Chapter 210: Mountain Demon

Duan Rong decided to practice the cultivation method he had accidentally comprehended while carrying a large crate on Wild Boar Mountain right here on this cliff.

The reason Duan Rong chose Lone Mountain was because it was the closest cliff to Xiangu County; the thirteen-li journey took only half an hour by horse.

The entire Yuanyang Prefecture was a basin-like landscape, surrounded by mountains with flat plains in the middle.

Xiangu County was located in the southeast on the outskirts of Yuanyang Prefecture, so it had many mountains, little land, and poor transportation.

This Lone Mountain was of granite geology with sparse vegetation, yet it grew many low, sour jujube trees.

Even the south slope, which was slightly easier to climb, rarely had visitors, so it could be considered an excellent place for practice.

Duan Rong untied a gourd from his waist, opened the lid, and gulped down a large mouthful of soup.

After swallowing it in big gulps, Duan Rong let out a breath and tied the gourd back onto his waist.

Duan Rong's gaze sharpened, he infused his Internal Breath, suddenly bent over, scooped the bottom with one hand and gripped the edge with the other, held his breath, exerted force, and hoisted the large stone coffin onto his shoulder.

The granite texture was hard and far heavier than ordinary rock, and this large stone coffin was three or four times the size of Duan Rong's body.

As the large stone coffin pressed onto his shoulder, Duan Rong's waist and shoulder sank abruptly; with a cold, sharp gaze, Duan Rong circulated his Internal Breath, steadied the large stone coffin on his shoulder with both hands, executed the Cloud Snake Step, and with a light leap, stood with his body slightly tilted on a protrusion of the steep cliff.

Duan Rong had to maintain his body's balance while keeping the large stone coffin on his shoulder from tilting; he could not look at the path with his eyes at all, but with his Divine Sense Projection, he could see far more clearly than with his eyes.

Although he had his Divine Sense Projection to scout the path, it was still not easy for Duan Rong to climb the steep cliff while carrying such a large stone coffin, even though his Cloud Snake Step had already broken through to the Small Success Realm.

Duan Rong's posture at this moment was quite strange; he stood on one foot on the protrusion of the cliff, like a golden rooster on one leg, carrying the large coffin on his shoulder, his body slightly tilted...

He had grasped the sense of balance in his Lightness Skill to a peak of perfection, which was the only reason he could maintain this posture for several breaths...

It took Duan Rong several breaths to finally determine the position for his second leap.

The steep cliff was a natural hazard, and there were not many places suitable for footing.

Even though Duan Rong was already a Martial Artist with a slightly Small Success level of cultivation in the secular world, it was truly no easy task to climb over such a natural hazard while carrying a large stone coffin.

Duan Rong's shoulder shook slightly, controlling the large stone coffin on his shoulder to tilt slowly; when the large stone coffin tilted to a certain angle, Duan Rong's body was already trembling, and at that moment, Duan Rong suddenly leaped, one man and one stone, a black shadow in clothes, and stood on a protrusion of the cliff face diagonally above.

As soon as Duan Rong stood up, he instantly adjusted his body's balance, stood steadily there carrying the large stone coffin, and let out a long, turbid breath; this leap had already consumed him greatly.

And this Lone Mountain was nearly a thousand meters high; who knew when he would reach the cliff top?

Fortunately, before he climbed, he had drunk his fill of the greenish medicinal soup he had brewed; otherwise, without replenishment for such a large consumption of Internal Breath, he estimated that his Internal Breath would have been exhausted before he reached the cliff top.

The south slope of Lone Mountain, from the mountainside all the way to the top, was covered with low sour jujube trees!

The sour jujube tree is a type of wild jujube with a large pit and thin flesh, capable of growing even in very barren rock crevices.

It was currently midsummer, the season for sour jujubes to ripen, but the sour jujube trees were not only low, the fruit was also sparse, with few fruits on each plant.

It was already dusk, and the residual red of the setting sun dyed the evening clouds in the western sky red, like a wound in the sky...

