Chapter 271

Lu Fang did not stay longer in Beiyacheng; after bidding Bai Yu farewell, he left under cover of night, but did not go far—instead, he sat quietly by a tranquil lake on the outskirts, pondering what to do next.

Clearly, this trial in Beiyacheng had failed.

He had never anticipated encountering something like this.

Two matters now demanded his attention: first, the Wu Di Army in the Scorched Lands—he had received word from Shen Kangbo that the Great Zhou army would soon establish a garrison there.

Previously, he had ordered the Wu Di Army to camp in the Scorched Lands precisely because of the region’s chaos.

But now things might not go as planned.

He considered whether to relocate the Wu Di Army’s base.

After weighing all possibilities, Lu Fang decided to let the Wu Di Army remain in the Scorched Lands for now and observe the situation; if things truly turned dire, withdrawing later would still be timely.

The Scorched Lands were vast; even if the Great Zhou army had ample troops, they would likely only guard key sealing sites and lack the manpower to manage the rest.

Moreover, war with the demon barbarians continued in both northern and southern borders, leaving the Great Zhou with few spare soldiers to spare.

The second matter requiring thought was Shen Kangbo’s intelligence network—he had inadvertently learned that Bai Feng was a key figure in the Shen family’s intelligence operations, and that His Majesty had close ties with both men.

Lu Fang had a bold thought: perhaps the Shen family’s intelligence was not truly under Shen Kangbo’s control, for he sensed the shadow of His Majesty behind it all.

There was no evidence—only a feeling.

He had not dwelled on it before, because the Son of Heaven had treated Shen Kangbo with little warmth; yet after the Great Zhou’s official gazette spread widely, the Shen family, as its driving force, reaped immense benefits—and correspondingly, their intelligence reach had expanded to an absurd scale.

Yet Shen Kangbo showed no urgency.

A man who became the wealthiest in Great Zhou should not have overlooked the danger of overwhelming the sovereign’s authority; the only plausible explanation was that he was acting on behalf of the Son of Heaven, hence his utter confidence.

Thus, the last time the Son of Heaven sent Lu Fang to Wuyincheng to persuade Shen Kangbo had merely been a ruse.

Lu Fang thought for a while and exhaled in relief—he had not used the Shen family’s intelligence network to do anything harmful to Great Zhou.

Henceforth, whenever he used the Shen family’s connections or intelligence network, he must think thrice before acting.

After resolving these two matters, Lu Fang deliberately avoided thinking about Li Yu, for he did not know how to handle their current relationship.

Two choices now lay before him.

One was to return to the Imperial Capital and force himself to write the Elegant Journey to the West—but he quickly dismissed this option.

He did not know whether the Dao of Heaven would permit him to complete the Journey to the West; if he failed to finish it, he would receive no reward.

Even the first few chapters alone would likely not enable anyone to awaken the transcendent power within, for the novel’s power was too extreme—the Dao of Heaven must impose limits.

In that case, he would merely waste time and energy, making no progress in either cultivation or overcoming the Dao of Heaven’s restrictions.

Thinking thus, Lu Fang could only choose the second path: continue wandering and deceive the Dao of Heaven—but with this experience, he felt he needed to refine his methods.

For instance, he could manipulate his realm.

This time, his realm had been too high—there had been no need for it; once a cultivator’s realm rises too far, he ceases to encounter most mundane affairs.

That was certainly not beneficial to him.

He needed to become an ordinary person—or even someone worse than ordinary—so he could see the other side of this world.

He also planned to choose a place and settle there for a while; rushing in and out would cause him to miss too much.

Previously, he had been too eager; now he wanted to try a slower pace—perhaps unexpected gains would follow.

Regarding the Elegant Journey to the West, he also believed he could balance both during his travels: train by day and silently transcribe by night, thus constantly sensing whether his trials were bearing fruit.

The Infinite Secret could seal his strength and memories for a fixed duration—Lu Fang judged this feasible.

He acted immediately, quickly disguising himself as a thirty-something man with a full beard—a commoner with no cultivation base, though physically stronger than most; yet after thinking it over, he remained unsatisfied.

So he transformed again, becoming a crippled, destitute man.

As for his name, this time he was Lu Youfang; after memory alteration, he was a hunter who, after injuring his leg, could no longer hunt and now sought work in a secluded town or city to survive.

The Infinite Secret’s seal would automatically lift at night, allowing him to write the Elegant Journey to the West; by day, he would reactivate it.

Having completed all this, the horizon far away had just begun to lighten.

Lu Fang shed his disguise, rode the wind, and vanished into the distance—he needed to find a place first; after traveling for a full day and night, he finally settled on one: Shuixiang Town.

A place surrounded by mountains on three sides and a lake on the fourth, its residents mostly lived by hunting and fishing—perfect for seclusion, though its one flaw was extreme remoteness.

After triple-checking the location, Lu Fang disguised himself as Lu Youwei—in an instant, he became a crippled man seeking livelihood, his clothes patched all over, his appearance subtly altered.

Last time, though ugly, he had been ugly-charming, with a touch of allure.

To prevent any emotional entanglements again, this time Lu Fang made Lu Youwei’s appearance rough and plain.

Entering the town, Lu Youwei walked the streets, asking each shopkeeper if they needed help; his demands were low—he would do anything legal.

He asked only for standard wages and food and lodging.

Yet even this simple request caused every shopkeeper who saw his limp to wave him off.

Some were polite; others were cruel, hurling insults to drive him away.

Lu Youwei trudged along, head drooping, asking and asking again, yet securing no job—somehow, his chest felt heavy; though he did not cry, he was deeply pained.

He had to keep smiling through rejection, for without work, he might sleep on the streets—his copper coins barely covered three days’ food.

Fortunately, one shopkeeper, pitying him, told him to try by Shuixiang Lake—there, if he was willing to work hard, he could earn enough to live stably in town.