Chapter 123

Chapter 123: No Way Out

Regarding the “Toad Buddha’s” response, Xu Ming thought this toad made perfect sense.

After answering Xu Ming, this “Toad Buddha” closed its eyes again, listening to other demon beasts’ prayers.

At this point, Xu Ming truly confirmed that this town was not a trap set by someone for him.

Because the demonic aura of the Toad Buddha was something he had never seen before, and it was mixed with Buddhist energy.

If the Toad Buddha wanted to attack him, Xu Ming wasn’t even sure if he could leave the hall.

Besides, with so many demon beasts, if they all attacked together, he wouldn’t stand a chance. There was no need for them to go through such trouble just to kill him.

Leaving the temple, Xu Ming encountered a wild rooster standing proudly on a phoenix tree.

Xu Ming asked what it was doing.

The rooster replied, “Phoenixes rest on phoenix trees; I’m resting on the tree.”

Xu Ming asked further, “Are you a Phoenix?”

The rooster raised its proud head, “A Phoenix is a bird, and so am I. A Phoenix has wings, and so do I. Why can’t I be a Phoenix?”

Xu Ming: “…”

Similar incidents were countless in this small town.

There was a snake coiled on the eaves, believing itself to be a true dragon.

There was a jackal who had set up a county office, dressed in an official robe, pretending to be an official.

Underneath the jackal-official were dogs patrolling the streets quietly, looking very serious.

A fat fox wearing silk acted like a merchant, arguing endlessly over a copper coin.

This place seemed like a human city but without any humans, yet everywhere smelled of humanity.

Xu Ming found an inn to stay at.

A monkey with a flower tied to its head knocked on Xu Ming’s door, asking if he needed any special services.

When Xu Ming opened the door, Monkey Flower saw him and her eyes lit up. She immediately said Xu Ming was her type and offered him a discount.

However, Xu Ming declined.

But he gave her money and let her inside.

Xu Ming didn’t want any special services.

Except for the reincarnation of Blue Ocean Star’s Henghe Third Brother from his past life, no normal person would have such extreme tastes.

Xu Ming wanted to inquire about this city.

“Master wants to ask about this city?” Monkey Flower twirled her handkerchief, puzzled by Xu Ming’s question. “This city is just like this, isn’t it strange? Rather, it’s your kind, humans, who occasionally come here and then suddenly disappear.”

“Suddenly disappear?” Xu Ming grew more confused.

“Yes,” Monkey Flower batted her eyelashes at Xu Ming.

“Every once in a while, humans come in, but within three months or up to one or two years, they vanish as if they’ve never been here.

They also look as perplexed as Master does now, saying they’re from the outside world and asking us how to leave.

But how would we know how to leave?

We’ve lived here for generations.”

Monkey Flower shrugged, looking somewhat helpless.

“…” Xu Ming frowned slightly.

“But I heard my great-grandmother say that when she was young, there were many humans here, but they gradually disappeared, leaving only us.” Monkey Flower added.

“Great-grandmother? Is your great-grandmother…”

“My great-grandmother passed away two hundred years ago.” Monkey Flower knew what Xu Ming was going to ask and playfully glanced at him.

“…”

Xu Ming organized what Monkey Flower had said.

Firstly, this place was isolated from the world and might be a barrier where you could only enter but not leave.

Secondly, this city wasn’t like this two hundred years ago; it used to be connected to the outside world.

The problem lay in “two hundred years ago.”

If two hundred years ago this Baiwa City was already like this, even if this place was remote, he should have heard of it.

Because this place would surely be famous, and many cultivators would investigate it.

But he had never heard that Baiwa City was like this.

“Could it be…”

Suddenly, Xu Ming had a bold yet reasonable guess in his heart.

Could the flow of time here be different from the outside world?

Baiwa City only became like this in the last year or two, but for Baiwa City, those one or two years outside are actually two hundred years?

