Forge a path to success.

Chapter 270 The City-State of Thorns
Chu Hengkong woke up from his dream. The bed was shaking slightly, like a cradle.

The last time he dreamed was when he returned from the wilderness. He hadn't dreamed in so long, and this time he dreamed of his boss again. Every time he thought of that scene, he would blame himself for being immature back then.

No matter what, it's wrong to kill someone right in front of her; it's a bad influence on a child... Smashing the window was also a bit too much. She really liked that car, otherwise she wouldn't have taken it to be repaired later... And the way he spoke back then sounded like a thug...

He found it difficult to connect the boy from back then with the Chu Hengkong of now. Ten years was a long time, long enough to change a person completely, inside and out. Could he still speak like he did when he was a child? Speaking broken Cantonese with a Hong Kong accent, adding trendy English slang to every sentence?

"That's incredibly stupid," Chu Hengkong chuckled softly.

After a quick wash, he grabbed Vande, while the Eye Demon was still fast asleep in his sleeping bag. He went up to the deck, wanting to greet the fresh sea breeze, but was met with yet another chorus of complaints.

"I can't take it anymore!" Ji Huaisu leaned against the railing. "How much longer is this going to go on...?"

Gulibo was taped to the deck, looking pale and sickly: "It's been several years already, Bo..."

“Only two weeks,” Chu Hengkong said.

"It feels like two years..." Gulibo's face turned even greener. "Let go of me, I'm going to vomit!"

It struggled to break free of the tape, rolled to the edge of the deck, and vomited violently. Unfortunately, this native city-state animal suffered from seasickness, and the past two weeks had felt like an eternity for it.

Vande was awakened by the noise. It jumped out of its sleeping bag, its tentacles gleaming: "Oh, what a beautiful day! Sleeping at sea is so much more comfortable!"

Compared to the utterly unlucky Gulibo, Vande enjoyed two weeks of good fortune. After entering the Sea of ​​Illusions, it was like a fish in water; for the first few days, it practically wanted to jump off the ship and embrace Mother Ocean. Chu Hengkong strongly suspected that the Twilight Library was an institution built on the seabed; otherwise, there was no way to explain why the Eye Demons were so close to seawater.

It's also possible that it's some kind of rare seafood, otherwise it wouldn't have drifted from the coast to the Mysterious Realm of Senluo.

“Seafood and wild game are very different,” Ji Huaisu said. “Honestly, what’s there to do today? I’m so tired of playing video games these past two weeks.”

"Go fishing, girl," Chu Hengkong shrugged. Ji Huaisu responded with a mournful howl.

This time, the dragon boat was booked entirely by their group. The huge boat had no crew members other than the three of them, a tree, a glance, and a chatterbox. They relied on frozen food for meals, and for fresh food, they had to rely on sea fishing. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chu Hengkong broke his record for the longest continuous fishing session with a score of 62 hours. He failed to break 63 hours because Ji Huaisu shoved a shovel over his head and yelled that if he didn't catch any more fish, he could get lost.

Logically speaking, a journey through the mortal realm is never smooth sailing; the tides of fate will never spare them. But…

Woohoo! Woohoo!
The piercing sirens blared, the sea ahead was turbulent, and an announcement rang out from inside the ship: "An outsider is attacking! An outsider is attacking! All passengers, please prepare for battle!"

All the passengers huddled on the deck like dead fish, not one of them moving. Van der counted down with his tentacles: "3, 2, 1."

boom!
A flash of blood swept across the water, followed by a deafening roar. Two seconds later, the sea was calm, the alarm was immediately cut off, and nothing happened.

Ji Huaisu didn't even look up: "What's today?"

"It should be a beast of particle level 6, corrupted by a demon," Chu Hengkong judged. "It can rank second within the next two weeks."

"This isn't even number one..."

“When you were sleeping the day before yesterday, a particle of mass 6 from another realm came over,” Chu Hengkong said. “It ran away after only a couple of exchanges, so your battle merits are diminished.”

"Father's skills are unparalleled, and he is invincible!" Ji Huaisu yawned.

