Mister Kongfang bowed respectfully to the woman before him.
The woman standing there was the mistress of Bitter Herb Manor, Old Mother Ku.
Old Mother Ku glanced at the dying Shang Rongchu, then back at Mister Kongfang, nodding slightly. "Check the almanac next time before heading out. Take him and go."
Without another word, Mister Kongfang hoisted Shang Rongchu onto his back and left the woods at once.
Only after leaving Ma the Fifth's territory and reaching a cave did Mister Kongfang set Shang Rongchu down. He retrieved two medicinal pills from his pocket and fed them to him.
The cave was damp, reeking of mildew. Mister Kongfang glanced toward the entrance from time to time, worried that Old Mother Ku might change her mind and pursue them.
Shang Rongchu was severely injured, with barely any flesh left on him and most of his internal organs scorched black.
Fortunately, Mister Kongfang's pills were remarkably effective. After resting for a good while, Shang Rongchu gradually regained enough strength to speak.
He had not been with Snowflake Pu for long, but he was truly loyal to Mister Kongfang. Even reduced to such a state, he was still trying to explain the earlier fight: "Pu Master, I didn't expect the old hag Ku to come here. I wanted to fight her, but I really was no match for her..."
Shang Rongchu's voice remained as gentle as ever, tugging at the heartstrings of anyone who heard it.
"Our Pu Master is the peddler. Just call me Mister as you did before—whatever you do, don't mix that up." Mister Kongfang's face was concealed behind strands of copper coins. From beneath them, a trickle of fresh blood seeped onto his lapel.
"Mister, you're injured..." Seeing Mister Kongfang bleeding, Shang Rongchu felt an ache in his chest. In his memory, Mister Kongfang had not exchanged blows with Old Mother Ku just now.
"Can you guess how I was hurt?" Mister Kongfang produced a bloodstained copper coin.
Shang Rongchu grew even more distressed. "You were injured by this coin? Isn't this coin your own weapon?"
Mister Kongfang nodded. "It is my weapon. When I stepped in, I threw a whole handful of copper coins to pull you out of that thermal spring. But by some sheer, unlucky coincidence, there was a jagged stone beside you. One of the coins struck that stone, bounced back, and hit me square in the face."
Shang Rongchu found it unbelievable.
He felt as though Mister Kongfang were not describing a battle, but a farcical comedy in a theater.
"How could there be such a coincidence?"
Mister Kongfang gave a bitter laugh. "Sounds absurd, doesn't it? You aren't familiar with the old hag Ku, and you've seen too little of what she can do. I've dealt with her many times, and things far more absurd than this happen constantly. The weather is unpredictable, and human fortunes change by the day. Fortune and disaster rest entirely within her grasp. Clashing with Old Mother Ku carries perils just like this. I failed to think things through this time. I knew Li Qi had some friendship with her, but I never imagined she would meddle in Ma the Fifth's affairs too. Had I known she was coming, I never would have sent you to risk your life."
Shang Rongchu pondered for a moment. "Mister, the old hag Ku's arrival was very suspicious. Given her status, she would never act as a watchdog for Ma the Fifth. Moreover, Feng Daiku was genuinely fighting me with her life on the line earlier. She had no certainty in her heart; even when her body caught heartfire, she couldn't be sure whether Old Mother Ku would show up. Old Mother Ku must have received word in advance and timed her arrival. Just who leaked the information to her? Only three people knew about this from beginning to end. The one who leaked it, I believe, was He Jiaqing!"
"I suspect him as well!" Mister Kongfang took a handkerchief, slipped it behind the strings of coins, and dabbed at the blood. The bleeding on his face simply would not stop.
Shang Rongchu gritted his teeth. "If it really was him, the kid is far too sinister. We can't keep him around."
"Let's wait," Mister Kongfang said, helping Shang Rongchu up. "We left He Jiaqing to Old Mother Ku. Let's see how she handles him first. In the end, I was the one who rushed things. He Jiaqing is a thief. No matter what status he holds today, a thief is what he is. A theft picks no calendar date; a thief cannot operate by fixed appointments. I shouldn't have pressed him so hard. By fixing a rigid date for him to strike, it's no wonder he played schemes."
Shang Rongchu recalled their earlier interactions, and the situation was indeed just as Mister Kongfang said. Ever since he insisted on fixing the date on the twenty-fifth, He Jiaqing's attitude toward him had noticeably shifted.