And honestly, Xu Ming was worried about what Monkey Flower said, “Humans disappear after three months or up to one or two years.”

Xu Ming absolutely did not think the disappearance of humans meant they returned to the outside world.

If they returned to the outside world, Baiwa City’s strangeness would definitely have been spread by these people.

So those disappeared people likely really vanished…

“Master, do you want me to serve you? I won’t charge you.” Monkey Flower looked at Xu Ming deep in thought and stealthily moved closer.

Xu Ming jumped in surprise and quickly stood up, “No thanks, thank you for your help, Miss Xiaohua.”

“Really, Master is truly unromantic.”

Monkey Xiaohua left with resentment, lamenting as she walked out, “Such a handsome master, but alas, he’ll soon disappear too.”

“What shall we do now?” Heavenly Black Goose asked Xu Ming.

“Since ancient times, life has death, cause has effect, entry has exit. There must be a way out; we just need to find it.”

Xu Ming looked at the bag on the table.

Inside the bag was Sheng’s ashes.

In Xu Ming’s mind, Sheng’s words before his death echoed again.

Sheng had lived in Baiwa City in Qingyang Jun for a long time and hoped this enemy of his would bring his ashes back to Baiwa City.

This city might have a significant connection to Sheng.

Xu Ming tapped his fingers unconsciously on the table, “Tomorrow, we will walk to the other side of Baiwa City and ask if anyone knows Sheng.”

Meanwhile, three men and a woman entered Baiwa City.

As soon as they stepped into the city, all four stopped.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t it daylight just now? How did it suddenly become night?” The son of the Sect Leader of Heavenly Profound Gate, Xia Donghua, frowned.

“This place has a massive demonic aura,” another person said.

The girl among the four chanted a Dharma Decree, golden runes floating towards the four directions of the city.

After a long time, when the girl opened her eyes, she furrowed her brows and shook her head, “We cannot leave.”

Chapter 124: Seeing Such a Huge Treasure for the First Time

Early in the morning, Xu Ming and Heavenly Black Goose left the inn and headed toward the other direction of Baiwa City.

“Excuse me, do you know a man named Sheng?”

“Excuse me, do you know a man named Sheng, roughly my height, with a build similar to mine?”

As they walked forward, Xu Ming kept asking passersby.

Later, Xu Ming realized how foolish he sounded and decided to draw a picture based on his memory to identify people.

Xu Ming’s drawing skills were average, and since it had been a long time, the picture he drew resembled Sheng only about sixty to seventy percent.

However, none of the “people” Xu Ming asked knew who Sheng was.

The only one who said, “I know who Sheng is,” turned out to be a Black Widow Spider.

This spider’s intention was to lure Xu Ming into her web cave and do unspeakable things with him.

Upon realizing this, Xu Ming beat her up.

What kind of joke was that?

Did he have such heavy tastes?

He didn’t even touch monkeys; why would he consider spiders?

Let alone Black Widows who eat their mates—how could anyone handle that?

After walking for half a day and asking over a hundred people, Xu Ming couldn’t find anyone who knew Sheng.

At noon, Xu Ming took Heavenly Black Goose to a noodle stall for lunch.

The owner of the stall was a giant lizard.

This lizard somewhat resembled the largest lizard on Blue Ocean Star.

What was it called again?

Xu Ming forgot.

Looking at the chunks of meat in the bowl of noodles, Xu Ming was quite worried—was it lamb meat?

But using his Dao Pattern Eye, Xu Ming secretly peeked into the kitchen and saw it was indeed proper beef with marbling.

Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good.

“Boss, do you use beef? Does Cow Brother have any objections?” Xu Ming asked the boss while paying.

Across from this small noodle stall was a clothing store where a yellow ox sold goods.

“What objections?”

The boss gave Xu Ming a glance.

“Animals and demons are two different concepts. Any animal that hasn’t developed intelligence isn’t of the same species as us! That ox can’t possibly quarrel with me over a beast without wisdom.

