In this ethereal world, everything is shrouded in mist. I don't know what happened next. I encountered hardships and dangers, crossed mountains and rivers, and traversed dense forests.
However, there was no sign of life anywhere, even though everything was lush and green. Yet, it was deathly still.
Zhang Guodong was extremely anxious.
Patience is almost exhausted! Where exactly is this place? Could it be that my chosen strategy of "instantly entering the paradise and then exiting" for that final attack didn't work? Han Feng's third attack was so powerful that even the space around it trembled! One can imagine how strong that attack at full power was.
Given Zhang Guodong's severely injured and near-death condition, it was impossible for him to dodge the attack head-on. His physical condition couldn't withstand even the slightest impact.
"Could it be that when I entered Peach Blossom Spring, the space was disturbed, and I was transported to some other place?" Zhang Guodong wondered again, feeling very uneasy. In the mortal realm, he had his parents, many beautiful women, several adorable children growing up, and friends like Fatty; he couldn't let them go.
Otherwise, the whole place is shrouded in mist, which only partially dissipates upon approaching, revealing a scene of utter stillness. It is terrifyingly quiet, eerily lifeless.
If we keep going like this, even if we don't go crazy, we'll starve to death!
There was no spiritual energy here, and his storage bag was gone?! The "Nine-Story Pagoda" mark on his chest had also disappeared!
This panic briefly brought Zhang Guodong back to his senses, making him realize he was in an unfamiliar environment and was on the verge of collapse. The existence of the Nine-Story Pagoda Paradise was his greatest support, and if it were taken away, Zhang Guodong would be unable to adapt. Anxiety, trepidation, depression, and despair—all the negative emotions surged up at once.
He didn't know how long he had walked or where he was. All Zhang Guodong knew was that if he continued walking like this, he would definitely go crazy.
“them”
The fog before Zhang Guodong's eyes suddenly parted. But this time, the revealed portion was hundreds, even thousands of times larger than before. A majestic, towering, and incomparably massive black mountain range lay before him.
The mountain range. The highest point is tens of kilometers high, while the lowest point is still several thousand meters high.
This was the largest natural object Zhang Guodong had encountered in recent days. The ice, snow, rivers, wind, forests, and volcanoes he had encountered before were all relatively small and could not compare to the behemoth before him.
Upon encountering these mountains, Zhang Guodong's heart stirred, and he felt a sense of emotion, a desire to get closer.
This was a place unlike any Zhang Guodong had seen in countless days. It made him look up in awe. It gave him the desire to see the summit.
"Damn it, God, you've finally opened your eyes! I've been moving forward ever since I was injured. Could this be an exit?" Zhang Guodong plopped down and grinned widely, though it was a very ugly grin.
A memory flashed through my mind.
This caused Zhang Guodong's laughter to stop abruptly.
"Wait, how exactly did I recover from my injuries? What about the Purple Mansion Demon Vine? What about the Nine-Story Pagoda? These should all be inside my body. Even if someone wanted to record them, it wouldn't be possible!" Zhang Guodong suddenly realized that something was amiss. With the strength of those great experts, they couldn't even detect him with their divine sense, so how could they possibly record the Nine-Story Pagoda?
Zhang Guodong absolutely did not believe it.
The more I think about it, the more anxious I get.
Zhang Guodong examined his body from head to toe. His skin was like jade, his bones like those of an immortal. His body shone with a dazzling light; it was far more beautiful than his previous one. If he were to wear a white robe and a gold ribbon, he would undoubtedly resemble a celestial being from Eastern mythology—a deity!
However, he was currently wearing a purple robe, exuding an ancient charm. It's just that his skin was far too pale. Where did that purple robe come from?
"The life force is gone, and the magical power that Han Feng and the others mentioned is also gone. Apart from not feeling fatigue or pain, my body is no different from an ordinary person! I have no magical abilities!"
Feeling no fatigue? Feeling no pain? Zhang Guodong suddenly pinched himself a few times; indeed, he felt no pain, not even touch!
Am I dead?
Zhang Guodong was momentarily stunned!
It is said that after a person dies, they enter the underworld and become a spirit. Could it be that I have also arrived in the underworld? Or am I just a lonely ghost that hasn't been captured by the Black and White Impermanence yet?