This explains why the passengers were utterly exhausted. Despite the daily attacks, the voyage itself was calm, because Ji Qiufeng stood guard at the bow day and night. Whatever came at them, the city lord dealt with it with a single move; they didn't even have a chance to stretch their muscles.

"You'll soon have your chance to stretch your muscles." A familiar laugh rang out. "Hengkong, come here and draw some talismans."

Ji Qiufeng, dragging a giant fish head with an unusually long nose, leaped onto the deck. It was obvious without even looking that the possessing demon had been smashed to pieces with a single punch, leaving not even a trace. Ji Huaisu lit a fire and ran to grill the fish. Chu Hengkong followed Ji Qiufeng into the cabin, where he took out a bottle of fresh fish blood.

"Heng Kong, I have to say your luck is truly amazing." Ji Qiufeng poured the fish blood into a dark bottle. "The materials needed to make this talisman, although not of the highest grade, involve a wide range of exotic beasts, each of which is a rare and scarce species, and a few ferocious ones are even causing harm to the region. I was a little apprehensive before setting off, but I didn't expect that in just two weeks, the materials would be more than complete."

Chu Hengkong's face darkened: "So you're using me as bait?"

"Your bait is too effective, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered drawing this talisman!"

Ji Qiufeng prepared ink with fish blood, moistened his brush, and in a short while drew a talisman on an old tree bark. As soon as the talisman was completed, he suddenly slapped it onto Chu Hengkong's forehead.

"Say the name, quickly," Ji Qiufeng said sternly.

Chu Hengkong didn't understand, but he still did as he was told: "Chu Hengkong".

The talisman was torn off with a snap, and in a fleeting glance, he saw that the ink on it resembled crimson ropes, with his name appearing beneath them, as if hidden within the talisman itself. Ji Qiufeng picked up his brush and added another vertical stroke above the three characters "Chu Hengkong." "Eat it." He tossed the talisman into Chu Hengkong's mouth.

Chu Heng swallowed hard, waiting for his explanation. Ji Qiufeng put down his brush, visibly relaxing.

“The talisman you ate earlier is called the ‘Anonymous Talisman,’ which was designed by the Misty Fate Master himself back then,” Ji Qiufeng said. “When you swallow the talisman, you leave the karma within your body. Apart from those who know you, no one else, even if they have extraordinary abilities, will be able to find you.”

"A causal safe house?" Chu Hengkong was taken aback. "Isn't that unnecessary?"

“You should have a clearer understanding of yourself by now. You just killed Vansalal not long ago. Do you know how heavy the consequences were?” Ji Qiufeng said with a half-smile. “The high-quality beings of all the major heretical sects must be looking for you right now. The one in the Spiral Tower is even more likely to come out in person. If it weren’t for the fact that the Lord of the Broken Heart’s slash had shocked everyone and that there were some preparations in Huilong City, you would probably have been annihilated by now.”

Chu Hengkong felt a slight sense of lingering fear: "The natural disaster species are so vengeful... well, they really are vengeful."

“Fortunately, your bad luck has also worked; with this talisman, you are somewhat safer,” Ji Qiufeng said. “But remember, the talisman can ward off malice, but it cannot ward off chance. What is meant to happen to you will not be hidden no matter how hard you try.”

"It's enough if we can avoid being crushed by high-quality points. As for the rest," Chu Heng laughed, "we'll see who crushes whom."

"Don't be too confident; there are plenty of experts in the city-states."

Ji Qiufeng patted his shoulder and walked back to the deck. A caramelized aroma filled the air; Ji Huaisu had already grilled the large fish head. She chopped off two pieces and tossed them over, yawning repeatedly: "Add salt if you think it's too bland."

"Eat quickly, we'll be there soon," Ji Qiufeng said.

"Huh?" Ji Huaisu looked at the vast, boundless sea. "Right away?"

A crimson aura enveloped the entire ship, burning fiercely and transforming into immense thrust. The speed of the Rising Dragon Ship instantly increased dozens of times, the seawater on both sides of the ship surged up like mountain peaks, and the air practically solidified, shattering layer by layer like stacked glass. Vande, who had been enjoying the wind, was suddenly sent flying into the air, where Chu Hengkong reached out and grabbed him tightly.

