As the sun bathed the world in its warm light, birds chirped and sang, and the river flowed heartily, reflecting the sunlight and making it glow. Liu Xing ran with a fast but measured pace. He wore simple gray clothing, black shoes, and a simple straw hat that was stuck to his head as if glued. His face was calm, his eyebrows straight, and his eyes shone with focus.

Around this time, the enthronement ceremony should have started. Prince Yang Jinyan would soon become Emperor Yang Jinyan, Yang Suyin would become one of his advisors, and Yang Liangyu would become his right hand, while his wife, Yang Hongyin, would be his left. Liu Xing hoped that the ceremony would turn out okay. After all, this ceremony was rushed in the hope that it would be over before the four groups of inner disciples from the Purple Moon Sect arrived. This way, if they learned about the dragon vein they could not push him around as easily. There were a lot of problems with rushing this ceremony, but he would not think about them too much. He needed to finish his job, and he intended to complete it as soon as possible.

"It would be faster if I could use my Lightning Cloak," he muttered. While the chance of using it causing trouble was quite small, he didn't want to risk it. The four groups of inner disciples were nearby, and he didn't want to confront them. They might think he had stolen the dragon vein for himself. So, to minimize this problem, he intended to move as silently as possible for at least a full day.

The job he needed to complete was simple. He just needed to ensure the scroll from Emperor Yang Jinyan arrived safe and sound at the Purple Moon Sect. Yang Suyin had said it would be optimal if he could give the scroll to one of the Twelve Elders, but if he could not do that, he needed to give it to an elder with a good reputation. For now, he intended to give the scroll about the dragon vein to Elder Zhang Zhenking. People said that he was strong, loyal, and just. And since he was overseeing this race, it probably wouldn't be too hard to meet him.

"Before all of that though, I need to visit Mystic Moon City first," Liu Xing muttered, and a smile bloomed on his lips. He wondered what kind of technique Bai Lin would give him. Techniques were split into three categories based on several criteria including complexity, requirement, use, and many others. There was a complex method to decide which category a technique falls into, and there were many techniques that were quite hard to categorize, but usually, the better the grade, the stronger the technique.

One thing he found interesting while browsing the library when he first arrived in this world was the fact that a single technique could have different versions with different grades. These kinds of techniques were usually marked by how well they worked with different cultivation stages. For example, his Lightning Palm technique was a Base Grade, and this technique was said to be unfit for a cultivator with high cultivation, such as the Sun Collapsing realm. At that realm, instead of using a Lightning Palm technique, it was better to develop or learn new techniques with a higher grade.

Heaven Grade techniques are techniques that could be used even by an immortal. It was a technique that would be useful forever, hence why it was categorized as Heaven Grade. They said that techniques within this grade were like learning swordsmanship. They needed to be honed, learned, and reflected upon to achieve the highest mastery.

"I wondered though, are my techniques truly only Base Grade now?" Would Lightning Palm, Lightning Cloak, Exploding Fist, and Statue Summoning techniques not be fit for him later, when he reached the Sun Collapsing realm and further? Normally, he would think so, but his gun made his techniques absurdly strong. It felt like he could use all these techniques even if he advanced to the Black Sun realm, White Sun realm, and Immortal realm. Shaking his head, he decided to reserve his opinion until he got his hands on a Heaven Grade Technique.

He ran nonstop, trying to create as much distance as possible between himself and the Twelve Sun Empire. When the path he followed suddenly dropped into a cliff, he jumped without hesitation. When the trees around him grew so tall and lush that only hardy vegetation could grow on the ground, he jumped from branch to branch and enjoyed the wind splashing his face. He just needed to endure for several more hours before he could use the Lightning Cloak Technique and instantly arrive at Mystic Moon City.

The sun began to glow with orange light, and the air that had recently felt warm now became cool. There was no wind blowing, so the trees and bushes around him felt like they were already asleep. He ran on a well-trodden path that was rising slightly, as if he were climbing a small hill. To his right, green bushes grew healthily and created pretty little purple flowers that were blooming. A sweet and refreshing fragrance followed him as he ran on this sloping path, and to his left, he could see a serene little village with colorful roofs and occasional faint laughter that he could hear.

A moment later, Liu Xing saw a yellow banana peel in the middle of the path. The peel was already showing dark spots here and there, but was nonetheless normal. If not because of the child that hid in one of the bushes, he would have ignored the banana peel entirely.

The child crouched in the bushes as if he was a mighty hunter waiting patiently for his game to fall into his trap. But as soon as the child heard his footsteps, his head snapped toward him so fast that he worried the kid's neck would be hurt. He looked at Liu Xing eagerly, his eyes shining, as if he couldn't wait for him to slip on that banana peel.

Liu Xing slowed his pace to a light jog, one that even a mortal could follow, and looked at the kid again. The kid wore decent dark blue and dark red clothing, but the thing that caught his eye was the wok the kid carried on his back. With the wok so big, he looked like a turtle. This kid actually looked kind of older, around ten or eleven, yet his chubby cheeks and smooth skin made him look younger. As he ran, the kid eagerly anticipated what would happen next until his body trembled with excitement.

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Instantly, Liu Xing cracked a smile. The kid didn't realize that his position, albeit a little hidden, would be instantly noticed by people. To a cultivator looking at him, the kid might as well have crouched in the middle of the road. "Now, what do I do?"