"Whether it's a blessing or a curse, I can't escape it. I've already received too much in this life!" Zhang Guodong suddenly stood up, glanced at the towering black mountains before him, and chose a relatively flat slope. He planned to climb up, wanting to see what was at the top, to stand there and look down, and feel...
what.
The soil and rocks at the foot of the mountain were a distinct color from the rest of the area. Zhang Guodong stepped in, and suddenly the ground collapsed. After a loud rumble, everything went black for Zhang Guodong. When he regained his senses, he was astonished to find himself in a mountain village. Yes, a mountain village!
"Haha, I actually saw people?!" Zhang Guodong looked somewhat deranged. Suddenly, in a fleeting moment after countless twists and turns, he saw a village. And within this village, there was no deathly aura; the trees radiated vitality, though this vitality was far less than that of the outside world, it was enough to give Zhang Guodong hope.
Under a large tree in front of him, several naked, dirty, mischievous children watched him curiously from afar, but dared not approach. They were whispering among themselves, but Zhang Guodong had no idea what they were saying. The sudden loss of his divine sense left him feeling quite disoriented, and he had completely lost control of everything around him.
"Extreme Dao Sect, Wanyang Sect, Lei Mansion—if one day I, Zhang Guodong, make you pay an unbearable price!" Zhang Guodong saw hope again, and the suppressed passion in his chest burst forth, transforming his entire demeanor and filling him with vitality. He was no longer the Zhang Guodong who had lost all hope.
But the mischievous children yelled and ran away.
"Hey, don't run away! I'm not a bad guy!" Zhang Guodong smiled wryly upon seeing this. He had actually scared them. But children will be children after all; they felt Zhang Guodong's expression was terrifying, and that he was a bad guy. "Bad guys can look scary; if you see one, run away."
In a short while, the small village became lively. Children led the adults towards Zhang Guodong. This man, unusually, was carrying a pitchfork, a wooden stick, and a hoe, as if facing a formidable enemy.
"That's it. The bad guy is right there!"
"Why would outsiders come to this village?"
"You're dressed very strangely!"
The villagers and children quickly surrounded Zhang Guodong, pointing and whispering.
At this moment, an old man stepped out from the crowd. He was dressed somewhat decently, but overall, the village was extremely poor. Most of the men wore only animal skins. The women, too, only had a patch covering their breasts. They were all barefoot, sallow-faced and emaciated—truly destitute people.
This old man was much cleaner than the others; that's what dignity is.
"Guest from afar, where do you come from? How did you come to my Zitai Village?" The old man was clearly more knowledgeable than the others, addressing Zhang Guodong as a guest instead of issuing an order to arrest him.
Those eyes were a little blurry, yet they shone with wisdom.
Zhang Guodong hurriedly said, "Uncle, I got lost! I walked for a long time and came across a huge black mountain range. I was about to climb it when I encountered a trap. When I woke up, I found myself here!"
"This is the forbidden area where the Tree of Life resides! This outsider has actually trespassed into our forbidden area! Seize him! Kill him! He has disturbed the peace of the gods!" a villager suddenly shouted. The others glared angrily at Zhang Guodong, brandishing their knives, clubs, and forks, and were about to surround him.
"Village chief, he has trespassed into our sacred ground! Kill him!"
"Kill him!"
Seeing the old man's face turn cold, Zhang Guodong was momentarily confused and somewhat anxious. What was going on? Even a fool could see that these people were saying he had trespassed on their sacred ground and wanted to kill him!
Holy land? Where is the holy land?
"Quiet!" The village chief, who had been carefully observing Zhang Guodong's every move, frowned and shouted.
The voice was truly authoritative, and the villagers immediately fell silent, except for those who were hostile towards Zhang Guodong.
"He, an outsider, harbors no ill intentions!" the old village chief announced. "Young man, I, the 'Demon Speaker' of Zitai Village, pardon your crime of trespassing into the sacred land!"
A sorcerer?
Zhang Guodong's mouth dropped open; he felt like his brain couldn't process what he was getting at. What kind of title was this?
Having lost his life force and magical power, Zhang Guodong's sensitivity to auras has plummeted to an extreme level. He's even less capable than the villagers with their extensive wilderness experience.
Curse!
There is another kind of awe, awe of the unknown. Where exactly is this place? What kind of world is it?
But Zhang Guodong quickly suppressed his ulterior motives. He said, "Thank you for your forgiveness, old village chief! I wonder, how should I get out of here?"
