A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm-Chapter 1295: Forgetful Bamboo Boat

"You don't know anything! I'll seal away the power of these bamboo trees so that you can unearth them. Trust me, they're going to be very useful," Gui Wu urged, then emerged from the Soul Locking Box before opening his mouth to release a cloud of gray mist that encompassed the entire cluster of bamboo trees.

The cloud of mist quickly seeped into the bamboo trees, upon which a series of gray patterns immediately appeared over their surface.

Han Li immediately swept both sleeves through the air upon seeing this, and two bursts of crescent-shaped golden light flew out of the palms of his hands before digging up the bamboo trees and the surrounding soil before stowing them away into his Flower Branch domain.

"Sorry about that. These bamboo trees are quite useful to me, so I decided to take a detour," Han Li said to Shi Chuankong and the others.

"It's fine," Shi Chuankong said with a wave of his hand. "Who is this?"

"This is Fellow Daoist Gui Wu, a soul fragment that I encountered and saved earlier in the underworld," Han Li replied, refraining from revealing Gui Wu's identity.

"I see. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Fellow Daoist Gui Wu," Shi Chuankong said as he cupped his fist in a salute.

Gui Wu took a glance at him, then nodded in response before flying back into the Soul Locking Box, and the group set off once again.

With Han Li and Weeping Soul on their side, the rest of the journey through the Hundred Ghost Forest went by very smoothly, and they finally emerged from the forest after over a month of travel, arriving on a boundless, gray plain.

"How far away are we from the Yellow Springs?" Han Li asked.

"We're already there. You should be able to see a red area up ahead, that's where the Yellow Springs are," Gui Wu replied.

Sure enough, on the distant horizon was an area that was enshrouded in what appeared to have been a cloud of red vapor.

He immediately set off in that direction, followed closely by Violet Spirit and the others.

There was an indescribable smell in the air here that struck one with a sense of asphyxiation, and the closer they drew to the red area, the more pronounced this feeling of asphyxiation became.

Before long, the group arrived at an enormous lake that was almost comparable in size to an ocean.

It stretched as far as the eyes could see, and the surface of the water near the shore was as smooth as a mirror, with not even the slightest ripple to be seen.

In the sky above the central region of the lake was a dense blanket of crimson clouds, which was connected to the chaotic cloud of vapor down below to form a huge area in which visibility was severely hampered.

The sky to the north of the lake looked as if it had been torn open by something, and a crimson waterfall was pouring out of the gash, forming a red ribbon that trailed down from the heavens.

The waterfall appeared to have been crashing down with tremendous force, but it fell onto the lake with no more impact than a feather, presenting a very strange sight to behold.

Constructed along the bank of the lake at set intervals were stone dark red, stone forts that were each over a thousand feet tall, and there were giant banners that bore different totems hanging from them.

"This is where the four major tribes are stationed," Gui Wu declared, and Han Li immediately released his spiritual sense toward the stone forts.

After a brief inspection, he turned to everyone else and declared, "They're all empty."

"You see? Do you believe me now?" Gui Wu asked.

"The absence of the four major tribes will spare us of a great deal of trouble. Where is the Six Paths Reincarnation Plate right now?" Han Li asked.

Gui Wu rose up from the pouch hanging from his waist like a plume of smoke, then pointed toward the center of the lake as he replied, "It's right there?"

Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Didn't you tell me that the Six Paths Reincarnation Plate is situated on the bank of the Yellow Springs? Why is it in the center all of a sudden?"

"I... I was worried that you wouldn't dare to go if I told you that it was the center of the Yellow Springs," Gui Wu replied in a sheepish and fearful manner.

Han Li had no idea what kind of place the Yellow Springs were supposed to be, nor was he aware of the dangers that it harbored, so even if Gui Wu had revealed the truth, he wouldn't have backed down anyway.

"Does this mean that the Yellow Springs are a dangerous place?" Han Li asked.

"Allow me to explain," Gui Wu said. "Littered throughout the bottom of this lake are soul-devouring springs that can suck in the souls of the living. Once one's soul is sucked into one of these springs, it will fall into the cycle of reincarnation, while their physical body is left to slowly rot on the lakebed and become one with the lake."

