Thorn Thicket

Portable Abode, the Wife was breathing out steam evenly and deeply; she was still asleep.

Li Banfeng lay on the bed, counting the holes in his body.

House Cultivator has a strong ability to recover, but the Iron Wire Worm is also very good at burrowing. Li Banfeng rested for a day, but he still hadn't fully recovered.

But he's going out today.

This is not only the nature of Travel Cultivator, but also a fear of unfamiliar environments.

It sounds contradictory, shouldn't travelers be venturing into unfamiliar environments?

That depends on how unfamiliar they are.

When Li Banfeng got off the train, he at least knew that the place he was in was called Medicine King Gully.

Now he had no idea where he was; all he had seen before was a wasteland.

He was worried about leaving the key in such a place for an extended period of time.

Li Banfeng ate something, put on his top hat, and left Portable Abode.

The key is still in the wilderness, more than 20 meters away from the ever-flowing "Iron Wire River".

This wasteland is very flat, with no mountains, no trees, no grass, and not even a single stone in sight.

In such an environment with almost no landmarks, it is easy for a person to get lost.

But Li Banfeng knew how to get back.

Walking backwards along the river, at his pace, it wouldn't be long before he returned to familiar surroundings.

Having not walked much for two days, Li Banfeng felt some stiffness in his joints. After running nearly three miles, he was panting heavily and sweating profusely.

Li Banfeng leaned on his knees, panting for a long time.

That's not right!

Even if he's in terrible shape, a second-floor Travel Cultivator shouldn't be unable to run three miles.

Moreover, his current cultivation level is no longer as simple as the second level. During this new land reclamation, Li Banfeng encountered Feng Daiku and the Iron Wire Worm. His cultivation level has increased by more than half a year and he is very close to the third level, but he still has such difficulty running three miles. This is really illogical.

Li Banfeng opened his water bottle, took a big gulp, and looked at the "ever-flowing" Iron Wire River as he slowly walked along the riverbank.

After walking for another two miles, Li Banfeng stopped.

He couldn't walk anymore; his legs felt like they were dragging heavy shackles.

Moreover, he didn't know which way to go.

I had thought it through clearly beforehand: if I walked back against the "Iron Wire River", I could return to where I started.

But he didn't expect that the Iron Wire River had tributaries.

There are three tributaries ahead, which converge to form the Iron Wire River in front of us.

Which tributary should Li Banfeng follow back?

Judging from the width of the tributary?

These three tributaries look pretty much the same.

The thing Li Banfeng feared most still happened: he got lost in Xindi.

Li Banfeng had heard Ma Wu say that all those who had gotten lost in New World and survived had only one piece of advice: leave it to fate.

In the new land, many common sense rules do not apply. Determining direction relies entirely on memory and intuition. If your intuition is accurate, you can find your way out. If your intuition is inaccurate, no one knows what will happen, because those with inaccurate intuition all die.

What should we do in this situation?

Li Banfeng calmed down and began to think about countermeasures.

Li Banfeng doesn't believe in intuition.

He decided to go back along the first tributary on the left. He had been unconscious in his Portable Abode for a total of twenty hours, and the key to his Portable Abode had followed the Iron Wire Worm for the same twenty hours.

Li Banfeng felt he was faster than Iron Wire Worm; if he could walk backwards for twenty hours and find himself back in familiar territory, it would prove he had made the right choice.

If you don't follow the correct route, you can go back and start over. It will take about forty hours to go back and forth.

It could be fifty.

Something's not right with me right now; I might not even be able to outrun an insect.

Even if you take two wrong turns along the three rivers, it will take at most a hundred hours to reach the last river, which will definitely be the correct one.

Given the current situation, even in the worst-case scenario, it would only take a little over 120 hours of walking, 16 hours a day, to get out of there in eight days.

The food in the Portable Abode is sufficient, but water is a little scarce. If you really can't walk anymore, you can ask the record player for help.

