Who Said Crossing Worlds Didn't Require a Toll?

Su Mu slowly opened his eyes and felt incomparably clear all over, with an indescribable sense of comfort.

He hurriedly checked his status panel:

Host: Su Mu

Cultivation: Qi Refining Fifth Stage

Mastered Divine Abilities: Water Manipulation, Swimming

Controlled Water Beasts: None

Managed River: None

River Favor Points: None

Seeing that his cultivation had directly reached the Qi Refining Fifth Stage, Su Mu was dumbfounded.

Didn't they say cultivation was difficult?

He had only eaten one fish, and his cultivation had shot up like a rocket?? That fish had to be a treasure!

After his cultivation improved, Su Mu walked to the shore, mobilized the spiritual energy within him, gathered it in his palm, and blasted it toward the river before him.

But the instant the spiritual energy attack landed on the River Surface, it vanished at once, like a clay ox sinking into the sea. It did not even stir the slightest ripple.

Seeing this, Su Mu was dumbfounded.

No way??? This weak? He only wanted to catch a fish—was it really this hard? He was a mighty Qi Refining cultivator, and he only wanted to catch a few fish. What had he done wrong?? After several fruitless attempts, Su Mu gave up.

Fortunately, as his cultivation improved, he no longer felt hungry. He seemed to have reached the legendary state of Semi-Seclusion. In other words, he did not have to worry about starving to death for the time being.

The next second, Su Mu used the divine ability "Water Manipulation" and discovered that he could only control a single drop of water!

This made Su Mu start questioning his life.

Su Mu plunged headfirst into the icy river and began searching for prey, but no matter how hard he looked, he could not find a single fish. He did not even see a hair!

That golden carp from before had definitely been a treasure. Su Mu planned to find another one.

But he could not find even the slightest trace of one. The river water was cold as hell. After swimming for less than three hours, he was shivering from the cold and climbed back onto the shore.

At this moment, Su Mu once again prayed devoutly to the great river. "Great River God, I still owe you one beautiful girl. Please send down another divine fish!"

After he spoke, there was no response.

He begged again, but there was still no response.

Su Mu was so angry that he scratched at his head. How had he ended up trapped in this godforsaken place!

One month later.

A sallow-faced young man leaned on a dry wooden crutch and limped along the riverbank. He was so hungry that his cheekbones protruded, and his vision had gone dark.

He had overlooked an important factor: Qi Refining cultivators could indeed go into Semi-Seclusion, but they still needed to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!

"What kind of shitty place is this? What a shitty place!"

Su Mu felt that he had truly had terrible luck. After transmigrating to this damn place, he could not sense even a trace of spiritual energy in the air, and even the oxygen was thin.

He had been starving for a month, so hungry that he was about to hallucinate.

At that moment, in a daze, he saw a Small Boat appear ahead. Someone was standing on it.

He threw aside his crutch and ran toward the Small Boat, shouting loudly, "Hey, hey, hey! Help!"

But no matter how he shouted, the other person could not hear him and even seemed unable to see him.

Su Mu could not care about that anymore. He jumped straight into the river and swam toward the Small Boat.

A young man stood on the Small Boat, dressed in casual clothes. His shirt was Boy, his shoes were A Di, and his pants were Noble Bird.

The young man looked utterly confused as he let the Small Boat drift on its own.

Then he saw someone swimming toward him on the River Surface ahead and jolted in fright.

After Su Mu approached the boat, the young man clasped his fists and bowed. "No offense intended, no offense intended."

Hearing that, Su Mu furrowed his brows. When he saw the young man's clothes, his pupils shrank, and he instantly became alert.

That outfit... Could he, like me, also be from Blue Star?! Damn, had he run into a protagonist who had transmigrated from Blue Star to another world?? Su Mu jumped onto the Small Boat, looked at the young man kneeling before him, and asked, "Who are you?"

The next second.

The young man raised his head, looked at the bare-chested man before him wearing only a pair of blue shorts, and answered, "This Little Brother is Han Xiaopao. May I ask where this place is?"

"You don't know where this place is either?" Su Mu asked.

"I don't."

Of course, Han Xiaopao could not say that he had transmigrated. As someone from another world, he could not reveal his identity to the natives.

"I was about to ask you where this place is."

Han Xiaopao looked at Su Mu hopefully.

Su Mu shook his head. When he looked down, he noticed two large characters written on the deck of the Small Boat—"Tiannan."

"You can't see the words on there?"

Su Mu pointed at the two large characters on the deck and asked.

"I can't see them."

"There are words?"

Han Xiaopao looked in the direction Su Mu was pointing, but he saw nothing and shook his head.

At this moment, the Small Boat continued moving forward automatically.

Su Mu rubbed his chin and murmured inwardly:

Could it be that the place this Small Boat was headed for was called "Tiannan"?

Perfect!

He could take this strange Small Boat and leave this shitty little river together with it.

"Would it be convenient for us to travel together?"

"I'm the River Warden here. My boat broke down, and it's too far from here to the town. Traveling by boat would be faster."

Su Mu asked.

"Fine."

Han Xiaopao did not refuse and agreed.

And so, the two sat on the boat and traveled forward with the current.

Suddenly, the Small Boat came to a complete Stillness.

The two looked at each other.

Su Mu turned to Han Xiaopao and asked, "Brother Han, there seems to be a problem with your boat?"

Hearing this, Han Xiaopao's heart skipped a beat. In truth, the boat was not his. When he opened his eyes after transmigrating, he had already been on this boat, and he could not even jump off. He had been confined to it.

He was actually just as shocked by how the young man before him had gotten aboard.

At that moment, the system's voice rang out in Su Mu's mind. Please disembark, Host. The Host cannot leave this river for the time being. Please refine this river before attempting to leave again.

Hearing that voice, Su Mu felt like crying without tears.

Damn it, was the system forcing him to guard the river??

At that moment, Su Mu had an idea and said to Han Xiaopao, "Brother Han, I know a little about repairs. Your boat isn't like mine, which is completely ruined. Your boat should only have a minor issue."

"But if I repair your boat, you'll have to pay me a repair fee and a River Crossing Fee."

"You know, I'm the River Warden here. Any boats passing through have to pay a little River Crossing Fee."

Han Xiaopao was dumbfounded.

What??? Did transmigrating require a toll now too??

Han Xiaopao searched all over himself. In the end, he pulled out a Snickers bar and handed it to Su Mu. "This is the only thing I have."

Hearing that, Su Mu finally realized that made sense.

Han Xiaopao had only just transmigrated, so he had nothing valuable on him.

Forget it, forget it. This kid had only just begun transmigrating. He did not even have a Golden Finger yet, so naturally he had no toll to pay.

Still, Su Mu had no intention of letting him pass so easily.

"Do you have any paper on you?"

"What kind of paper? Toilet paper? What, do you need to take a dump?"

"No, paper you can write on."

Han Xiaopao took out a stack of brand-new A4 Paper from the briefcase at his waist.

Seeing that, Su Mu snatched the entire stack and pulled one sheet from it.

"Do you have a pen?"

"No."

Su Mu looked at the ink-black river water, extended his index finger, dipped it into the water, and began writing something on the A4 Paper.

"Then I'll give you a designated plan."