Li Banfeng had been thinking about the Oil Pot and hadn’t expected that just by stepping outside, he would end up in Oil Lake.
Some shimmering waves were visible on the lake’s surface, but no stars could be seen in the night sky.
Oil offers little buoyancy and has high viscosity, making swimming through it very strenuous.
Li Banfeng looked at the distance to the shore; it seemed far away. He then quickly glanced at a small island in the middle of the lake, less than a hundred meters from him.
Logically, he should swim towards the shore.
But after swimming just a few meters towards the shore, Li Banfeng felt that something was off; it seemed as if some creature in the Oil Lake had set its sights on him.
No matter what type of creature it was, a confrontation in the Oil Lake meant Li Banfeng would likely be at a disadvantage.
Li Banfeng quickly swam to the small island nearby. His entire body was covered in oil, and the stones on the small island were also slick with oil, making it impossible for Li Banfeng to climb up.
He’d fallen into Oil Lake as soon as he stepped out the door. Preoccupied with swimming, he had almost forgotten about his Magical Treasures.
He had Magical Treasures on him that could fly.
Li Banfeng patted his Tang Sword and Wine Gourd. The Tang Sword flew to the shore. The Wine Gourd then used its wine to wash the grease from the scabbard. Li Banfeng then grasped the scabbard and was brought to the shore as well.
The island wasn’t big; one could see the other side at a glance.
There was a spring at the center. Li Banfeng approached and smelled it; the spring contained water, not oil.
He took out his Wine Gourd and said, "Sister, make some fine wine so I can wash off this grease."
The Wine Gourd, too, was uncomfortable. "Help your sister wash as well. It’s sticky and really uncomfortable."
The Tang Sword, however, didn’t find it uncomfortable. "This is top-quality oil. Just clean my hilt; there is no need to wash the blade."
Clock Pendulum also knew the oil was of good quality, but worried that Li Banfeng would disdain it, so it was unsure whether to clean itself.
Li Banfeng cleaned his body and washed his clothes but had none to change into.
With oil everywhere, Li Banfeng dared not light a fire. He simply sat naked, waiting to air dry.
The gloves, also cleaned, were mixed in with the pile of clothes and sneakily stole a few banknotes from the wallet.
Li Banfeng looked around, silently observing this unfamiliar place.
It looked familiar, as if he had been here before, yet he couldn’t recall the exact time or experience.
Watching the ripples spread across the lake, Li Banfeng finally figured it out.
He had been here in a dream.
In his dream, he and his wife sat on a cruise ship, spending romantic moments amidst the calm sea and the afterglow of the sunset.
Li Banfeng patted the Wine Gourd. Just washed, the Wine Gourd snapped back, "In front of so many people, don’t always pat the peach. Do you really think I have no shame?"
Li Banfeng asked, "Did I do anything peculiar while I was asleep?"
Wine Gourd thought for a moment. "You didn’t do anything special, just talked in your sleep."
"What did I say?"
"You seemed to keep mentioning ’Oil Lake,’ which must be this place, right?"
"What I said was ’Oil Pot!’"
Li Banfeng was angry.
Previously, his Portable Residence had pulled him to Black Stone Slope just because he looked at a photo of the place.
This time, because he mumbled ’Oil Pot’ a few times, combined with some scenes from his dream, the Portable Residence had taken him to Oil Lake, a place he had never seen before.
Lately, the Portable Residence had been overdoing it.
After waiting for more than an hour, with his clothes half-dry, Li Banfeng put them on as best as he could and started thinking about how to leave this place.
Wine Gourd reminded him, "Little brother, now that we’re all clean, are we going to have to swim back to shore later?"
Li Banfeng did not want to swim in the oil any longer—he constantly felt that unseen creatures were watching him, and more than one at that.
He surveyed the island’s surroundings; there were some sparse grasses, but no trees, so building a raft seemed impractical.
Li Banfeng took out the Judge’s Pen, drew a circle on the spot, and pointed to the shore, saying, "Let’s go there!"
After waiting for about ten minutes, the Judge’s Pen uttered two words, "Too far."
Li Banfeng angrily retorted, "You’ve rested for so many days, and you find a few hundred meters too far?"
Drawing a deep breath, the Judge’s Pen mustered its spirit and managed four words, "Rest two more days."
Li Banfeng thought about tossing the Judge’s Pen into the lake but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to do it.
With the Judge’s Pen proving useless, Li Banfeng turned to the Tang Sword and earnestly asked, "Do you know Sword Flight?"
The Tang Sword seriously replied, "I am a sword."
"That doesn’t matter; it’s all about the spirit of it!"
The Tang Sword had recently improved its cultivation level considerably. Grasping the scabbard, it indeed managed to lift Li Banfeng into the air, but after flying for about ten meters, the Tang Sword suddenly plunged toward the lake.
"What are you doing!" Li Banfeng cried out in alarm.
Struggling to control its direction, the Tang Sword carried Li Banfeng back to the island.
"My lord, a cold wind is dragging me toward the oil, and I really can’t control myself. Please allow me another attempt!"
Li Banfeng looked at the golden surface of the lake and couldn’t help but shudder.
The shudder came out of nowhere, and according to the Technique of Seek Fortune and Avoid Disaster, it was a sign of great peril.
Li Banfeng gathered his Magical Treasures to discuss a strategy, and the newly arrived Projector suggested an idea.
"I can try. I can project an image of a boat on the lake, but I’ll need a support that can fly steadily."
In terms of flying stability, the Clock Pendulum was undoubtedly the best. Although it had limited power, suspending a projector shouldn’t be too difficult.
The hardest part was controlling the light source of the projector.
This projector used candlelight as its light source. If even a single spark fell from the candle, one could easily imagine what would happen to Oil Lake.