It wasn't that he didn't trust the record player; it was because the record player was asleep and he didn't know when she would wake up. She had eaten special ingredients, and he didn't know what the consequences would be if he forcibly woke her up. What if by the time she woke up, all the water had been drunk, and it would be too late to say anything?

Moreover, the record player was always Portable Abode, completely unaware of the outside environment, so there were probably not many solutions it could come up with.

Even if the Wife could come up with a solution, it would be easy to reveal one thing when discussing the route: Li Banfeng has an extraordinary speed. The Wife planned a route that was 500 miles long, and Li Banfeng completed it in three hours. This would be very problematic, and the Wife would deduce that Li Banfeng was Travel Cultivator.

Of course, he could tell his Wife that he had been on the road the whole time, but his Wife wasn't so easily fooled. If he revealed even the slightest flaw, Li Banfeng's life would be in danger.

However, if it comes to a last resort, such as when a few more tributaries appear ahead, Li Banfeng can only ask his Wife for help, and even consider moving the record player outside.

Of course, my Wife may not be willing to come out; we'll have to discuss it carefully then.

Li Banfeng started walking along the first tributary on the left, and after gritting his teeth and walking for more than ten miles, his legs could no longer be lifted.

He opened his Pocket Watch and saw that it had taken him three hours to travel those ten-odd miles!

It seems that his health is really not good.

Li Banfeng sat by the roadside and rested for a while.

And you know what? As long as you don't walk, your physical strength recovers very quickly.

This should be the effect of the House Cultivator; the recovery should be faster once back in the house.

Li Banfeng returned to Portable Abode, where his Wife was still fast asleep.

Li Banfeng slept for more than half an hour, then mustered up his strength to walk forward. After walking for another ten miles, his strength was exhausted again.

If you're too tired, go back to your Portable Abode to rest for a while, eat something, and then continue your journey.

They walked back and forth like this for dozens of miles until their path was blocked by a thicket of thorns.

The thorns were densely distributed on both banks. Li Banfeng now had two choices: one was to go through the Thorn Thicket, and the other was to go back into the Iron Wire River and rush forward along the river.

He absolutely refused to go into the Iron Wire River.

But this Thorn Thicket doesn't seem easy to traverse either.

Each thorn bush has grown here for countless years; the upper half is green, while the lower half is charred black, looking like charcoal.

Li Banfeng touched the thorns on the brambles, broke off one, and said he could use it as a singing needle for his Wife.

Li Banfeng doesn't have a body of copper or iron, how is he going to get through this journey?

Left with no other choice, he took out his Tang Blade.

Tang Blade looked at the thorns in front of him and said in surprise, "My lord, are you asking me to clear the way? This is more suitable for a sickle."

"How big is the sickle?" A sickle that is only a dozen centimeters long is obviously not a good weapon for clearing a path in Thorn Thicket of this size.

"My lord, I can only make three cuts. As for how things turn out, that's up to fate."

Tang Blade was about to strike when Li Banfeng shouted, "Wait! Let me think about which direction to strike."

Which direction should we cut in?

Why not just cut against the current?

Li Banfeng sensed something was wrong. Looking at the direction directly opposite the river, Li Banfeng got goosebumps all over his body.

There is danger here, but Li Banfeng does not yet know what kind of danger it is.

After sensing for a long time using the technique of Auspiciousness and Avoiding Calamity, Li Banfeng chose a position slightly to the left and unleashed a full-force strike with his Tang Blade.

A large patch of thorns fell, but behind it, more thorns lay.

The road that was cleared was only two meters deep, which disappointed Li Banfeng.

There seemed to be no danger here, but this direction didn't bring any surprises either.

Li Banfeng continued to use his Auspiciousness and Avoiding Calamity and inauspicious techniques to sense the most favorable direction, which was still slightly to the left.

What's so special about this location?

Li Banfeng was slashed by Tang Blade again.

This time, after cutting more than three meters deep, the thorns seemed to have softened a bit.

If we try to find a way to Auspiciousness and Avoiding Calamity again, the result will still be the same.

Li Banfeng decisively slashed a third time, and this time, Li Banfeng saw a path.