Mister Kongfang sighed. "If Old Mother Ku kills He Jiaqing, we can consider this matter settled. If she lets him go, we had best leave him alone as well."
***
He Jiaqing lay sprawled on the ground, and Ma the Fifth could not tell whether he was still alive.
"Dead or alive, send him on his way first!" Bagworm A'rou swung her broadsword, aiming straight for He Jiaqing's head.
Feng Daiku hurriedly stopped her. "Don't be reckless. Senior is right here."
Bagworm A'rou looked toward Old Mother Ku, resentment clear on her face.
She did not understand why Old Mother Ku had let the other two escape. They had injured Wulang! How hateful were such people? They should have been chopped into ten thousand pieces!
Feng Daiku drew out two strands of emotion thread and pressed them against A'rou's head to keep her from acting out, while warning the others to lower their heads.
A'rou hailed from Bitter Herb Manor, so she recognized Old Mother Ku, but the others might not know what sort of figure Old Mother Ku was, nor did they grasp how great a blessing it was to receive her aid.
When He Jiaqing sent word to Ma Junyang, he told Ma the Fifth to contact Old Mother Ku. Ma the Fifth had indeed reached Old Mother Ku through Chu the Second, but right up until the clash with Shang Rongchu, Feng Daiku hadn't been certain whether Old Mother Ku would show up.
Ma the Fifth stepped forward to thank Old Mother Ku. Old Mother Ku waved her hand. "Spare the pleasantries. Li Qi can work steadily out there because you have his back here. Be more careful in the future, and look out for Huaiyuan's side more."
"Thank you for the reminder, Senior." Ma the Fifth bowed again.
"You may leave first. I have a few words I wish to speak with him in private." Old Mother Ku glanced toward He Jiaqing.
Ma the Fifth lowered his voice. "Senior, He Jiaqing sent us word in advance, which allowed us to invite you ahead of time. That I survived this calamity is indeed a favor I owe him."
Old Mother Ku nodded with a smile. "I already know what transpired here. Rest assured, I won't make things difficult for him."
With a wave of his hand, Ma the Fifth quickly led Feng Daiku and the rest away.
Old Mother Ku walked over to He Jiaqing and gave him a kick. "Get up. Stop pretending. Feng Daiku didn't hit you hard, and those with ground-level cultivation couldn't hurt you either."
He Jiaqing stood up and bowed to Old Mother Ku first. "Thank you, Senior, for saving my life."
Old Mother Ku said impassively, "Don't speak nonsense. I didn't save you, nor did I intend to."
He Jiaqing bowed again. "No matter what Granny says, I shall keep this kindness in my heart!"
Old Mother Ku sneered. "You've kept many kindnesses in your heart, but when have you ever repaid one? I truly cannot understand how my judgment failed me back then. Why did I trust you? Why did I think you were someone capable of great things? Perhaps I'm old and my eyes have gone dim, but Song Shu isn't old—has that girl's vision failed her too? How did even she end up trusting you? Even if the two of us were blind, was Old Train's sight useless as well? Could even he misjudge someone? If not for trying to save you, he wouldn't be trapped in the Inner States right now!"
He Jiaqing kept his head bowed. "Junior has never forgotten the teachings of you seniors, nor have I forgotten your kindness. Junior's original aspiration has never changed."
"If it hasn't changed, why didn't you dare bring the Red Lotus back?"
He Jiaqing held back for a long time. He didn't want to argue, but he finally raised his head and replied, "If I had truly brought the Red Lotus back, would I still be standing here talking to Senior today?"
Old Mother Ku frowned. "You took all the benefits, yet you don't want to take risks or exert effort, is that it? You said yourself that you wanted to change Puluo Province—do those words no longer count?"
He Jiaqing nodded. "Senior, I truly do want to change Puluo Province, and I am still striving to change it to this day. But I cannot return to Puluo Province only to fight the Lord of Puluo with my life on the line. I don't have the capital for that!"
"You have the nerve to talk about capital?" Old Mother Ku grew even angrier. "At such a young age, you already achieved cultivation of the third layer above the clouds, yet you claim you have no capital? How much capital did we invest in you from first to last?"
He Jiaqing smiled self-deprecatingly. "What does the third layer above the clouds amount to? That Shang Rongchu just now had cultivation beyond the clouds, yet he couldn't last two rounds before you. How long could I possibly hold out against the Lord of Puluo?"
