Lu Zheng went to Peach Blossom Ridge to secretly meet Shen Ying.
He gifted alloy weapons to several Peach Blossom Heavenly Maidens who practiced martial arts.
He climbed the mountain to pay respects to Daoist Mingzhang.
In the evening, he went to the City God Temple and drank twice with Xin Zhanting.
A few days later, seeing everything at home was calm and proceeding smoothly, Lu Zheng spent several days with Shen Ying and Liu Qingyan, informing them he’d be going on a trip.
Then, he set off for the Southern Border!
Lu Zheng didn’t plan to stay long in the Southern Border. His goal was to blow up Peach Mother Divine Mountain and leave. With his speed, if all went well, the round trip would take about half a month… probably?
Yizhou, in the eastern part of Lingbei Circuit, was separated from the Southern Border by Rongzhou in southern Lingbei Circuit, the vast Lingyun Mountain Range stretching thousands of miles, and several states in Lingnan Circuit with rugged mountains and scattered plains.
Beyond that lay endless peaks and ridges, the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the perilous Southern Border.
Buddhist sects, Daoist offshoots, incense-based divine paths, yin-yang harvesting, blood and soul refining, sword and martial cultivation, shamanic god sects, remnants of the previous dynasty, and all sorts of demons and spirits abounded.
That was just the factions.
The Great Jing Dynasty’s inability to conquer the Southern Border, and even the Lord of the Anomaly Suppression Bureau’s reluctance to venture deep into it, showed the Southern Border had no shortage of powerful figures.
Take Hu Yijun, the master of Dingfeng Mountain, whose strength rivaled the ancestors of White Cloud Temple and Jinhua Sect.
Then there was the Peach Tree Spirit of Peach Mother Divine Mountain, a wild-grown entity with a thousand years of cultivation, its power doubled within its domain.
Yet, Hu Yijun had once been gravely injured and wandered into a Great Jing village, and the Peach Tree Spirit’s influence barely extended five hundred miles.
Think about that. Think carefully.
Lu Zheng’s Earth Travel Technique and ability to traverse to the modern world, along with his clear target of the not-too-deep Peach Mother Divine Mountain, gave him the confidence to come. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered.
The main reasons were his concern that the Peach Tree Spirit might cause trouble again and the half-gourd of high explosives, which gave him confidence to level the mountain.
A normal thousand-year-old demon? Lu Zheng wouldn’t bother. But since your true form can’t move, aren’t you just a sitting target?
Since your true spirit depends on your physical form, if I destroy it, how long can your spirit last?
Even if the Peach Tree Spirit could possess another body, it’d likely be no threat.
…
Lu Zheng headed south, moving swiftly, leaving Rongzhou behind.
The Lingyun Mountain Range was treacherous, teeming with demons and spirits. To avoid trouble, Lu Zheng didn’t travel above ground but used the Earth Travel Technique, burrowing dozens of meters underground to cross through.
An amusing incident occurred along the way. Lu Zheng accidentally emerged in an underground demon’s lair. Seeing the creature’s two large front teeth, he knew what kind of demon it was.
Under its wary and annoyed gaze, Lu Zheng promptly pulled a bag of nuts from his gourd, handed it over with a smile, and they became friends.
…
After a long underground journey, Lu Zheng surfaced and found he’d crossed the Lingyun Mountain Range into Lingnan Circuit.
He found an official road and sped along it, soon reaching a county town.
Lingnan Circuit, Lingzhou, Yudu County.
“Got a bit off track.”
Lu Zheng asked for directions, confirmed his route, left the city, and continued south, crossing mountains and forests.
…
“Traverse!”
Traveling was exhausting, so he returned to the modern world to eat.
Since the last case ended, Lin Wan hadn’t taken on new ones. Besides her nine-to-five desk job, she practiced the Taiyuan Mysterious Scripture Lu Zheng taught her.
“Lunch together?”
“Sure!”
They found a Xinjiang restaurant, enjoyed a delicious lamb chop meal, then Lin Wan returned to work, and Lu Zheng resumed his journey.
…
Crossing Lingnan Circuit, Lu Zheng rarely stopped except to ask directions in county towns. He stuck to official roads and returned to the modern world to sleep.
Thus, he encountered no trouble and safely reached Yongzhou, the southernmost part of Lingnan Circuit, bordering the Hundred Thousand Mountains of the Southern Border.
Though still part of Great Jing, Yongzhou’s cities and counties had many Southern Border natives.
Unlike Central Plains folk, Southern Border natives lived among mountains with little farmland, relying on gathering and hunting, their demeanor carrying a touch of wildness.
But with thousands of years of exchange and Central Plains sects entering, many so-called barbarians near Great Jing were increasingly like Central Plains people.
The Southern Border was wild, and Yongzhou, adjacent to it, wasn’t much better. Northern Lingzhou was fine, but southern Yongzhou had a distinct Southern Border flavor.
Out of curiosity, Lu Zheng spent a day in Yongzhou, gathering information, and realized he’d made an error of assumption.
While some Southern Border sects were sworn enemies of Great Jing, and some followed dark paths with values clashing with Great Jing’s mainstream, there were also milder sects.
Not all Southern Border sects and people were hostile to Great Jing. They simply didn’t want to be ruled. Ordinary exchange and cooperation were fine.
Though this was a xianxia world, most people were ordinary, with no outward differences. Southern Border extraordinaries could blend into the Central Plains, and Central Plains extraordinaries could travel the Southern Border.
In most places, as long as you showed no hostility or broke no rules, people wouldn’t act against you.
For example, even a disciple of Bewitching Valley who never killed or refined souls in Great Jing could move freely, and Great Jing’s officials wouldn’t interfere.
Of course, meeting a righteous extraordinary who hated evil was another matter.
So, the Southern Border wasn’t as dangerous as Lu Zheng had thought.
In Yongzhou, he saw a few people who seemed to be from Southern Border sects, their cultivation low but openly walking in Great Jing territory.
His earlier encounters with troublemaking Southern Border extraordinaries had given him a false sense of constant conflict.
…
With a better understanding, Lu Zheng headed south again, entering the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
For this leg, he didn’t use the Earth Travel Technique.
First, he’d learned that much of the Southern Border, especially near Lingnan Circuit, wasn’t that dangerous.
Second, he didn’t want to stumble into another great demon’s lair.
Meeting a weak rat demon in the Lingyun Mountains was lucky, but he might not be so fortunate next time.
Even if he could sense what lay ahead, a powerful demon could sense him too. If he encountered a bad-tempered thousand-year-old demon, what then? Traverse to the modern world from their lair?
And how would he return? Launch a nuke first?