Gulibo, clutching the tape and snot streaming down his face, cried out, "I—I—get—seasick—!"

"I haven't finished eating yet!" Ji Huaisu also shouted.

The crazy girl grabbed the fish's head, jumped up, sat on the railing, and laughed wildly in the wind. The demons of the shallow sea were startled; they surged towards the ship, only to be burned to ashes in their burning rage.

This was the first time Chu Hengkong had come to understand the source of his girlfriend's personality in this way. Now it seemed like a case of the upper beam being crooked, just like the lower beam, because her father wasn't exactly a reasonable person either. Normal martial artists use Burning Night as a life-or-death technique, while Ji Qiufeng uses his secret technique as an accelerator to propel his ship!
In just a few minutes, the coastline came into view. Ji Qiufeng gradually regained his composure, and as the ship returned to normal speed, the appearance of the other continent finally unfolded. Beneath the deep brown mountains, lush green grass stretched as far as the eye could see, with the leisurely shadows of cattle and sheep scattered among the tall grass. At the foot of the mountains, rustic wooden houses clustered together like a city, blending with the wildflowers covering the mountains and fields to create a beautiful pastoral idyll.

Ji Huaisu put down the fish bone, his eyes filled with rapture: "The city-state is so beautiful..."

"What are you looking at?" Ji Qiufeng laughed. "Look up."

"what?"

Following Ji Qiufeng's direction, she looked up along the brown mountain range. The peaks were majestic and imposing, like high walls at the edge of the world. The main peak stood tall and straight, and no matter how far she looked, she could not see the end of it. She could only see the mountain range hidden in the clouds, and the clouds were a bright green.

"No way……"

Van der muttered to himself, "My God!"

That wasn't a mountain range at all; it was the roots of an old tree, a tree as vast as the world itself! Scattered wooden cities were built upon its roots, and the vast plains were the flowers and grasses that grew beneath it. The "clouds" were actually the canopy of the old tree, a single floating continent high in the sky.

A gushing fountain erupted from the nearshore waters, lifting the dragon boat high into the sky. They approached the clouds, but did not stop, continuing their ascent propelled by the turbulent currents. Above the verdant clouds lay another continent, and far beyond, other landmasses of varying heights floated, like several kingdoms nestled around a great tree. Countless crowds drifted on the gentle breeze, carried by the wind to and fro between these kingdoms, like flocks of birds dancing among the trees.

"With a habitable area of ​​4100 million square kilometers, occupying about a quarter of the total area of ​​the Senluo Secret Realm, and a current citizen population of over 15 billion, it is supported by the 7th Divine Tree 'Jingsha' and is the largest and oldest urban federation in the Shendong Realm." Ji Qiufeng concluded his introduction, "Welcome to the center of the Senluo Secret Realm, the free and open Jingsha City-State."

The dragon boat came to a thud, wedged on the port of the second continent. Several ivy-like plants grew from the shore, forming steps leading directly to the deck. Chu Hengkong was the first to disembark, even he, as composed as he was, felt a surge of joy at this moment. A small, hamster-like animal on the shore, seeing him disembark, immediately blew a horn-like horn.

"So hospitable?" Van der Ritsu was delighted.

A chorus of bugle calls erupted from all directions, and the world instantly turned brown. Thousands of fully armed soldiers emerged from the foliage, taut bowstrings snapping, arrowheads gleaming with the dark green of deadly poison. All soldiers maintained a strict distance, adhering to protocol, awaiting the command to unleash a volley of arrows!

The horn-blowing squirrel darted past the archers and stood beside a large slipper. It saluted: "Captain Trek, the encirclement is complete."

"Very good, very good. Little one over there, don't move."

After the words were spoken, there was a slurping sound of juice being drunk. The man who had spoken slowly finished half a glass of iced juice and tossed the glass into the squirrel's paw. He took off his sunglasses, his gaze passing over the archers and landing on Chu Hengkong's face.

“These little heretics really don’t know the rules. They dare to swagger around in Jing Sha in broad daylight and cause trouble.” Cui Ke gestured, “Drag them away and behead them.”

(End of this chapter)