Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 1023: Chapter 19: Across 10,000 Rivers and 1,000 Mountains

Chen Guanshui left White City, initially following the river towards Chang’an.

In the land beyond the borders, vast and desolate, most of the scenery is quite similar, lacking distinctive landmarks to navigate by.

Moreover, in this world, there are no spells akin to electronic maps, so whether it’s cultivators of the Taiqing Sect in the Kunlun Mountain Range, or Asura Path cultivators in Iron City Mountain, or those from other sects, they are accustomed to first heading east by the river to find Chang’an, and then flying to other places—such is the grandeur and magnificence of Chang’an, visible from afar.

But Chen Guanshui flew for a moment and suddenly realized.

I can think of following the river downstream to Chang’an, can’t Junior Sister Xu think of that?

No! I must change direction!

He quickly turned south, abandoning the steady route following the river, swiftly traversing mountains and hills, not knowing where he was headed.

The downside of doing this is that before encountering the next Human Race settlement, he has no idea where he is.

Nonetheless, the advantage is evident: Junior Sister Xu and the Kunlun Sect behind her, would also find it difficult to track him… So the essence of escape lies in running recklessly. Even I don’t know where I’m headed, how could you deduce it?

Chen Guanshui simply headed south all the way, day and night, never stopping his sword control.

After who knows how long, he finally spotted a shepherd below, tending to his flock, and landed ahead of time, disguising himself as a traveler to ask for directions.

Upon asking the shepherd, he learned that he had already left the plateau’s heartland and reached the Hengduan Mountains.

Here, being at the plateau’s edge, the altitude difference is vast, and the spiritual energy is very sparse; both cultivators and ordinary people rarely come here.

If one continues flying east from here, as the altitude gradually decreases, the vegetation will noticeably thrive—thus entering the territory of Shushan.

Chen Guanshui certainly couldn’t hide within Shushan’s territory, so he instead followed the cross-section further south, finally reaching the Northern Border of the Southern Border.

As the altitude dropped, not only did the trees grow more vigorous, but a faint miasma gradually thickened, resembling ribbons fluttering among the trees from above.

Continuing deeper, one would enter the territory of the Eastern Emperor Path.

Among the Six Paths, aside from the Hell Path where the Divine Dragon is elusive, the Eastern Emperor Path, forever shrouded in miasma, is the most mysterious.

Nonetheless, Chen Guanshui was well aware of the Eastern Emperor Path’s foundations: Unknown years ago, the Jiaolong remnants from the Eastern Emperor Realm secretly took control of the Eastern Emperor Path, using it as a bridgehead to the Mortal Realm.

Of course, a demon race counterattack is certainly impossible, as the Eastern Emperor Realm itself is in chaos! Ever since Emperor Ying Long’s passing, the rising Qilin Clan can’t even subdue the Feathered Clan of South State, let alone unify the Demon Race.

Chen Guanshui estimated that the primary purpose of the Eastern Emperor Path was probably to scheme for the one imprisoned in the Demon Locking Tower… However, he is no longer linked to Shushan, thus might try to blend into the Eastern Emperor Path, concealing himself.

Proceeding along the miasma’s edge with sword control, he soon reached a Miao small town.

Miao and Han people coexisted in the town, and after wandering for a while, Chen Guanshui noticed there were noticeably numerous herbal shops.

It seems the Miao people braved the miasma to gather herbs in the Southern Border, selling them to merchants from the Central Plains, which is why the town has so many herbal shops.

After aimlessly wandering for half a day, Chen Guanshui suddenly heard someone calling him by the roadside.

“Calling me?” He pointed to himself.

“Yes, calling you, indeed you.” The one calling was a well-off middle-aged man, seemingly a merchant, with a round face full of smiles who asked, “If I’m not mistaken, you should be a cultivator… Am I right?”

“Yes.” Chen Guanshui responded indifferently, “How did you figure it out?”

“Please look, Immortal.” The wealthy merchant pointed to a nearby passerby, smiling, “This person is clearly an ordinary layman, and impoverished.”

Chen Guanshui focused his gaze and saw the man was travel-worn, his sleeves full of patches, dust-covered temples, wrinkles, and sun-tanned marks, evidently a man of manual labor.

“Look again, Immortal.” The merchant pointed to another passerby, smiling, “This one appears to be a businessman.”

Following his indication, Chen Guanshui looked and saw the man was dressed relatively neatly but full of vigilance, with two sturdy men standing by his side.

He thought for a moment and suddenly realized.

The town has two kinds of people: those who have little money and are destitute, and slightly wealthy people who fear robbery by the destitute—after all, it’s a borderland where Miao and Han coexist, the authorities struggle to manage, violence overrides the law, wealthy people usually hire a few guards.

And he did not appear destitute, yet was alone without any guards, thus there was only one plausible explanation: his own strength was formidable enough, unafraid of any bandit robber.

However, since the merchant could guess his identity at a glance, he must have encountered cultivators before.

Hence, Chen Guanshui did not further stall, directly asking:

“What do you want from me?”

“Immortal, though I have some guards, none have mana.” The merchant clasped his hands with a smile, “If you’re available…”

He subtly raised his sleeve, revealing half a spirit stone inside.

Seeing this, Chen Guanshui couldn’t help but smile wryly. I am already at the Nascent Soul Realm, and someone is offering a spirit stone to hire me?

Nevertheless, being idle anyway… he calmly asked:

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