Chapter 301: Getting Too Bold

Li Banfeng had been thinking about the oil pot the whole time, but the moment he stepped out, he ended up in an oil lake.

How could an oil lake have suddenly appeared?

Wasn't I at Xiaoyao Fort? How did I end up in this place again?

A few ripples of light glimmered on the lake's surface, but no stars could be seen in the night sky above.

Is this new land?

Or is it old soil?

Oil has very little buoyancy and high viscosity, so swimming in it is extremely exhausting.

Li Banfeng looked at the distance to the shoreline—it was rather far—so he turned his gaze to the small island in the center of the lake, less than a hundred meters from him.

Logically, he should swim toward the shore.

But after swimming just a few meters toward the shore, Li Banfeng sensed something was wrong; some kind of creature in the oil lake seemed to have locked onto him.

No matter what type of creature it was, fighting in the oil lake would likely give Li Banfeng no advantage.

Get to shore first and assess the situation.

Li Banfeng quickly swam to the side of the small island, covered in oil from head to toe; the stones on the island were also drenched in oil, and he couldn't climb up.

The moment he stepped out the door he fell into an oil lake, and being so focused on swimming, he nearly forgot about his magic treasures.

Among the magic treasures on his person, there was still one that could fly.

Li Banfeng patted the Tang Dao and the wine gourd; the Tang Dao flew to the shore, and the wine gourd used its liquor to wash away the grease on the scabbard. Li Banfeng grabbed the scabbard and arrived on shore along with it.

The island wasn't large; he could see the end of it at a glance.

There was a spring in the center. Li Banfeng stepped forward and sniffed it—the spring held water, not oil.

He took out the wine gourd and said, "Sister, give me some good wine so I can wash this grease off me."

The wine gourd was also uncomfortable: "Wash sister clean too, all sticky and gross, it's really unpleasant."

The Tang Dao, however, didn't feel uncomfortable: "This is top-grade oil—just wash the handle for me, no need to wash the blade."

The pendulum also knew the oil was of fine quality, but worried Li Banfeng would find it distasteful, and for a moment didn't know whether it should wash or not.

Li Banfeng washed his body clean and washed his clothes too, but had nothing to change into.

Oil was everywhere around him, and Li Banfeng didn't dare light a fire, so he simply stayed naked and waited to slowly air-dry.

The gloves were also washed clean and, mixed in with the pile of clothes, quietly slipped a few banknotes out of his wallet.

Li Banfeng looked around in all directions, quietly observing this unfamiliar place.

It looked very familiar, as if he had been here before, yet he couldn't recall the exact time or experience.

Gazing at the lake surface rippling in layers, Li Banfeng finally figured it out.

He had been here in a dream.

In the dream, he and his wife had sat together on a cruise ship, spending a romantic stretch of time amid the calm sea and the afterglow of the setting sun.

But what I dreamed of then was the sea—why have I ended up on a lake?

Could it be that something abnormal happened in my dream?

Li Banfeng patted the wine gourd. The wine gourd had just finished washing and said with a coquettish complaint, "With so many people watching, stop patting my peach—do you really think sister has no shame?"

Li Banfeng asked, "While I was sleeping, did I do anything unusual?"

The wine gourd thought for a moment: "Nothing unusual, just said a few lines of sleep talk."

"What sleep talk?"

"You kept saying 'oil lake'—I suppose this must be that place?"

I said oil lake…

"What I clearly said was oil pot!"

Li Banfeng was very angry.

Last time it was because he looked at a photo of Black Stone Slope, and Leaving Leaving Suishenju pulled Li Banfeng straight to Black Stone Slope.

This time it was because he mumbled a few words about an oil pot, combined with some scenes from his dream, and Leaving Leaving Suishenju pulled Li Banfeng to an oil lake—to a place he had never seen before.

Leaving Leaving Suishenju has been getting a bit out of hand lately.

Dragging me all over the place would be one thing, but you didn't even bring the key—you never once considered how I'd get back.

I need to find a chance to have a talk with him.

After waiting over an hour, his clothes were half-dry; Li Banfeng made do and put them on, thinking about how to leave this place.

