Chapter 347: The Mysterious Figure

Several small beasts ran out of the bamboo basket.

Their bodies were covered in abscesses, afflicted with various illnesses.

The pain made them wildly agitated; as soon as they were released, they scattered in all directions.

There was also a small snake, its head scales fallen off, cracked into bloody fissures.

It lunged suddenly and vanished into a hole in Pig Scream Rock.

The four men withdrew swiftly.

The three on the tree stared in confusion: Where had these people come from?

Villages in the mountains had secret ways to communicate with one another.

Even old mountain runners with grudges between them would stand united against “outsiders.”

If an outsider lived in a village and acted suspiciously, the mountain runners would always find a way to warn each other.

So these four men appeared as if out of thin air.

And the diseased beasts they released had vanished completely.

Xu Yuan couldn’t help thinking of the “Ju Crow.”

Gao Guanzi and Bai Laoyan wanted to follow them, but everything depended on Master Xu’s decision, so they stared hopefully at Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan considered for a moment and whispered, “Follow them.”

The two immediately slid down from the tree, relying on Gao Guanzi’s two ears to trail the four men from afar.

Even without Gao Guanzi, Xu Yuan could see the lifelines of the four men.

All four were Eighth Stream.

And all were Wu Xiu.

Their strength was considerable, but their attire and behavior suggested only a group of laborers.

It naturally raised the question: what manner of person could be their master?

After following them for seven or eight li, they crossed a mountain ridge, and the four ahead stopped.

Xu Yuan and the other two crept forward slowly.

On a sloping hillside, Xu Yuan saw two tents.

The four men slipped into one of the tents.

Gao Guanzi raised his ears and whispered, “They’re reporting to someone that the task is done.”

Then the four emerged and entered the other tent.

Gao Guanzi added, “There are seven people total.”

Two men emerged from the first tent; outside it hung a wild deer they had hunted.

They lit a fire, cut off pieces of venison, and began roasting them.

Night was falling; it was time for dinner.

The wild beasts in this mountain, affected by yin energy, all bore some strangeness.

Suddenly, several insects crawled out from within the deer’s body.

They rapidly grew wings and long, slender mouthparts, then lunged at the two men.

The man tending the fire was a Dan Xiu; he remained calm, drew forth fire, split it into several flames, each wrapping one of the strange insects, and in an instant burned them to ash.

Xu Yuan’s eyes brightened.

This Dan Xiu was a Seventh Stream.

But his control over fire was exquisitely refined.

And it followed an entirely different path from my “Five Cauldrons Cooking.”

Most Dan Xiu, including myself, manipulate “fire” from their dantian.

But this Dan Xiu first used his dantian fire to ignite the wood on the ground.

Then the flames that consumed the insects were drawn from the firepit itself.

Meaning this man can control ordinary fire.

He likely needs his dantian fire as a spark to ignite it.

But even so, it’s an original path.

Xu Yuan, seeing a rare treasure, felt eager for a chance to exchange insights on this technique.

The other man clearly trusted his companion completely.

As the strange insects flew out, he remained unaffected, still focused on curing the venison.

Bai Laoyan frowned and whispered, “I may be mistaken, but beneath us lie two great evils—and these people can coexist with evils?”

Gao Guanzi froze: “Evils? Where are the evils?”

Xu Yuan’s mind shifted instantly—he smiled: “It’s the two tents.”

He elaborated: “These people ventured deep into Ghost Witch Mountain and don’t need to borrow lodging in villages because of these two tents.”

“To the evils, these two tents appear as two fairly powerful evils.”

The principle is the same as my clay mask—both can disguise as evils.

Gao Guanzi fell silent immediately.

Say more, and Bai Laoyan’s secrets would be exposed.

Xu Yuan didn’t care.

From the moment he first met Bai Laoyan, he’d sensed something odd about his eyes.

If the tents appeared as evils to the evils—why did Bai Laoyan see them as evils too?

And Gao Guanzi’s ears—no normal human grows ears like those.

More broadly, every villager in Wangxiang Village carried some strangeness.

The villagers and mountain runners of this mountain have lived here for generations; their bodies have inevitably been altered.

Just like the wild beasts in this mountain.

Xu Yuan watched a while longer, focusing mostly on the Dan Xiu.

As he roasted the venison, the Dan Xiu manipulated the flame like a brush, sweeping it repeatedly across the meat’s surface.

Xu Yuan nodded repeatedly, deeply approving of this “fire control.”

When the meat was done, they called the others out to eat.

Their leader appeared.

He was a Sixth Stream Fa Xiu; Xu Yuan couldn’t tell what kind of Fa he cultivated.

He carried himself with an air of nobility, clearly long accustomed to command.

Xu Yuan gestured to the two old mountain runners, and they quietly withdrew together.

“We need to find a place to spend the night.”

Bai Laoyan and Gao Guanzi exchanged glances; finally Bai Laoyan said, “We can only go to the Divine Mother’s Niche.”

This place is near Guanghuo Street.

Even mountain runners rarely come here, so no shelters have been built nearby.

Even if we built one temporarily… the evils here are too powerful; a shelter wouldn’t be safe.

The two old mountain runners led Xu Yuan to a towering cliff.

Bai Laoyan unfastened a rope from his waist, found the right spot, lowered the rope, and gripped it as he told Gao Guanzi, “You go down first.”

“Alright.”

Gao Guanzi slid down the rope.

Xu Yuan stood at the cliff’s edge, leaning forward to watch Gao Guanzi.

Gao Guanzi descended about ten zhang, where a small stone niche lay.

No one knew when it had been carved.

There was no path up or down.

Gao Guanzi crawled inside, then stuck his head out a moment later and tugged the rope, calling up to the cliff: “It’s habitable. Come down.”

Bai Laoyan tied the rope to a nearby large rock and descended first.

Xu Yuan manipulated the Fire Wheel and followed, flying down.

The stone niche was extremely narrow—originally meant for one person alone.

All three entering made it cramped.

Bai Laoyan said, “Master, we’ll have to make do for one night.”

He told Xu Yuan its history: “Decades ago, near Pig Scream Rock, there was a village called Qidou Village…”

The village’s old mountain runner possessed the greatest skill of all mountain runners.

He carved out several such stone niches.

But eventually, the village suffered disaster—overnight, everyone, including the old mountain runner, vanished without a trace.

Where the village once stood, only a massive claw print remained!

…As if the entire village had been snatched clean off the earth by some unknown giant monster!

Bai Laoyan pointed in a direction: “About twenty li that way. Now, that claw print has filled with rainwater and springs, becoming a small lake.”

Gao Guanzi added to Xu Yuan: “You can spend the night here, but there’s one problem—tonight, the ‘Ancient Thread Mother’ might come to measure your length.”

(End of Chapter)