Chapter 102: New City

Although I increasingly felt that I was not too sober, the doubts in my heart had not diminished. The so-called new city had been conceived in my mind in a thousand different ways. Although it could not really be a city, it was not as bad as this, turning into a reef shrouded in fog.

Although this reef is not small, like the long reef that stretches out like a road, shrouded in fog, it seems that there is no end in sight, but it is not large either, like the place where we are staying, which is only about 100 square meters in circumference.

Is this really the new city? I was almost asleep in the fog, but my emotions were extremely complicated.

The old man looked at us with a half smile, and then slowly tied up the boat, before leisurely walking over and saying, “We’re here, this is it. No matter what you think, the boat will not go any further than here.”

The old man’s attitude was definitely not good, and he didn’t offer a single explanation. But deep down, I just wanted to trust him. I couldn’t think about where my drowsiness and confusion came from. I just asked subconsciously, “So, what should we do next, sir?”

Can’t we just stand here on this rock forever? Looking at this rock, it is quite peculiar. It is flat and even. In the middle, there is a simple stove with a pot on it, and next to it are some unknown weeds and something that looks like a potato but isn’t.

Not far from the pot, there is a mat. Next to the mat is a perfectly flat rock, on which is spread a similarly tattered but neat sheet. On top of the sheet is a thin quilt in a similar condition, and a pillow made of a few tattered clothes.

Finally, on the other side, there is a stone with a pit in the middle, and in the middle of the stone is some clear water, which is not purple-red.

This simple set-up is all that is needed for survival, and nothing more. It is like those who practice asceticism in the mountains, the true monks. Those conditions allow you to live, but all desires are suppressed. Basic needs, such as food, clothing, shelter and transportation, are reduced to the lowest level.

However, neither the ascetic nor the hermit could have imagined that there would be someone living such a life of asceticism next to the little hell, shocking people.

The old man let us look at everything here as if he were just an observer. After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly said to my question, “Leave all the magic tools behind and walk straight towards that rock. When you reach the end of the road, you will be where you want to be.”

Leave the ritual implements? What kind of request is this? If we leave the ritual implements, won’t we die?

Faced with my doubts, the old man lowered his head and scooped up a ladle of water, put it in a pot, and began to strike a fire with the two stones in his arms. Suddenly, he asked me, “Do you have any useful fire-starting tools? Give me some.”

I resisted the urge to fall asleep and handed him all the lighters we had. He took them without any thanks and then took some dry firewood from the pile of weeds and sweet potatoes and said, “If you don’t leave behind your magic tools, it doesn’t matter if you bring anything else with you. You can’t bring anything in anyway! True magic tools have spirits, and you can’t use them without the spirit in them. Of course, there are very few magic tools that can gather spirits and take on a shape. You are “rich” and still have a few of them! After all, you can still bring some things in! By the way, the little girl is a bit troublesome. Leave all your bugs and medicine powder behind. You can’t bring any of them in either. But fortunately, the real life-giving worm has already been planted in the body. The real life-giving worm is the spirit of the worm. It’s like the spirit of a cat or a dog. At the extreme, even immortals are afraid. You have the spirit of the worm, so you don’t have anything to protect yourself. I’ve talked too much. You should go now.

The old man really had a lot to say, and he was busy lighting a fire. He didn’t even raise his eyebrows when he said this, but what he said made us even more confused.

But somehow, I inexplicably trusted this old man, and immediately took off the yellow cloth bag on my body, which was almost like my life savings, and placed it next to the old man.

I didn’t ask why, and he certainly wouldn’t say. When I put down the yellow cloth bag, the old man suddenly grabbed my wrist and asked me in a somewhat mysterious tone, “Have you refined the contents of the bag?”

“How could I not refine the tools I use most often? It’s just that some of the smaller items, it’s impossible…” Before I could finish, the old man seemed impatient to hear me and waved his hand at me, saying, “Go, go.”

Seeing me set an example, everyone followed suit. In the end, only Chengqing and Jueyuan hesitated and refused to come forward, not knowing what they were thinking.

The old man didn’t rush them or say anything, just looked up at them and continued his “great work of lighting the fire.” He was very skilled, and in a short while, the firewood was really burning fiercely.

But I couldn’t help but ask Chengqing and Jueyuan, “What about you?”

“I have to bring this lamp with me, Chengyi, there’s no way around it.” Chengqing said very directly.

Jueyuan also said, “Other things aside, I must also wear this string of prayer beads. I must wait for the 108 beads to light up.”

Faced with Chengqing’s and Jueyuan’s arguments, I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t the old man say that he couldn’t bring it in? But what should I do in this situation?

The old man finally put down what he was doing and came over. He took the rosary in Jueyuan’s hand and looked at it without saying a word. A slight look of wonder appeared in his eyes, and he said, “Put down your rosary. Even if you put it down, it will still be there.”

After saying that, the old man looked at Jueyuan, as if there was some kind of ‘magic power’ at work. Jueyuan was a little stunned, and he simply put down the rosary in his hand.

The old man then went to Chengqing’s side and took the yellow cloth bag from Chengxin without saying a word. He took out a lamp and looked at it carefully, but the surprise in his eyes was even greater than when he saw Jueyuan’s rosary.

He didn’t say much about the lamp, just saying, “It’s already a creation. The true spirit has long been passed on to you. To ignite this fire, it’s not just any fire! In the ordinary world, you use the lamp to cast spells, but in the extraordinary world, you use a special way to cast spells. What are you doing with it?”

When Cheng Qing heard this, he seemed to be deep in thought. After a while, he put down the yellow cloth bag on his back and said thank you to the old man.

The old man just went back to his pot of water and ignored us.

It was no fun to stay any longer. He had already given us the guidance we needed. I led the way and bowed to the old man, then headed towards the reef. Everyone followed behind me and did the same, walking towards the reef together.

The long, narrow rock was like a road, neat and tidy, like the cobblestone roads of small towns in Jiangnan, but no more than two meters wide. Walking on it was like walking on a narrow bridge.

On both sides was the purple-red lake water. Here, the lake water was no longer still, but was slightly rippled by the breeze. The lake water would occasionally splash onto the rocks beneath our feet, then tumble down again…

The entire reef was enveloped in a misty scene, with the smoke-like mist fluttering, occasionally revealing the purple-red sky.

I didn’t turn around, but I walked with a limp. Every step I took, I felt like falling asleep. I said loudly, “Master, I want to sleep. It’s so sleepy here. Does it affect you?”

“Master, don’t you call me uncle?” The old man made a rare joke and then said, “It’s okay, don’t look back on the road to the underworld.” Then he fell silent.

The whole road was filled with the haunting words, “Don’t look back on the road to the underworld.” Was this really the rhythm of going to hell?

But the old man said it wouldn’t matter, so it wouldn’t matter. I just let myself walk with the drowsiness…

As I walked, I noticed that the rocks shrouded in mist seemed to have reached their end. Next to the end was a small stone tablet. There were no words on the tablet. I struggled to support myself and walked to the side of the stone tablet, then crossed over without hesitation…

At that moment, it was as if I had experienced the vicissitudes of life. I felt lost, and a pain came over my body, but it quickly disappeared!

Then something magical happened. I suddenly got out of the predicament that I couldn’t get out of just now, and my mental state returned to a peak. There was no road in front of me. After all, there was only a reef less than two or three meters long after the stone monument, but now there was a wide black road spreading into the depths of the fog.

In the depths of the fog, there was a faint outline of what looked like a building. What was this place?

Before I knew it, everyone had arrived at my side and saw what was in front of them!

Is this the real New City?