Chapter 1097: Zixu Falls into the Trap Again

"First of all, I don’t believe that building necessary infrastructure is a waste of resources. Second, we can simplify it a bit," Chen Xi said, coughing awkwardly, as he suddenly remembered that the New Year was fast approaching.

"Just build a one-zhang-high altar facing east for a simple ritual," Liu Bei said, taking a much more relaxed view of things. He didn't want the construction to be too grand. To be honest, he was still upset about the house Chen Xi had built for him in Fenggao—it hadn’t even been used for long before they moved away.

"It’s a pity that the Yuanding Cauldron is in Emperor Wu’s tomb. However, the world is never perfect, and we can’t expect too much," Liu Bei said with a content smile. "Let’s focus on getting the basics done first."

"Step by step," Chen Xi nodded in agreement. He thought that for the coming year, aside from small-scale projects, they should avoid large undertakings if possible. Instead, they would quietly adjust regional industrial structures. Hopefully, it would yield results. At this point, all they could do was wait and see if things would work out.

Before Chen Xi and Liu Bei could return to Ye City, Jia Xu, who had dragged Zixu away for tea and philosophical discussions, received an urgent message from the northern regions of Bingzhou. The emergency report had been delivered at lightning speed.

Given the amount of resources and effort invested in training messenger hawks, the fact that one was used to deliver the message indicated the extreme urgency of the information.

"Zixiao, it seems we need to have another serious conversation," Jia Xu said, decoding a copy of the message while sending the original to Liu Bei.

"No need to talk to me. I can no longer see the future. The future I saw before was certain, but now everything else is unclear," Zixu waved dismissively. "Since the battle between Yuan and Liu, the historical trajectory has completely collapsed. There is no longer a predetermined future."

"Zixu, how high is the sky? How wide is the earth?" Jia Xu suddenly asked an odd question.

"..." Zixu was momentarily stunned.

"If you were to fly in one direction, how far could you go?" Jia Xu asked again, seeing the strange expression on Zixu’s face.

"I rarely fly long distances. To be precise, I've always stayed within the Central Plains. In fact, most of us have always remained here," Zixu suddenly realized something strange—he and others like him had essentially stayed in one place and never ventured out to explore.

"Haven’t you said before that you've driven away some immortals? Where did they go?" Jia Xu asked, frowning.

"They stayed nearby. They didn’t stray too far from the Central Plains," Zixu replied with a frown. "But now that you mention it, I am curious about flying in one direction. Although people have talked about a place called Gui Xu in the far east, I've never seen it."

"Oh, I won’t hold last time's incident against you. Go ahead and fly in one direction. Let me know what you see. Try flying west," Jia Xu quickly set aside his previous grudge. He had just discovered an interesting research subject—immortals seemed perfect for mapping the world.

What Jia Xu didn’t know was that Zixu would end up flying for five years straight before finally returning. It wasn’t because Zixu was slow—he could fly at nearly 100 meters per second, even without exerting full effort—but because flying over the ocean completely disoriented him. He got so lost that he couldn’t tell which way was north or south anymore.

The vastness of the ocean between the Americas and Asia overwhelmed Zixu, who ended up flying from the northern to the southern hemisphere several times. At night, he tried using the stars for navigation, but after crossing the equator one day, everything became confusing.

Zixu had always relied on the North Star for navigation. Unfortunately, he wasn’t flying directly west. After encountering a storm near the equator, he was blown off course and ended up in Australia.

For an immortal well-versed in astrology, seeing the different star constellations of the southern hemisphere thoroughly disoriented him. After that, he wasn’t even sure if the sun was rising in the east anymore.

Thus began Zixu’s grand adventure, which included flying to Antarctica. Eventually, he managed to orient himself and flew back to the northern hemisphere. However, without any tools to determine his exact location, he had no idea where he was on Earth.

Although he made it back to the northern hemisphere, his misguided attempts at navigation landed him in the Arctic Circle. Convinced that the endless white landscape would finally get him back on track, Zixu flew in circles around the Arctic for some time before heading south again. Unfortunately, this time, he ended up in the Americas. After spending some time as a "divine being" there, he resumed his aimless journey.

This time, however, Zixu was smarter. He began following the coastline. Though it took him months to fly from North America to South America and back to the Arctic, at least it was better than being lost in Australia. Had he followed the coastline back then, he might have wept in frustration.

After months of flying, he finally returned to Asia by tracing the frozen shores of the Arctic, eventually reaching Youzhou. Upon recognizing the familiar landscape, a disheveled Zixu nearly wept with relief. He swore never to leave the continent again unless absolutely necessary.

As he recalled how Jia Xu had coaxed him into this adventure by saying he wouldn’t hold a grudge, Zixu’s eyes burned with anger. No wonder that shrewd man had been so quick to forgive—it was a trap all along! He had been tricked into flying right into it.

It’s worth mentioning that, although Zixu had circled the Earth many times during his journey, he never realized that the planet was round. Due to his poor sense of direction and lack of attention to such details, even after flying around the globe multiple times, Zixu remained unaware of the Earth’s true shape.

Later, someone seeking to prove Zhang Heng’s "Armillary Sphere Theory" would conduct their own westward expedition, finally confirming that they lived on a spherical planet.

Though this dizzying conclusion was hard to swallow, it didn’t spark much controversy. By then, all those capable of flight had verified the theory, and even ordinary people had conducted similar experiments using ships, ultimately arriving at the same fact.

An outlandish fact like this required an explanation. It wasn’t something you could just brush off by saying, "It looks flat because it’s huge."

Thus, in addition to the development of physical and spiritual cultivation, a new branch of study called "science" was born.

Of course, it was still too early to discuss such things. Zixu hadn’t yet set off on his journey and had no idea that he would later be hailed as one of the ancient forefathers of the experimental method, his motto being: "If you can do it, don’t waste time talking—use facts to slap them in the face!"

At this moment, Zixu was clearly still too naive. Spurred on by Jia Xu’s suggestion, he was preparing to undertake this dangerous venture without a second thought. Like many immortals, he probably assumed he could handle anything on his own.

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