Many people looked at Zhang Guodong with strange expressions. The old village chief seemed to be the authority in the village. He said Zhang Guodong was innocent, so he was innocent. The hostility of the crowd towards Zhang Guodong disappeared immediately, which had reached the point of blind worship.
"Everyone, disperse! Young man, come with me!" The old village chief waved his hand, scattering the villagers, but the mischievous children continued playing.
Zhang Guodong followed the old man toward his home.
The houses here are all built of wood and thatch, with very little stone. They are quite rudimentary!
But the village chief's house is the largest in the whole village.
The huge, strange beast's head hanging outside made Zhang Guodong realize that the old village chief was no ordinary person. Just what kind of being was that sorcerer?
The old village chief was indeed a wise elder. He explained to Zhang Guodong that this was a completely unfamiliar world. This was a small group of humans left behind in the vast mountains. Moreover, apart from the old village chief, no one here had ever left Zitai Village, let alone knew anything about the outside world.
For them, leaving this place was tantamount to suicide.
To leave this place, one must pass through that sacred land, which is also a land of death. The people here believe that gods reside in that sacred land, and that they have disturbed the gods' peace, so the gods have sent down punishment. As long as they do not disturb the sacred land, the people here will live long lives and be free from illness and disaster.
"A thousand years?!" Zhang Guodong simply couldn't believe that ordinary people here could live for a thousand years so easily. You must understand, in the plant cultivation world, a powerful cultivator who can live for a thousand years is already a top-tier expert!
But ordinary people here can achieve this level.
And this old village chief is even more outrageous, at the age of 2,500! Almost like an old monster.
The old village chief's words completely chilled Zhang Guodong's heart.
Unable to leave for a while, Zhang Guodong felt disappointed. He then composed himself and accepted the old village chief's invitation to become a villager in "Zitai Village." Next to the village chief's house, the villagers helped Zhang Guodong build a small courtyard. However, Zhang Guodong couldn't live in the low wooden frame and thatched walls of the house. So he designed his own dwelling.
Using tough vines cut from the mountains, the abundant timber was tightly bound together. Just like weaving bamboo baskets, a large wooden house and yard were built in three days.
Wooden plank beds, wooden tables, wooden stools, fences—these things were all too novel to the locals. Even the old village chief's eyes lit up. Guo Dong, a wise young man, was also impressed.
The villagers were interested in this, feeling that these things were much more appealing, and Zhang Guodong was happy to teach them. In reality, he was hardly a qualified "mentor." He only knew the principles; even if the fabrications were ugly and grotesque, no one could tell the difference.
Life in Zitai Village was very ordinary.
Zhang Guodong only realized how important the old village chief's words, "He has no evil intentions," were after he integrated into Zitai Village. The sorcerers possess a remarkable supernatural ability: they can sense the aura they call demonic power and detect the existence of something called "evil intentions."
In the past, almost all outsiders who entered Zitai Village were killed by the villagers! The villagers here are extremely xenophobic! Zhang Guodong was quite lucky; he was actually taken in by the old village chief!
It was during this time that Zhang Guodong learned that despite the villagers' emaciated and malnourished appearance, their seemingly frail bodies contained immense strength; any adult male could easily tear a tiger apart.
The village's most powerful hunter, however, can kill low-level demons and low-level inner demons.
According to them, they are demons who devour human bones and blood.
In Zitai Village, low-level celestial demons and low-level inner demons occasionally appear, but each time, the villagers join forces to kill them.
So life here is peaceful and mostly serene. There's a simple, honest atmosphere, unwavering faith, and a robust, resilient spirit. Aside from hunting in the mountains to supplement their food supply, the villagers spend most of their time praying at the outermost edge of the sacred site.
They prayed to the gods to protect their village for generations to come, to ensure the longevity of the people in the well, and so on.
After acclimatizing for a few days, Zhang Guodong joined a hunting party and ventured into the mountains for the first time. He figured, "Since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it." He believed there would always be a way out.
But the problem he needs to solve right now is that he feels ashamed to enjoy the food that the kind villagers leave outside their houses every day, the meager portions of meat.
The villagers didn't even have enough food for themselves, yet they shared some with Zhang Guodong. This made Zhang Guodong feel ashamed.
As soon as he entered the mountains, Zhang Guodong encountered another frustrating situation.
Although he felt no pain or fatigue, his strength was extremely weak, less than a third of that of an average adult in the area. He was far from capable of killing the various wild beasts in the mountains.
