Chapter 41: A Celestial Paradise on Earth

The furnishings inside the thatched hut were sparse to the point of austerity: a square wooden table, four rattan chairs, and a delicately carved oil lamp were all it contained.

Song Qianxu finished speaking, raised his hand, and flicked the exquisite lamp. It rose into the air, its wick igniting spontaneously as it flew, before slamming violently into the wall.

It was no mere figure of speech to call it a thatched hut; the structure was built entirely of thatch. When the dry straw touched that unknown flame, it burned with startling speed.

Chen and Fan were stunned. Was Song Qianxu insane? They had been fine a moment ago, and now he wanted to play with fire? Even so, both men were confident that such flames could not harm them, let alone a master of the Imperial Realm.

Doubtful as they were, their absolute trust in Song Qianxu prevailed. They stood firm, thinking to themselves, "This must be some kind of test."

The fire spread rapidly, consuming the entire hut in moments. The three sat inside, staring at each other, but before a word could be exchanged, the house was reduced to ashes.

Strands of black soot fell to the ground, forming a vast, intricate diagram that enveloped the trio.

Song Qianxu reached out, and the oil lamp, which had fallen to the floor, flew back into his hand. Without a glance, he inverted it and pressed it firmly against the ground.

An immediate transformation occurred. Sparks ignited along the edges of the soot-drawn pattern. In a flash of light, the thatched hut reappeared, unburned, but the room was now empty.

"That teleportation was incredible!" Fan Caobao, having caught a fleeting glimpse of the hut's restoration, began to chatter the moment he regained his footing in this unknown place. But he could say no more; he was too stunned by the fairyland before him to express his awe.

Chen Hongxu was equally shaken. Though he had imagined this scene a thousand times, witnessing it in person left him speechless.

Song Qianxu stood with his hands behind his back, a look of nostalgia on his face, while Chen and Fan stood behind him like his juniors, frozen in place.

They stood on a mountain peak platform, perfectly level, as if carved by a single stroke of a giant blade. Looking out, seven-colored mists swirled around them, occasionally revealing chain bridges that connected to distant peaks.

Song Qianxu set aside his nostalgia and gestured. The cries of cranes echoed through the mist, and three white cranes, their crests a vivid scarlet and their bodies as large as automobiles, emerged from the clouds and landed on the platform.

"Immortal cranes?" Fan Caobao smirked, wiping drool from the corner of his mouth. He crept toward the plumpest one, his intentions transparently greedy.

Chen Hongxu shot an awkward look at Song Qianxu and gave a dry laugh, wishing he could throttle his embarrassing companion.

Song Qianxu didn't seem to mind, waving a hand as if he wouldn't care if Fan Caobao roasted the birds. However, Chen Hongxu caught a flicker of human-like expression in the cranes' eyes—was that disdain?

Fan Caobao approached the crane, a stick appearing in his hand. He knelt down as tenderly as if tending to a lover, using the stick to stroke the crane's feathers. Everything was peaceful and affectionate.

The crane enjoyed it, turning its head to preen its wings. Just then, Fan Caobao took a deep breath, his expression remaining gentle while his eyes turned bloodshot. He gripped his stick tighter, swallowed hard, and swiftly swung it at the crane's head.

It was a strike he deemed certain to succeed. A smile played on his lips as he imagined plucking and roasting the bird, failing to notice the crane's feathers bristling. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared; Fan the Great never missed a sneak attack.

But in this fairyland, logic held no sway. As the stick struck the crane's head, there was no sound of soft flesh being crushed.

*Clang!* A loud metallic ring echoed as the stick struck the crane's skull. Fan Caobao froze, his stick raised, only to see the crane wink at him playfully.

Realizing his mistake, he tried to retreat, but a massive force surged from the tip of the stick, sending him flying.

Fan Caobao landed in a heap, utterly dejected. "Damn it, these are monsters!"

The crane, clearly not intending to let him off, pounced, flapping its massive wings to batter his face.

Unable to process the reality of the situation, Fan Caobao sobbed quietly as his cheeks swelled up like overstuffed buns. He considered fighting back, but seeing the other two cranes watching with predatory intent, he wisely chose to submit.

After finishing its work, the crane held its head high, strutting with a haughty, toe-out gait that mirrored Fan Caobao's own usual arrogance. It went to Song Qianxu and let out a few soft cries, acting as if it had been gravely wronged.

Fan Caobao was speechless, swallowing the words "Chen, there's a monster here!"

Chen Hongxu could only laugh; it was rare to see Fan Caobao bullied by a bird.

Song Qianxu comforted the pouting crane and turned with a mysterious smile. "This is the sect grounds of the Falling God Sect. Aside from a few beasts of the King Realm, it lacks human company these days."

"King Realm?" Fan Caobao wiped away his misery and scrambled toward the crane, fawning over it regardless of whether it understood him.

"You possess a Weapon Embryo and are accompanied by an adult, so these things are like chicken ribs—tasteless but wasteful to discard—to you. But to others, this is a true earthly paradise. All kinds of divine weapons and the world's top cultivation techniques are things every practitioner dreams of."

"However, because the Master left behind restricted inscriptions before departing, everything depends on one's personal fate. I cannot say for certain how much benefit you will gain."

Song Qianxu explained, patting a crane's head. "The 'No-Fly' zone here is governed by the 'Falling God Ode' recited by the Master himself. Even Imperial Realm masters risk being torn apart if they fly, so we must use the cranes."

Fan Caobao rolled his eyes and pointed to the chain bridge in the mist. *Old man, keep lying,* he thought. *Why take a crane when there's a road? Do you think I'm blind?*

Song Qianxu might have let him try, but Chen Hongxu interjected, "There is a flood dragon, a guardian beast once tamed by a Weapon Spirit, hidden in that mist. I fear no one but someone with a Weapon Embryo can approach it."

"That strong?" Fan Caobao gasped. "What level is that beast?"

"Imperial Realm," Chen Hongxu said solemnly.

Fan Caobao chuckled nervously and lowered his head, continuing to serve the crane that he couldn't beat and now needed to rely on.

With great effort, the crane finally agreed to carry Fan Caobao. In contrast, the crane assigned to Chen Hongxu actively nuzzled against him, showing great affection.

The three sat upon the cranes, rising through the clouds and mist, looking every bit like immortals.

The cranes carrying Chen and Song were docile, even fluffing their feathers to block the wind. But Fan Caobao's crane was erratic, darting up and down and occasionally diving, leaving him terrified and too afraid to pull on its feathers.

He suffered in silence, thinking, *How is there such a gap between people? Why are the feathers of Chen and the old man's cranes soft as water, while mine are sharp as blades?*

Chen Hongxu ignored him, gazing up at the giant golden lotus in the distance, his heart filled with a thousand emotions.