The people in the town gathered around the damaged boat, exchanging cryptic glances, but no one spoke.

It was truly a strange scene. When they first discovered the boat was damaged, everyone had dropped what they were doing and rushed over, but now that they were here, it seemed the boat’s damage wasn’t that important.

Chu Xinghui focused on observing their expressions and furrowed his brows.

He felt like these people seemed… too similar.

It wasn’t that they looked alike outwardly, but they shared a collective consciousness, as if controlled by the same force.

It was as though they were all puppets controlled by the same hand. No matter how hard they tried to distinguish themselves, they still revealed the same core in the finer details.

The old man who had been helping gather passengers earlier in the day had just returned home when he heard the bad news. He hurriedly rushed back.

Seeing the large hole in the boat’s bottom, his expression turned terrified. He didn’t even take off his shoes and stumbled through the water to check the boat’s condition.

Clearly, it wasn’t natural damage, but intentional destruction.

The old man’s eyes turned bloodshot as he scanned all the onlookers, his expression manic: “Who did this! Who did this!”

The crowd remained silent, watching without a word.

The old man stared ominously at the others: “The boat is broken. Don’t think you can just leave. If the island lord gets angry… none of you will get away easily.”

Chu Xinghui’s heart stirred.

This was the second time the old man had mentioned the “island lord.”

Who exactly was this “island lord” in the general public’s mind? Was it the known Cultivator Baiyun, or someone else?

Moreover, judging from the old man’s tone, it seemed that people here couldn’t leave at will.

But when he had seen people earlier in the day, they came and went freely, clearly not trapped in any way.

The crowd showed no emotion at the old man’s words, remaining silent as if they were simply present, indifferent to how the boat had been damaged or the consequences of it.

The old man noticed Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng, the two outsiders, and cast them a few dark looks. However, not seeing any sign of trouble, he turned his attention back to the boat.

Chu Xinghui, fearing that Xie Liufeng might be exposed and hunted, quickly scanned the area for escape routes.

He then subtly tightened his grip on Xie Liufeng’s hand, prepared to quickly escape if anything went wrong.

But this was clearly not Xie Liufeng’s limit, he could be even more troublesome.

As the cause of the incident, Xie Liufeng showed no signs of guilt. Instead, he actively Mingled with the crowd, offering solutions: “I see the boat is old, so why not take this chance to replace it with a new one?”

He intentionally adjusted his tone and blurred the direction of his voice, making it unrecognizable in the crowd.

The old man, frowning, scanned the crowd but didn’t see who was making these bad suggestions. He raised his eyebrows and angrily shouted: “Who’s talking nonsense? This boat is the only one used for ferrying outsiders across the sea. How can we just replace it?”

Xie Liufeng continued offering new ideas: “If we’re not replacing it, we can just fix it, after all, the hole isn’t that big.”

He smoothly changed his tone again: “We’re all neighbors. If you need materials, we can help find them.”

On his own, he created a clamoring atmosphere of collective problem-solving.

The old man felt something was off but, being angry, couldn’t focus on anything else: “Since you know, why are you all still standing here? Hurry up and gather the materials!”

Finally, the crowd started to move, splitting up into smaller groups.

Xie Liufeng still wanted to see if he could get more information, so he asked: “Don’t rush, old man. You haven’t said what materials are needed.”

The old man finally realized something was wrong. His gaze sharpened: “Who are you!”

How could these people not know what materials were needed to repair a boat?

Chu Xinghui pulled Xie Liufeng slightly to the right.

By now, most of the people had already dispersed, leaving a large open space, making it easier for them to run out if needed.

The old man’s gaze slowly swept over the remaining crowd, finally landing on Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng.

Disobedient outsiders…

He raised his hand, casting a spell towards the two of them.

The old man only had Qi refining cultivation, so he should pose no threat to them.

The attack he launched was weak and lacked any deterrent force.

But the spiritual energy in the attack was white.

Chu Xinghui had seen this white spiritual energy before, in the wooden building within the secret realm.

And in that wooden building, fragments of a divine name had been sealed.