The wine gourd reminded him: "Little brother, we've washed ourselves this clean—aren't we going to have to swim back to shore later?"

Li Banfeng didn't want to swim in the oil anymore; he kept feeling that unknown creatures were still watching him, and more than one.

He looked at the island's environment—some wild grass, but no trees; the idea of building a raft seemed unworkable.

Besides building a raft, is there any other way?

Judge's Brush!

Li Banfeng took out the Judge's Brush, drew a circle on the spot, and pointed at the shore: "Let's go there!"

After waiting about ten minutes, the Judge's Brush said two words: "Too far."

Li Banfeng said angrily, "You've been resting all this time, and flying a few hundred meters feels far to you?"

The Judge's Brush took a deep breath, summoned all its spirit, and said four words: "Rest two more days."

Li Banfeng wanted to throw the Judge's Brush into the lake, but in the end couldn't bring himself to do it.

With the Judge's Brush out of commission, Li Banfeng turned to the Tang Dao and asked seriously, "Do you know sword-riding flight?"

The Tang Dao answered earnestly, "I am a blade."

"That doesn't matter—as long as the mood is there!"

The Tang Dao's cultivation had improved quite a bit recently. Li Banfeng grabbed the scabbard, and it really could carry him into the air—but after flying about ten meters, the Tang Dao suddenly dove toward the lake surface.

"What are you doing!" Li Banfeng cried out.

Tang Dao strained to control their direction, carrying Li Banfeng flying back to the small island.

"My lord, there's a cold wind dragging me toward the oil, I really can't control my body. Please let me try once more!"

Li Banfeng looked at the golden-yellow lake surface and couldn't help shivering.

The shiver came for no reason at all. According to the Qu Ji Bi Xiong technique, this was an omen of great peril.

Let Tang Dao try once more?

Better not.

Was there a more reliable method?

Li Banfeng gathered his few treasures together and discussed a plan. The newly arrived projector offered its idea.

"I can try. I can project a boat onto the lake surface, but I need a stable flying anchor point."

When it came to flight stability, the Pendulum was undoubtedly the best. Though its strength was limited, suspending a projector shouldn't be too difficult.

The hardest part was controlling the projector's light source.

This projector used a candle flame as its light source. If the candle flame so much as spat out a spark, anyone could imagine what state the oil lake would turn into.

Whether it could hold steady depended entirely on the Pendulum's skill.

The Pendulum flew in midair, suspending the projector over the lake surface. The projector cast a small boat onto the lake.

Li Banfeng boarded the boat, brought all his treasures along, and rowed slowly forward across the lake surface.

The Pendulum flew along slowly with the boat.

Steady, must be steady.

Li Banfeng rowed steadily, the Pendulum flew steadily, and the projector's projection was also very steady.

The small island was seven or eight hundred meters from the shore. About halfway there, a sudden gust of wind blew through!

The image swayed, and Li Banfeng cried out: "Hold steady!"

The Pendulum tried its hardest to steady itself, but failed.

The projector kept swaying, and the projection swayed with it. If not for the traveler's good coordination, Li Banfeng would surely have fallen into the lake.

After barely waiting for the wind to stop, just as Li Banfeng was about to row forward, a spark appeared on the lake surface.

It had fallen out of the projector.

Because of the earlier jolting, no one had noticed.

Li Banfeng watched the flames rising from the lake surface, grabbed the double oars, and rowed furiously toward the shore!

Too late!

In the blink of an eye, the lake surface became a sea of fire, and the small boat caught fire along with it.

Things created by the projector had physical form, and things with physical form were affected by the environment.

The projector tried to restore the small boat, but the speed of restoration was far slower than the speed of the burning.

Li Banfeng grabbed Tang Dao and said: "Go!"

Tang Dao tried to fly, but beneath the raging flames the air currents were chaotic, and he couldn't take Li Banfeng airborne.

A blade is a blade, not a vehicle. Faced with this situation, there was no way to respond for the moment.

At the critical moment, Li Banfeng could only jump into the lake, hide beneath the oil surface, and swim underwater to the opposite shore.

Beneath the oil surface, a massive creature was swimming. Li Banfeng had already seen its outline.

