Chapter 152: Rowing

Chapter 152 Rowing the Boat

Shang Yunduo pestered them relentlessly until he absolutely had to taste their fish. There were no fresh fish left, only dried fish. He bought a little to try and thought, no wonder the whole village craved it so much—it was delicious! Extremely delicious, and it was fish with spiritual energy.

But when he looked around, not a single one of all the herb gatherers in the small mountain village had a spiritual root. How on earth did they manage to catch this kind of fish?

The fresh, sweet taste even felt somewhat familiar, a little like the fish from the Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm.

However, when they followed the river all the way upstream, flying for nearly an entire day without stopping, and finally saw the truly boundless, vast sea within the mountains, Shang Yunduo was also shocked.

For the sake of a fish, these people were willing to go through all this trouble?

They had to fly for a whole day to get here. For those mountain villagers paddling their own boats upstream, it would probably take over half a month. A round trip would cost at least a month—all just to eat fish?

Pei Jie said, "Didn't you notice they are in better health than ordinary mortals? These fish contain spiritual energy, and they are digestible by ordinary people. Even though the villagers don't know about spiritual power, eating the fish improves their health, so naturally they treasure it."

Shang Yunduo thought about the people in the village—every single one of them was indeed in excellent health. Old and young alike were all full of energy. The entire village could be herb gatherers. In all their time traveling near the Boundary Mountain Range, this was the first time they had seen such a thing.

But…

Shang Yunduo squinted as he looked ahead. "This lake is way too big. Where is the Three-legged Turtle? I can't see it at all."

Pei Jie replied, "Let's go over and take a look."

They continued flying forward on the flying ship. The azure lake surface grew darker in color the farther they went. It was impossible to tell how many meters deep it was at its deepest point. The water was very calm, occasionally revealing swimming fish, both large and small. There were quite a lot of fish.

They hadn't flown long before they could see faint mist rising from the lake, appearing and disappearing in the bright sunlight. Before Shang Yunduo could even confirm if it was the Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm, the flying ship suddenly lurched. It felt as if the spiritual energy in his body had been drained away. Shang Yunduo quickly grabbed the cabin wall, thinking: does the Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm have this function now? They hadn't even entered yet!

Then he heard Pei Jie say, "Spirit suppression."

Shang Yunduo: "What?!"

The flying ship made a sharp turn and descended, retreating more than ten meters before finally managing to stop.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

He didn't sense any obvious formation. The Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm didn't have this function before. Could it be because of this lake?

"Senior, can this lake suppress spiritual energy?"

Pei Jie said, "As far as I know, there are only Spirit Suppression Arrays and a special type of ore that can seal spiritual energy."

But who would set up a Spirit Suppression Array over such a huge lake?

Even the Spirit Suppression Array spread across the Lin family's mountain estates wasn't as big as this one.

Shang Yunduo said, "Could there be something sealed at the bottom of the lake?"

Pei Jie smiled. "It would have to be an extremely rare ancient beast or a sealed Deity Transformation stage cultivator to be worth setting up such a large Spirit Suppression Array."

He looked down again. "It's more likely that there is an ore at the bottom of this lake that can seal spiritual energy."

And probably not a small amount.

He had seen that kind of ore before. If there was too little, it wouldn't have much effect—not as effective as a Spirit Suppression Array.

But now he understood why that big turtle had come here.

It naturally loved water, and with its massive size, it could swim to the center of the lake without using spiritual energy. However, those cultivators or beasts that could threaten it couldn't—without spiritual energy, many cultivators might be even worse off than ordinary mortals. Even if someone managed to chase it to the middle of the lake, it could just retract into its shell. With such thick armor, let anyone bite it. Even body cultivators or beasts would likely be helpless.

Now he also understood how those herb gatherers could catch fish with spiritual energy.

In a place where spiritual energy is suppressed, what difference did having spiritual energy or not make?

As long as they killed the fish within the spirit-suppressed area, once outside, why would they worry about the fish coming back to life?

He explained it briefly to Shang Yunduo, who immediately understood and couldn't help but praise, "It's so smart! No wonder it's a giant turtle that has lived for over ten thousand years! Senior, do you think some of the fish in the lake might have escaped from the Ancient Wilderness Secret Realm?"