Chu Xinghui’s heart sank.

What was this place?

Xie Liufeng gave him a look.

The two immediately fled in the direction that Chu Xinghui had already planned.

For now, both of them only had their souls, and there was no need to confront this strange force.

The old man immediately chased after them.

There must be something off about the sea. The two didn’t run towards the water, but instead, with their backs to the sea, they ran into the nearby low mountains.

After entering the mountains, the paths became increasingly winding and complicated.

After turning a few corners, the old man, who had been relentlessly chasing them, disappeared.

It was unclear whether he had gone back or got lost in the labyrinthine mountain trails.

The two wandered in the mountains for more than an hour before finally returning to the vicinity of the town.

It wasn’t that they wanted to return.

It was like they were caught in a loop in the mountains, no matter which way they went, they would always end up back near the town.

From a distance, they could see the town was bustling with people and brightly lit.

The broken boat was still in the same spot.

The people were gathered around the coast, holding fishing tools like wooden basins and nets, concentrating on catching things from the water.

Even the old man, who had been chasing Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng earlier, now held a net, sitting with the others and sailing a boat out to the nearby sea, fishing.

Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng didn’t continue to circle the mountains, they found a spot where they could observe the actions in the town and temporarily stopped.

It was already quite late, and Chu Xinghui, sitting next to Xie Liufeng, couldn’t help but yawn.

This eerie place was strange, the feelings of hunger and sleepiness couldn’t be avoided.

Xie Liufeng noticed his movement and pulled him closer, bringing him to his side: “Are you tired? Sleep for a bit. I’ll watch over you.”

He had entered later than Chu Xinghui, and still had enough energy.

Chu Xinghui didn’t force himself to stay awake, and nodded.

The two found a clean spot to sit. Chu Xinghui leaned against Xie Liufeng, closed his eyes, and soon his breathing became even.

The presence beside him was very reassuring. Not long after, Chu Xinghui had fallen asleep soundly.

Xie Liufeng glanced at his partner, then pulled him closer into his arms.

This wasn’t exactly a safe place. Chu Xinghui didn’t dare to sleep for too long. After a while, when he had regained enough energy, he forced himself to wake up.

He pressed his temples, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he asked Xie Liufeng beside him: “How long did I sleep?”

Xie Liufeng estimated the time: “Not long, about an hour. Those people are still fishing over there.”

He was impatient with watching them fish and had started to find his own amusement.

Chu Xinghui sighed in relief, noticing that Xie Liufeng was fiddling with a bunch of grass, which made him curious: “What are you doing?”

Seeing Xie Liufeng’s actions, he guessed casually: “Are you making a grasshopper?”

Xie Liufeng had thought about making a grasshopper at first, but it was too ordinary. He decided to innovate.

He skillfully twisted the grass stems with his fingers and solemnly corrected him: “No, I’m making a dog. I’m planning to weave a dog with these grasses.”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

Xie Liufeng was always creatively eccentric in strange ways.

Well, if it was a dog, it was a dog. He couldn’t stop Xie Liufeng from having fun.

Chu Xinghui glanced elsewhere and saw Xie Liufeng’s spirit sword, which he had used earlier to cut the grass.

He asked Xie Liufeng: “Did you bring your spirit sword with you?”

Xie Liufeng glanced at his spirit sword and answered: “Like you, I brought the sword spirit in.”

Chu Xinghui reached out and poked the spirit sword that had transformed into a sword spirit: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your sword spirit.”

His own sword spirit was always flying around, and many people had seen it.

The spirit sword they both stayed with was now familiar to Chu Xinghui. When it sensed his touch, it nuzzled up to him affectionately.

Xie Liufeng laughed lightly when he saw Chu Xinghui poke his sword: “You haven’t seen it. You actually should’ve seen it a few times already. The form of the sword spirit after it’s transformed isn’t much different from the sword itself.”

Chu Xinghui thought of his own black bird and found that explanation oddly normal. He didn’t want to believe it: “It won’t turn into something like a bird, will it?”