He could just ignore this little prank. From the looks of it, that banana peel had been there for quite some time. But looking at the kid's expression, so eager and earnest, stirred something in his heart. He thought that perhaps he could play with this kid. What was slipping on a banana peel to a cultivator like him? But soon, the thought that he was in a hurry came to him, which made Liu Xing stop several steps from the banana peel. Another, more serious thought surfaced: what if this was actually a kind of trap?

He glanced to the side, seeing the kid gulp his saliva, his eyes trembling, his fists clenched, and sweat began to fall from his forehead, wetting his eyebrows. That boy was not a cultivator, but he had a little bit of qi inside his body, which meant he was actually on the path to becoming a cultivator. A trap laid by him probably could do nothing to him, but what if this banana peel was a treasure that could trap him?

As soon as that thought came to him, Liu Xing burst out laughing. "Man, am I becoming too serious?" There was no way in hell this banana peel was a treasure. The kid probably just wanted to do a little prank.

"Might as well," he muttered. After all, he had already stopped for several seconds to think, and since there was no harm in it, there was nothing he needed to be afraid of.

He took several steps until finally, his next step would land on top of the banana peel. Liu Xing tried as hard as possible to be nonchalant, as if he didn't see the banana peel. As his feet became closer and closer to the banana peel, he thought about how realistic the cartoon that popularized stepping on a banana peel was. The ground here was kind of rough, so there was a slim chance he would actually slip on it. When this thought came to his mind, disappointment filled his heart. He wanted to slip on it gloriously, yet the realistic outcome was probably him crushing the banana peel without falling over comically. He wondered what the kid thought when his prank turned out to be disappointing.

Liu Xing stepped on it as hard as possible, thinking that nothing would happen to him. But to his surprise, the banana peel was actually so slippery that it felt as if he had just stepped on green moss that had grown on boulders and stones near the river. In just a fraction of a second, both of his feet became so wide he looked like a dancer doing a split! He was actually quite surprised by this outcome, and his body moved in reflex to regain his balance. He moved his left foot, but to his surprise, the kid threw another banana peel right where his left foot would land! Both banana peels worked wonderfully, and both of his feet lifted off the ground, and he began to fall backward.

As he realized that he was falling, he had plenty of time to correct his position; hell, he could even move his left foot away from the second banana peel, but he let his body fall. With a glorious thud, his back landed on the ground, creating a little cloud of dust that rose around him.

Liu Xing laughed heartily, and the wind carried his laughter. To be frank, he didn't understand why falling on two banana peels made his heart feel lighter. Perhaps it was because he was the one who decided to fall for this prank willingly, or perhaps he was actually quite stressed before, what with him fighting a giant and a demonic cultivator, and lots of serious things he needed to think about, and the chance to do something silly lightened his heart.

He laughed and laughed, tears began falling from his eyes, as if he had just seen the funniest comedy show in the entire world. Each laugh made his body more and more relaxed, until he let out a content sigh. "I need to do something similar later," he muttered. Not necessarily slip on banana peels, but more like doing something just for fun, like perhaps playing some sport, or hell, even drawing or doing some traditional painting. Drawing was his main hobby on Earth, one that he had intended to pursue as a career. He wondered if his skill was rusty.

Liu Xing glanced to the side, curious about the kid's expression. Since the kid had successfully made him slip, he should have been happy because his prank worked. Although, perhaps he was actually quite a prideful prankster and decided that Liu Xing, who willingly fell into his prank, didn't count.

But when he saw the kid's expression, his eyebrows rose. Instead of laughing at him because he slipped on a banana peel—the most natural reaction—the kid instead had tearful eyes, snot began to fall from his nose, and he tried to wipe it with his clothes frantically. This reaction was puzzling to Liu Xing. Had he done something wrong? Was the banana peel not a prank? Maybe it was an important object?

"What's the matter?" Liu Xing sat up, dusted his robe and straw hat, and addressed the kid. When he addressed the kid, the kid was busy trying to wipe his face of snot and tears, but what he did was actually smear snot and tears all over his face. Coincidentally, his face was hit by a beam of sunlight passing through the vegetation, and his face looked so glowing and shiny. The kid tried to answer his questions, but what came out were choked sobs that he could not understand. So, Liu Xing took his spatial bag, brought out a water skin, and gave it to the kid. The kid accepted the water skin and began gulping the water like a man stranded in a desert for a full week.

Then, he began to cry again, although this time, he was more steady, and said, "Y-you slipped on my banana peels."

It was a statement that Liu Xing answered with a nod. "Yes, I thought it was a prank and decided to play along. Was I wrong?"

"No, I mean, it's a prank, yes, but it's actually a serious matter." He said, then muttered, "T-there is truly a cultivator dumb enough to willingly fall into an obvious prank!"

"That's kind of rude, you know, considering you're talking right in front of me."

The kid blinked several times, and his eyes widened, as if he hadn't realized he had said that out loud, and Liu Xing could hear it clearly.

"I don't mean it like that, sir! My name is Li Shunqing, and for almost half a year, I've moved from place to place, placing banana peels here and there and trying to find a cultivator who would willingly fall for this prank! It's an absurd thing, I know, but trust me, there's a logical reason for it." Then, as if forgetting something, he asked, "What is your name, sir?"

"My name is Liu Xing," he answered. "Can I know what the reason is?" He actually felt a little betrayed inside. He thought it was just a simple and funny prank.

"No!" Li Shunqing answered. "It's a secret. Sir Liu Xing. Please, please, I can't explain it, but I need you to come with me."

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