"Then can't we just fly over the lake to avoid such a fate?" Jin Tong asked.

"Indeed, as long as you don't come into contact with the water in the lake, you won't be sucked into the soul-devouring springs. However, the problem lies in those crimson clouds above the lake," Gui Wu replied.

"What about them?" Shi Chuankong asked.

"The clouds themselves pose no threat, but the wind blowing out of them is an entirely different story," Gui Wu replied.

"Hurry up and get to the point!" Jin Tong snapped in a disgruntled manner.

"I was getting there. The wind blowing out of the crimson clouds are none other than Six Paths Gale winds, and they're not very strong at the moment, so it's almost impossible to see them. However, they're present over the entire lake, and if one is swept up within them, then their flesh will be stripped away in a matter of seconds, and that applies even to Great Encompassment cultivators," Gui Wu explained.

"What's even worse is that the Six Paths Gale will blow you into the water below, at which point your soul will be forcibly cast into the cycle of reincarnation," Han Li added with tightly furrowed brows.

"Can't we just travel over the lake by boat? As long as we take care to avoid the Six Paths Gale winds, we should be able to reach the center of the lake without too much trouble," Weeping Soul said.

"That's not going to work. The water in this lake cannot even support the weight of a single feather or leaf, so nothing will be able to make it across the lake without sinking in the process," Gui Wu cautioned.

Jin Tong flipped a hand over to produce a handful of white fur upon hearing this.

The fur belonged to Xiaobai, but it was unclear when she had plucked it from his body.

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She blew onto the handful of fur to send it drifting down onto the surface of the lake, and sure enough, it didn't take long before the strands of fur sank into the water, much to her disappointment.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him, and he swept a sleeve through the air to summon the bamboo trees that he had uprooted earlier before asking, "You asked me to gather this bamboo because it can be used to cross the lake, right?"

"Indeed! You are truly as sharp as a knife, Fellow Daoist Han! To my knowledge, the only thing capable of floating on the surface of this lake is Forgetful Bamboo. Hence, we must fashion a boat out of this bamboo in order to cross the lake," Gui Wu replied with a nod.

Han Li tossed a length of bamboo through the air, and it fell onto the surface of the lake in complete silence and without even the slightest splash.

The length of bamboo bobbled up and down momentarily, then began to float in a still and stable fashion on the surface of the lake.

"Alright, now that we have the materials required to cross the lake by boat, what do we do about the Six Paths Gale winds?" Han Li asked.

"It appears as if the entire surface of the lake is completely enshrouded in Six Paths Gale winds, but after several hundred thousand years of past observation, I discovered that there's actually an obscure channel within them. All we need to do is guide the boat through the channel, and we'll be able to avoid the Six Paths Gale winds and reach the other side," Gui Wu revealed.

Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, then tossed it at Gui Wu as he instructed, "Use your spiritual sense to create a map of the Six Paths Gale winds over this lake, and mark out the channel that you're referring to."

Gui Wu caught the jade slip with a slightly awkward look on his face, then gave a sheepish smile before closing his eyes and doing as Han Li instructed.

Meanwhile, everyone else began laying out the Forgetful Bamboo trees in preparation to craft the boat required to cross the lake.

"I presume this channel isn't going to be very wide, and there's also not enough bamboo here to craft a large boat. Hence, I suggest we use them to craft two small boats, each of which only needs to be large enough to carry one person. I'll travel on one of the boats on my own, while all of you can stay in my domain treasure, and the other boat will be kept as backup in case of unforeseen mishaps," Han Li proposed.

"As usual, you always have everything so well thought out, Fellow Daoist Han," Shi Chuankong praised.

Jin Tong and Weeping Soul exchanged a smile with each other, seemingly feeling very proud on behalf of their master, while Violet Spirit was also gazing upon Han Li with a faint smile on her face.

Before long, a pair of small, bamboo boats that were around thirty feet in length and six feet wide had been constructed, and the map of the Six Paths Gale winds over the lake was also ready.