Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 48 – Our atmosphere is not good

The carriage shook as Li Muge steadied himself and continued, "Over time, the flowers, trees, and plants from the previous era turned into ashes that could be ignited. These factories use these ashes as fuel to smelt ore and create things."

Su Yun asked, "If the plants turned into ashes, what happened to the people from the previous era? What did they turn into?"

Li Muge hesitated for a moment and shook his head. "I don't know."

The front gradually brightened, and Su Yun looked out the window to see layers of light floating in the distant sky, arranged in an orderly manner.

"What are those lights over there, Brother Li?" Su Yun asked.

Li Muge felt a little embarrassed and said, "If it's okay with you, just call me Shixiong. I'll call you Shidi. That's how people from Dongdu address each other. In Shuofang, we call each other Shixiong and Shidi."

Su Yun and Hua Hu had read about this title from the ancient book Zang Long Ling, but they didn't know the customs in Shuofang.

"Zang Long Ling was written by scholars from Tiandao Academy. Isn't Tiandao Academy in Shuofang, not Dongdu?" Su Yun thought to himself.

Li Muge glanced out the window and smiled. "That's a tower."

"A tower?" Su Yun and the others were stunned. "Such a tall tower?"

If those lights were from the tower, then the top floor of the tower would be in the clouds.

Could there really be such a tall tower in the world?

The tallest building in Tianmen Town, Tianmen, was only a few zhangs high. How could there be a building that reached the clouds?

Li Muge asked curiously, "You've never seen a tower before?"

Su Yun and the four children shook their heads, and Hu Buping said, "There are no such tall towers in the countryside!"

"Since Lou Ban Lou Shengren started building towers, the buildings have become taller and taller. In the past, the tallest towers were only a hundred zhangs high, and they could only carry a few floors. If you wanted to build a taller tower, the wood couldn't support it. Therefore, palaces were only a few floors or even just one large hall. Now, we use the methods of refining tools to build towers, and this is Lou Ban Lou Shengren's innovation."

"Lou Ban Lou Shengren?"

Hua Hu and Li Xiaofan showed expressions of admiration. "This person has become a saint by building towers!"

Su Yun was stunned. He had met a ghost outside the temple of a big shot last night named Lou Ban, who also knew Qiu Shuijing. He said that he was also a new student like Qiu Shuijing, and he gave Su Yun a square wooden box, saying it was a key and that he should take the box to the underground of Shuofang City to see if the things he hid were still there.

Was this Lou Ban the same as the Lou Ban Lou Shengren who used the method of refining tools to build towers?

"It can't be that coincidental, can it?" Su Yun thought to himself."The Tower Sect did not become saints. The Emperor of the Eastern Capital only granted him the title of Celestial Master, and after his death, the Tower Celestial Master Temple was built to worship him."

Li Muge said, "In the past, saints were revered for their knowledge, wide dissemination, and disciples all over the world. Their knowledge was a prominent one, such as Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Later, Emperor Yuanshuo could not resist and wanted to deify and sanctify himself, so the saints gradually became those appointed by the emperor. However, in the folk, the Tower Sect is called the Tower Saint."

The situation during Emperor Yuanshuo's reign was quite peculiar.

Su Yun thought to himself, "The vendors who sold with the Tower Sect don't know that he has been revered as a saint after his death. When I meet him back in the village, I must tell him this news!"

"Junior Brother Yun, have you ever seen a spiritual weapon? A spiritual weapon is made by using special metals and materials, and then refining them with spiritual energy. After thousands of hammerings and temperings, it becomes a weapon."

Li Muge said, "Spiritual weapons are extremely tough and indestructible. We spiritualists can easily crush rocks and bend steel, but we cannot destroy spiritual weapons. The Tower Sect incorporated the technique of refining spiritual weapons into building houses. In his lifetime, he treated houses as spiritual weapons to refine! So, the Tower in the Eastern Capital is also indestructible and keeps getting taller! I heard that there are already two or three thousand zhang high towers in the Eastern Capital, truly living with immortals!"

Su Yun, Hua Hu, and others were fascinated and eager to see them.

"The Tower Saint used the method of refining spiritual weapons to build towers. After he became famous in Shuofang City, he was summoned by the Emperor to build cities in the Eastern Capital. He made building towers into a prominent knowledge, just like Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Now, our Wen Chang Academy has a course on architecture, which is equivalent to Confucianism!"

Su Yun was listening attentively, and the speed of the Candle Dragon on land gradually slowed down.

The Candle Dragon had already carried them to Shuofang City, and they walked into the city. The Candle Dragon carried eighty small wooden towers, and the passengers in the towers had begun to pack their luggage and prepare to get off.

Hua Hu opened the window and looked outside. She saw colorful lights and lanterns hanging everywhere, and the city was shrouded in mist.

Su Yun also took the opportunity to look outside. He saw tall buildings standing in the city, and each floor of the high-rise building looked like a palace. The surrounding of each floor was traditional building elements, such as brackets and beams with long eaves, resembling wings and swallow tails.

The Candle Dragon exhaled, and white mist rushed to the ground. The Candle Dragon slowed down even more but had already arrived in front of the high-rise building.

Su Yun leaned half of his body out of the window and continued to observe. He saw that there were stone carvings of mythical creatures on the ridges of each palace on every floor of the building.