Whether it could maintain stability depended on Clock Pendulum’s techniques.
Floating in midair, Clock Pendulum suspended the projector above the lake, and the projector cast the image of a small boat on the water.
Li Banfeng boarded the boat, carrying all of his Magical Treasures, and rowed steadily across the surface of the lake.
Clock Pendulum slowly followed the small boat as it flew.
Li Banfeng rowed steadily, Clock Pendulum flew steadily, and the projection from the projector was also very stable.
The island was seven or eight hundred meters from the shore. They were about halfway there when suddenly a fierce gust of wind blew over!
The image shook violently, and Li Banfeng shouted, "Steady it!"
Clock Pendulum tried its best to stabilize it, but alas, it wasn’t enough.
The projector continued to shake, and so did the projection. Were it not for his excellent coordination, a common trait among Traveling Cultivators, Li Banfeng would certainly have fallen into the lake.
After the wind finally stopped, Li Banfeng was about to row forward when a spark appeared on the surface of the lake.
It had fallen from inside the projector.
Because of the recent turbulence, nobody had noticed it.
Watching the flames rising on the lake’s surface, Li Banfeng snatched up the oars and rowed frantically towards the shore!
Too late!
In the blink of an eye, the lake was a sea of fire, and the little boat caught alight.
Objects created by the projector had physical forms, and anything with a physical form could be affected by the environment.
The projector attempted to restore the small boat, but the restoration couldn’t keep up with the speed of the fire.
Li Banfeng grabbed the Tang Sword and said, "Let’s go!"
The Tang Sword tried to fly, but amidst the raging flames, the airflow was chaotic, rendering it unable to lift Li Banfeng.
A Weapon is a Weapon, not a means of transportation. In such a situation, it was momentarily at a loss.
At the critical moment, Li Banfeng had no choice but to jump into the lake and hide beneath the surface of the oil, intending to swim to the opposite shore.
Below the surface of the oil, huge creatures were moving about; Li Banfeng had already seen their outlines.
In this dilemma, he suddenly heard the Judge’s Pen say, "It’s fine."
The Judge’s Pen meant that the distance was fine.
The full distance was too long, but half the distance shouldn’t pose any problems.
It carried Li Banfeng and all his Magical Treasures to the shore. Once on land, Li Banfeng burrowed into the sand and rolled around, hastily extinguishing the flames on his body.
When he stood up and looked back at Oil Lake, the fire on its surface had also gone out.
The lake’s surface, like a mirror, occasionally rippled as if nothing had happened.
Li Banfeng felt danger approaching and promptly packed up his Magical Treasures to hurriedly continue on his way.
His hair had been singed quite a bit, and Clock Pendulum kept comforting Li Banfeng, "Master, don’t worry. When we get back, I shall style it for you properly. I guarantee it will look even better than your original hairstyle."
Li Banfeng didn’t care about his hairstyle; he picked up speed as he traveled.
After walking more than two hundred meters, Li Banfeng suddenly slipped and staggered for a few steps before coming to a stop.
He looked toward the side of the road.
Sitting by the road was a middle-aged man, around fifty years old, who looked up at Li Banfeng.
"Leaving already?" the man asked with a smile.
Li Banfeng glanced at the man’s face. The man had quite regular features: small eyes, thick eyebrows, a slightly low nose bridge, and a very round nose tip, giving him a kind and amiable middle-aged appearance.
It was just that his skin possessed such a high sheen that, under the night sky, it gleamed, and beads of oil would occasionally slide slowly down his cheeks.
"Since you’re here, could you talk with me for a while? It’s been a long time since anyone has spoken to me," the middle-aged man requested earnestly.
Li Banfeng looked at his feet, which were only on sand and grit, with not a trace of oil.
Li Banfeng looked at his feet; the middle-aged man smiled, indicating Li Banfeng could walk now.
Li Banfeng sat down next to the man, habitually handed him a cigarette, and asked, "Are you the owner of this place?"
"Indeed, this is my domain," the middle-aged man nodded, but he didn’t accept Li Banfeng’s cigarette.
Li Banfeng saw that the cigarette was covered in oil stains and embarrassingly retracted it.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man hastened to explain, "It’s not that I disdain your cigarette. It’s just that I don’t feel like smoking today. I’ve been a bit overheated these past few days, and quite a few pimples have popped up on my face."
Li Banfeng looked more closely and, indeed, there were many pimples on the middle-aged man’s face, especially on his nose, most of which were whiteheads that seemed ready to burst.
The middle-aged man touched his nose and said with a bitter smile, "These pimples are incredibly uncomfortable. They burst at the slightest touch, and I can’t seem to squeeze them out properly."
Li Banfeng advised, "You shouldn’t squeeze them randomly. You need to find the ones that are ripe to squeeze out properly."
The middle-aged man regarded Li Banfeng seriously. "Which one do you think is ripe?"
Li Banfeng pointed to a pimple and said, "I think this one is about ready. Look, the whitehead has even turned dark. Just apply a little force, and it should come out."
The middle-aged man touched the pimple, gripped its base, and applied pressure with his thumb and forefinger. The tip of the pimple swelled quickly.
POP!
The pimple burst, and a blob of greasy substance sprayed out, landing beside it.
Li Banfeng glanced at the lake to see the island in the center lift into the air, carrying a mass of grease, and fall on the shore opposite Oil Lake.
The pimple was squeezed out, and traces of blood appeared at the wound.
The previously golden Oil Lake turned red.
The middle-aged man, experiencing a strangely satisfying relief, smiled at Li Banfeng.
He asked Li Banfeng, "Do you know where you are?"
Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment. "I think... I’m actually on your face."
The middle-aged man laughed, touching his nose. "Indeed! You climbed right up my nose to get here!"