Li Banfeng slept until evening. When he got up, it was already 6 PM.

He had missed the time to get off the train.

Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do about that now. The Judge's Brush was still in effect, so he couldn't be bothered thinking about it.

He exited the Pocket Dwelling and picked up his house key from under the berth. But when he did so, he had no choice but to think about it after all.

There were two young women in his berth—one on top of the other. Technically, this wasn't Li Banfeng's berth anymore. It now belonged to the two young women, as Li Banfeng was supposed to have already gotten off the train hours ago.

Seeing the two young women grinding against each other, Li Banfeng hurriedly said, "I entered the wrong compartment. Don't mind me…"

A shrill scream rang out from the compartment, and a train attendant rushed over. The two female passengers explained that Li Banfeng had suddenly crawled out from beneath the berth.

Li Banfeng explained that he should have gotten off earlier, but he had overslept.

The train attendant looked at Li Banfeng and asked, "You overslept… under the berth?"

Li Banfeng explained for a long time, but couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.

The train attendant ground his teeth and said, "You stayed on past your stop and disturbed other passengers. Your behavior is extremely vile. A fine of three thousand."

"Three thousand is fine," Li Banfeng said as he handed over the money.

The train attendant counted the money and stuffed it into his pocket without giving a receipt. Then he took out an iron baton.

Li Banfeng looked at the scenery rushing past outside the window and estimated the train's speed. He hurriedly waved at the train attendant, trying to seem placating. "Hear me out. I have a general travel permit. I can pass through all parts of Puluo. Let's wait until the next stop and talk about this—"

Bang!

The train attendant flung open the train door and jabbed Li Banfeng out of the train with the iron baton.

Li Banfeng did a roll along the side of the tracks and climbed back onto his feet.

When he went flying off the train, Li Banfeng had heard the two young women screaming something like, "Let that rogue fall to his death!"

Rogue… Isn't this ruining my reputation?

The two young women really were out to ruin his reputation. They cried and complained all over the train, eventually alarming the train conductor.

The train conductor was furious. He took the three thousand from the train attendant and even had him check Li Banfeng's ticket information.

After checking, the train attendant reported, "This passenger is Ma Junyang."

Li Banfeng's ticket and travel permit had both been issued under Ma Wu's identity.

The train conductor said angrily, "I've heard of this man. He slept with his own sister-in-law. He's the most shameless person in Puluo. It's unsurprising that he did something like this."

***

Li Banfeng walked along the railway, crossing the hillside. He walked for a long time, but there wasn't a single person in sight.

All he saw were hills and mountains, each one connected to the next. They seemed to be cast from the same mold, with few distinguishing features.

After walking for more than three hours, Li Banfeng came to a stop.

According to the plan he came up with earlier, his greatest concern was encountering the regional border. He still remembered its power. One wrong step, and he would be reduced to ashes.

The railway passed through regional borders, but illegal border crossers didn't dare walk along the tracks because there were also checkpoints along the railway.

Li Banfeng wasn't afraid of checkpoints. After all, he had a travel permit; he wasn't an illegal border crosser.

Nevertheless, the thing that was stopping him from moving forward now wasn't the regional border but a flat and bare patch in the grass before him.

How could the grass near the railway be in this state?

One possibility was that something had fallen off the train, crashed onto the ground, and slid across the grass, the friction pulling the grass out.

Li Banfeng touched his back. There were still bits of grass stuck to him.

This was where he had fallen from the train. He had walked back to where he started.

Li Banfeng was a level-four Wanderlust Cultivator. He had walked along the railway for three hours and had somehow ended up back where he started.

It didn't make any sense. Could it be that the railway had looped in a circle?

However, that couldn't be; the railway tracks were straight. That meant he was the one walking in circles.

After a moment of thought, Li Banfeng moved away from the railway. There might be some force around the railway that interfered with his sense of direction.

But if I don't follow the railway, where else am I going to go?

Li Banfeng looked up at the night sky. On a clear night, there were many ways to determine direction. He quickly found due north and headed straight that way.

In less than five kilometers, a high mountain blocked his path. This mountain was higher than the surrounding ones, and he could see the faint forms of buildings on its slope.

For Li Banfeng, climbing a mountain was an easy feat. He sprinted up the path and quickly reached the buildings.

Li Banfeng wasn't familiar with the architectural style of these buildings. They had earthen-red brick walls, vermilion gates, rust-speckled door studs, and a pair of large door knockers.

The buildings' red color scheme should have felt festive[1], yet Li Banfeng sensed a heavy, deathly stillness seeping out from the buildings.

Under normal circumstances, Li Banfeng would have stayed far away from residences like these, but he needed to ask for directions. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

He walked to the gate, lifted the knocker, and rapped twice. A teenage boy, who appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, opened a side door.

The teenage boy wore a cross-collared changshan and a small cap, giving him the air of someone much older.

Standing at the doorway, he sized Li Banfeng up and asked, "Who goes there, making such a racket?"

The question sounded quite formal.

Li Banfeng replied, "I'm just passing by. I'd like to ask what place this is."

"Wait here. I'll ask my teacher."

The teenage boy left.

I'm just asking what this place is. Do you really need your teacher's instruction for that?

Li Banfeng waited at the gate for nearly half an hour before the boy came out again. "My teacher says, do not look improperly, do not listen improperly, do not speak improperly, and do not touch improperly. Come back another day."

