Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 77: Catching a Ba

After a while, Zu Chongzhi realized that Ren Yuan was still standing by, so he waved him away and said, "It's okay, you go out first, I have to do the test."

"There is one last thing," Ren Yuan asked quickly, "Since you are proficient in the art of necromancy, you should also know how to cure the corpse king's poison, right?"

"First, that is not necromancy, but mechanical engineering." Zu Chongzhi corrected him first, then apologized, "Second, I don't know anything except arithmetic and mechanical engineering in my life."

"Old man, you are knowledgeable. Do you know anyone who can cure this poison?" Ren Yuan asked without giving up.

"Alas, I am ashamed. I have not known anything about the outside world for 25 years. I don't even know who is the emperor now." Zu Chongzhi sighed and said, "I have never seen the Corpse King either."

"Okay, I won't disturb you anymore, old man." Ren Yuan bowed deeply and left.

~~
It was obvious that after hearing Ren Yuan's answer, Zu Chongzhi lost his defense and locked himself in a small dark room, refusing to respond no matter how Ren Yuan called him.

Ren Yuan was not surprised by this. Anyone would probably be devastated if they knew that the problem they had been trying to solve all their lives would never have an accurate answer.

He decided not to disturb Zu Chongzhi for the time being and pushed the door open and walked out of the cabin.

Now that Ren Yuan is the owner of this ship, he will naturally not be trapped by the hatch again.

As soon as he came out, he saw the captain of the skeleton ship, who was putting the copper coins away skillfully.

"Oh my god," Ren Yuan was surprised, "How can you still work on your own?"

"Answer me," the black skull's eye sockets were filled with a gentle yellow light, and the voice was full of magnetism: "Cleaning the deck and maintaining the ship are part of our job duties and we don't need to be told."

"Okay, that's good." Ren Yuan nodded and asked, "But it's not a good idea to pile so many things on the deck. Is there a cabin where we can store them?"

"Hint," Black Skull pointed down and said, "There's a cargo hold down there. It can hold as much as you want."

"Okay, then put them all there." Ren Yuan nodded.

"Yes, sir." The Black Skull responded, rubbed his arm bones and was about to start working.

"Don't worry." Ren Yuan ordered, "Start the boat first and let me see."

"Yes, sir." The Black Skull responded again, and asked Ren Yuan to come to the stern of the ship. He whispered a spell, and a hollow round pole rose from under their feet.

A huge circular paddle wheel in the style of a waterwheel also floated on the water behind the two people.

Black Skull inserted a tiller into the round pole and wound it up circle by circle.

Soon, the heavy paddle wheel slowly began to turn, stirring up the calm water.

After a while, the wooden boat that seemed to have been motionless for eternity finally moved forward slowly under the push of the paddle wheel.

As the paddle wheel kept turning faster and faster, the speed of the boat became faster and faster. The bow of the boat split the water, dragging a long wake, and it rushed through the waves without riding the wind!

"Okay, okay, a self-propelled paddle steamer!" Ren Yuan shouted excitedly, not caring whether it would disturb the old man in the cabin.

He then asked the black skeleton at the helm, "Do you know where we will end up if we keep going?"

"Answer me. In three days, you will see a continent called Dreamland." The black skull obviously had a sea map in his head. "However, our ship is forbidden to dock."

"Can I get closer and take a look?" Ren Yuan was very curious.

"Answer, there is no such prohibition." Black Skull replied.

"Then keep going until we see the mainland." Ren Yuan gave the order loudly, sounding quite ambitious.

~~
In fact, sailing on empty water is very boring.

When it got dark, Ren Yuan lost his enthusiasm, so he asked Black Skull to sail as planned, and he returned to the top of the cabin to meditate and start practicing.

At this time, the Jade Rabbit was rising in the east and the stars were shining brightly. He finally began to practice the Tiangang Jue.