Pei Jie said, "Possibly. Or maybe the fish from the lake swam into the secret realm."

"Mm..." Shang Yunduo asked, "So, should we go up there?"

Pei Jie thought for a moment. "Let's go up."

Spirit suppression was no big deal; they had a boat.

If ordinary mortals could come here to fish, why should they be afraid?

They parked the flying ship on the lake surface, hastily made four oars, took out essential supplies in advance, and then began rowing toward the center of the lake.

Shang Yunduo said, "Should we let the Spirit Rhino out early? What if, when we reach the secret realm, we find that spiritual energy can't be used inside and can't open the Spirit Beast Pouch? Wouldn't that be a problem?"

Pei Jie replied, "No need. Since they said that after entering the fog, companions disappear, it proves the formations inside the secret realm are still functioning normally."

If the formations were normal, then the interior of the secret realm wasn't spirit-suppressed.

Either the Three-legged Turtle had found a spot where the suppression wasn't so severe, or the formations inside the secret realm were self-contained and not affected by the spirit-suppressing ore in the lake.

Shang Yunduo started rowing.

He was at the stern, Pei Jie at the bow. They rowed and rowed and rowed. Shang Yunduo's arms were sore from rowing, and the boat kept moving forward, but it felt like they hadn't moved at all.

"Senior, I think this lake—no, this sea—it's huge!"

Pei Jie looked back. Shang Yunduo was completely blocked by the cabin; he could only see the oars splashing in the water. Suddenly, the boat's steady speed increased.

Splash.

Splash.

Splash—

After rowing vigorously for a while, Shang Yunduo let out a howl: "Ah!! I can't row anymore!"

Pei Jie laughed.

Shang Yunduo pulled the oars in, went around to the passage, and looked ahead. He saw Pei Jie also looking back at him.

Sigh.

If he had known this day would come, he wouldn't have built the cabin so high. He had been rowing for ages, putting in all that effort, and he couldn't even see the back of Pei Jie's head.

It was almost dark. The sun painted the entire lake a beautiful golden color. He trotted over to the front. "I'm out of energy. I need to recharge."

Pei Jie asked, "Recharge? What's that?"

"Like this!" Shang Yunduo crouched down and pecked Pei Jie on the lips several times. "Battery at ten percent!"

Pei Jie got it. Amused, he moved over slightly to make room for Shang Yunduo to sit beside him.

Shang Yunduo followed suit, taking the oar from Pei Jie's hand. "Let me, let me do it, Senior. I now think our boat is actually a bit too big."

Pei Jie: "Weren't you the one who wanted a big one back then?"

Shang Yunduo: "Back then..." His eyes glazed over. Back then, he had no idea he would have to row it himself!

Pei Jie: "Rest if you're tired."

Shang Yunduo: "I'm tired only because I can't see you. If you chat with me, I won't be tired. A kiss would make me even more not tired."

However, after rowing like this for several days straight, even Shang Yunduo, a Spirit-Body Dual Cultivator with demon bloodline at the Foundation Establishment stage, was pushed to his breaking point.

Shang Yunduo rowed while losing his mind: "Row, row, row on this huge lake! Is it secretly swimming forward? Why do I feel like it's even farther than yesterday?"

Pei Jie: "It's alive."

Shang Yunduo: "Why isn't it swimming toward us!! This big turtle sure knows how to pick a spot. I'm already sick of these so-called delicious fish—isn't it sick of them?!"

Pei Jie turned back to look at the dozen fish hanging on the boat to dry, and remained silent. He even suspected that when Shang Yunduo said "sick of eating," it was because they had prepared everything except fire, forcing them to eat everything raw. Shang Yunduo had been complaining because he had eaten too much raw fish and shrimp.

Shang Yunduo whined: "I really want to eat roasted meat..."

Pei Jie thought to himself, "Just as I suspected."

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo looked up at the sky. "Looks like it's about to rain!"

The mountain rain came on cue. They quickly packed up their things and ducked into the cabin. The rain had already grown heavy. In no time, dark clouds blotted out the sun, and the wind rattled the window shutters and rocked the boat.

They hurried out to retrieve the things left outside. By the time everything was moved into the cabin, both of them were drenched and disheveled.

Looking at the cabin full of stuff, Shang Yunduo, who had never been to sea before, was a bit dazed. Even Pei Jie, who had lived for over a thousand years, was taken aback.

