Stagnant World

(Day 4)

Behind the city gate lay a vast expanse of space. At first glance, it appeared to be a boundless starry sky, dotted with countless stars.

But upon closer inspection, the arrangement of those glowing points of light was too orderly, not like a natural night sky.

They were ships, vessel after vessel filling the sky.

In the prime of that ancient Immortal Realm, astronomical numbers of metal fleets would await, ready for the Immortal Realm's barrier gate to open so they could march to other realms and deliver devastating blows to their enemies.

There were also vast merchant fleets, carrying countless supplies, ready to depart for other realms at any moment.

These ships, hovering everywhere and occupying the boundless sky, looked rather peculiar. While suspended in the air, they lacked the grand, mathematically beautiful appearance of the colossal steel starships found in science fiction.

Just as described in stereotypical cultivation fantasy novels, they resembled ancient sailing ships from the real world, only crafted from metal and special spirit wood.

Even though this was a vacuum, these ships inexplicably had masts and sails. These were etched with various array patterns, their purpose unknown.

Looking at the sky full of "stars" through his binoculars, Fang Zheng felt a pang of emotion. "It seems that even in this Cultivation World, not all cultivators are that exaggerated. Not everyone is faster than light; they still need transportation."

"Logically, I should have been attacked as an intruder outside the city gate. But inside the city, they shouldn't just identify me as an enemy so readily, right?"

After all, if one considered ancient frontier cities on Earth, even with security measures, they wouldn't immediately launch an attack within the city walls, would they?

After some hesitation, Fang Zheng tried switching back from Spectator Mode to Creative Mode.

He waited nervously for a moment, relieved when no golden-armored golems came to attack him.

"It's good that I wasn't attacked immediately."

"I need to see if I can find someone with a normal IQ on these ships to talk to, maybe find an office or something, and see if I can get some kind of temporary ID."

Looking at the blocks and various items in his Inventory, especially the Golden Apples and various potions, Fang Zheng felt somewhat reassured. "With infinite resources in Creative Mode, I should be considered a tycoon, no matter what."

"Even though the only blocks I've acquired from this world so far are the Vermilion Bird and White Tiger Law Barrels, items like Golden Apples that restore health should be sellable for some spirit stones or other currency."

"As long as I can sell them, I can buy things. And as long as I can buy, no matter how expensive something is, I should be able to afford it, since my resources are infinite."

The space beyond the city gate was exaggeratedly vast. The sky resembled a cosmic abyss, with no end in sight. Terrifyingly numerous, in all sorts of shapes and sizes, countless metal warships filled the entire field of vision.

Every single ship, even the smallest, was practically as large as a mountain, and the distance between them was considerable.

Using the Elytra and fireworks in Creative Mode, Fang Zheng flew for a long while before finally landing on the nearest ship.

After searching the ship, he spotted a tall figure in black, with white hair cascading down their shoulders, sitting cross-legged in a corner of the mountain-sized deck. Fang Zheng felt a surge of excitement.

"Finally, I've found someone!"

He landed and approached cautiously, as politely as possible, and called out softly, "Um, hello."

"Excuse me, can you understand me?"

The white-haired figure didn't move at all.

Fang Zheng hesitated and raised his voice slightly. "Uh, excuse me?"

But the white-haired figure remained motionless. Fang Zheng suddenly felt a bit scared.

He looked at his blocky hands and wondered, "Could it be that even though I can hear myself speak, I'm just talking to myself in my head?"

"In the Minecraft world I transmigrated to, this Block Person body doesn't even have the function to speak?"

After a moment of hesitation, Fang Zheng still walked forward, thinking, "No matter if I can actually speak or not, whether I try to spell out words with blocks or do something else, as long as they're willing to communicate, there are plenty of ways."

He reached the figure and looked up. It was a man dressed in black robes, with a radiant complexion, skin like jade, and pure gold eyes that gave him an inhuman aura. Not a single pore was visible. His face was resolute, his white hair flowed freely, and he stood nearly four meters tall.

He looked exactly like the cultivators described in cultivation novels.

However, his face was devoid of any expression, as cold as a piece of iron. His eyes didn't move at all. He sat there with his hands on his knees, gazing into the distance.

"Um, excuse me?" Fang Zheng waved his blocky hand in front of him, trying to use physical gestures to attract the figure's attention and initiate communication.

But it was still useless. Fang Zheng could see that this white-haired figure with a resolute face showed no signs of movement whatsoever.

Even with a Block Person as imposing as himself appearing before him, the figure didn't even shift his gaze.

Fang Zheng suddenly felt a bit scared. He tried to get the figure's attention again.

He took a grass block from his inventory and placed it on the ground in front of the figure. Then, he took out a firework, lit it, but the figure still didn't move. "Is he... dead?"

Fang Zheng suddenly felt a bit uneasy. He moved away from the figure and began searching the mountain-sized ship for other people.

Success, and failure.

Using Spectator Mode to phase through the ship's hull, Fang Zheng found quite a few figures.

Within the mountain-like ships were extremely spacious and luxuriously decorated cabins of various kinds.

In different cabins, beings of different appearances, genders, some with horns and tails, or even entirely non-humanoid forms, were standing or sitting, or engaged in some kind of work.

But the only commonality was: they were all completely still.

It was as if their time had been frozen. Not a single figure showed the slightest sign of movement.

Each person seemed to have their time frozen at a certain point, becoming a lifelike statue.

Fang Zheng felt a chill run down his spine, and his frustration grew. A bad premonition began to form in his mind.

He left the ship and continued to fly using fireworks and the Elytra. After spending more than half a day, he reached another ship relatively close by.

But the result was the same. There were people on the ship, along with some unknown cargo. Fang Zheng even saw two cultivators dressed in luxurious clothing, seemingly chatting over tea, but they too were like still statues, the tea in their cups like solidified crystal.

On the deck, looking at the vast, boundless fleet that stretched as far as the eye could see, and at some ships that occasionally lit up and set sail towards the distant horizon behind the city gates, Fang Zheng felt a chill run down his spine.

"Are all these ships filled with these frozen dead people?"

"What in the world is going on!"

Why, outside the city gates, after he had just emerged from the Hell Gate, were the Vermilion Bird and White Tiger attacking him within seconds? After finally escaping the seal and reaching the city walls, Golden Armor Puppets came to attack him.

And now that he had finally entered the city, everyone he saw was a motionless statue?

Boom!

A dull, thunderous sound suddenly rang out.

This sudden noise originated from below Fang Zheng, on this very ship.