Chapter 6 (Part 1) of Book 5: Crossing the River

  He saw us but didn't greet us, just walked back and forth along the shore with his head down, muttering to himself.

  "Oh no!" Old Mouse stared at the river, his eight whiskers standing straight up.

  "Haiji glared at him: 'Stop being so startled and tell me what's going on?'"

  Old Mouse King scratched his ear and cheek: "I almost forgot, the quicksand river is difficult to cross, even the lightest things will sink if they float on the surface. To get across the quicksand river, we must find a tree called Shadow Wood, cut it down and make a boat before we can cross. There was Shadow Wood in the forest just now, but for now, we have no choice but to go back, find the Shadow Wood and come back to cross the river."

  Gan Ningzhen stretched out his hand and pointed, a snow lotus bloomed from the tip of his finger, slowly unfolding and flying towards the river surface. The snow lotus landed on the river, paused slightly, and then sank down, Gan Ningzhen retrieved the snow lotus and nodded: "Indeed, it's true that a feather cannot float."

  The mermaid tried with a golden shell, but it was also difficult to float on the river. I laughed and said, "No need to bother, I'll use the wind from my breath to blow you over."

  Master Mouse's face was full of surprise: "Young Master, you've learned quite a few authentic spells in this life."

  I smiled proudly and boasted a few words. Mouse Gong pointed at the back of Ge Yi Lao Ren and snickered: "Look at Sun Si Miao's predicament, he must be unable to cross the river, heh heh."

  "Who says I, an old man, can't cross the river?" Ge Yi stopped in his tracks and glared at Mouse with a fierce gaze. Little White Rabbit also stuck out its tongue and, pretending to be mighty, let out a loud "hiss" at us.

  I smiled slightly: "So you are the renowned divine doctor Sun Si Miao, I was rude to you earlier. If it's inconvenient for Doctor Sun to cross the river, I can give you a ride."

  Sun Si Miao glared at me, his nose twitching: "You're an outsider, don't try to get close to me. I've always been a recluse and don't interact with outsiders. All that fame and reputation is just nonsense!"

  "Hai Ji displeasedly said: 'This old monster really doesn't know how to behave, he kindly took you across the river. If you didn't want to go, that's fine, but why insult him?'"

  Sun Si Miao didn't say another word, took down the large bamboo basket from his back, pointed to the circle of brown wooden strips woven at the bottom of the basket, and said with an air of superiority: "Open your eyes and take a look, this is Shadow Wood! I can cross the river myself!" He put the bamboo basket into the river, and it indeed floated steadily on the water.

  I bumped into a brick wall and stopped paying attention to Sun Si Miao, blowing out air and preparing to cross the river. My ears vaguely heard Sun Si Miao's muttering: "The medicine rabbit wants to mess up the medicine grass, but it won't work either. This doesn't work, that doesn't work, can I really not get across the river?"

  I burst out laughing and made a face at Sun Si Miao: "After all the fuss, it turns out you can't even cross the Shensha River! I heard that. Old Sun, dying to save face but suffering instead, how ridiculous!"

  Sun Si Miao's old face turned red with anger, "You know nothing! If you have the ability, try it yourself! This large bamboo basket of mine can only hold one more thing besides me sitting inside. If I carry too much and the weight is too heavy, it will sink. And if I take the little dog across the river first, that pesky rabbit will eat all the herbs and my several months' worth of medicine will be wasted!"

  The old mouse held his belly and laughed loudly: "I've never seen anyone as silly as you, why didn't you take the herbs across the river first, then come back for the rabbit and little dog?"

  Sun Simiao let out a cold laugh, blew a whistle, and the red-faced long-nosed dog poked its head out of his sleeve, ran around him affectionately for a few laps, spotted the medicine rabbit, bared its sharp teeth, and let out a low growl, scaring Little White Rabbit into fleeing in all directions.

  "See?" Sun Si Miao said in a bad mood: "If I take the medicine grass across the river first, the little dog will definitely bully the medicine rabbit."

  I finally figured it out, the old man pacing back and forth by the river was worried about this. If Sun Si Miao wasn't there, Duan Yao Tu would steal and eat the herbs, and Tian Gou would bully Duan Yao Tu. Unfortunately, his bamboo basket had limited capacity, and apart from him, he could only carry one thing across the river at a time.

  Old mouse's eyes rolled around: "Isn't this simple? You first take the rabbit across the river, leaving the dog and medicine grass here. Then you come back to pick up the puppy. Once on the other side, then come back for the herbs." He also understood that if they followed this method, they would end up leaving both the heavenly dog and the medicine-picking rabbit on the opposite bank at the same time.

  Kaiji and Kanetsugu also fell into deep thought. This matter sounds simple, but to actually do it, they still need to think carefully.

  Sun Si Miao glanced at us disdainfully: "You've been talking for half a day, you're no good either? Get out of here early and don't bother me." Shaking her head, she muttered to herself: "Sigh, if that guy were here, there would definitely be a way."

  "Who says I have no way?" Seeing Sun Si Miao's proud and arrogant attitude, I became furious and shouted loudly.

  Hai Ji and Gan Ning looked at me in surprise, Sun Si Miao said incredulously: "You really have a way? Don't get your tongue twisted from bragging!"

  I had a mind to kill his arrogance, my eyes rolled upwards, and I deliberately didn't speak. Sun Si Miao looked at me for a while, stuttering: "You, little, little brother, you say you have a way?"