Old Mother Ku's face darkened. "No one forced you into a head-on clash with the peddler! You say you couldn't hold out, so how did Li Qi manage? Back then, he was nothing more than a raw beginner! Take a good look at what a true man looks like! Had we caught sight of him even a moment earlier, we wouldn't have spent that capital on you!"
"Senior, Li Banfeng has a tough fate!" He Jiaqing could think of no more reasonable explanation. "The Lord of Puluo met him and didn't kill him. To this day, I still can't fathom the reason. And as time went on, I understood it even less. I don't know what Li Qi went through, and I don't understand how the Lord of Puluo could actually call him brother. I don't possess a fate as tough as his. Had it been me returning to Puluo Province with the Red Lotus, I might never have made it off the train. Even if I had, the moment I walked out of the station, I would have been gone. Senior, give me a few more years to build up my cultivation. I can bring new order to a disjointed Puluo Province. I will never go back on what I said, and what I promised, I will certainly achieve!"
With that, He Jiaqing bowed deeply to Old Mother Ku once more.
Old Mother Ku said nothing. She had no desire to say more. Her figure dissolved into the woods.
As she walked along the path, Old Mother Ku kept pondering one thing.
He Jiaqing was chosen jointly by her, Old Train, and Song Shu.
Then who had chosen Li Qi?
How had he managed to survive until this day?
***
Wiping the scrapes on his face, He Jiaqing hurried all the way back to Green Water City.
Along the road, He Jiaqing gave a long sigh and muttered to himself, "They want rebellion, yet they won't go themselves. Instead, they pin this lethal sin entirely on me alone. They expect returns the moment they invest? They want to pick peaches the moment the sapling is planted? Giving me a Red Lotus and expecting me to topple the Lord of Puluo? Where in this world is business ever so easy?"
Returning to the film company, He Jiaqing went to his office, washed his face, changed into fresh clothes, and composed himself.
Could Mister Kongfang seek him out again?
It was entirely possible.
Yet He Jiaqing was not overly worried. He had walked away from Old Mother Ku's hands unscathed; on that basis alone, Mister Kongfang would have to think twice before making a move on him.
After resting in his office for a while, a button on his chest began to vibrate.
It was a call from Shen Rongqing. "Jiaqing, the fan meeting is ready. Can you attend?"
"I can."
"I'll have them prepare right away." Shen Rongqing was thrilled. With He Jiaqing attending in person, the tier of the fan meeting would be entirely different.
He Jiaqing went to the third-floor conference room, where over a hundred loyal fans of Blood Blade Detective were waiting.
Blood Gun Detective, produced by Li Qi and Ma the Fifth, had higher box-office earnings and a wider reach.
Yet the fans of Blood Blade Detective, directed by He Jiaqing, were undoubtedly more loyal.
The hundred-odd people before him had been inspired by Blood Blade Detective to cast off the worldly shackles and sever ties with family and friends, coming to this building to enlist in the ranks of the Brotherhood Alliance.
Standing on the podium, He Jiaqing spoke only a single sentence: "Do you believe there will be a new Puluo Province?"
Over a hundred people answered in unison, "We believe!"
He Jiaqing nodded. "From this day forth, we are brothers!"
Mister Kongfang had previously sent a batch of medicinal herbs for amassing Dao karmic affinity; He Jiaqing had Shen Rongqing distribute them.
There would be another fan meeting in two days, so herbs for amassing Dao karmic affinity needed to be gathered as soon as possible.
***
Santoucha, Radish Mountain, Dongshi Village pawnshop. Several guards were chatting idly.
"Have you heard? Blood Blade Detective 9 is about to be released."
"Blood Blade or Blood Gun?"
"Blood Blade, of course! Blood Gun is the one made by Seventh Master and Fifth Master. Blood Blade is the film that only cultured people can understand."
"They're still making that stuff? Does anyone actually watch it?"
"They really do. Quite a few folks love watching it. People say Blood Gun is vulgar street entertainment, while Blood Blade is art."
"So whatever you can't understand counts as art? Guess we'll never have anything to do with art in this lifetime!"
As these guards discussed Blood Blade Detective, Chi Liuhe listened quietly from the side.
This girl was a Food Cultivator. Because she ate so much, she always felt a bit insecure and rarely spoke to people.
