Chapter 45

Over the next few days, while Li Youyi and Zhao Meng practiced, they also earnestly studied the language and script of this world, wanting to master them completely as soon as possible.

As they got closer to Nine Licheng, the Suihe became wider, like a calm lake, with passenger ships, painted pleasure boats, and massive warships passing by like a thousand sails crossing the border.

After nightfall, every ship hung bone lamps or lanterns painted with pictures of ladies. The lamplight reflected in the water, the sky was dotted with stars, and the water surface was filled with singing and dancing—a scene of prosperity and peace.

The entire Suihe runs through the north and south of the Lingxiao Life Realm, and its main channel flows through the territory of seven states. Because there are many tributaries and lakes, it is rich in aquatic products and has convenient transportation, with an influence that can reach more than a dozen states.

Thus, the behemoth-like Sui Sect came into being. It not only clears the dangerous evil spirits, departed souls, and water bandits from the Suihe basin, making shipping smoother and more developed, but also controls the right to speak on various water transportation and trade, earning a large amount of silver.

Hundreds of years have passed, and the Sui Sect has leapt from being a trade and transport assistant under the Nine Li clan in the past to a giant sect in the Lingxiao Life Realm, its influence and momentum even faintly suppressing the Nine Li clan.

At this moment, Li Youyi and Zhao Meng stood by the railing on the bow deck, looking out. Many of the ships' wind flags bore the character "Sui." The passenger ship they were on was no exception.

Li Youyi said: "What is Senior Brother thinking about?"

"The great river flows east, washing away the romantic figures of the ages; look to the present for true greatness," Zhao Meng said with great ambition.

Li Youyi smiled: "Is this a poem?"

"That's about the meaning! Youyi, as men, we must get ahead. In this world, we must accomplish a great undertaking. Why don't we expand the Chan Sect to be even bigger than the Sui Sect? When the time comes, if the Eldest Senior Sister hears the name of the Chan Sect, she might even take the initiative to find us," Zhao Meng said.

Li Youyi said: "That makes sense, but we must first gain a firm foothold in this world."

"Boom—"

"Splash!"

On the wide river surface, it churned violently, and the waves surged.

An evil spirit resembling a giant python, yet also like a green dragon, swam rapidly on the river surface, occasionally revealing its head and occasionally flipping its tail. It was locked with dense iron chains, on which scriptures floated, and the other end was connected to a brightly lit, luxuriously decorated warship.

Not long after, it caught up and sailed side-by-side with the passenger ship Li Youyi and the others were on, only two or three zhang apart.

Viewed closely, the evil spirit in the water, looking like both a python and a dragon, was actually over twenty meters long and as thick as a water barrel, with broad green fins on its back and a powerful aura. On the opposite ship, there were crowds of attendants and servants, and the clothes worn by the maids were bright in color and intricately embroidered.

"Is this a dragon?" Zhao Meng's eyes showed no fear, but rather great interest.

He was in dire need of dragon blood.

"It's a Green Chi; the dragon blood in its body is very thin."

Li Ling walked over along the corridor. Her injuries were mostly healed, and she had changed into new clothes and wore a jade hairpin. In the eyes of the passengers on the ship, she was like a fairy descending to the mortal world, and they all watched from afar.

On the luxurious warship three zhang away, a man and a woman walked onto the deck and waved at her.

"Sister Li Ling... it's me, Yang Yun!"

"Whoosh!"

Magic energy surged from the young man's body, and he leapt into the air, stepping on the void. He actually crossed the distance of three zhang and landed steadily on the ship where Li Youyi and the others were.

Yang Yun was only a year older than Li Ling and wore brocade robes that looked terrifyingly expensive, but he was by no means a playboy. The magic energy he had just released was far more formidable than that of Yan Qingqing and Fang Tong.

His face was full of joy, not hiding his happiness at all, and he said excitedly: "Sister Qingxi and I heard in Yao Guan that you were injured, so we drove the Green Chi day and night to catch up, and we finally did. Thank heaven and earth, seeing your complexion so good now, I think your injuries are no longer a major problem."

Li Youyi ignored the pleasantries and the meeting on that side, his gaze attracted by the pure immortal-bodied woman on the opposite ship.

She was a bit older than Yang Yun and Li Ling, and taller, without the childishness of a boy or girl. Her clothing was intricately embroidered and woven, branded with scriptures, and she wore a water-blue ru skirt over a light green inner garment.

Of course, what attracted Li Youyi was not her beauty or temperament, but her unfathomable cultivation base.

Just watch.

With a wave of her finger, strands of white magic energy mist built a cloud bridge between the two ships. Then, amidst the river breeze, she crossed the bridge lightly, slowly, and gracefully, stunning countless people on the surrounding ships; surely they would all have a good dream tonight.

Yang Qingxi walked up to Li Ling, and her eternally icy, beautiful face finally melted: "You're injured, why are you still blowing in the cold wind outside? How do the servants in your family look after their master?"

Her gaze fell somewhat sternly on Zhao Meng and Li Youyi.

Although Zhao Meng was huge, in this world full of freaks, there were all kinds of creatures, so the Yang siblings did not show the slightest surprise.

Just like that twenty-meter-long Green Chi, it was only fit to pull their ship.

Li Youyi did not want to explain too much and was about to leave with Zhao Meng. But Yang Yun was too enthusiastic; hearing that they were Li Ling's servants, he immediately took out Gushing Spring coins and gave one to each of them.