  I coughed heavily, nodded solemnly and pointed at Sun Si Miao, saying with a lively tone: "The sage said, 'Among three people walking together, there must be one who can be my teacher.' Do you understand? As a person, one should avoid being arrogant and complacent, and instead be humble and eager to learn. Don't always put on airs."

  "Are they really as capable as I am? Are they also humble and open-minded like me?"

  Sun Si Miao's face turned red with anger: "You'd better stop bragging. If you really have a way, then go ahead and say it out loud!"

  "Why don't we make a bet? If I come up with a solution, you have to acknowledge me as your master. And if I can't think of one, I'll kowtow and become your grandson, how about it?"

  Sun Simiao hesitated, and I teased him saying: "Afraid? Then forget it." Pretending to leave, Sun Simiao grabbed me and said angrily: "Fine, have it your way! If you can't do it, then I don't want you as my grandson either. You must gather all 18 kinds of rare herbs from the Demon Slashing Heaven for me!"

  "It's settled!" I burst out laughing, pointing at the little white rabbit and talking fluently: "Firstly, you cross the river with the medicine rabbit. Then return here and bring the puppy across the river."

  Sun Si Miao sneered coldly: "So it's the old method after all. Kid, looks like you'll have to do some hard labor for me." Duan Yao Tu also rushed towards me, with a fake smile and a snicker.

  "Don't be in a hurry, listen to me. After you take the puppy across the river, bring the medicine rabbit back here, then leave the rabbit on the shore and take the herbs across the river. Finally, return empty-handed, bring the rabbit across the river, isn't that okay?"

  Hai Ji smiled and clapped her hands, saying: "This method is great! Little scoundrel is clever enough! Hey, Sun, quickly kowtow and call me Master!"

  Sun Si Miao was stunned, her face turned pale: "So it's possible to bring Dou Yao Tu back again, why didn't I think of that?"

  "Goodbye, my dear apprentice!" I shouted triumphantly. Of course, I didn't really want to be Sun Si Miao's master, I was just teasing him to vent my anger. With a burst of air, I flew into the sky with Hai Ji, Gan Ning Zhen and Mouse Gong Gong. Looking down, Sun Si Miao was still standing by the river, as stiff as a wooden chicken. The crowd couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  I manipulated the blowing wind, rapidly flying towards the opposite bank. The river water was indeed unusual, even when the evening wind blew over, there wasn't a single ripple on the surface, and the river water was murky. When I reached the middle of the river, a group of big black birds suddenly swooped down in front of me, emitting shrill cries.

  "It's the Flying Swallow Bird! Young master, be careful!" Mouse Gonggong's face turned pale and he hid behind my back. I dare bet that if we weren't in mid-air, he would have slipped away again.

  The flying spittle bird looked like a mouse, with bright red feet, and ferociously pounced on us, spraying white saliva from its mouth. Haiji chopped out the Pulse Slashing Knife, killing several flying spittle birds, which let out strange cries as they retreated, flying high into the air, their saliva falling down like raindrops.

  This saliva is extremely sticky and firmly sticks to the body, can't be wiped off, very viscous. Hai Ji felt nauseous, waved out a golden shield to block it, Gan Ning hastily hid into Xue Lian's heart of flowers.

  The old mouse said with a quiver: "Flying drool birds use their saliva to stick prey and then eat them." As soon as he finished speaking, a big mouthful of saliva splashed down on him, covering his head and face. His whiskers were stuck tightly to the corner of his lips, looking very comical.

  I calmly and slowly recited the thousand knots curse. Along with my heartbeat, a transparent crystal thread suddenly appeared, wrapping around the flying birds. Once their wings were bound by the cursed threads, they couldn't move anymore, falling one after another, sinking to the bottom of the river without even creating any ripples. The remaining flying birds cried out in disarray and fled in fright.

  Old Mouse was wiping his mouth with force while eating in surprise: "My mother, is it the thousand-year-old curse of Turpan?"

  I nodded, and Mouse Lord's eyebrows bloomed with a smile: "It turns out that Young Master has learned so many spells in this life, hehe, I've found my protective umbrella." He leaned into my ear and whispered: "Young Master, I think Hai Ji and Gan Ning are both good to you, your skills at picking up girls are much more formidable than in your previous life."

  The river was several hundred miles wide, and after flying for nearly half a day, we finally reached the opposite bank. The sky was already near dusk, and Mr. Mouse suggested resting for a night before continuing on our journey. I couldn't wait, urging us to press on, along a winding small path, we headed north.

  The path was quiet, and no monsters were seen. Mr. Mouse walked a few steps, sighed a few times, and finally couldn't help but say to me: "Young master, it's still safer for us to travel during the day."

  "I said impatiently, 'Your guts are too small, right? With me, Haixi and Gan Ningzhen here, even if we encounter the Demon Lord, we have a fighting chance. Hurry up, or else I'll serve you with a big punishment!'"

  The mouse king pulled out a whisker, blew it into a small lantern, and held it up to illuminate the path. As he walked slowly, the fragrance of flowers wafted from ahead, so strong that it made his body feel weak and intoxicated.

  "Master, we really can't go any further. Let's take a rest and set off at dawn." Mouse Gong put down the lantern and said nervously: "Just ahead is the two-million-acre flower field. There are many flower spirits inside, and the terrain of the flower field is complex and easy to get lost in. I've heard that once you get lost in the flower field, you'll never be able to leave for the rest of your life!"

  "Nonsense, I won't fly!" I took the lantern from his hand, yawning, and shone it forward. In the distance, a twinkling array of lights stretched all the way to the horizon, like countless sparkling stars scattered across the fields. The thick fragrance of flowers was wafting from that direction.