Xie Liufeng said objectively: “It shouldn’t… After all, most sword spirits still consider themselves as regular swords, not as free birds.”

There was a big difference between inanimate objects and living creatures. A sword spirit accustomed to being a sword wouldn’t want to become an animal.

Chu Xinghui’s black bird… could only be considered a mutation, and a rather odd one at that.

The black bird, hearing some discussion about it, sneaked over.

It glanced at the spirit sword in front of it, folded its wings, and perched on Chu Xinghui’s shoulder, letting out a small, careful call with a slightly strange voice.

It still had some sense of safety and knew that Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng were watching, so it didn’t make much noise.

The spirit sword responded with a slight movement.

The black bird flew down and tentatively pecked at the hilt of the spirit sword.

The two sword spirits seemed to exchange something, and the black bird led the other sword spirit away.

Neither of the two noticed the sword spirits. Chu Xinghui shifted closer to Xie Liufeng and continued watching him weave the dog.

Xie Liufeng had a lot of free time and was quite skilled at passing the time with handicrafts. He quickly shaped the grass into a dog.

After a quarter of an hour, a grass dog was successfully made.

Xie Liufeng looked around and casually placed the dog on top of Chu Xinghui’s head.

Chu Xinghui: “…”

He shook his head to dislodge the grass dog, then played with it for a while in his hands.

It was actually quite cute.

Xie Liufeng smiled at him playing with the dog. Then suddenly, he sensed something and glanced in a certain direction: “Uh-oh.”

Chu Xinghui raised his head: “What happened?”

Xie Liufeng briefly said two words: “Sword Spirit.”

He pulled Chu Xinghui over, and the two of them found the two sword spirits, who were happily chatting in the distance.

The black bird flitted around Xie Liufeng’s sword spirit, as if it was per Forming some mysterious and illicit shamanic dance.

Xie Liufeng’s sword spirit had been convinced by the black bird and now thought that the bird shape was a suitable form for a sword spirit. It was trying to change its appearance.

It was wrapped in a layer of spiritual light and had already vaguely taken on the same bird-like outline as the black bird.

Seeing the two approaching, the sword spirit became excited and, with a loud “bang,” failed to transform and reverted to its sword form. It flew back to Xie Liufeng’s hand in embarrassment.

Chu Xinghui was quick and grabbed the troublesome black bird, holding its wings.

The two exchanged a glance and both sighed with relief.

One black bird was already hard enough to manage, if another one appeared, Qingjing Peak would probably never be peaceful again.

*

After handling the issues caused by the two sword spirits, the two walked side by side back, intending to check the progress of the villagers’ fishing.

Halfway there, the black bird suddenly struggled violently.

Chu Xinghui sensed that something was wrong with the bird in his hands and called out to Xie Liufeng: “Xie Liufeng, wait a moment.”

Xie Liufeng stopped and looked at him.

Chu Xinghui temporarily released the bird.

The black bird landed on the ground, circled around, and finally chose a spot to start digging.

It scratched with its two claws rapidly, soon scraping away the surface layer of soil.

It dug deeper and deeper, and the whole bird was soon buried in the hole.

Finally, the black bird stopped digging, jumped out of the pit, shook off the dirt, and called out to Chu Xinghui.

Chu Xinghui and Xie Liufeng stepped forward and saw what was in the hole: a pile of glowing white human bones, faintly retaining a golden glow.

These residual golden lights… were identical to what had been on Qin Suyun’s soul earlier.

The moonlight was frosty, and the surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the sound of wind rustling through the fallen leaves.

An old voice suddenly sounded from behind the two of them: “So, the materials for the repairs are here. It’s finally found.”

The two turned around and saw that the villagers had somehow appeared behind them, standing in a row.

There were no footsteps, nor any fluctuation of spiritual energy.

Xie Liufeng squinted his eyes, took a step forward, and stood in front of Chu Xinghui.

The elder at the front swept his gaze over the two of them and showed the same smile as he did during the day, enthusiastically inviting: “Guests, the boat will be ready soon. Do you want to cross the sea?”

 

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