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“Wait, what? He’s alive?”

Peng Zuo. The oldest living being in this world! Aside from proper deities, no one else in the Central Plains has lived as long as him. He was a direct descendant of the Three Sovereigns’ Wook, claiming to have lived for over eight hundred years since the time of Yao and Shun and into the early Zhou Dynasty. But the real kicker? I thought he was long gone, only to find out he was still kicking.

It was so ridiculous that I can still remember that moment. During a blessing ceremony, the Southern Flower Immortal was unhappy and requested to summon anyone except for him, and then Peng Zuo showed up, declaring,

“I am Peng Zuo… I’m still alive, so I can’t bestow my blessing upon you. You’ll have to wait your turn.”

“What? You’re alive? But weren’t you from the Yao and Shun era?!”

“I’m still around. What’s with the fuss?”

Yep, that’s right. He’s been hanging out for at least three thousand years. Roaming this world and holding the title of Great Immortal, yet still keeping his human lifespan intact. What a bizarre existence! Maintaining physical form like that? No way that’s possible.

While recalling my memory of Peng Zuo, I turned to the spirit of the National Seal.

“Is this for real? Peng Zuo knows the whereabouts of Chiyou?”

[Search result is confirmed.]

“Great. So where do I find him?”

[Please wait a moment…]

Swish

Suddenly, my vision shifted to an exotic setting that made me question my sanity. A metallic beast clanked and puffed smoke, racing along on wheels. It was like something out of a nightmare. People with colorful eyes were riding on it, shoving what looked like dark blobs into it. After a moment of shock, I realized it wasn’t a beast but some crazy machinery.

But that wasn’t all. In the sky, a colossal structure floated, seemingly blowing wind in a circular motion, with people aboard. As my eyes wandered to this bewildering city, I couldn’t help but be amazed by how the powerful forces of lightning were being harnessed there. Colorful-eyed guards patrolled the city, holding firearms that looked nothing like anything back in the Central Plains.

Clatter clatter

Meanwhile, a wheeled iron monster rolled over the bumpy road. It hit me like a ton of bricks—this place had to be the Western Regions!

“Wait… Am I in the British Empire?”

[Correct. Moving to the Governor’s mansion in the British Empire.]

Zoom

The scenery vanished as quickly as it appeared, and I found myself in an elegant building occupied by nobly dressed foreigners. My vision struggled against the shadows of the underground, only to finally reveal eerie beings garbed in ceremonial clothing standing among ancient ruins.

These beings were chanting something, and suddenly, one of them startled, waving their hands. It was undoubtedly ancient Chinese!

“Who dares use the National Seal? How rude…”

Swish

And just like that, the vision ended. The spirit of the National Seal spoke up.

[Apologies, a command from a junior administrator has ceased operations.]

“Wait… what?”

[Please reconfigure your permissions to resume the search.]

My mind raced. “That being… that’s Peng Zuo!”

For some unknown reason, it seemed like he had traveled to the British Empire and was chilling in its underground. Even if I didn’t understand why, simply discovering his location was a huge success. I quickly asked the spirit,

“How do I change the permissions?”

[You need to authenticate your superiority over the junior administrator…]

And then, bam! The spirit suddenly twisted and exploded in a flash of light.

Boom

“Whoa!!”

Surprisingly, nothing happened to me since it was just an illusion. Moments later, the spirit reformed in the void and spoke up.

[I’ve been ordered to temporarily suspend the user’s examination ability. Your understanding is requested.]

“What?!”

I thought about activating the examination ability again, but the spirit just floated there silently, doing nothing. Beside me, Zhuge Sa commented,

“Looks like that Peng Zuo guy was the junior administrator of the National Seal. He shut down its search function to avoid being found.”

“How is that possible? The National Seal was created using the Southern Flower Immortal’s summoning during the Qin Shi Huang era!”

“You’ve forgotten about Peng Zuo’s background? He’s a direct descendant of the Three Sovereigns’ Wook, born with powers rivaling a Great Immortal. A scion of divinity, you know? Convincing the Southern Flower Immortal to give him the authority of the National Seal would have been a walk in the park.”

“Hmm…”

It hit me like a load of bricks. “So, when Qin Shi Huang created the National Seal, both Chiyou and Peng Zuo must have been present.”

“Exactly. Whether in their true form or as avatars, they were significantly involved with the National Seal.”

Zhuge Sa suddenly burst into laughter.

“And here I thought we’d have a ton of uses for the examination ability! Now we’re stuck because of Peng Zuo.”

“Argh!”

Frustration bubbled inside me as I realized the difficulty of finding Chiyou had just skyrocketed.

“So, I’ll have to travel all the way to the British Empire and find Peng Zuo to get any leads on Chiyou? For real?”

“Honestly? If I were Peng Zuo, I’d have hidden away and concealed my tracks. It’s going to be way harder.”

“Damn it!!”

It dawned on me that locating Chiyou within ten years sounded utterly impossible! I’d found the only lead in Peng Zuo, but if he was hiding, there’d be no progress. Overwhelmed, Zhuge Sa said,

“Baek Woong. Can you run?”

That innocent question made me feel the dread of the impending struggle ahead. I couldn’t help but ask,

“Are you saying… I have to run all the way to the Western Regions?”

Zhuge Sa chuckled.

“Come on! You’ve run through the Southern Barbarian lands, Goryeo, the Arasa Empire, and Mongolia. What’s the big deal if you run to the West?”

