Unlike the continuous mountain ranges he had seen in his previous life, Li Fan's current location was unexpectedly atop a boundless, open sea!
Vast and limitless, no horizon was in sight.
"What's going on? Why did I end up in a different place this time?" Li Fan was somewhat stunned.
Taking out the map he had drawn from memory from inside his robe, Li Fan attempted to find the ocean's location on it.
Yet even after comparing it back and forth repeatedly, he found nothing of the sort.
"Forget it. I can only take it one step at a time." Unable to tell where things had gone awry, Li Fan put away the map and let out a sigh. "Fortunately, I have the Taiyan Boat for travel, or else I'd probably be trapped here to die. I just don't know whether I can find an inhabited place before the spirit stones inside the Taiyan Boat run out."
Not one to wallow in self-pity, Li Fan quickly sprang into action.
Choosing a direction, he piloted the Taiyan Boat, flying while scanning all around for traces of any city.
The ocean was truly boundless. Li Fan flew for seven days and seven nights without spotting any sign of human habitation.
Fortunately, he had prepared enough provisions aboard the Taiyan Boat that survival was not an immediate concern.
Another dozen or so days passed like this. The Taiyan Boat flew slower and slower, clearly on the verge of running out of power.
Just when he seemed to be at his wit's end, Li Fan finally caught sight of the faint silhouette of a vessel on the waters ahead.
Overjoyed, Li Fan immediately lowered the Taiyan Boat's altitude and slowly drew near.
Yet as he got closer, he was left speechless.
It was indeed a ship, but it was one on the verge of sinking.
It appeared to have suffered an attack. A gaping hole had been torn into the hull, and two-thirds of it was already submerged.
Several dozen people were struggling in the surrounding waters, clearly the ship's crew and passengers.
Most of them could not swim and were barely clinging to pieces of broken wood, floating on the surface to keep from going under.
Just as Li Fan hesitated over whether to reveal the Taiyan Boat to rescue them, he heard one of the surviving men shout with great effort, "Don't be afraid, everyone! I've already sent a signal to the immortal master! He will arrive to save us very soon! Just hang on a little longer!"
Hearing this, Li Fan's heart stirred.
Stowing the Taiyan Boat, Li Fan leapt into the sea and quietly swam toward the group.
Blending soundlessly into the crowd, Li Fan feigned being on the verge of death, struggling feebly to survive.
After a short while, a streak of light flew in from the distance and came to a stop above everyone.
"Immortal master, save me!"
"Immortal master, spare our lives!"
...
Seeing hope, the people cried out for help one after another.
"Clamorous!"
The voice belonged to a man, but his garments and features were obscured as though veiled, impossible to make out clearly.
With a cold snort, the figure cast an unknown spell, and Li Fan immediately felt himself unable to make a sound.
The crowd went dead silent in an instant.
The immortal master then flew over to the sunken ship, gently propped it up with one hand, and dredged up the vessel that had mostly slipped beneath the surface.
Shooting out another ray of light, the gaping hole in the hull was mended in the blink of an eye.
Then he looked down at the crowd floating in the sea, sneered coldly, and lightly made a grasping motion toward the empty air before lifting upward.
Li Fan and the others felt as though an invisible hand had seized them by the collars, lifting them into the air and dropping them toward the repaired vessel.
*Thud, thud, thud!*
For a moment, the rescued people were tossed roughly onto the ship like dumplings plopping into a pot.
Unable to speak, they could only let out muffled groans.
Yet their faces were filled with awe and the joy of being saved, not daring to harbor the slightest complaint.
Once everyone had been pulled aboard, the immortal master hovered above them and asked in an unfriendly tone, "Who sent me the signal?"
The man who had previously spoken up to comfort the crowd hurriedly dropped to his knees.
The immortal master waved a hand, dispelling the spell on him.
Kowtowing repeatedly, the man said, "This lowly one is Su Changyu..."
Yet the immortal master cut him off directly. "You know the rules, right? Once we reach our destination, nothing has anything to do with me anymore. I've never seen you, nor do I know who you are. Understand?"
Su Changyu kowtowed again. "This lowly one understands. Before coming here, the elders of my family had already instructed—"
Halfway through his sentence, his voice vanished once more.
It turned out that after nodding in satisfaction, the immortal master had casually silenced Su Changyu again with a flick of his hand.
Paying no further attention to these mortals, the immortal master walked to the bow. He cast an unknown spell, and the ship rapidly got underway, cutting through the water in a certain direction.
Seeing this, most of the mortals showed looks of profound shock.
Some had yet to recover from the earlier disaster, slumped on the deck and trembling as they curled inward, seemingly weeping in secret.
The ship fell into an eerie silence.
More than half a day passed in this manner. Only after night fell did a faint, flickering light finally appear in the distance.
It was an island that looked rather bustling. Though it was still quite far away, the faint murmur of human voices could already be heard.
Over a hundred large ships were moored at the island's docks, a truly magnificent sight.
Yet the ship Li Fan was on did not head toward the docks. Instead, it circled halfway around the island, coming to a sparsely populated area on the far side.
The ship quietly slipped along a waterway into a natural cavern.
After navigating through the narrow cavern for some time, it finally came to a halt.
Once the vessel was securely moored, several burly men dressed in black came aboard to meet it.
Acting as if they did not even see the immortal master, the men in black merely brandished weapons to drive everyone off the ship.
From beginning to end, they did not utter a single word.
After leading the crowd into a spacious hall, one of the men in black finally spoke.
"You will rest here tonight. Sufficient food has been prepared in the hall; you may take it yourselves. Tomorrow, someone will escort you to acquire your identification. Additionally, no making noise without cause." Sweeping them with a threatening gaze, the man in black turned and left.
The hall fell into silence for a time.
Only after a long while did the immortal master's silencing spell finally wear off. Afterward, the people in the hall began discussing in twos and threes.
"Our luck was truly rotten this time, actually running into a sea monster attack. Nearly a hundred people set out, yet less than half of us survived."
"Seeking the Dao, pursuing immortality... Sigh, I don't know what my father was thinking, insisting on sending me to this greater world to cultivate immortality. If you ask me, how could cultivating immortality ever compare to the joy of listening to singing girls?"
"Exactly! Back where we came from, I was at least the son of Prince Zhennan. What wealth and glory couldn't I enjoy? What's so great about this damned place? That—" Halfway through his sentence, only muffled whimpers remained, his mouth having been clamped shut by a quick-handed companion beside him.
At this moment, the man named Su Changyu spoke up. "Things have already come to this, so what's the point of saying all that? Whose family didn't pay an enormous price to send you here? Rather than complaining, you'd do better to cultivate patiently from now on. If you can truly become an immortal master, not only will you have hope of longevity, but you'll also have a chance to return to your homeland and bring your clansmen out as well."
Hiding in the shadows, Li Fan listened to their conversation and had already pieced together their identities.
These people were likely just like him—mortals exiled from a land severed from immortality.
Only, it seemed that in their land severed from immortality, the existence of the cultivation world was hardly a secret.
What was more, a mature "smuggling" route had already been established.
Li Fan rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
Chapter 22