Chapter 505: Chapter 495: The Headless Water Carrier and the White-Browed Elder

After walking a few kilometers, the river channel around began to narrow, and the water flow became faster and faster.

However, no matter how fast the water flow was, as long as Su Mu stepped on the water surface, the water would automatically slow down, accommodating his steps.

His control over the river’s flow rate had reached a level of being able to act as he desired.

Suddenly, there was a commotion ahead.

Following the sound, he saw a figure standing by the riverbank, crouching down, using some container to scoop something from the water.

Approaching closer, he finally saw the appearance of the figure.

....

This headless man, standing at nine feet tall, wore coarse cloth shorts on his lower body, revealing muscular calves full of blue veins. His upper body was naked, with bronze skin and perfect muscle contours, giving a visual impact of explosive strength.

The skin on his upper body was covered with black runes, crawling along the muscles.

Looking further up, this person had no head!

.....

The container in the headless man’s hand was a wooden bucket used for carrying water.

The headless man held the wooden bucket, crouched down, and with a strong scoop, drew water from the river!

After filling the bucket with water, he slowly stood up. As he did so, blue veins bulged all over his body, and the black runes on his upper body glowed faintly. Though he had no head to display expressions, his posture showed that he was exerting a great effort!

The water in the bucket was very heavy!

After filling one bucket, he turned and picked up another empty wooden bucket.

Repeating the same actions, holding the bucket with both hands, bending down, scooping water, and slowly standing up, the whole process smooth and fluid!

After filling both buckets, the headless man picked up the yoke on the ground, lifted the two full buckets.

After pausing for a few seconds, he carried the water and turned to walk step by step towards the bank.

With each step the headless man took, he left a shallow footprint in the mud, indicating how heavy the two buckets of water were.

.....

Seeing this, Su Mu raised his eyebrows, intrigued, and followed him up the bank, along the footprints left by the headless man.

Su Mu suppressed his aura, maintaining a distance of a few hundred meters from the headless man, who did not notice Su Mu’s tracking.

After following for nearly half an hour, the surrounding trees became sparse, and the view gradually opened up.

Soon, a Purple Bamboo Forest appeared ahead.

Following the headless man through the Purple Bamboo Forest, Su Mu was stunned by the scene in front of him.

.....

Behind the Purple Bamboo Forest, there were five bamboo and wooden pavilions constructed from Purple Bamboo.

The five pavilions were built around a central pond, the environment beautiful, tranquil, and distant, looking like the secluded abode of a reclusive sage.

The headless man carried the water towards the pond within the pavilions.

Approaching it, the headless man stopped, put down the wooden buckets, picked up the full bucket, and poured the river water into the pond.

After finishing this, the headless man took a brief rest for a few breaths before with the empty bucket, he returned to the river along the original path.

Seeing this, Su Mu transformed into a piece of Purple Bamboo, hiding himself.

The headless man passed by Su Mu, noticing nothing unusual.

About an hour later, the headless man returned with the water-filled buckets to the pavilion edge, continuing to pour the water into the central pond surrounded by the pavilions.

This headless man seemed like a mindless, soulless creature, endlessly repeating the task of fetching water, pouring it, fetching more water, and pouring it again....

While the headless man was fetching water from the river, Su Mu walked towards the pavilion.

Getting closer, standing by the pond, Su Mu stroked his chin, examining the pond in front of him.

The pond, about the size of a soccer field, with a Divine Sense probing depth of roughly five meters.

Though not large, considering the headless man’s water-fetching behavior, it seemed astounding.

Could it be that the entire pond’s water was carried over, bucket by bucket, by this headless man?

How many years would it take to achieve this scale??

Just as Su Mu was pondering, a weak cough came from the pavilion courtyard.

Hearing this, Su Mu quickly turned his head towards the pavilion.

Had he not noticed that someone else was in this pavilion courtyard?

"A distinguished guest has arrived; why not grace us with your presence inside?"

In the next moment, a somewhat aged and weary voice came from the pavilion courtyard.

Startled, Su Mu walked towards the courtyard.

Just as he approached, the tightly shut wooden gate automatically opened.

Stepping into the courtyard, he saw an elder dressed in gray coarse hemp garments, standing by a bonfire with hands clasped behind his back, looking at him.

The elder was hunched, his face aged and furrowed, with two noticeable white brows, deep-set eyes with profound pupils, lacking any cloudiness, sharp and spirited.

Seeing Su Mu’s arrival, the elder lowered his hands and made a gesture of invitation towards Su Mu: "Please, come in."

......

Coming closer, Su Mu scrutinized the elder’s aura.

He discovered the white-browed elder’s aura was extremely weak, like a candle that could extinguish at any moment, so faint that had the elder not spoken to him, Su Mu might have suspected he was looking at a corpse.

Due to the aura’s weakness, he couldn’t ascertain the elder’s cultivation strength.

On the elder’s person, there wasn’t the slightest ripple of Spiritual Power, appearing no different from an ordinary old man.

Nonetheless, Su Mu would not regard this elder as just an ordinary mortal; having spent many years on the river, he had encountered not a single genuine mortal, one after another turning out to be incredibly profound beings.

...

"Please sit, I will make tea."

As Su Mu sat down, the elder, with shaky steps, walked back into the house.

Turning his head, Su Mu surveyed the surroundings, seated in this courtyard, next to the pond.

From this position, one could take in the entire pond’s vista.

Five wooden pavilions circled the pond, precisely positioned to enclose the pond perfectly in the center.

Notably, there were wooden stakes standing on the pond’s surface, like nails driven into the water.

Ninety-nine wooden stakes scattered across various areas.

At first glance, they seemed disordered, yet upon closer inspection, a subtle pattern emerged.

It seemed like some sort of array, but Su Mu couldn’t determine what type of array it was, as these stakes did not emit any Spiritual Power fluctuations.

While Su Mu was pondering, the white-browed elder returned from the house, carrying a teapot.

He took out two clean porcelain cups and poured hot tea for Su Mu. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The elder leaned on the chair, facing Su Mu, and sat down with difficulty.