This was equivalent to ten thousand copper coins!

With such generosity, the two naturally couldn't refuse, so after accepting them, they thanked him repeatedly.

"What's there to thank for? It's just two Gushing Spring coins. A few days ago, when I broke through the Eighth Spring Fengfu, the rewards from the sect, the family, and the State Governor's Mansion added up to fifty thousand silver. Although it's a little less, it's free, so why not take it?" Yang Yun laughed.

"That's the logic."

Li Youyi and Zhao Meng naturally agreed repeatedly, quickly tucked away the Gushing Spring coins in their hands, and then quickly left the deck.

In the corridor, they met Zhao Zhizhuo.

"Why are you two so happy?" Zhao Zhizhuo asked curiously.

"Hurry up and go pay your respects to your Fourth Miss; I guarantee you'll be very happy too."

After saying this, the two laughed and walked away.

After laughing, they quickly fell into silence, no longer having their previous ambition.

Instead, they felt that they were the most ridiculous ones.

A boy of only sixteen or seventeen, yet he had already opened eight springs, and his cultivation was far above theirs. In this world, there are too many geniuses and too many experts; it's no wonder others treat them as servants.

Perhaps the servants of others are even stronger than them.

So-called superior talent might just be the threshold for practicing magic and martial arts.

Zhao Meng said: "I hope that one day, we can also use Gushing Spring coins to reward servants casually. Only then can we truly have status and dignity."

On the bow deck, Li Ling smiled: "Your Sui Sect is really well-informed. I only appeared briefly in Yao Guan, and you already knew my exact whereabouts."

Yang Yun said: "Sister Ling being injured is such a major event; of course, the people below have to report it to us."

Yang Qingxi knew that Li Ling had something behind her words and didn't want to continue talking about this, so she asked: "I heard that you encountered an attack by the Buddha-Crossing thieves during your coffin salvaging this time. Was your brother injured?"

"If Sister Qingxi wants to be my sister-in-law, you'll have to put in more effort recently; my brother seems to have someone he likes," Li Ling blinked and smiled.

They didn't stay together for long before Yang Qingxi and Yang Yun said goodbye and returned to the Green Chi ship.

Yang Yun didn't want to leave and wanted to travel with Li Ling, but was forcibly taken away by Yang Qingxi.

The next morning.

Li Youyi had just woken up when Zhao Zhizhuo came to visit, telling him that they would arrive at Nine Licheng by noon at the latest.

Standing by the railing and looking out, on the riverbank, a mountain range always stretched across the west bank of the Suihe, with peaks standing like a forest, covered in clouds and mist, like a thousand-mile wall supporting heaven and earth.

When the river channel was close to the mountain range, it was pitch black, as if it were about to collapse over them.

When the river channel was far from the mountain range, one could see the peaks inside layer upon layer, very steep and deep.

Zhao Zhizhuo said: "The Langshan mountain range is the western boundary of Lizhou. It is said that in the mountain range, every peak is the tomb of an ancient emperor. The saying of the Langshan Emperor Tomb Group comes from this."

"Crossing the Langshan mountain range is the endless Nether Realm of the Dead; that is a forbidden zone for life... at least a forbidden zone for humans."

Li Youyi had an understanding of the Nether Realm of the Dead; it is said that the Nether Realm has no boundaries, so vast that even Longevity Realm experts cannot reach the end.

"Doesn't that mean Nine Licheng and the Nether Realm of the Dead are only separated by one Langshan mountain range?" Li Youyi couldn't understand why Nine Licheng was built in such a dangerous place.

"It wasn't like this before! A thousand years ago, the Nine Li clan ruled the land of the Nine States, and the entire Lingxiao Life Realm was as vast as three hundred states. The number one person in Lingxiao, Chan Hai Guan Wu, was an existence that could deter the Nether Realm. It was that world-destroying catastrophe that caused ninety percent of the Lingxiao Life Realm to be swallowed by the Nether Realm of the Dead; now only twenty-eight states remain," Zhao Zhizhuo sighed and was unwilling to say more.

Returning to the cabin, Li Youyi consulted the remnant corpse in the stone coffin and Senior Lingwei.

After hearing this, both fell into a long silence.

They also didn't know the reason; when they left, the Lingxiao Life Realm was still fine. Clearly, they were also caught off guard by the current situation.

Before the passenger ship reached the pier, martial artists riding exotic beasts or flying birds came to investigate from time to time on the shore and in the sky, constantly going back and forth.

Cang Li was already waiting at the pier.

The young talents accompanying him were mostly children of powerful clans, outstanding people from the academies, and proud daughters of the sects. Each of them drove exotic beast treasure carriages, looking to Cang Li as their leader.

The first genius of the Cangli tribe in a thousand years is definitely not an undeserved reputation. With a pure immortal body, he broke through nine springs and entered the Five Seas Realm. Such talent and such cultivation speed, if placed in those thousand-year-old gates and thousand-year-old sects, would definitely be the "First Successor" or "Second Successor" representing the sect walking the world.

Such a young generation figure naturally had countless followers in Nine Licheng.

The so-called thousand-year-old gates and thousand-year-old sects refer to those that have been passed down for at least a thousand years, possess at least ten thousand magic and martial artists with superior talent, and must also possess ten million people who can be directly influenced—all three conditions must be met.

(End of chapter)