As it happened, this was Su Mu's first time riding in a sedan chair. It felt rather novel, and the ride was not all that bumpy.
Su Mu lifted the curtain and looked outside, only to discover that the burly man beside him was lying on a banana leaf, which was also flying forward.
"By the way, I have yet to ask your name."
Su Mu cupped his hands toward the burly man beside him.
The burly man turned and grinned at Su Mu. "I'm Yu Shan. Just call me Fellow Daoist Yu."
Su Mu nodded at his words. "Fellow Daoist Yu."
Su Mu readily followed his suggestion and addressed him that way, which pleased Yu Shan quite a bit.
"How long will it take us to reach our destination?"
Su Mu glanced around. They had already left the imperial city, and when he looked back, he saw the city walls towering into the clouds behind them, majestic and imposing.
Outside the city, he could see numerous streaks of brilliant light flashing past, but as they approached the imperial city, they all descended one after another before entering through the gates on foot.
What a pity I don't have a phone. Otherwise, I could take a video and post it online. It would probably amaze quite a few people.
Watching this scene, Su Mu inwardly felt it was a shame.
From time to time, he could also see things resembling streaks of light in the distant sky. Su Mu guessed they were cultivators flying.
"We should get there in about ten days."
Yu Shan answered casually.
Hearing this, Su Mu looked at the scenery retreating around them and began estimating.
He reckoned this sedan chair had to be traveling at around a hundred kilometers per hour.
Even at that speed, reaching the demon king's lair would take ten days. Great Liang really was vast!
He just did not know whether the ten days Yu Shan mentioned meant traveling day and night, so it was hard to calculate exactly how far away it was.
Besides, the sedan chair's speed was only Su Mu's own estimate. He might not have calculated its actual speed accurately.
The sedan chair flew swiftly, the scenery below shooting backward.
Yu Shan had come well prepared. Although he had been lying on the banana leaf, he then sat cross-legged, casually took a flask of wine out of his Storage Bag, and brought out several side dishes before happily sipping his wine.
All the wind from their flight was blocked by an invisible shield, allowing him to eat and drink in peace.
"Young Brother Su, you're a soul body right now, so you can't eat any of this stuff of mine. Don't go saying your older brother treated you poorly!"
Noticing Su Mu's gaze, Yu Shan raised his cup toward him and spoke.
Su Mu felt helpless at his words. Watching him eat with such relish, he wanted to taste the food too.
Unfortunately, he was a soul body and could not eat.
"It's all right. As long as you enjoy your meal, Fellow Daoist."
Su Mu forced a smile as he replied.
"Looking at it that way, you're really going to miss out at this birthday banquet, little brother. My king's banquet will have a great many delicacies, every one a heavenly taste rarely seen even once in a hundred years."
"And in your condition, little brother, you won't be able to eat any."
Hearing this, the corner of Su Mu's mouth twitched, and he nearly spat blood.
Good grief. He had not felt much before Yu Shan mentioned it, but hearing him say that, Su Mu immediately felt he was losing out enormously.
Su Mu had already been drooling over the food of the Immortal Cultivation Realm, and from what Yu Shan said, all the delicacies at the demon king's birthday banquet would be rare sights.
Under such circumstances, Su Mu was even more tempted.
But what good did being tempted do? He could not eat any of it.
At that thought, Su Mu lowered the curtain outright, no longer wanting to talk to this fellow.
"I'll enter meditation for a while. If anything happens, just wake me, Fellow Daoist Yu."
Su Mu's voice drifted out, and without waiting for a reply, he returned straight to Earth.
Traveling had been somewhat interesting at first.
Especially since he was riding in a sedan chair, flying forward all the way, with scenery below that he had never seen before.
Occasionally, he could even see some exceptionally beautiful birds flying past below.
The problem, however, was that after flying for a long time, it did get somewhat boring.
So Su Mu had come back.
Su Mu tidied up a little, then took a taxi to a barbecue restaurant.
Watching Yu Shan eat those things earlier had really made his mouth water, so he came to the barbecue restaurant to satisfy his craving.
Once he had filled his stomach, Su Mu grabbed the backpack beside him and left.
Based on the information he had looked up earlier, Su Mu planned to visit the places where Dragon Veins were distributed and clear their blockages.
As long as he succeeded, at the very least, he would not have to worry about cultivating in the future.
What Su Mu had previously thought was correct. His soul body was currently incomplete, and if the soul body in the Immortal Cultivation Realm were destroyed, his body on Earth would suffer an enormous impact. It might even die outright.
The books he had obtained earlier from the Ten Thousand Books Pavilion had confirmed this.
However, resolving this problem was not impossible, as long as Su Mu could raise his cultivation realm a few more levels.
When that time came, even if his soul body in the Immortal Cultivation Realm died, although Su Mu would lose strength and suffer severe injuries on Earth, he would at least be able to preserve his life.
After learning this, Su Mu felt that clearing the Dragon Veins' blockages could no longer wait.
The few places he had found before had only a tiny amount of Spiritual Power. It was utterly impossible for that little Spiritual Power to raise Su Mu's strength another level.
With his backpack on his back, Su Mu set out to search for Huaxia's Dragon Veins according to the information he had consulted.
Su Mu had found many versions of maps showing the distribution of Dragon Veins, but after comparing them with the information he had obtained from the Immortal Cultivation Realm, he found a relatively reliable version and decided to use it as his guide.
A day later, Su Mu successfully entered the mountains. After seeing that no one was around, he began leaping through the mountain forest.
This was a benefit of reaching the introductory stage of his cultivation method. His body was as light as a swallow, and he could cover several meters in a single leap.
In a place like this mountain forest, Su Mu was even more agile than an ape.
"According to this map, there should be a Dragon Vein here."
Su Mu carefully sensed his surroundings, then found a towering tree and climbed it.
Looking along the rolling mountain ranges, Su Mu gathered Spiritual Power into his eyes.
In an instant, a dark hue surfaced in Su Mu's eyes. Wherever he looked, there was no golden Dragon Vein, only lifeless Black Qi instead.
"This is..."
Su Mu froze at the sight, then hurriedly rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a book.
His incomplete soul body meant that Su Mu's memory was not all that good, so he had painstakingly copied over some key information for easy reference whenever he needed it.
"Based on the description of the Qi field I'm seeing, this Dragon Vein is already ruined. It's a Dead Dragon."
After consulting the book, Su Mu confirmed that this Dragon Vein was indeed already ruined.
Although he had expected as much, Su Mu still could not help sighing after confirming it.