Of course, if you insist, making beef vermicelli and tripe soup here might annoy the ox selling clothes across the street, but what can he do? He can’t beat me.

If he pisses me off, I’ll make a soup with his bull penis.”

Xu Ming: “…”

Xu Ming didn’t expect the boss to be so tough.

“By the way, haven’t you been in our Baiwa City for long?” The lizard boss asked.

“Yes,” Xu Ming nodded, “I just came in yesterday.”

“No wonder.” The lizard boss tapped his pipe and exhaled a white ring, “It’s been about fifty years since humans have come in. Kid, you’d better be careful. In our Baiwa City, there are quite a few demon races who fancy human flesh. Don’t let yourself get turned into a dish.”

“Thank you for the warning.” Xu Ming bowed respectfully and suddenly realized the boss was probably very old, “You said no one has come in for fifty years. May I ask your age?”

The lizard boss chuckled, “Old Lizard is already two hundred years old. The brothers and sisters in Baiwa City give me some face and call me Big Lizard.”

“Do you know a person named Sheng?” Xu Ming asked, showing the portrait he had drawn, “He looks roughly like this.”

This lizard boss is two hundred years old, so he might have heard of it.

“Let me take a look…” The lizard boss leaned in for a closer inspection, “This person seems somewhat familiar…”

“Sheng… Sheng… Sheng…”

The lizard boss muttered Sheng’s name.

“Oh, I remember!” The lizard boss tapped his pipe against the counter, “That couple!”

Xu Ming felt delighted, unexpectedly getting an answer.

“Could you tell me more details, Brother Lizard?” Xu Ming placed a few silver coins on the table.

The lizard boss silently pocketed them, “There’s nothing much to say. It should have been a hundred years ago? Or how many years ago? Back then, I hadn’t started this tripe stall. I was working as a bricklayer in a courtyard in the north of the city.

Then, a couple moved next door to me.

The man was skinny like you, but his wife was quite beautiful.

They were searching for a way out, but in my opinion, they would never find it.

But they were really nice people, especially the wife. After baking some pastries, she often invited neighbors to taste them.

Unexpectedly, a year later, they said they had found a way out.

They talked about setting up some sort of formation during the full moon night or something—I didn’t understand it.

But before the full moon night arrived, they disappeared. I don’t know if they left or disappeared like others.”

“Could Brother Lizard tell me where they lived back then?” Xu Ming asked.

Xu Ming had confirmed that the flow of time here was different from the outside world.

Sheng was under thirty years old, but this lizard boss said he met Sheng over a hundred years ago. The only explanation was that the time flow here was hundreds of times faster than the outside.

“Not a big deal, but it’s been over a hundred years, and that place has already been occupied by others. If you want to go, just say you’re a friend of Big Lizard.”

The lizard boss pointed the way with his pipe.

“You walk straight ahead, see a big banyan tree, turn right, then at the first corner, turn left, and walk about a mile straight ahead, and you’ll arrive.”

Xu Ming bowed deeply, “Thank you.”

Just as Xu Ming was heading toward the courtyard where Sheng lived “a hundred years ago,”

At the entrance of Baiwa City, more and more cultivators walked in.

Apart from human cultivators, there were also many demon races.

They all followed their sect’s orders to come to Baiwa City to complete a mission—to seize rare treasures.

The common folk of Baiwa City were puzzled.

It had been about fifty years since they had seen outsiders, so why were so many coming now?

Outside Baiwa City, a black dog and Bifang looked at the city, feeling quite disheartened:

“Dead dog! All because you were so slow! Xu Ming got into this city! We can’t enter due to our high cultivation levels! What should we do?” Bifang stomped on the black dog’s head with one foot, bouncing up and down.

“Don’t rush, don’t rush.” The black dog’s head was being stepped on repeatedly, “They will eventually come out anyway. By the way…”

The black dog stared at the city wall covered by barriers: “I’ve never seen such a huge treasure before…”