“…”

He wasn’t kidding! And I could tell he actually wanted me to run the whole way to the Western Regions. Although, running wasn’t exactly a challenge for me, I found myself leaning back, pondering. “By the way, Zhuge Sa. How far is the British Empire from here, and where exactly is it?”

“I’ve got an idea.”

Zhuge Sa headed into a room, pulling out an old parchment and spreading it open.

“This is a world map made from the martial arts knowledge. Quite the precious artifact.”

“Whoa…”

“Here’s the Central Plains, and the British Empire is… right here.”

Looking at the pinpointed locations, I felt my head spin as I realized the distance. Going across such a massive continent and beyond to some island nation was no small feat! My brain felt dizzy thinking about how far it was. The distance was evidently greater than the journey across the Mongolian steppe to Arasa. Plus, there were desert terrains along the way, and that gave me a headache.

‘Crap… it’s too far…’

As I fell into despair, Zhuge Sa grinned.

“Don’t worry, it won’t take too long. You’ve been to Moscow and Astana, after all. If you head in the right direction from there, you should reach the British Empire in about ten days, considering your speed.”

“Hmm… that’s true…”

“I’ll give you a portrait immortal, a map, and a compass. Store them in your wooden armor. I’ll use the Soul Exchange Technique to teach you how to use the statute and the compass.”

“Thanks.”

Eager to get started, I wanted to set off immediately. Ten years felt like a long duration, but not at all when searching for a being like Chiyou. I wanted to save every bit of time. Just as I was about to take off, I recalled something and hesitated. “Hold on… maybe I should ask the prophet to send me directly to the British Empire or at least to a nearby library?”

Zhuge Sa shot back bluntly, “You really think the prophet does favors for free? Each request has a cost. You need to budget your resources.”

“Yeah, I get that…”

“Plus, running there could open up options later to use the Golden Lamp move, so just run for now.”

After receiving the items from Zhuge Sa, I activated the Golden Lamp technique and headed straight for Moscow. It was indeed a long distance to run from Moscow to the British Empire, but I was resolute, checking the compass to find the southwest direction, and took off.

Tap, tap, tap!

No worries about tiring out; my internal power was overflowing. I ran with focused intensity, and before long, I cleared two hundred li without breaking a sweat.

‘About seven thousand li from Moscow to the British Empire… I’m going to be running like crazy.’

As I sprinted, I caught sight of various cities and landscapes in the Western Regions. Not everything was as grand and bustling as the British Empire; I saw countryside villages, and it didn’t take long to notice their technological development lagged compared to the Central Plains.

But after running for about ten half-moments, I started noticing glimpses of advancement in the West. While there were a few knights, most soldiers were wielding firearms and were zipping around in steel vehicles. Additionally, the use of gunpowder seemed quite proficient in several areas.

The number of soldiers wasn’t overwhelming compared to the British Empire; in fact, it felt rather sparse. However, the sight of all those firearms left me with a chill down my spine.

‘With their range, there’s no chance against pikemen or swordsmen… cavalry would just get slaughtered. We need cannons at least.’

If their firearms fired with long intervals like simple muskets, perhaps with strategy, victory was still possible. But the guns here were leagues ahead of what we had back in the Central Plains. I had no doubt that their reload times were half that of regular matchlock guns. Before swordsmen could charge, they’d be obliterated by bullets.

Naturally, these soldiers wouldn’t pose a significant threat to the peak experts of the martial arts world. Those experts could wipe them out with dazzling techniques before they even had a chance to pull the trigger. Especially the likes of the White Lotus Sect’s Su Shin Sect could easily neutralize cannons with their Protection Energy Techniques.

The problem, however, lay in the speed of development. These folks had already advanced their firearms so much—what kind of cutting-edge weaponry would they develop in the coming decades? What if even the peak experts couldn’t handle new, powerful firearms? Each thought deepened my sense of foreboding about the future of the Central Plains.

After running the entire day and night, feeling rather accomplished, I set up camp in an empty mountainside. I retrieved the portrait immortal and activated the Soul Exchange Technique with Zhuge Sa. He asked,

“Feel like you’ve made some good progress?”

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel too appalling. I think I can reach my destination in three days.”

“Heh heh, with all that internal energy, you can do just about anything.”

“…”

“You look like you want to ask something.”

I turned to Zhuge Sa and asked, “How did the Western Regions become so advanced? Firearms, steel vehicles, airships… stuff I haven’t heard of in the Central Plains.”

“It’s not so much development; it’s more like they’ve been tainted by the Demon Path.”

“Demon Path?”

Zhuge Sa nonchalantly twisted the flames with the body of the young portrait immortal and replied, “This Western continent isn’t under the protection of the Three Sovereigns’ powers. Naturally, the influence of the Old Ruler holds considerably greater sway, allowing otherworldly races to interfere with humanity easily, leading to a higher frequency of Demon Sorcerers appearing. The knowledge they acquire from the otherworld is immensely richer compared to what’s available in the Central Plains.”

Suddenly, realization dawned on me.

“So this technology wasn’t developed by humans but was passed down from the Old Ruler’s Demon Sorcerers?”

“In a way, yes. Of course, humans built upon it with their own wisdom, but the foundation rests upon the knowledge of the otherworldly races.”

Zhuge Sa smirked coldly. “Baek Woong, you’re going to encounter a massive influx of otherworldly beings here in the Western Regions.”

 

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