Gu Shi Yi waved his hand and said,
"Sixth Master is being too kind. I am no expert, just an incompetent who has failed to uphold the Grand Master's prestige while traveling. I am truly ashamed."
Sixth Master Huang said,
"The Itinerant World is treacherous, and it is inevitable to step into emptiness at times. There is no need for the Taoist priest to dwell on it. If you are willing, you may recuperate within our Escort Team. We will soon take a ship to Chenzhou. I wonder if the Taoist priest would be willing to travel together. If you'd prefer not to go, I can arrange a proper place for you to stay and have someone look after you until you recover from your injuries…"
Old Lady Gu, who was standing by, then interrupted,
"Sixth Master, what a coincidence, Miss Shiyi's hometown is Chenzhou!"
"Oh?"
Sixth Master Huang raised his eyebrows,
"Is the Taoist priest also from our hometown?"
Gu Shi Yi said with a smile,
"I left home young and have not returned for twenty-five years. This time, it's fate that I've encountered Sixth Master. I'm accustomed to wandering around; it might be nice to follow Sixth Master back to the hometown for a visit!"
She wanted to stay until she recovered and then go looking for Big Boss, but she had pursuers behind her. Being stationary for two or three months to heal might mean getting caught before she was even well. Thinking quickly, she felt it would be better to hide within the Escort Team, travel westward with them, and since Chenzhou was thousands of miles away, even if her pursuers managed to track her, it would take time, enough for her to heal.
With her mind set on staying with the Escort Team, Sixth Master Huang didn't say much else, just instructed Old Lady Gu to take good care of Gu Shi Yi. Later he heard that Gu Shi Yi and Old Lady Gu were actually related and that Shi Yi even called Old Lady Gu 'aunt.' Sixth Master Huang thought to himself,
"Old Lady Gu is just a servant who cooks. This woman, born into a Taoist Sect, is willing to stoop to interact with servants. She seems to be unbothered by trivial formalities..."
As an Itinerant World People himself, he enjoyed making friends ranging from the elite and nobility to beggars and peddlers. He appreciated forthright people, and seeing Gu Shi Yi's demeanor, he felt she was just his type and laughed,
"Since that's the case, you are even less of a stranger!"
And so, Gu Shi Yi stayed with the Escort Team. After spending six days in Xiyuan City, they boarded the large ship heading to Chenzhou. It is said that the river system of this continent, whether formed due to ancient immortals battling it out, crisscrosses the entire land with varying paths, dense like a network of veins. The river from Dumo State to Chenzhou was reputedly split open by an Immortal, which then became a deep gorge. A massive earthquake occurred a millennium ago, somehow tapping into a water vein, filling the entire canyon with gushing floodwaters from underground. This water even brought up something from beneath the earth which colored it in a rainbow of hues, leading the locals to name it the Five-Color River.
Within the Five-Color River lived a large fish called the Fish Kui Beast, with a head the size of a carriage and a body like a small hill, covered in scales of five colors. Beneath it, it bore limbs, up to sixteen pairs or as few as two, human-hand shaped, while its calls resembled that of a cow. Usually submerged, when prey passed by, it would leap out and let out a mighty roar. The sound could strike directly at one's soul, making the person dizzy and weak, fainting on the spot, leaving the beast to approach and swallow its catch.
Because of this monstrous creature in the Five-Color River, vessels navigating it couldn't just be ordinary wooden boats; they had to be Magic Artifacts blessed by great cultivators using secret techniques.
Ordinarily, thousands of years ago, mere mortals wouldn't dare approach the Five-Color River. Later, some Great Cultivation Sects established their gates by the river. When mortals sought a way to cross the river, the cultivators specially crafted Magic Artifacts for mortals to use. However, these Great Cultivation Sects weren't about to do business at a loss—they set up stations to collect wealth from the mortals. Over a thousand years, the wealth they've amassed is an unfathomable astronomical figure!
"What do these Great Cultivation sects want with mundane Silver?"