Yet hearing them mention Blood Blade Detective, she truly wanted to chime in. She loved the movie dearly. Ever since coming out of the newland, every time an installment of Blood Blade Detective was released, she would go to the cinema to watch it several times. She had even bought a film projector to watch it secretly at home.
It had to be kept secret. She had heard from the Cursing Woman that Blood Blade Detective was produced by Seventh Master and Fifth Master's enemy. Watching an enemy's film was betraying your own people.
Traitors got beaten with planks, whipped, or shot. Chi Liuhe remembered the Cursing Woman's warning and constantly reminded herself never to discuss Blood Blade Detective with others.
Now that Blood Blade Detective 9 was being released, she desperately wanted to see it, but in a place like Santoucha, not a single cinema could be found.
Chuanzi looked at Chi Liuhe, leaned close, and asked, "Sister, do you want to watch Blood Blade Detective?"
Chi Liuhe didn't dare make a sound. Chuanzi usually treated her well, so she didn't want to lie to him, but neither did she dare tell the truth.
Chuanzi smiled. "Don't be scared. Seventh Master doesn't care about this sort of thing, though Fifth Master really won't allow people to watch Blood Blade Detective. He said the film has tricks worked into it. You have to listen to Fifth Master's words, so don't go to the cinemas anymore. I had the brothers in Black Rock Slope send over a lot of film reels, and I told them to send you a full set of Blood Blade Detective too. You can take them back to your room and watch secretly. How does that sound?"
"Great!" Chi Liuhe nodded excitedly.
"I'll get a set of Blood Gun Detective for you too, and we can watch it together. What do you think?"
"Deal!" The silly girl agreed. "Brother Chuanzi, if you ever need anything, just come to me. Whatever I can help with, I won't hesitate!"
Chuanzi twitched his eyebrows. "It's a deal, no hesitating!"
Chi Liuhe was overjoyed, and right on cue, another delightful thing awaited her.
The cook arrived and called them to eat.
For Chi Liuhe, meals were the most important event of the day.
For the entire pawnshop, meals were also a major affair, because both Chi Liuhe and Little Fatty Qin were there, so each meal had to be carefully prepared.
Chi Liuhe and Little Fatty Qin sat at their own separate table while the others took another. The dishes were served, platters, bowls, and plates stacked several layers high. Chi Liuhe held her chopsticks and waited for quite a while, but Little Fatty Qin never showed up.
The food was getting cold!
Watching steaming-hot food turn cold right before her eyes was sheer torture for a Food Cultivator.
"Where did Ninth Master go?" Anxious, Chi Liuhe set off to search for Little Fatty.
When she found him behind the coal pile, Chi Liuhe was stunned.
Little Fatty Qin was sprawled behind the coal pile, eating coal, his mouth stained pitch-black.
"Ninth Master, what are you..."
Qin Tianjiu waved his hand, signaling Chi Liuhe not to speak.
This was not Little Fatty's first time eating coal. Ever since coming to Santoucha, he had eaten quite a few meals of it.
He didn't know what had come over him either. Whenever he saw coal, he craved it, and after eating, he had to gulp down vast amounts of water.
He had tried to restrain himself. When mealtime arrived today, he had intended to head straight to the dining hall, but passing the coal pile, he couldn't help himself. He plunged his head into the heap and began wolfing down coal dust.
After swallowing several dozen jin of coal in succession, Little Fatty Qin forced himself away from the pile, washed his face, rinsed his mouth, and came to the dining table.
Having eaten so much coal, Little Fatty's appetite was naturally diminished.
The cook walked in, saw many leftover dishes on the table, and looked rather displeased. "What's wrong, you two? Which dish wasn't to your taste today?"
"They're all to our taste, every one of them is delicious!" Little Fatty Qin waved a hand dismissively. "My sister and I discussed it today—we're taking our time to savor each bite properly. Rest assured, not a scrap from this table will go to waste!"
Once the cook left, Little Fatty whispered to Chi Liuhe, "Sister, we can't leave any leftovers. Just think of it as helping me out this once."
"Mm." Chi Liuhe didn't know what else to do. She could only force her stomach to its limits and finish off the remaining dishes.
***
Li Banfeng sat in the Fifth Room, gazing silently at the scenery beyond the carriage window.
The Fifth Room maiden had opened a window upon the wall—a window that could only be looked through, but never touched.
Through this window, Li Banfeng could see the deck outside.