Although the stars in the sky were far away, fortunately there were many of them. In addition, Ren Yuan's spiritual orifice had been opened, and his visualization ability was more than ten times stronger. It didn't take long for his spiritual thoughts to visualize the Milky Way. Then he guided the starlight into his body. As Ren Yuan pulled, strands of blue starlight fell from the Milky Way, from his life and death chamber, into the Red Emperor Palace.

When those starlights passed through the Red Emperor Palace, Ren Yuan could even distinguish where they came from. There were Yangming Da Kui, Yuanji Wenchang, Xuanming Yaoguang, Ziwei Kaiyang... Of course most of them came from Beiji Tiangang.

But after being filtered by the Red Emperor Palace, they all turned into the same pure starlight and slowly fell into the furnace of creation.

In the furnace of creation, the green, viscous, jelly-like vortex that had been stagnant for a long time finally began to change gradually after being nourished by the Tiangang True Qi. It was as if countless tiny water droplets were condensing... Ren Yuan knew that he was finally going to form the spiritual liquid.

~~
The time spent practicing was incredibly fast; three days passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning, the stars were setting and the sun was rising. Ren Yuan finished a night of practice, but he did not look tired at all. Instead, he was full of energy.

He stood up and saw that Black Skull had already cleaned the deck.

"You are really capable." Ren Yuan praised: "I didn't count it by the way, how much is the total?"

"Reporting." Black Skull replied, "A total of 60,000 copper coins, 12,000 taels of silver, and 800 taels of gold were taken from the cabin. The rest of the jewels and deeds have also been registered. Please have a look, ship owner."

"No need, I believe you." Ren Yuan shook his head, and while eating dry food with water, he asked the black skeleton: "Can you see the mainland?"

"Lookout, it can be seen vaguely." The black skeleton nodded.

Ren Yuan then used his Heavenly Eye to look into the distance, and indeed, he saw a black coastline.

But when I tried to look forward, my vision was blocked by thick fog and I couldn't see anything.

"Will the fog ever dissipate?" Ren Yuan asked.

"Answer me. I don't know." Black Skull answered in a bass voice.

"Okay." Ren Yuan was about to close his eyes when his gaze suddenly fixed on the sea. "There's something floating on the sea."

"Observation, there is a person lying on the wood." Black Skull said calmly: "I found that he has been waving for help for a long time."

"Why didn't you say it earlier?" Ren Yuan was about to ask if he could have some humanity, but suddenly he remembered that the other party was just a skeleton, and it was normal for him to have no humanity.

"The explanation is, first, we are afraid of disturbing the ship owner's practice, and second, we don't want to add unnecessary moral burden to the ship owner." Black Skull answered confidently.

"You're right." Ren Yuan couldn't refute it. "But let's go over and take a look. Anyway, the old man is on the boat, so no one can make trouble."

"Yes, sir." Black Skull started the boat immediately, and soon, he reached the side of the person who fell into the water.

He was a young man who was soaked to the skin, lying exhausted on a log.

The log was very unstable in the water, and it made the young man sway from side to side, which was extremely strenuous for him.

Seeing the wooden boat finally approaching, he excitedly waved for help: "Help, kind-hearted person."

Ren Yuan made a Five Ghosts Moving Talisman and pulled it onto the boat.

The young man had broad shoulders and long legs, and looked even bigger when he was lying on the deck.

"Thank you for rescuing me..." He raised his head while panting and bowed to Ren Yuan to express his gratitude.

"You're welcome." Ren Yuan nodded with a smile, and used talisman paper to help him dry his body.

The young man stood up. Ren Yuan was quite tall, but he was an inch taller than Ren Yuan.

He had a nose that looked like a gallbladder and eyebrows that stuck into his temples, and he looked very handsome. But his eyes kept rolling around, flashing a cunning light, and he looked like he was not honest.

"My name is Chen Baxian, a descendant of the Yingchuan Chen family. You can call me Aba. What's your name, brother?" At this time, the young man introduced himself.

ps. There will be more updates from OnePlus.

(End of this chapter)