The boat swayed more violently. Shang Yunduo lost his footing and crashed into the wooden crate that had just been brought in, knocking over the fish stacked on top. Pei Jie quickly pulled him aside, but the cabin erupted into another round of clatter. Fish slid against other fish, knocking over the basin of shrimp. The basin tipped the shelf, tipping half the fruit plate. The rolling fruits fell into the box of spirit stones, and the lively shrimp bounced all over the floor.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Pei Jie: "..."

The two of them stared at each other and couldn't help but laugh.

As Shang Yunduo cleaned up, he said, "I'll never complain about the boat being too big to row again. At least it's hard to capsize."

Pei Jie chuckled: "Let's take a break then."

Shang Yunduo: "Mm!"

The two changed into dry clothes and squeezed onto the couch. The already narrow couch had a third of it taken up by clothes, leaving even less space to lie down.

Shang Yunduo hung the wet clothes on the rack, grabbed a fruit that looked decent enough, wiped it clean, broke it in half, and gave half to Pei Jie.

Not being stored in a storage pouch, the fruit didn't stay fresh for long. After just a few days, it was already a bit dehydrated and wilted. Shang Yunduo took a bite—the texture was indeed off. He fell silent.

Pei Jie: "What's wrong?"

Shang Yunduo shook his head: "I just think being a cultivator is better. Once you're used to being a cultivator, suddenly being an ordinary person is really hard. Hey, don't eat the peel. Spit it out into my hand."

Pei Jie was startled: "What?"

Shang Yunduo: "I'll throw it out to feed the fish later!"

Pei Jie: "..."

With such strong wind and heavy rain, what fish would there be to feed?

After he finished the fruit, peel and all, Shang Yunduo still took the pit from him. Then he witnessed Shang Yunduo's method of feeding the fish—quickly opening the cabin door, hurling the pit out with force, which was then blown away by the strong wind, and then quickly closing the door with a bang to block the wind and rain. Then he stood at the door laughing heartily, like a complete idiot.

Pei Jie couldn't help but laugh along.

The rain kept falling, and the cabin was pitch black. Shang Yunduo volunteered to be a human pillow and mattress, and even took a zither from the wall to play a tune. Unfortunately, the accompaniment of thunder and pouring rain was too loud, so he switched to telling ghost stories full of plot holes. But Shang Yunduo managed to scare himself while telling them, holding Pei Jie's waist tighter and tighter, his voice trembling with tension and fear. Pei Jie went from puzzled to amused. He jabbed Shang Yunduo in the ribs when he was nervous, making him jump in fright.

Just as he was about to tease Shang Yunduo again, Pei Jie suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, followed by a familiar presence.

He stood up silently and pushed open the window.

Wind and rain poured into the cabin. The white lightning flickering at the edge of the sky illuminated the surging, endless lake. At the edge of the churning black water and whitecaps were black mountain peaks shrouded in mist.

Thunder cracked, and for a moment, everything went silent.

"Senior? Senior? Brother!" Shang Yunduo, with quick reflexes, caught the things that were being blown away. He wiped the rain from his face. In an instant, they were both soaked again, their clothes heavy and soaked, sticking to their bodies. He wanted to close the window, but saw Pei Jie's expression was alarmingly cold.

What's wrong? Is there something outside?

He also looked out the window, only seeing the pouring rain and vast lake. The rain curtain obscured everything, even the distant mountains were blurry. He asked loudly: "What's wrong? Is there something over there?"

Pei Jie: "I lost something over there."

Shang Yunduo: "Huh?! Where? Let's go over!"

Pei Jie looked away and closed the window: "No hurry."

Shang Yunduo nodded and quickly found a dry cloth to give him. "Wipe yourself quickly. What is it? The boat has been blown who-knows-where. Will we still be able to find it after the rain stops?"

Pei Jie: "It's fine. Since I know it's nearby, I can sense it."

Shang Yunduo paused while sorting clothes: "Sense it?"

Pei Jie: "Mm."

Shang Yunduo: "What... is it?"

Pei Jie: "My sword."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

A sword that can be sensed... That's a life-bound artifact, isn't it?!

Author's note:

Today, Yunduo is the boatman, row, row, row.