It wasn't just Luo Chuan who was stunned. Lou Jingren and several of his classmates standing nearby also looked a little dazed.
Everyone loved beauty. It was only natural to admire beautiful things and then feel drawn to them.
Then Lu Bai realized that he might not be quite so normal.
Lu Bai loved good food, power, and influence. He also loved beautiful women.
In other words, Lu Bai loved indulging himself. For instance, he had a bad habit that few martial artists shared: he loved to sleep in.
But although Lu Bai thought this "Moon Immortal" was beautiful, he felt no desire for her. Instead, he sensed that there was probably something wrong with her.
"Could this be some kind of special ability?" Lu Bai found it rather fascinating.
He had always thought that after dying and coming back to life, he had gone through seventy-seven years without changing at all. But now it seemed that wasn't the case. After experiencing death once, at the very least, his instincts for spotting fake women had improved.
Watching Lou Jingren and "Moon Immortal" trade compliments, Lu Bai had the strange feeling that he had become a complete outsider.
"Moon Immortal" was the pavilion master of the Three Moon Pavilion in East River. She introduced herself as Jiang Yue and warmly invited Lou Jingren, Lu Bai, and the others to visit the pavilion.
The Three Moon Pavilion was filled with all sorts of exquisitely crafted things. Lu Bai paused in surprise, then gave Lou Jingren and Jiang Yue, who were still chatting, a strange look.
In a small room in the pavilion, he had spotted toilet paper and a flush toilet.
The Martial Forest Dimension had been invaded by Earth, so it wasn't surprising to find some things from Earth there. It was also normal for the occasional item to leak out and fall into someone's hands.
But installed fixtures and a continuously replenished consumable like toilet paper were another matter.
"The Three Moon Pavilion has Travelers backing it, and they must be on close terms." Lu Bai understood. Only a close relationship would lead someone to put this much effort into providing everyday necessities.
Otherwise, who would care whether you used toilet sticks or toilet paper?
Of course, Lu Bai had confirmed something else as well.
"So even fairies have to take a dump—and it stinks!" Lu Bai moved a little farther from the small room with its distinctive smell.
Naturally, none of this was important. What mattered was whether the people from Linjiang Academy knew about the connection between the Three Moon Pavilion and the Travelers.
As a mature module-production company, the Tianwu Group openly had the Tianwu Holy Land holding sway over the world, secretly backed Lianwu Mountain's assassination business, and could easily support a reclusive faction behind the scenes as well.
After all, entering a Dimension wasn't easy. The opening of a Dimension Gate had to require special conditions.
Otherwise, the major companies wouldn't rule the Dimensions by supporting local factions. They would send in large numbers of people and use all kinds of advanced weapons to establish colonial rule by force.
"Travelers can't remain in a Dimension for long. After staying for a while, they're inevitably pulled back to Earth."
"There must be other restrictions too. Otherwise, the Martial Forest Dimension wouldn't have remained as it is."
Being able to glimpse the secrets behind things from the smallest details was a talent in its own right.
Of course, Lu Bai preferred to apply that talent to combat. He didn't much like the feeling of reasoning through all sorts of things.
But he was still relatively weak, so he had to think things through.
"If Linjiang Academy knows the Three Moon Pavilion is backed by Travelers, then the reason they came here this time is worth pondering."
"There are still too many unknowns, though."
For example, did each Dimension have only one Dimension Key? If there were several, could people from other companies enter the Dimension and make their own arrangements?
If so, the Three Moon Pavilion might be backed by another faction.
But if there was only one, then certain questions would naturally come to the surface.
For instance, the changes at Hundred Flower Grave. The Dimension Key had been in the Tianwu Group's hands the entire time during that period. If the Group had secretly supported Hundred Flower Grave, that meant it likely had quite a few moles lying low.
"I wonder how much longer they'll be here, and when the Dimension Gate will open again."
These were all things worth considering. Travelers were different from the natives. Their advantage was obvious: with enough modules and combination formulas, they could gain power quickly.
Those Travelers were all from major companies. It wouldn't be surprising if each carried a complete set of modules, or even several sets.
And Lu Bai shouldn't think of Travelers as people who had suddenly gained power and therefore lacked real combat ability or control over it.
On the contrary, Travelers actually had an even greater advantage in this regard.
From what Lu Bai had seen, martial artists in the Martial Forest had to practice their forms and fist techniques as well as cultivate Internal Force. They could only squeeze in the occasional spar with friends to study real combat techniques, and they also had to spend time earning a living.
Travelers were different. Once they obtained their modules, all they had to do was get familiar with the power and fighting styles those modules gave them.
One person had to forge a peerless sword while also practicing swordsmanship to become a peerless swordsman. Whether they could forge the sword at all depended on factors like talent.
The other was handed a peerless sword and only had to practice.
That was where the gap between them began.
There was no denying that forging one's own foundation of power came with certain advantages, but it took far too much time and effort.
With that same time and effort, one could obtain power early and analyze it from a higher vantage point. That was often much faster.
Lu Bai didn't lack combat experience or talent. What he lacked was access to modules and an understanding of them.
Other Travelers already had a complete set of modules, knew much more about them, and had spent longer practicing.
So if other Travelers were still around, they were the strongest fighters in this world.
Lu Bai felt he needed to prepare himself to face them.
"Fighting strong opponents is what makes it fun!" Lu Bai smiled.
Jiang Yue had been watching Lu Bai brood by himself and was about to call out to him. But the smile made her heart skip a beat, as though some dangerous creature had fixed its gaze on her.
"Um, who is this?" Jiang Yue already knew who Lu Bai was: Blood Monk Lu Bai, an External Martial Arts expert who had appeared out of nowhere.
Although the Three Moon Pavilion kept to itself, it still had its own intelligence network.
But to maintain her identity as a reclusive fairy, Jiang Yue still had to put on a certain amount of a front.
She also wanted to investigate Lu Bai's identity.
"What on earth happened in the Upper Realm?" Jiang Yue worried. She had been unable to contact the Upper Realm for some time now.
She was running low on toilet paper, too.
First update.
Before you continue