He could see the churning waves upon the sea and the glittering reflections under the torches, yet his gaze could never quite escape the roof of the cavern.
It defied belief: why would a vast, boundless ocean exist inside a cave?
Upon the deck lay freshly caught fish. Many of them Li Banfeng could not name, and there were creatures he could not even tell were fish or not.
"Why does that fish have legs?" Hong Ying wondered aloud, curious as well. "Not just legs, it looks like it has hair too."
Ninth Maiden gave a snort. "Even a long spear grew legs and sits there combing its hair all day."
Hong Ying caught a handful of glossy black hair and chuckled softly. "Jealous, are you? Eat your heart out, you little wretch!"
Li Banfeng held the gramophone and was affectionate with her for a while. The gramophone grew aroused and entered the puppet body. Li Banfeng embraced Zhao Xiaowan, gave her a kiss, and walked out the door.
Zhao Xiaowan sat by the bedside in tears.
Hong Ying consoled her from the side, "Don't cry, Xiaowan. This madman is simply too dense."
Tan Jinxiao stood at the bow, pointing at an island in the distance, and lowered his voice. "Seventh Master, that is Soil Nurturing Island."
The island was massive, devoid of grass or trees, with not a single rock in sight; the entire island was blanketed in soil.
Upon it stood a mountain of tremendous height, its peak meeting the cavern ceiling.
Boat Boss ordered the vessel to dock. Although Li Banfeng had chartered the ship, according to the rules of the Sea Market, even a chartered vessel could not delay the soil exchange.
The ship was immense, but seventy percent of its hold was reserved for carrying soil. Of the remaining thirty percent, half was loaded with coal to serve as fuel, leaving the final fifteen percent for Li Banfeng to stow cargo.
Li Banfeng had no goods to haul; he simply claimed he had come to sea to clear his mind. Such occurrences were not uncommon—wealthy folk in both the Soil Market and the Human Market frequently chartered boats for pleasure cruises. Seeing how attractive Xiao Yeci and Liangwucai were, the boatmen assumed Li Banfeng was also here to rendezvous with his mistresses.
Liangwucai in particular was extraordinary. Three-headed people were not uncommon, but two-headed people were rarely seen. Truly, wealthy folk knew how to enjoy themselves.
The great vessel arrived at the wharf. Seeing the time was right, Boat Boss ordered the cargo unloaded. Li Banfeng also disembarked to stretch his legs.
Boat Boss gave repeated reminders: "Bosses, you may go ashore, but you must be back within three hours. Dawn will soon break."
That was truly a novelty.
In all the time he had spent in the underground city, this was the first time Li Banfeng had heard of dawn.
Tan Jinxiao explained at his side, "Soil Nurturing Mountain on Soil Nurturing Island extends straight up through the cavern ceiling, reaching outside the cave. The territory above Soil Nurturing Island isn't Black Yellow Beach anymore; that place is called Xiahuochuan."
Li Banfeng did not quite catch the name, so Tan Jinxiao wrote it out for him. "Xiahuo means pitch-black, dark with no lanterns in sight."
Li Banfeng interpreted it literally: "Meaning that place is shrouded in perpetual night?"
Wait, that wasn't right. Hadn't Boat Boss just said dawn was coming soon?
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "Xiahuochuan has day and night alternating too, pretty much like anywhere else. What's most unusual about that place is the sky glow. It's the exact opposite of Black Yellow Beach. On Black Yellow Beach, daytime is peaceful, while at night sky glow is everywhere. In Xiahuochuan, daytime is full of sky glow, far fiercer than Black Yellow Beach's night sky glow. When night falls, Xiahuochuan has less sky glow, but it's not entirely gone either. Across a hundred-li radius over a night, you're bound to see eight or ten beams. So when traveling through Xiahuochuan, passing through in pitch darkness means peace—it proves a person made it through safe and sound. That's how it got its name."
There really wasn't much to look at on Soil Nurturing Island. Soil was everywhere. Standing on the earthen mountain and looking up, one could see the mountain extending upward along the cavern shaft from bottom to top.
Through this observation, coupled with Tan Jinxiao's explanations, Li Banfeng roughly understood the mechanism behind the soil exchange.
Soil Nurturing Island was connected to Xiahuochuan. The daytime sky glow in Xiahuochuan continuously fell upon the soil of Soil Nurturing Island, causing it to accumulate vast amounts of unstable dark matter.
