' area in the entire space; the infinite mountains we just saw were actually 'shadows' endlessly superimposed and reflected in curved spacetime due to the spatial closure at the boundary; if you observe carefully, you will find they are actually infinite copies of the high mountains surrounding this valley."

Erin widened her eyes, and after a long time finally showed an expression of realization: "... Wow."

Who knew if she truly understood or just pretended to.

Then after a while, Erin poked Yu Sheng's head: "What do we do next?"

Yu Sheng turned his gaze to the silver-white demon fox beside him.

"Since this place will no longer generate physical entities, but has become a stable place... perhaps we can properly rebury your parents, at least erect a formal grave mound, what do you think?"

The fox girl tilted her head, and after a moment, she nodded gently.

Finding the burial site of Hu Li's parents didn't take much time, and for the current Yu Sheng, erecting a grave mound was not difficult either.

The two skeletons hastily buried back then were cleaned and gathered again; Yu Sheng caused the ground to sink and solidify, forming a regular tomb, and caused the stones to interlock and fuse, forming a sturdy stone coffin—compared to healing a large expanse of land and rapidly growing vegetation, this series of operations was actually very simple for him.

The skeletons were placed in the stone coffin, the stone coffin was placed in the tomb, the earth wriggled and covered them layer by layer, and a grave mound quickly took shape.

"We still need a tombstone," Yu Sheng looked at the grave mound in front of him, and noticing a hint of confusion in Hu Li's eyes beside him, he explained further, "Placed in front of the grave, serving as a memorial..."

Hu Li immediately nodded: "I'll go get it."

As her words fell, the silver-white demon fox turned and ran toward the distance; accompanied by a series of roars tearing through the air and a sonic boom, she vanished before Yu Sheng and Erin's eyes almost in the blink of an eye.

Then, not long after, she returned in a rush, making a loud rumbling noise, with a strange silver-white metal plate held in her mouth.

It was about half a person's height.

"This was a gift my mom and dad bought for me," Hu Li put down the metal plate and explained to Yu Sheng, "It was... a musical instrument; at the time, I insisted on joining a hobby class, so they bought this for me, but I didn't get a chance to learn... now, it's broken too."

Speaking, she skillfully curled up the metal plate with her tail, stuck it into the earth in front of the grave, and patted it with her claws, pressing the soil as hard as stone.

"Actually, a tombstone isn't this..." Yu Sheng muttered subconsciously, but stopped halfway and swallowed his words, "Never mind, if you think this is suitable, then it is."

"In our place, there are no such rules," the silver-white demon fox lay down beside the grave and gently (this time really gently) rubbed Yu Sheng's arm with the tip of her nose, "After demons die, a small part of their bones is kept as a memorial, such as teeth and finger bones; after immortals die, their hair is kept; besides that, the body returns to nature, or is refined by descendants into artifacts to serve as a memorial; in any case, no extra 'burial' is needed. Additionally, some people extract their spiritual intelligence while still alive, returning it to the Great Dao; the spiritual intelligence becomes immortal, and the body can be abandoned to heaven and earth."

As she spoke, she shifted her head on the ground, turning her gaze toward the brand-new grave.

"But I heard immortals say that, a very, very long time ago, before the people from the sky arrived, there were also rules for burying the dead; back then, people would very solemnly bury their ancestors' bones or store them in bone-holding pavilions, but that was very ancient; according to what is taught in the academy, that is called 'before the interstellar era,' a cultural characteristic when civilization was still thriving within the gravity well... after leaving the gravity well, people's thinking and survival methods will no longer have a strong connection with the 'surface,' concepts of life and death ethics will be reshaped, so 'funerals' will change accordingly."

Erin, listening beside her, was stunned: "I feel like you're saying something very profound..."

"It's all taught in the academy, and I can't remember much knowledge anyway; back then... my grades weren't very good." Hu Li's large tail swept back and forth on the ground, and then she fixed her gaze on the grave mound in front of her.

After falling silent for two or three seconds, she spoke softly: "This way is actually quite good; in the future, I can come here to talk to mom and dad... Benefactor's suggestions are always very reasonable."

Yu Sheng said nothing, simply walked over and sat beside the silver-white demon fox, leaning against one of her large tails.

He wondered about Hu Li's homeland, trying hard to imagine what a "demon-immortal civilization" that had already left the surface and could travel among the stars would look like, thinking about how to find that place in this vast universe; then these thoughts gradually faded from his mind, he emptied his brain, and gazed blankly into the distance.

He looked at this "foreign realm" that would no longer generate physical entities, would no longer produce poison or corruption, and was tightly connected to himself.

This place... could it be regarded as a "base camp"?

But what could such a huge "base camp" be used for... for people to live in? His team now, counting himself, only had three people; besides, he already had a house at No. 66 Wutong Road; that house, however old, was more livable than the wilderness... for farming? He didn't know if vegetables could be grown in this foreign realm; the light was quite sufficient, and grass could grow on the ground... maybe it was feasible; if grass could grow, then grains and vegetables could grow too... even more boldly, raising cows and sheep wouldn't be impossible either...

Yu Sheng felt he was almost falling asleep; leaning against Hu Li's fluffy large tail, the feeling of comfort and relaxation made his thoughts seem to float and drift in a cotton ball; he imagined many chaotic things, and then couldn't help but laugh at some ideas that were too outrageous.

The small doll on his shoulder suddenly brought her face close: "What are you thinking about?"

Yu Sheng spoke seriously: "I'm thinking about what this place can be used for in the future; the current preliminary plan is to level the wasteland around that broken temple and plant some radishes, beans, and cabbage."

Erin: "...?"

(End of this chapter)