Chapter 79: The Friend Who Keeps Dying

On the official road from Maple Forest Town to Tilan Mountain, Fang Xu carried a large wineskin, watching the martial artists coming and going in groups of three or five heading into the mountains, and he also quietly followed them.

On the outskirts of Tilan Mountain, Fang Xu did not follow them deeper in.

After leaving the crowd, he then began searching nearby for some low-level feral beasts to hunt and practice on.

By noon, having hunted two feral beasts, Fang Xu built a pile of fire, skewered a piece of low-level feral beast's blood food on the fire to roast, and meanwhile drank some liquor and ate the roasted meat by himself.

Not far away, a rustling sound came; Fang Xu glanced over and saw three martial artists of different builds walking slowly up from the mountain base.

"Kid, how far is it from here to the ruins of Tilan Mountain?"

The three approached Fang Xu; one of them, a middle-aged man wielding a nine-ringed broadsword and brimming with vigorous qi and blood, shouted at Fang Xu.

"It's still far; we've only covered one-third of the way so far." Fang Xu replied.

"One-third?" the middle-aged martial artist heard, somewhat irritated, and said: "Damn, I thought we were almost there."

"Kid, are you drinking Maple Forest Town's maple-leaf brew?" the middle-aged martial artist complained, then suddenly caught a strong wine aroma, his eyes lit up, and he stepped forward to ask.

Fang Xu swallowed the liquor in his mouth, lifted his wineskin slightly, and said: "This one?"

"It's not maple-leaf brew; it's coarse liquor I brewed myself. Big brother, if you don't mind, have a taste?"

Hearing that, the middle-aged martial artist's expression shifted slightly; he swallowed silently, about to step forward, but was held back by his companion.

"Maple Forest Town is a mix of dragons and snakes; be careful."

Hearing that, Fang Xu gave a self‑directed smile, said nothing more, and simply tilted his head back to take a few more gulps of liquor.

Seeing Fang Xu drinking happily, the middle-aged martial artist could no longer hold back and immediately told his companion: "This kid looks like a hunter from the town below; rushing on the road, one needs to eat well and drink well to keep going."

Saying that, he ignored his two companions, walked straight up to Fang Xu, and with a grin said: "Kid, let me have a taste of your liquor?"

Fang Xu generously handed over his wineskin.

The middle-aged martial artist took the wineskin, gulped down a few mouthfuls with a glug‑glug sound, and a hint of intoxication appeared on his face: "Good liquor!"

After swallowing the liquor in his mouth, he then tore off a large piece of the roasted meat from the fire and ate it voraciously.

Behind him, the other two saw that he seemed fine, and having been rushing along, they were indeed a bit thirsty, so they also gathered around.

"Have a taste; this kid's brew is not bad."

"Once I get out of the ruins and strike it rich…"

"Kid, you gotta sell me a few jars!"

Fang Xu smiled and nodded: "Meeting is fate; giving big brother a few jars is no problem."

"Haha…" the middle-aged martial artist burst out laughing after hearing that, obviously pleased with Fang Xu's sensibility.

The three took turns drinking from the wineskin and eating the roasted meat over the fire.

Fang Xu, meanwhile, covertly glanced at the friend list deep in his sea of consciousness.

Friend Five: Yellow Prefecture Zhang Debiao (15%).

Friend Six: Yellow Prefecture Pang Jiang (15%).

Friend Seven: Yellow Prefecture Liang Sha (15%).

The life values after their names are all 15%, and just while they were drinking, their life values each dropped by another 3%.

Fang Xu observed all this in silence, saying nothing.

The wineskin passed back and forth among the three, as if they had completely forgotten Fang Xu, its owner.

When the middle-aged martial artist wielding the nine-ringed broadsword again lifted the wineskin to drink, he found it empty, and with a hint of boredom tossed it aside, looking at Fang Xu and saying: "Kid, any more liquor?"

Fang Xu gave a wry smile: "It's gone; I'm just a hunter heading into the mountains, I brought some liquor only to quench my thirst—I didn't expect you big brothers to drink so much…"

The middle-aged martial artist glanced at Fang Xu's side; besides the two dead feral beasts, there really seemed to be no liquor left, so he rose resentfully, belched, and said: "Two brothers, let's go!"

The other two stood up; one of them seemed to think Fang Xu's roasted meat was decent, didn't mind the heat, and reached out to tear off a large piece.

The other looked at the remaining roasted meat, hesitated a moment, then simply took it all.

"Big brother, leave some for me!"

Fang Xu shouted from behind, but the three ahead didn't turn back at all.

Watching the three's silhouettes gradually vanish into the dense forest, Fang Xu's mouth corners twitched upward slightly.

Seven so far, still need three more…

He slowly rose, jumped onto a nearby large tree, took down another wineskin full of liquor from the tree, then cut a large chunk of meat from the feral beast carcass behind him and put it on the fire to roast.

The strong liquor aroma mixed with the faint scent of roasted meat drifted through the woods, soon attracting a five‑person squad.

These five had an even worse attitude than the previous three; after tasting Fang Xu's fine liquor, they outright seized both his liquor and meat, and almost moved to kill him.

Watching the five's retreating backs, Fang Xu became aware, arrived deep in his sea of consciousness, and saw three friends gradually appear on the panel, a smile forming on his face.

"Goal achieved, heading home!"

With the friend list full, he immediately extinguished the fire before him, then dragged the two feral beast carcasses back to Maple Forest Town.

Late at night, as Fang Xu was cultivating, a virtual light curtain suddenly popped up before him.

"【Your friend Zhang Debiao has died; as a friend, you may randomly inherit any one of his three legacies.】"

Before Fang Xu could even see what Zhang Debiao's three legacies were, two more light curtains popped up.

"【Your friend Liang Sha has died; as a friend, you may randomly inherit any one of his three legacies.】"

"【Your friend Pang Jiang has died; as a friend, you may randomly inherit any one of his three legacies.】"

"Not bad, the three indeed died together."

Fang Xu had thought their life values were 15% and they'd need a few days to die, but he hadn't expected those three fellows to be somewhat unlucky—they died before even a day had passed.

He didn't even bother to examine the specifics of their legacies; Fang Xu simply selected to inherit all of them.

What he needs now is mental attribute to boost his comprehension; other attributes would also be fine if available.

The people in the friend list have died in several waves already, yet he has never once seen mental or agility attributes; that's why he came up with the daytime method.

He set up arrangements on the path martial artists take into the mountains, so his friend list would constantly remain full.

This way, as soon as a friend dies, I will first inherit this legacy, regardless of other things.

After the three died, Fang Xu glanced again at the life values after the names of Mu Xuan and three others, and Li Xun.

These four guys are really tenacious; they're still alive and still occupying my four friend slots—I can't delete them even if I want to.

Zhang Debiao's three people's inheritance has been confirmed: one has 45 points in Life attribute, one has 50 points in Strength attribute, and another is a property in Qinghe County town, but this inheritance is high-risk.

The system prompted that Zhang Debiao still has a father whose martial cultivation has reached Martial Master Seventh Realm; therefore, this inheritance can only be abandoned.

Without bothering with the three people's inheritance, Fang Xu continued cultivating.

As dawn approached, the virtual panel popped up again, and the other three in the friend list also died.

The three people's inheritance likewise lacked the Spirit and Agility attributes that Fang Xu wanted.

Regardless of other things, Fang Xu got off the bed, saw the six vacant friend slots, and immediately grabbed three wineskins, left Hall of Distant Aspirations, and headed up the mountain.

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The previous chapter has been reviewed, revised and re-released; after release there may be duplicates, so please skip them yourselves.

(End of chapter)