What's going on? I'm just asking for directions. How is that improper?

Just as Li Banfeng was about to ask, the boy shut the door.

Should I try asking another house then?

There were quite a few houses nearby with a similar aesthetic, seemingly lifeless.

Forget it. This place is remote, nothing like Greenwater City. It is indeed improper to knock on gates in the middle of the night. I shouldn't give someone else a fright.

Li Banfeng found a suitable spot, hid his house key, and returned to the Pocket Dwelling to retire for the night.

The next morning, Li Banfeng emerged from the Pocket Dwelling, intending to ask for directions again. However, he didn't see anyone around.

The gates of the house he had visited last night were still shut tight. There was one house that had its gates slightly ajar, but when Li Banfeng stepped closer, the gates slammed shut with a bang.

What's going on?

I'm not a robber, a thief, or a beggar. Why is everyone avoiding me?

Even when he went to Iron Gate Fort for the first time, someone had answered when he asked for directions.

Li Banfeng was about to head further up the mountain when he saw a man in white robes with a solemn expression coming his way.

Finally seeing someone, Li Banfeng hurried forward to ask, "Excuse me, this place is—"

The man in white suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud, making Li Banfeng shiver in fright.

"I'm just asking for directions, not robbing you. And it's been a long time since I've done that…"

The white-robed man glanced at Li Banfeng, looking extremely astonished, but he ultimately said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on the residence ahead.

That was when Li Banfeng finally realized the white-robed man wasn't kneeling to him but to the owner of that house.

What could make him kneel and beg for help like that?

Kneeling at the gates like this won't help. At least wait until someone sees you before you start kneeling.

If he wanted to kneel, so be it. They didn't know each other, so it wasn't Li Banfeng's place to interfere.

Nevertheless, it didn't stop him from asking, "May I ask where we are?"

Without shifting his gaze, the white-robed man said, "You're standing on the Sage's Peak, yet you're still asking where you are. How laughable are the uneducated people of the world."

Sage's Peak?

Li Banfeng had never heard of such a place.

He then asked another question. "May I trouble you to tell me how to get to the nearest train station?"

Li Banfeng had a travel permit and could buy a train ticket.

The white-robed man let out a cold laugh. "How could such vulgar things exist in the Sage's Land?"

A train counts as something vulgar?

Li Banfeng tried to keep his tone as polite as possible. "It's my first time in the Sage's Land. I need to leave urgently. Could you please point me in the right direction?"

The white-robed man frowned and replied with four words, "Do not speak improperly!"

There was no point for Li Banfeng to talk to the white-robed man any longer. He clearly wasn't normal. Then again, anyone kneeling before the closed gates of a residence couldn't be normal.

Li Banfeng continued up the mountain. The houses were all the same. The gates were shut tight, and when he called out, there was no response.

Then he came across a few people pushing carts or dumping out dirty soil, but the moment they saw him, they all walked away and avoided him.

Occasionally, he met someone who didn't avoid him. When he asked, they replied with archaic phrases. They spoke a lot, but there was nothing useful.

The people on this mountain are ill, seriously ill…

Li Banfeng stopped asking for directions and just headed up the mountain path to traverse the high mountain.

He walked through a mountain pass, heading north for over five kilometers. However, he found himself faced with yet another high mountain blocking his way.

Climbing along the mountain path, Li Banfeng came upon a familiar sight—houses with earthen-red walls and vermilion gates. This time, there were dozens of people kneeling before one of the houses.

This place was even more imposing than the last one. Sweeping his gaze through the crowd, Li Banfeng spotted a familiar face.

That man wearing white robes… Could he be…

Li Banfeng walked closer and looked closely at the white-robed man for a long while. Then he asked, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

The white-robed man let out a cold snort. "Do not look improperly!"

Li Banfeng was bewildered.

Did I circle back again? Is something wrong with them, or is something wrong with me?

Creeeeak.

The house's gates opened, and the teenage boy that Li Banfeng had met the day before stepped out.

"My master says your fortuity has not yet arrived. You should go home."

The crowd looked up at the boy with expressions of shock and disappointment.

The white-robed man said, "We have endured countless hardships and come here day and night seeking instruction. Why do you say our fortuity has not yet arrived?"

The teenage boy replied expressionlessly, "This is my teacher's will."

Then the teenage boy went back inside and shut the gates.

The crowd was deeply dejected. Some people even shed tears.

"Go home? We're just going home like this?"

"If we don't go home, what else can we do? This is the will of a sage."

"I've waited bitterly for eight years just to see the sage once, and now I'm told to go back. How can I accept this?"

"You've waited eight years, so what? I've been here for ELEVEN years!"

The people in the crowd grumbled endlessly until the white-robed man spoke.

"The sage refuses to see us because our sincerity is insufficient. Whether it's ten years or eight years, ask yourselves, aside from waiting here idly, when have we ever shown true perseverance and resolve in seeking knowledge?!"

Someone asked, "Then in your view, what should we do?"

The white-robed man said, "From this day on, I will kneel here without rising. If the sage does not see me for a day, I will kneel for a day. If the sage does not see me for a year, I will kneel for a year."

Li Banfeng was astonished.

This guy is really shameless!

1. In Chinese culture, the colour red is associated with happy occasions like weddings and the lunar new year. ☜