It wasn't a road he forged himself; it was an existing road through a Thorn Thicket, extending to the left and right.

Li Banfeng walked into the thicket of thorns, looking around.

The road is narrow, just wide enough for two or three people to pass side by side. There are thorns on both sides, but the thorns do not grow into the road; they grow densely on both sides of the road like a fence.

This path should be able to get through this thicket of thorns, but which way should we go?

Should we go left or right?

Li Banfeng took out the Thread-Pulling Earring and instructed, "You've been given plenty of treats, now you'd better put in the effort."

Can you tell the direction of Thread-Pulling Earring?

Cannot.

But she could hear the changes in the sound.

Only two sounds could be heard in the Thorn Thicket: the howling wind and the "wriggling" sound of the Iron Wire River not far away.

Li Banfeng walked to the right along the road, which was closer to the Iron Wire River. He figured that once he got out of the thicket of thorns, he would still be on the riverbank.

After walking a short distance to the right, the road turns left.

After turning the corner, a fork in the road appeared ahead. Li Banfeng continued to walk towards the Iron Wire River.

After walking for five hours through the Thorn Thicket and encountering more than a dozen forks in the road, Li Banfeng had only one criterion for choosing a path: it had to be close to the Iron Wire River.

The journey was exhausting; for every mile he walked, Li Banfeng felt as if he had been running all day.

After walking for more than three miles, Li Banfeng sat down by the roadside to rest for a while.

He could still hear the sound of the river moving through the Thread-Pulling Earring, proving that he had not gone the wrong way.

He carefully observed the thorns on both sides, wondering why they didn't grow towards the road.

Is it controlled by some force, or is someone coming to prune it regularly?

How could anyone possibly be pruning it?

Li Banfeng chuckled to himself, got up and was about to continue his journey when he suddenly heard another sound Thread-Pulling Earring.

Whew~

A gust of wind blew over.

The high pitch and loud volume indicate that the wind was strong and came very quickly.

Li Banfeng sniffed and caught a faint smell in the air.

It smells like smoke.

It was very faint, but Li Banfeng's Hundred Flavors Exquisite skill in discerning flavors allowed him to identify it.

The smell of smoke was approaching, and so was the strong wind.

Oh no! There might be a fire.

Li Banfeng took out his key, opened the Portable Abode, threw the key into the brambles, and immediately closed the door.

More than half an hour later, Li Banfeng tentatively opened the door.

There was no danger outside, so he quickly went out and picked up the keys.

The road was deserted, with only a few remaining ashes.

Smoke was rising from the roots of the thorns on both sides, and sparks were visible in some places.

The key is a bit hot; it was heated by fire earlier.

Thorn Thicket on fire?

Is the fire out now?

This Thorn Thicket is dangerous!

Ignoring his exhaustion, Li Banfeng sprinted along the road.

More than seven hours later, Li Banfeng smelled smoke again and quickly returned to his Portable Abode to hide.

This time he entered a little slower and saw a human head about three meters in diameter at the corner at the end of the road. It had no hair, but had complete facial features, with its eyes wide open and pupils moving back and forth. Fierce Flame were spewing from its mouth as it slowly walked across the road.

How did he get there?

How can a legless human head walk?

It looks like he has feet under his neck.

Li Banfeng dared not observe closely any further. All the creatures that appeared on the road, including worms on the ground, flying insects in the air, and thorns that occasionally grew beyond the boundary, were all burned to ashes by the flames spewed out by the human head.

Someone was indeed trimming the thorns, and the head kept patrolling the roads without stopping.

Li Banfeng quickly threw the key into the Thorn Thicket. At the same time, the head opened its eyes and looked at Li Banfeng.

It's been a long time since we've seen a living person; the human head seems quite interested in Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng felt like he was on fire after being stared at by the head.

It was really about to catch fire; smoke was starting to rise from his body.

Without daring to linger for even a moment, he immediately closed the door and returned to his Portable Abode.

PS: This human head is of a very high level. Is it possible that it is also a Local Earth God?