This unstable dark matter stored a certain quantity of dark energy within it, and dark energy served as the source of nourishment for lightless flora.
The soil here was shipped to the Soil Market, where farmers used it to cultivate lightless crops. After a year, the dark matter within the soil stabilized and its dark energy was depleted, requiring the farmers to ship the soil back to Soil Nurturing Island to be irradiated once more by dark matter streams. This was the process of replenishing the earth's fertility.
It was truly an arduous cycle. The group walked around the island. As Xiao Yeci took notes, she asked, "Why not simply establish the Soil Market on Soil Nurturing Island? That would save the trouble of exchanging soil every year!"
Tan Jinxiao shook his head. "Miss, you didn't catch on. People can't live on this island! Once daylight arrives, the sky glow comes down, and not even houses can block it! Haven't you seen how desperately those unloading the ships are working? They have to work while it's dark. When dawn nears, every ship blows its horn, and all work must halt—crew and ship alike have to get out and take cover."
Xiao Yeci looked around. "Even reclaiming land nearby to build an island from scratch would be better than exchanging soil year after year."
Tan Jinxiao didn't think so. "Even if you built an island, the harvested grain would still need to be shipped into the city. Isn't shipping grain every year troublesome too?"
"Those are two entirely different things!" Xiao Yeci calculated earnestly. "How heavy is the soil from an acre of land? The grain from an acre of land is far lighter!"
While Xiao Yeci and Tan Jinxiao continued their debate, Li Banfeng stood halfway up the slope, looking out toward the other side of the island.
Because there was no light whatsoever, visibility across the water was extremely poor, yet Li Banfeng could still vaguely make out several ships on the sea.
"Are those ships here to exchange soil too?"
Tan Jinxiao took a look. "Those aren't for soil exchange. Those are passenger ships heading toward the open sea."
In the underground city, the boundary between the inner sea and the open sea was Soil Nurturing Island.
Vessels tasked with soil exchange traveled back and forth between the underground city and Soil Nurturing Island; only very few ships sailed into the open sea.
Li Banfeng noticed one ship that was remarkably pleasing to the eye. It had a three-story cabin and a spotless deck, unlike the clutter found on cargo vessels. Though it was far off and only its silhouette was visible, that single glimpse left a far better impression than any soil transport.
"That's a fine ship. Let's charter it and go see the open sea."
Tan Jinxiao asked, "Seventh Master, let me ask: what do you plan to do out in the open sea? If you say you want to go fishing, I'll need to buy some gear nearby—the fish out there aren't easy to deal with. If you say you want to play in the water, I won't bother preparing anything else; we can just splash around and have some fun. If you say you want to fool around with your sweethearts, I won't tag along—these three young ladies here can attend to you, and I wouldn't be of any help anyway."
The three young ladies he referred to were Xiao Yeci and Liangwucai.
Liangcai grew nervous. "The three of us, snuggling together in one person's embrace... though we might conquer love, we have lost our morality!"
Liangwu thought it over and found it reasonable. She looked toward Juanzi. "Sister, come with us."
Liangcai failed to follow Liangwu's train of thought. "Could four people together reclaim morality?"
"Of course not!" Liangwu shook her head. "I mean, since morality is already gone, we might as well drag one more down with us."
At these words, Juanzi's cheeks flushed crimson.
Mengzi and Xiaoshan turned pale as sheets.
Li Banfeng looked at Tan Jinxiao. "Who said I was going out to fool around? Is there no serious business to attend to in the open sea?"
"There is! Plenty of serious business!" Tan Jinxiao said. "Seventh Master, if you want to visit every island, you'd better budget half a year to a year—there are far too many small islands in the open sea. If you're looking for valuable treasures, I've heard of a few places where goods are hidden, though what you might find is anyone's guess. If we find nothing at all, Seventh Master, you can't blame me. And if you're looking for Guan Huodong's lair, that journey's a bit far. Where he lives is almost all the way to the Inner States."
Li Banfeng cut in, "Hold on! This sea can take you to the Inner States?"
"Sure can!" Tan Jinxiao nodded. "As long as you've got a travel permit, you can go anytime!"
"You still need a travel permit?"
"Of course you do! There's a Boundary on this sea. Without a travel permit, we can't cross it!"
PS: Can this Boundary stop the Dark Bridge Cannon?
Chapter 651