Early in the morning, Xu Ming and the Tianxuan Goose left the inn and headed in the opposite direction within White Marsh City.
"Excuse me, do you know a man named Shen Sheng?"
"Excuse me, do you know a man named Shen Sheng? He's about my height and has a build similar to mine."
As he walked, Xu Ming asked passersby.
After a while, Xu Ming realized how foolish it was to ask like this, so he decided to draw a portrait based on his memory and use it to inquire about Shen Sheng.
Xu Ming's drawing skills were mediocre, and given how long it had been, the sketch resembled Shen Sheng by only about sixty or seventy percent.
Still, none of the "people" he asked knew who Shen Sheng was.
The only one who claimed to know Shen Sheng turned out to be a black widow spider. Its real intent was to lure Xu Ming into its web and do unspeakable things with him.
When Xu Ming realized this, he gave the spider a thorough beating.
What a joke. Did it think his tastes were that extreme? He didn't even consider the monkey, let alone a spider.
And black widows eat their mates—who could handle that?
After walking for half a day and asking over a hundred "people," Xu Ming found no clues about Shen Sheng.
By noon, Xu Ming took the Tianxuan Goose to a noodle stand for lunch.
The owner of the stand was a massive lizard, resembling one of the largest lizard species back on Blue Star.
What was it called again? Xu Ming couldn't quite recall.
Looking at the chunks of meat in his bowl, Xu Ming felt a bit uneasy. Could it be human flesh?
To be sure, he discreetly used his Dao Pattern Eye to peek into the kitchen. It turned out to be genuine beef—marbled with fat and perfectly legitimate.
And to his surprise, the taste was excellent.
"Boss, you're using beef here. Doesn't the old ox across the street have any objections?" Xu Ming asked while settling the bill.
Across from the noodle stand was a clothing store run by a yellow ox.
"What's there to object to?" The lizard boss rolled his eyes.
"Beasts and demons are two entirely different things. Animals that haven't gained sentience aren't even the same species as us demons. There's no way that ox would hold a grudge against me over some brainless beast.
"Of course, if you really want to talk about it, sure, the ox selling clothes might not like the fact that I make beef noodles and beef offal soup. But so what? It can't beat me.
"If it really ticks me off, I'll make soup with its ox whip."
Xu Ming: "..."
He hadn't expected the boss to be this bold.
"By the way, you haven't been in Baiwa City for long, have you?" the lizard boss asked.
"That's right," Xu Ming nodded. "I just arrived yesterday."
"No wonder." The lizard boss tapped his pipe and blew out a puff of smoke. "It's been about fifty years since a human last came in. Kid, you'd better be careful. There are still plenty of demons in Baiwa City who love the taste of human flesh. Don't end up as someone's dish."
"Thank you for the warning," Xu Ming said with a bow. Then he suddenly realized the boss seemed quite old. "You mentioned it's been fifty years since anyone came in. If I may ask, how old are you?"
The lizard boss chuckled. "I'm two hundred years old. Around here, folks give me some respect and call me Lizard Brother Lang."
"Do you happen to know a man named Shen Sheng?" Xu Ming asked, pulling out his sketch. "He looks roughly like this."
Since this lizard boss was two hundred years old, perhaps he might have heard of Shen Sheng.
"Let me take a look," Lizard Brother Lang leaned in to examine the sketch. "This guy does look a bit familiar."
"Shen Sheng... Shen Sheng, Shen Sheng…"
Lizard Brother Lang muttered the name under his breath.
"Oh, I remember now!" He tapped his pipe against the counter. "That couple!"
Xu Ming's heart leaped with excitement—he hadn't expected to actually find a lead.
"Lizard Brother Lang, could you tell me more?" Xu Ming placed a few silver coins on the table.
Without a word, the lizard pocketed the coins. "There's not much to tell. It must've been about a hundred years ago… or maybe longer? Back then, I wasn't running this beef offal stand. I was working as a bricklayer at a courtyard in the northern part of the city.
"At that time, a couple moved in next door to me. The man was as skinny as you, but his wife? She was quite a looker.
"They were looking for a way out of the city, but I figured there was no way they'd find one. Still, they were good people—especially the wife. She'd often make pastries and share them with the neighbors.
"Then, about a year later, they claimed they'd found a way out. Something about setting up a formation on the night of a full moon—I didn't really understand it.
"But before the full moon even came, they disappeared. I don't know if they actually left or if they just vanished like the others."
"Lizard Brother Lang, could you tell me where they lived at the time?" Xu Ming asked.
At this point, Xu Ming was certain: the flow of time in this place was vastly different from the outside world. Shen Sheng wasn't even thirty years old, yet Lizard Brother Lang said he had met him over a century ago. The only explanation was that time in Baiwa City moved a hundred times faster than in the outside world.
"That's no problem. Just so you know, though, it's been over a hundred years. That place has long since been taken over by someone else. But if you want to go, just say you're a friend of mine, Lizard Brother Lang."
Lizard Brother Lang pointed with his pipe. "Keep going straight until you see a big banyan tree. Turn right there, then take the first left. Walk straight for about half a mile, and you'll find it."
Xu Ming clasped his hands in thanks. "Much appreciated."
As Xu Ming headed toward the courtyard where Shen Sheng had supposedly lived "a hundred years ago," the city gates of Baiwa City opened to let in waves of new arrivals.
Among them were both human cultivators and demons, all dispatched by their sects to complete missions and vie for the mysterious treasure rumored to be in Baiwa City.
The city's residents were baffled. They hadn't seen any outsiders in fifty years, and now, all of a sudden, so many had arrived.
Outside Baiwa City, a black dog and a Bi Fang stood staring at the city walls, looking rather dejected.
"Stupid dog! It's all your fault for being so slow! Xu Ming has already entered the city! Our cultivation levels are too high to follow him in! What now?" Bi Fang grumbled, hopping up and down on one foot while stomping on the black dog's head.
"Don't rush, don't rush," the black dog replied, its head nodding with each stomp. "They'll have to come out eventually. But, I have to say…"
The black dog looked at the city encircled by a massive barrier. "This is the first time I've seen such a large treasure."
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