Chapter 46

After simply tidying up the room, Chen Shicheng entered the game again.

Like the Stealing Heaven Pendant, the Evil Ghost Mask also appeared on the game character's face when it was not placed in the storage slot.

The Evil Ghost Pill also did not fall; although he could not see it, relying on that faint connection, he could feel the Evil Ghost Pill's body, nearly three meters tall, standing behind him.

Having decided to set out for the mining area to find Hui Siye, Chen Shicheng did not waste time; he went out directly to find Wang Peng to say goodbye, and by the way see if he could borrow a horse.

The mining area is over a hundred kilometers from Iron Refining Town; although one could run there on foot, who isn't lazy? If there is a means of transport, of course one would use it.

Unfortunately, after walking around the camp, he didn't see Wang Peng, let alone a few ordinary soldiers.

As for horses, there wasn't a single one; it seemed the young general and Wang Peng had taken the food and fled directly.

After finally finding a patrolling soldier, he then learned that, after he went offline, the two had indeed taken most of the food and left, heading somewhere unknown, and even the horses had been requisitioned clean.

Helpless, he could only follow the soldier's suggestion and go to the town to find a merchant who rents mounts.

The place was easy to find, right at the town gate; after a simple inquiry, the mount-rental merchant, according to price from high to low, introduced him to four kinds of mounts: Spirit Beast Immortal Crane, Dragon Horse, Giant Draft Ox, and Nag horse.

【Spirit Beast Immortal Crane: A flying mount specially bred by the Beast Taming Sect, two meters tall with a sharp crane beak and claws, possessing a simple wind-controlling ability that can resist strong winds during fast flight, it is the fastest and most comfortable, also having some combat ability; rental price: 5 gold per day, deposit: 500 gold.】

【Dragon Horse: Legend says it has dragon blood, with scales at the joints, sharp teeth for eating meat, capable of traveling a thousand li a day, possessing some combat ability, its speed and comfort are second only to the Immortal Crane; rental price: 2 gold per day, deposit: 200 gold.】

【Giant Draft Ox: A large-tonnage, gentle draft animal, with limitless strength able to pull tens of tons of cargo, moving slowly but with extremely strong controllability; rental price: 3 silver per day, deposit: 50 silver.】

【Nag horse: An ordinary horse unsuitable for war, besides pulling carts and carrying people it has no other use, good at short sprints, with no combat ability and low comfort; rental price: 1 silver per day, deposit: 10 silver.】

Spirit Beast Immortal Crane!

Dragon Horse!

Iron Refining Town truly lives up to being a transportation hub; it even has such mounts.

Unfortunately, the price is really too high, making Chen Shicheng, who has never been short of money since entering the game, feel poverty once again.

The deposit for those two high-end mounts often runs to hundreds of taels of gold; the system reward of five hundred gold still leaves him with over three hundred eighty taels, which he can still afford.

But according to his plan, after going to the mining area he does not intend to return for a short time.

After all, finding the legacy of the Immortal Family Hui Siye is not something lying on the road to be picked up upon arrival; it requires spending time to search.

Moreover, the mining area lies within the range of the main peak of Bu Xian Shan, not too far away; by then, whether or not he finds the Immortal Family legacy, he plans to join the fun when other players arrive.

If then he encounters something good but misses it because he has already paid the deposit, that would be like losing a watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.

In the end, Chen Shicheng could only give up the first two mounts, choose the third, and rent a giant draft ox with a shoulder height of over 2.2 meters.

Of course, it's not that he upgraded his consumption after having money and looked down on the cheapest nag horse; mainly he intends to accumulate enough experience on the road, hoping to reach level five with full experience upon arriving at Bu Xian Shan.

Therefore, the gentle-tempered, most stable for travel, and most comfortable giant draft ox became his first choice.

After paying the deposit and half a month's rent to obtain the use of a strong draft ox, Chen Shicheng lay on its broad back and left Iron Refining Town.

After leaving the town, following the direction of Bu Xian Shan, he let the ox head westward while he leisurely gazed at the sky.

La Tiao also seemed to regain vitality upon returning to the forest, constantly scrambling over the ox's head. This ox indeed matched the description: very gentle-tempered, it showed no impatience at La Tiao's jumping up and down, keeping its head low and steadily following the set route.

However, the person and beast being idle does not mean the Evil Ghost Pill has nothing to do.

After Chen Shicheng issued the order to clear all wild monsters on both sides of the road ahead, the Evil Ghost Pill drifted straight into the forest's two sides and began its escort duty.

At level 15, the Evil Ghost Pill on the forest's outer roads is basically a ceiling existence; no wild monster is a match for it in a single strike.

Upon detecting a wild monster, the Evil Ghost Pill immediately phases and flies to the side, then reveals its true form and swipes with a claw—no skill needed—and the monster instantly turns into a puddle of rotting flesh.

At the same time, the drowsy Chen Shicheng's ears kept hearing system prompts.

【Slain Lv. 1 Soulless Mountain Bandit, gained 0.0001 experience points, gained 2 copper coins.】

【Slain Lv. 0 wild wolf, gained 0.00001 experience points, gained 1 wolf pelt.】

【Slain Lv. 4 horse bandit, gained 1 experience point, gained 7 copper coins.】

【Slain Lv. 7 deadly poison spider, cross-level kill experience doubled, gained 12 experience points, gained 1 poison sac, gained 1 deadly poison spider silk.】

As the distance from the town increased, the density of wild monsters also increased, and their levels gradually rose.

However, high-level wild monsters are still extremely rare; one might not encounter a single one even after an hour or two; basically they are low-level small monsters, and occasionally one or two horse bandits of comparable level to him appear.

Nevertheless, even so, under the Evil Ghost Pill's monster-slaying efficiency like killing chickens, Chen Shicheng still reached level 5 upon arriving at the outskirts of Bu Xian Shan's main peak, and all his attributes increased.

【Name: Chen Shicheng】

【Level: Lv. 5 (Blood Refinement Realm)】

【Experience: 88/100】

【Cultivation: Sword Technique Body Refining Chapter (Perfected)】

【Essence: 11.3】

【Qi: 11】

【Spirit: 9.2】

【Equipment: Stealing Heaven Pendant (Unique)*1, Eye of Bai Ze*1, Evil Ghost Mask*1, Blood Killing Pearl*1, Tang Sword*1, Plain-colored Soaring Cloud Bat-pattern Vigorous Attire*1, Illusion Body Talisman*7, Reverence-God Incense*10, Soul-Attracting Incense*10, Divine Invocation Skill Jade Slip*1】

【Skills: Basic Sword Technique (Limit Breaking), Eight Steps to Chase Cicada (Perfected), Universal Rainfall (Mastery), Night Battle Eight Directions (Mastery), Wind Sweeping Away Remnant Clouds (Mastery)】

【Money: 387 gold 22 silver 15 copper】

【Lifespan: 25/120】

【Merit Points: 162】

Seeing his attributes fully surpass the upgrade threshold, Chen Shicheng wore a look of relief.

Upgrading? That's as easy as having hands; it's not as hard as Shuigu Tang said, needing elixir help—if you're unskilled, don't blame the game mechanics!

(End of Chapter)