The dense foliage of the trees could not entirely block out the sunlight.
In the core region of the Western Mountains, collapsed peaks lay scattered everywhere, piling upon each other to form new mountains.
Beneath one of these mountains, not particularly tall but quite vast, a wisp of white steam slowly rose, accompanied by a pot of boiling water, upon which yellow fat floated.
A slender figure stood before the pot, first adding a few pieces of wood to the fire beneath, and then fumbling about within his tattered cloth garments. He found a packet wrapped in cloth, containing an unknown powder.
He opened the cloth packet and cautiously poured about three-tenths of it into the pot of meat broth. Then, using a dark but relatively clean wooden stick, he stirred it vigorously.
After a few seconds, he brought his unshaven, dust-covered face close to the iron pot, sniffed it carefully, and then nodded with satisfaction:
“Hiss… Smells so good!”
Xu Mu nodded with satisfaction. Staring at the meat soup in the pot, he could hardly resist, his mouth watering:
“Charles, I must say, this seasoning you call ‘chicken essence’ is absolutely the most fragrant thing I’ve ever seen. This ordinary pot of broth, with this added, actually makes me salivate!”
His eyes widened, filled with longing, as if he were about to dive into the pot and devour it.
“That’s the theory, but if I may be so bold, you salivate over everything you eat, don’t you?” Charles materialized into the form of an old man, his face filled with disdain.
“Not at all, not at all. I don’t like eating taro heads either,” Xu Mu said, while using two wooden sticks as chopsticks. With great effort, he fished out a piece of meat with streaks of fat and lean from the pot and, ignoring the heat, immediately took a bite.
“Ow, hot, hot, hot!”
Xu Mu gasped, and ran around the pot in circles, fanning his mouth rapidly with both hands.
“It’s not cooked yet. Do you think Stage Two wild boar meat is that easy to cook?” Charles shook his head, wondering why his host seemed a bit slow lately. “To get the meat into your mouth, it needs to cook for at least another half hour.”
“I’m lying to you.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Mu suddenly stopped. There were no red marks around his mouth, not even a trace of moisture. He hadn't actually bitten down.
“I was just bored. Alas, this meat has been cooking from yesterday afternoon until noon today, and I’m starving.”
“Since that guy was playing with fire last night, why didn’t he help out!”
Xu Mu sat dejectedly on a large rock.
He hadn't eaten for three full days and was now starving to death.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have listened to Charles and come to the Western Mountains!
Thinking about it, Xu Mu felt like crying without tears.
Just a few days prior, the core of the Western Mountains had suddenly undergone a drastic change. A palace as black as ink erupted from the ground, peaks toppled, and the earth’s veins shifted. Something tremendous seemed to have happened there.
The person in the Heavenly Palace suggested going to investigate.
Charles harbored reservations.
Xu Mu, however, firmly refused. Entering the Western Mountains was fraught with danger. The core region was far more unpredictable than the central areas. Even with Charles's help, he wasn’t sure he could return to Fengqing Village on time.
No matter how significant the matter, he still had to keep watch that night, just as he had been doing for the past three months.
But then, countless psychics suddenly moved into Fengqing Village. These psychics were very well-behaved, not bullying the weak. Instead, they offered very generous prices for lodging, and the population of Fengqing Village suddenly increased by more than half.
At this moment, Xu Mu finally understood what it meant when they said ‘Stage One is common, Stage Two is abundant.’
The strength of these psychics might not be particularly formidable, but their numbers were truly immense.
Due to their insufficient individual strength, it was not uncommon for them to form teams of dozens of people.
In addition to them, many Stage Three psychics also moved into the village, and some of them were so powerful that even Charles couldn’t discern their cultivation level.
…In short, whether it was Fengqing Village or other villages, they had all temporarily become psychic villages.
Under these circumstances, were Night Watchmen still needed?
Xu Mu observed for one night, and then suddenly realized that the invading ‘evil ghosts’ were casually exterminated by a passing cultivator on his way to the restroom. Any that occasionally wandered into the village were scared away by the terrifying fluctuations emanating from within.
Thus, Charles’s observational attitude turned into an affirmative one.
The person in the Heavenly Palace didn't even wait for Xu Mu’s agreement and decided the matter directly. That night, he took his weapon and entered the Western Mountains.
And he went all the way to the deepest part.
Due to the terrain changes, their old maps were all useless. Even with Charles’s immense computing power, he couldn’t perfectly deduce the previous terrain.
But fortunately, Xu Mu at night was strong enough. In fact, he didn’t need any map at all. As long as he headed towards the core, he just needed to aim for the palace that was darker than the night.
Along the way, they encountered countless Stage Four great demons pursuing them.
Xu Mu, with his gray and white eyes, almost doubted his sanity. Although he didn’t know where he was, he was certain that his current location was still far from the core region of the Western Mountains.
In the past, there would never have been lord-level great demons in the central region.
As he grudgingly continued towards the core, he saw a monster with a human body and a beast’s tail in the vast white mist.
That was a Stage Five great demon that had not fully transformed into human form.
With Stage Five entities lingering at the boundary between the core and central regions, he no longer hesitated and quickly retreated several tens of kilometers.
Then, they discovered an underground palace.
Rather than calling it a palace, it was more like an underground passage.
Xu Mu didn’t sense any danger within. Following the path, he eventually entered a vast underground mausoleum.
Here lay many treasures from ancient times: bronzeware, jade, pearls – all extremely precious.
—The pot Xu Mu was using to cook the meat was found here.
This place was quite interesting. The tomb was enormous, and what they had discovered so far was merely a side tomb. What other treasures lay between the main tombs, he didn't know, but most of it was buried by the high mountains, making it inaccessible.
Thus, the gray-eyed Xu Mu resolutely began to excavate on the spot. He could sense that this mausoleum was definitely not simple.
He couldn’t leave at night, and Xu Mu during the day couldn't leave either. Because the Western Mountains were too dangerous now, he couldn’t get out with his own strength. Therefore, he could only dig here during the day.
He dug for three days, all while evading various dangers.
It wasn't until noon yesterday that Xu Mu managed to catch a wild boar. After killing it with great effort, he discovered that its meat was too tough to cook.
“When can we leave…”
Xu Mu listlessly walked to the pot and looked at his reflection in the large pot of meat broth.
He could no longer be described as disheveled. His body was covered in dirt, and because his training had been too strenuous, he hadn't shaved or cut his hair in three months. He now looked like a true wild man.
“Fortunately, no one saw.”
Xu Mu consoled himself, but the next second, the faint sound of footsteps came from the distance.
“This… senior wild man.”
It was a group of young people. The one speaking was a woman in her twenties:
“Could you spare us some food?”