Chapter 552: Lucky Star Monk

The bathtub was neither spacious nor cramped.

It was just right for two people.

Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu had been husband and wife in the painting for ten years. Now, facing each other in the flesh once again, they simply stared, wide-eyed and at a loss for words.

Zheng Xiu stammered out an explanation, “I just wanted to show you something.”

Feng Bei didn’t shy away. She calmly asked, “Show me what?”

“I just entered the Rift, and WHOOSH, my whole body started glowing! It was a super bright light—the Unbreakable Glazed Body!” At the mention of his newly acquired Skill, Zheng Xiu’s eyes lit up, and he grew excited all over again.

Feng Bei found this secretly amusing.

For a moment, she thought, ‘Zheng Xiu is just making up a flimsy excuse.’

But the way he fumbled for an excuse right now was, to her, exceptionally cute.

The last time, she had overreacted and kicked that scamp Zheng Xiu out of her room, which she’d felt guilty about for some time.

Who would have thought someone would enjoy popping their head out of a bathtub?

This time, Feng Bei held back and silently handed Zheng Xiu a bar of soap.

Zheng Xiu looked stunned at first, then happily took it.

He wouldn’t dare pick up soap dropped by a stranger, but if Feng Bei was the one giving it, he’d gladly ask for a few more bars.

It may have been just a small bar of soap, but this one small, slippery step for soap was one giant leap for their relationship.

The water splashed gently. Feng Bei leisurely scooped up warm water and poured it over her body. As she did, she suddenly froze, her movements halting mid-motion.

Zheng Xiu cleared his throat twice. “Madam, you’ve… neglected your grooming a bit!”

Feng Bei was dumbfounded. She squeezed her legs together, not processing his words for a moment. “What grooming?”

“Your… stubble… cough, cough, it’s prickly.”

Then came the dreaded, sudden silence.

For a moment, Feng Bei didn’t react.

She sat there in the tub, expressionless, for several long breaths. Then, she gave a slight smile.

BANG!

A figure went flying through the night, crashing through several walls in a row.

That night, cries of “Assassin!” once again threw the Red King Mansion into an uproar.

In the end, Zheng Xiu calmly picked himself up off the ground. He slicked his wet hair back and strode back to his room with his head held high. Such a stylish display dispelled everyone’s suspicions of an “Assassin.” They all returned to their posts, leaving behind a collective sigh of, “The Red King sure knows how to have fun.”

Qing Shisan remained motionless on a rooftop, listening to the commotion from his subordinates. He scoffed, “Heh! Making a mountain out of a molehill!”

‘Have none of you seen the Red King fooling around before?’

‘There have been far more intense fights than this.’

‘Can a Mystic’s roughhousing be the same as an ordinary person’s?’

‘Mystics are masters of Miracle Techniques. Once those techniques start flying around, things get earth-shattering. What’s a broken house or a collapsed bed frame? Perfectly normal.’

As long as he was guarding the Red King Mansion, nothing could truly go wrong.

Qing Shisan felt a touch of loneliness in the wind. He stroked the rod at his waist, gazed in the direction of the Hong’ou family home, and couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s good to be young.”

Back in his room, Zheng Xiu began to reflect on his actions.

‘It’s possible I’ve been treating Feng Bei like we’re an old married couple,’ he mused. ‘But even though she’s experienced, she’s still very much a pure, untouched maiden. Some of our interactions might be a little too intense for her right now.’

After changing his clothes, Zheng Xiu still felt a lingering excitement and opened the Rift once more.

This time, he aimed for the [Monk Post Station].

The [Monk Post Station] was still on the road, outside the province, nearly a thousand li away.

In the empty room, Zheng Xiu followed the same procedure with practiced ease, tearing open a distorted Rift in front of him.

As his Projection, Zheng Er, stepped into the Rift, Filthy Qi surged toward him. But a white light emerged from his body, repelling the Filthy Qi.

Nothing could touch him; the Glazed Body was unbreakable. Zheng Xiu soared through the Filthy Qi, laughing with abandon. He used to dread the Filthy Qi, but now he delighted in watching the foul miasma try to invade his body, only to fail helplessly.

This time, free from his previous fears, Zheng Xiu flew slowly, looking all around at the scenery within the Path.

‘Letting one’s consciousness fall into the Bund versus entering the Bund with one’s physical body are two completely different experiences.’

‘Sinking one’s consciousness into the Bund is the path of advancement. Behind each door lies an unknown Ability.’

‘But if it’s the same Bund, why does the scenery look different?’

Inside the Rift, the mists on either side pressed inward like impenetrable walls, forming the shape of a “road” ahead. It had no beginning and no end. The Concepts of space, time, and direction didn’t exist here. Whether Zheng Xiu flew backward, forward, or diagonally, the scenery before him remained unchanged.

‘That’s right. Maomao said that what we call the ‘Path’ is what it calls the ‘Bund’.’

‘Logically, the Path taken for advancement and the ‘Bund’ I’m traveling through now should be the same place.’

‘Whether by consciousness or physical body, one should be able to reach the same destination.’

‘Could it be because…’

Zheng Xiu recalled the suffocating, terrifying “sensation of falling” he felt when entering the Path. A sudden realization struck him. ‘Is the Path for advancement located in a… deeper layer of this place?’

‘Next time, I have to bring Maomao in here to take a look.’

‘Given Maomao’s mysterious origins, it should be able to withstand this environment without fear, even without a Glazed Body.’

Without setting an anchor point beforehand, it would be extremely easy to get lost in the Bund. Zheng Xiu even suspected that if he were to wander recklessly into the Void, he might accidentally stumble into another person’s Bund.

There are countless Miracle Masters in the world who walk the same type of Path. Is their Bund shared? Or is it unique to each individual?

One question after another surfaced in Zheng Xiu’s mind.

To Zheng Xiu, the sight of the Bund before him was like the “truth of the world”—mysterious and unfathomable, yet filled with an indescribable allure that compelled him to explore it further.