After recalling the location of the teleportation anchor point on Mount Aocang, Ling Feng's gaze shifted to the cliff face where Cloud Retainer's abode was situated.
He was astonished by what he saw.
Ling Feng hadn't paid much attention to the height of the cliff hiding the abode before, but upon closer inspection, he froze in place, dumbfounded.
"Holy crap! How can this cliff be so high? Is Master's abode buried under the Five Finger Mountain of Buddha?" Ling Feng scratched his head, unsure of what to do.
Ling Feng had no idea of the exact height of the cliff. It was certainly much taller than his apartment building. He estimated it to be around forty meters high.
Furthermore, the cliff was not just steep. The upper half was manageable, with handholds and footholds not too far apart.
But the lower half had almost no resting points. How could he climb it?
Unless his current jumping ability could propel him twenty meters, climbing up was a pipe dream.
His maximum jump height was just over two meters. That was a tenfold difference, and that was with a running start.
As the saying goes, a blessing in disguise?
Ling Feng wasn't sure if that proverb applied to his situation, but he didn't care. As long as he was happy. (◕v∀v◕)
He could only stare at the towering cliff helplessly.
"What's wrong?" Shenhe asked curiously. Ling Feng's peculiar behavior left her completely bewildered. She had no idea what he was doing, looking around in all directions.
Shenhe's voice snapped Ling Feng back to attention. He turned his gaze to her, and as he looked at her, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"That's right, I can't, but that doesn't mean others can't."
Shenhe had lived here for over twenty years, so she should be extremely familiar with this place. Why not just ask her?
Why was he here, staring contests with the cliff?
"Senior Sister, is there a small protruding platform behind this cliff?" Ling Feng pointed to the cliff face and asked.
"Yes," Shenhe nodded.
"And on that platform, is there a building emitting red or blue light, similar to a stone pillar? It should be about two meters tall," Ling Feng described the approximate appearance of the teleportation anchor point.
Anyone who had seen it could recognize it quickly.
"Yes," Shenhe replied almost immediately, without much thought.
"Really?"
"Mmm, on the platform on the other side of the cliff. I often meditate there, so I'm quite familiar with it. It emits red light. Master said it's an ancient mysterious object, but she didn't know the specifics," Shenhe explained briefly.
"Red light? That means it hasn't been unlocked yet, and it also means Lumine or Aether hasn't been here."
"Right, let me ask the system if I, someone from another world, can unlock and use it."
Ling Feng thought to himself. He could only ask the system now. Whether the system would tell him depended on the system itself.
"Moshi moshi! System, are you there?" Ling Feng called out to the system in his mind.
"Not here. Please leave a message. Beep beep beep..." The system's voice echoed in Ling Feng's mind, sounding playful and cute.
Uh... (≖_≖)
Are all systems this mischievous nowadays? They even dare to tease their hosts. How bold!
"Stop joking, I'm serious. Can I use and unlock the teleportation anchor point?"
"No."
"What? No?"
"The teleportation anchor point can currently only be unlocked by the power within the Traveler. If the host insists on unlocking it, it will cost one hundred wish energy. However, I do not recommend the host unlocking it. Currently, all teleportation anchor points on this entire continent are sealed, so even if the host unlocks it, they won't be able to use it.
If it comes to teleportation, once it is unlocked, the host can use it by converting true qi into elemental power to teleport."
"I understand."
"Reminder to the host: This is the real world! Not a game world. Do not measure everything by game logic, or you will suffer greatly. Remember this."
"I... understand." Ling Feng grasped the system's meaning. The system was telling him that games were games, and reality was reality; they couldn't be exactly the same.
For example, the world's area. In games, it looks very small, but in reality, Liyue is two-thirds the size of China. That's already a considerable area.
And the Hilichurls. In games, there are only a few scattered around. But in reality, the smallest Hilichurl tribe has about twenty members. If he hadn't descended on the safe Mount Aocang at the beginning, he would have suffered greatly!
Therefore, from now on, Ling Feng decided to use games only as a reference and not to rely on them completely.
"Younger Brother, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Seeing Ling Feng's facial expressions change constantly since the beginning, Shenhe thought he was feeling unwell and asked urgently.
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about some things and I've figured them out now. Thank you for your concern, Senior Sister."
Hearing Shenhe's voice, Ling Feng quickly snapped back to reality. He met Shenhe's gaze, which, despite her indifferent expression, held a hint of concern. Ling Feng smiled and shook his head.
However, he wondered if his Senior Sister's melancholic and indifferent attitude towards everything was innate.
She could be called an ice beauty, but an ice beauty would have other expressions besides coldness. Yet Shenhe remained consistently like this, whether towards him or Master Cloud Retainer.
But although her words were cold and melancholic, if one felt closely, they could detect a slight difference.
Moreover, Master Cloud Retainer seemed accustomed to Shenhe's attitude. This made Ling Feng very puzzled. Was Shenhe's disposition innate, or did it stem from some past event?
However, Ling Feng had no intention of asking. After all, the event that shaped such a personality was likely not a pleasant memory.
He shouldn't dig up someone's scars out of curiosity.
"Mmm, if you feel unwell in any way, you may inform me, and I will find medicinal herbs to treat you."
"It's getting late. We should go back," Shenhe said, looking up at the sky.
"Huh? It's evening?"
Ling Feng looked up at the sky, a little surprised. The sun was setting, its dazzling glare starting to fade. Only a brilliant sunset remained on the horizon, casting its afterglow upon the world.
Unbeknownst to him, he and Shenhe had talked until dusk. If Shenhe hadn't reminded him, he would have thought it was still early. But that shouldn't be the case. He remembered returning from the Fox Spirit world around ten in the morning. They couldn't possibly have talked for seven or eight hours.
"System, what's going on? Why is it getting dark? I remember returning at ten in the morning. How is it that after chatting for a while, the sun has set?"
"Host, you did return at ten in the morning. But that was the time in the Fox Spirit world. You are currently in Teyvat, and the time flow in the two worlds is different.
When you returned, it was three in the afternoon Teyvat time. Only five hours have passed since you transmigrated to the Fox Spirit world.
The time ratio between the two worlds is: One day in Teyvat equals five days in the Fox Spirit world. The time ratio is one to five."
"So that's how it is. No wonder I thought we'd been talking for seven or eight hours," Ling Feng finally understood after hearing the system's explanation.
"Mmm." Nodding at Shenhe, the two then crossed the stones over the lake to the entrance of the cave where Cloud Retainer's immortal abode was located. Ling Feng followed Shenhe into the cave. After walking about five meters, they reached the innermost part of the cave. (Abode sounds unpleasant, so I changed it to Immortal Abode.)
The interior of the cave was also different from the game. In the game, there was a stone door at the innermost part of the cave, but here there was no stone door, only a stone wall.
If one didn't know that this was indeed Cloud Retainer's immortal abode, many would have thought it was just an ordinary cave.
"Senior Sister, there's no path here. Where is Master's immortal abode?" Ling Feng stepped forward and knocked on the stone wall.
"Knock knock knock!" The stone wall emitted a dull sound.
From the sound of knocking on the stone wall, it could be heard that the stone wall was solid.