Looking up, the high-rise building had eight corners and countless rooms, with sixty-four floors, each about one zhang high. The height was probably more than eighty or ninety zhang, much higher than ordinary mountains.At the very top was a building that resembled a palace, with an octagonal tower that shone brightly with lights, much like the halls of an imperial palace.

Then, a second tall building appeared before him, even taller than the previous one!

A third building appeared, much taller than the second.

Tall buildings and mansions reached straight into the sky, and the light from the lamps illuminated the clouds, making them turn purple and red.

What was even more peculiar was that there were high-altitude flying bridges between these tall buildings and mansions. Su Yun looked up and saw people walking on the bridges high up in the clouds, as if they were walking in a city in the sky.

"These flying bridges on these tall buildings are interconnected and can even accommodate four or five carriages side by side. People who live up there can even spend their entire lives without ever setting foot on the ground!" Li Muge laughed.

Hu Buping, Li Xiaofan, and Qing Qiuyue, the three little demon children, also poked their heads out and exclaimed in surprise.

Rows and rows of towering buildings came into view, shimmering with various colors of light. The flying bridges were like tree branches, and this scene in Shuofang City was truly like a forest made of steel. The buildings were the trees, and the interconnected roads were the roots.

"The Pao Xiu once told us that the city is like a forest of steel, and it's true," Su Yun thought to himself as he leaned against the window, looking out. "The people in the city are said to be a hundred times more dangerous than those in Tian Shi Yuan. They eat people and don't leave any bones behind. Is that really true?"

Beside him, Li Muge smiled and said, "Su Yun, Hua Hu, since you are here to study, why not come to my Wen Chang Academy? My academy is one of the top official academies in Shuofang City. This season is the time when we recruit new scholars for the next year. As long as you pass the assessment, you can enroll."

Su Yun was quite tempted and was about to express his gratitude when Hua Hu asked, "Wen Chang Academy is one of the top academies, but who is ranked first?"

Li Muge's face looked a bit unpleasant, and he said sulkily, "Of course, it's Shuofang Academy that is ranked first... but my Wen Chang Academy is still very powerful! Last year, we surpassed the Mo Xia Academy and ranked third among the official academies in Shuofang!"

Su Yun and Hua Hu exchanged a glance and thought to themselves, "It seems that Wen Chang Academy is not that great. It probably couldn't even rank in the top three before, and it was only by chance that it made it to third place."

Li Muge noticed their thoughts, and his face turned red. He stuttered and said, "In terms of grades, my Wen Chang Academy is not worse than theirs! It's just that our school has a bad atmosphere, which has affected us! Really, our atmosphere is bad, but our grades are good! If you take the exam at our Wen Chang Academy, you won't regret it!"

...

Su Yun felt a slight movement in his heart and felt that his injuries had improved a lot. Obviously, the medicine in Shuofang City was very effective against such pain.

However, his right arm was still burning and showed no signs of improvement.

When he forcibly used his fairy sword to kill the White Ape and its third ancestor with his right arm, the horrifying impact of the Qi and blood almost crushed his right arm muscles!

Even with the medicine from Shuofang, it would take more than ten days to heal!The land candle dragon finally arrived at the Shuofang relay station, which was much larger than the Tian Shi Yuan relay station with many official roads leading to different cities.

When the land candle dragon arrived, Su Yun and the others saw several other candle dragons rushing in from outside, also entering the relay station.

Several huge candle dragons emitted a deep dragon roar and greeted each other. There were spiritualists fetching water to dissipate the heat from the candle dragons' bodies, as well as people bringing cows and sheep for the candle dragons to eat.

The passengers began to get off the carriage, and the flow of people in the relay station was like a shuttle. Su Yun and Hua Hu squeezed out of the crowd holding the hands of three little foxes, standing at the door of the relay station, looking at the huge and bustling Shuofang city. For a moment, their minds were blank, not knowing where to go.

It was snowing in Shuofang city this winter, with snowflakes as big as goose feathers, floating down and landing on their collars, making them feel cold.

Li Muge carried a large bundle on his back and a few more in his hands, struggling to squeeze out of the crowd, and said with a smile, "Brothers, if you have nowhere to stay, come to my place. I have rented a house in the city! Tomorrow, I will take you to the Wen Chang Academy and try our luck. Maybe you can pass the exam and become a student of our Wen Chang Academy! Our academy is difficult to get into, really, I'm not lying to you. Except for the bad atmosphere, we are a good school!"

Hua Hu looked worried and looked up at Su Yun, whispering, "Xiao Yun, what do you think?"

Su Yun lowered his voice and said, "Let's stay at his place for now. Tomorrow, we'll go to the academy with him. If things don't look good, we'll turn around and leave. We must not jump into a pit!"

Hua Hu and the little foxes nodded repeatedly, and Hu Buping whispered, "According to Brother Muge, the Wen Chang Academy should be a big pit..."

Li Muge was excited when he saw that they agreed and led them out, saying with a smile, "My place is next to the coal mine. Although it's a bit noisy, it's cheap. You can stay there for one night. Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the academy!"

.

Hua Hu was curious, "Why don't you live with your family, Shifu?"

Li Muge's expression was not quite natural, "I have grown up. I want to make something of myself. If I stay at home, I will still have to listen to my father. I want to prove that I am not worse than him!"