Unfortunately, his role was more about gaining knowledge. Zhang Guodong focused his attention on the strangely shaped plants; he had an inexplicable feeling about them, as if he were very close to them.
The first time, he collected a few plants that resembled medicinal herbs. But unfortunately, they were of little use to the villagers of Zitai Village. The people here are truly long-lived, basically free from illness and disaster; even if these plants were medicinal, they would have lost their intended effect.
The second time, Zhang Guodong prepared more thoroughly, inquiring about edible plants before heading into the mountains. So this time, he felt excited, especially about the harvest, particularly of a herbaceous plant that the villagers called "energy fruit."
This "Energy Fruit" plant grows to about 1.5 meters tall and produces purple fruits the size of a child's fist. However, each plant produces very few fruits, at most seven or eight. This amount of "Energy Fruit" is only enough for one person for one meal.
That's far too little!
However, Zhang Guodong was not discouraged. The yield of this wild "energy fruit" is indeed low, and it's scattered, not existing in large patches or forests in the mountains.
But he could collect it and try to cultivate it intensively in the village, clearing land for farming. That's how agriculture develops. But in Zitai Village, people had no such awareness. Anyway, there were enough wild animals in the mountains; while there might not be an endless supply of delicacies, they certainly wouldn't starve.
The old village chief was delighted upon hearing the news and praised Zhang Guodong. However, he also looked puzzled. "This 'energy fruit'—it grows all over the mountains. Can it be grown? How?"
Zhang Guodong smiled but remained silent.
He was also nervous. Whether it would be successful in growing it was hard to say. However, his modern mindset gave him the most basic scientific concepts.
Most plants can be grown and cultivated.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, Zhang Guodong has lived in Zitai Village for more than three months.
During these three months, Zhang Guodong thoroughly experienced the tranquility of this place, and even somewhat didn't want to leave. However, he had no choice but to leave.
What he is most proud of is that he has successfully cultivated the "energy fruit." On his three acres of land, there are patches of one-meter-tall plants that have already produced green fruit, which he estimates will be ripe in another two months.
Although this is a small amount, when we first planted the "Energy Fruit," each seed could grow into seven or eight seedlings, demonstrating its remarkable propagation potential. Next time, the seeds from these three acres might be enough to cultivate twenty acres. And the time after that, it could be dozens, even hundreds of acres.
Zhang Guodong generously passed on this skill to the villagers.
This was also the turning point when the whole village finally accepted Zhang Guodong's existence.
Looking at the people he was gradually getting to know, Zhang Guodong felt a surge of gratitude. He thought that even if he had to leave again with this "energy fruit," he would have been able to repay the kindness of the old village chief and the entire village for taking him in. One day, Zhang Guodong was resting when he was suddenly awakened by a commotion outside.
He quickly got out of bed and left the wooden house, just in time to see a villager run into the yard, frantically saying, "Something's happened at the Holy Land! Something's happened at the Holy Land!"
Then he grabbed Zhang Guodong and ran towards the village chief. By then, hundreds of villagers had gathered there, all armed with knives, sticks, and forks. Some were even carrying incredibly hard stones—the stones were too hard to be chiseled down from the mountain. Otherwise, stone houses could have been built. They all looked tense and fearful.
Don't underestimate those stones; in Lin Min's hands, they're quite formidable.
"The riot in the sacred land is an act of divine wrath. As villagers of Zitai Village, we must protect the peace of the sacred land!" the old village chief shouted solemnly.
"Protect the holy site! Protect the holy site!"
"Go!" The old village chief gave a reassuring order, seeing that everyone's emotions had been stirred up.
Bi: Hehe, can you guess where the main character is in this chapter? Find out in the next update.
I wanted to write more. However, I'm currently working on a new book, so I won't be writing in the evenings. My current plan is to use my evenings to brainstorm, prepare the outline, and refine it after completing daily updates. I intend to finish this in three or four days, working on the next book. I refuse to believe I can't write a good book!
With three or four chapters completed simultaneously, the book will be nearing its end, which feels like the timing is perfect. If all goes well, new chapters can be saved up. Spending more time preparing chapters will allow for a larger, higher-quality backlog before uploading, giving more time for writing new chapters later, creating a virtuous cycle.
I'd like to ask for your votes and subscriptions again. I hope everyone can support me in completing this book in the final months! Thank you!
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