Three small figures ran to the top of the mountain.

Their bodies were thin, and they wore coarse hemp clothes with patches; as they ran, they used both hands to scoop up the hems of their tops, holding them against their chests.

The scooped-up clothes were bulging, filled with many sour jujubes they had picked along the way.

"Right over there, there's a big tree on the cliff top; I picked a lot there last year!" one of the children said while running.

The other two children heard the child's words, their eyes shining with anticipation, and they put all their effort into running toward the cliff top.

The three children indeed saw a sour jujube tree on the cliff top that was far taller than the ordinary ones, and the fruit was more dense; the red and white fruits glowed with an alluring luster in the setting sun.

The three children's eyes immediately lit up, and they ran over to compete in picking them.

"I told you, didn't I? I didn't lie to you two, right?"

"Look, these fruits are even bigger than the ones we just picked!"

"Pick them quickly!"

Just as the three children were competing to pick the fruit, a huge black shadow suddenly sprang up from below the cliff.

It seemed to be a huge stone coffin!

The three children were suddenly startled, but the next moment, for some reason, their eyes went black, and they suddenly fell to the ground!

As one of the children was about to fall to the ground, Duan Rong suddenly sprang out from behind the stone coffin, arrived in a flash, and scooped up the child; there was a jagged rock behind where the child fell, and if Duan Rong hadn't caught the boy, he would likely have cracked the back of his head upon falling.

Duan Rong was covered in sweat, his gaze listless.

On the cliff, his Divine Sense had swept over and already seen the children on the cliff top; he did not want to frighten them, but after a thousand-meter climb, his Internal Breath was nearly exhausted, and with the large stone coffin pressing on his shoulder, he could no longer support it, so he had to jump onto the cliff in front of the three children.

Duan Rong placed the child in his hands on the ground; he looked intently and saw that under the afterglow of the setting sun, the three thin children looked as if they were asleep, and the sour jujubes they had picked were scattered all over the ground.

Duan Rong picked up a few sour jujubes and put them in his mouth to eat; his lips were chapped and his throat was dry, and as he chewed, he felt that these sour, fleshless jujubes were very thirst-quenching, so he couldn't help but eat a few more.

After eating the jujubes and resting for a while, Duan Rong sat on the mountain peak, watching the setting sun fall bit by bit; Duan Rong suddenly stood up, untied the gourd from his waist, tilted his head back, and gulped down a good amount of the soup, then tied the gourd back to his waist.

After drinking the soup and circulating his energy slightly, he felt his surging Internal Breath gradually returning...

At this moment, Duan Rong suddenly waved his sleeve, and a light mist was scattered around the three unconscious children.

Duan Rong's figure flashed, and he appeared beside the large stone coffin; he suddenly scooped it up and hoisted it onto his shoulder, and with his Divine Sense Projection active, Duan Rong abruptly jumped off the cliff top carrying the large stone coffin.

Not long after Duan Rong jumped off the cliff top, the three unconscious children slowly woke up; they stood up in a daze...

"What happened... why were we sleeping on the mountain top?"

"Do you remember... it seems I saw a big stone coffin fly up from below the cliff..."

"Yes! I saw it too, it landed right there!"

"What big stone coffin, what are you talking about..." one of the children asked with a puzzled look. He had been standing with his back to the cliff while picking fruit just now and had not seen the stone coffin fly up!

"What is this? Who of you ate the jujubes?" a child suddenly pointed to the jujube pits scattered on the ground and asked in fear.

"No..." the child who spoke had teeth that were already chattering.

"We were picking fruit as soon as we got up here, where would we have the time to sneak a bite!"

"Run! It's a mountain demon! The mountain demon wants to eat children!"

The three children immediately scrambled to scoop up the scattered fruit on the ground, shoved it into their clothes, and ran down the mountain in a panic...

On the mountain peak behind them, the twilight had already gathered, and on the open space in front of a sturdy jujube tree that was much taller than the average sour jujube tree, many wild fruits were still scattered...

(End of chapter)