At this dilemma, he suddenly heard the Judge's Brush say: "It's fine."

What's fine?

The Judge's Brush meant the distance was fine.

The full distance was too long, but half the distance was no problem.

He carried Li Banfeng along with all the treasures to the shore. Once on land, Li Banfeng burrowed into the sandy gravel and rolled around for a while, first putting out the fire on his body.

When he stood up and looked at the oil lake again, the fire on the lake surface had also gone out.

The mirror-like lake surface occasionally rippled, as if nothing had happened at all.

Li Banfeng felt danger approaching, packed up his treasures, and immediately hurried on.

Quite a bit of his hair had been burned off. The Pendulum kept comforting Li Banfeng: "Master, don't worry. When we get back I'll fix you up properly, I guarantee the hairstyle will look better than before."

Li Banfeng had no time to worry about hairstyles. He walked faster and faster.

After walking over two hundred meters, Li Banfeng suddenly slipped underfoot, staggered a few steps on the spot, and stopped.

He looked toward the roadside.

A middle-aged man of about fifty sat by the roadside, looking up at Li Banfeng.

"Leaving already?" the man asked with a smile.

Li Banfeng looked at the man's face. His features were fairly regular—eyes a bit small, eyebrows a bit thick, the bridge of the nose slightly low, the tip very round. He looked like a kindly-faced middle-aged man.

But his skin's luster was really too good. Under the night light, it gleamed, and beads of oil occasionally slid slowly down his cheeks.

"Since you're here, could you keep me company for a chat? It's been so long since anyone talked to me." The middle-aged man's tone carried a plea.

Li Banfeng looked at the ground beneath his feet—only mud and sand, not the slightest trace of oil.

Why was there no trace of oil, yet his feet still slipped?

The reasons might be complicated, but there was only one conclusion.

This oil-covered middle-aged man's strength far surpassed Li Banfeng's.

A few words of chat wouldn't hurt. Li Banfeng looked at the ground. The middle-aged man smiled and gestured that Li Banfeng could walk.

Li Banfeng sat down beside the middle-aged man. Out of habit, he offered the man a cigarette and asked: "Are you the master of this place?"

"This is indeed my place." The middle-aged man nodded, but did not accept Li Banfeng's cigarette.

Li Banfeng saw the cigarette was covered in oil stains and sheepishly pulled it back.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man quickly explained, "I'm not disgusted by your cigarette—it's just that I don't feel like smoking today. I've been a bit overheated the past couple of days, and a lot of pimples have popped up on my face."

Li Banfeng took a look, and indeed there were quite a few pimples on the middle-aged man's face, especially on his nose; most of them had whiteheads, and the pus inside looked ready to burst out.

The middle-aged man touched his nose and gave a wry smile. "These pimples are especially uncomfortable—burst the moment you touch them, and you can't squeeze them out."

Li Banfeng advised, "You can't just squeeze them randomly. You have to wait until they're ripe, then you can squeeze them out."

The middle-aged man looked at Li Banfeng very seriously. "Which one do you think is ripe?"

Li Banfeng pointed at one pimple and said, "I think this one's about ready. See how the whitehead has already turned black? Just apply a little force and it'll squeeze right out."

The middle-aged man found that pimple, pinched its base, and with a squeeze of his thumb and forefinger, the tip of the pimple swelled up rapidly.

Boom!

The pimple burst, and a blob of grease shot out, landing beside the pimple.

One pimple popped—how could it make such a huge commotion?

This was no mere pimple.

Li Banfeng looked toward the lake. The small island in the center of the lake flew into midair, carrying a massive amount of grease, and landed on the shore across the oil lake.

The pimple had been squeezed out, and the wound was streaked with blood.

The originally golden-yellow oil lake had turned red.

The middle-aged man, with a sour-and-refreshing sense of satisfaction, looked at Li Banfeng and smiled.

He asked Li Banfeng, "Do you know where you've arrived?"

Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment. "I think… I think I've come onto a face."

The middle-aged man laughed and rubbed his nose. "You bet you have—you climbed right up my nose to get here!"

PS: One pimple, one lake—just how big is this guy's face?

(End of this chapter)