Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)-Chapter 41: Setting Off

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Chapter 41: Setting Off

Lu Yang went to the stall selling shaobing again. The seller was a senior female disciple. She leavened the dough, let it rest, kneaded it, and tossed it until a shape formed. It was unknown how long she had taken to achieve this level of proficiency.

The female disciple broke the dough into smaller balls. With her hands, wrists, arms, and body, she exerted all her strength to roll the dough into the shape of a shaobing. Her movements seemed to secretly follow some principle. Rather than simply kneading dough, it was also a method for training the body’s coordination.

Then the senior female disciple placed the shaobing dough on the forging table and struck it vigorously with a huge hammer, producing deafening bangs and sparks that burned small holes in the ground. The unfinished shaobing was quenched and tempered, the cold water instantly boiling and bubbling up. Soon, a shaobing was ready.

Lu Yang felt that he had broadened his horizons. The Hundred Refinements Peak is really full of ideas—they integrated food and weapon crafting so seamlessly.

“I’ll have one shaobing.”

Lu Yang came across many interesting and wondrous things in the dining hall. The stuff here is really cheap. If not for my limited contribution points, I’d really want to buy everything.

~~~

Early the next morning, Lu Yang met up with the two at the entrance of the Dao-Seeking Sect as they had agreed.

“You’re the only one left.” Meng Jingzhou waved to Lu Yang. Behind him was a horse carriage, the same one that had taken them to the Dao-Seeking Sect. The old horse was also still the same old horse.

The only difference was that the third passenger had changed from Yun Zhi to Man Gu.

Man Gu was diligent in his studies, studying even while waiting. His wide scholarly robes covered his muscles, making him look the part of a tall and burly scholar.

“We don’t have to take the flying vessel?” Lu Yang had already braced himself to ride the flying vessel.

Although his Shrinking Earth To Inches was convenient, it was not as fast as the flying vessel. Thus, he decided to temporarily give up on learning Shrinking Earth To Inches and instead focus on Shrinking Earth and To Inches respectively.

Meng Jingzhou patted the horse carriage, pleased with himself. “This horse carriage of mine is a rare magical treasure. It contains a spatial array, so even though it may feel slow to us when we sit inside, people on the outside will see that it is traveling as fast as a flying vessel.”

That did make sense. The Meng Family was far away in the capital city. Since Meng Jingzhou had relied on a horse carriage to travel all the way to the Dao-Seeking Sect, if the old horse had trudged through the journey, even a year wouldn’t be enough for it to reach the Dao-Seeking Sect.

On its way to the Dao-Seeking Sect, the carriage had activated an array to speed up until it could fly. Only when it got near to the sect did it turn off the array and slow down as a sign of respect to the Dao-Seeking Sect. By the time Lu Yang saw the carriage, it had already slowed down.

The three of them boarded the carriage, yet the interior of the carriage was as spacious as ever. Only now did Lu Yang understand the true value of this carriage.

“Speaking of which, where are we going? What’s the mission?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you? We are going to a place called Qinghuai Commandery. I'll let Brother Man Gu tell you the specifics. After all, he was the one who found this mission.”

Man Gu inserted a bookmark and closed his book before proceeding to elaborate unhurriedly, “This was when I was out doing a mission. I heard it from a passenger on the flying vessel. He’s a traveling merchant leader and knows many things ordinary people don’t. He told me about a story circulating among them traveling merchants, and it has some credibility.

“Between Qinghuai Commandery and Yanjiang Commandery lies an enormous mountain range. If traveling merchants want to pass through this mountain range, they would need a local hunter as their guide. However, a terrifying entity has appeared in the mountain forests, forcing the hunters to leave the forest they rely on for survival...”

~~~

Night descended, and the wild-growing tree branches blocked out the moonlight. Thunder roared, and rain poured, turning the ground into a muddy swamp with no safe space for one’s feet. Seven to eight people were bound together through ropes tied around their waists, preventing someone from accidentally slipping down the mountain and getting lost.

The torrential rain drowned out the sounds of their surroundings. Even if someone fell and hollered at the top of their lungs, it would be hard to hear them. These people were clad in straw raincoats. They leaned on mountaineering sticks and carried wicker baskets, cautious with every step they took lest they tread into a deep pit. The bone-chilling rain had made them disheveled. Whenever they raised their head, the dense rain curtain would obstruct their view, so they could only follow the old hunter right in front.

“Watch your step, the mountain path is very slippery on rainy days!”

“Don’t stop even if you’re tired. Push through, we're almost there. If you stop now, it’ll be hard to get going again!”

“I... I really can’t...Save me! I’m falling!” Someone slipped, and without anything to hold onto for support, they slid toward the precipice beside the mountain path.

Sensing a tug from the other end of the rope, the traveling merchants realized that someone had fallen behind. They instantly halted and scrambled to pull the person back up.

“A’yue, hold on to the rope tightly. We’ll pull together!”

“I have no strength left.” A’yue dangled by the cliff, the coarse rope around his waist being the only thing preventing him from falling. He was tired and hungry, unable to muster any strength to even climb up the rope.

The old hunter was experienced, calmly directing the group while personally pulling A’yue up.

“You guys hug the big tree. Don’t let the seven of us also slide down.

“The rest of you, wind the rope around your wrist. On the count of three, everyone will pull together!”

“One, two, three, pull!”

“One, two, three, pull!”

After expending their strength, everyone finally pulled A’yue up. Everyone was originally exhausted, and now they couldn’t even stand firm.

The old hunter still hadn’t let down his guard. He nervously checked on A’yue’s condition. “A’yue, how did you slide down? Did you feel like someone pushed you?”

A’yue shook his head blankly, unsure why the old hunter had asked such a question. Of course, I had slipped on my own. Surely no one would try to harm me, right?

“Old Sun, what do you mean by that?” Qi Wu, the leader of the traveling merchants asked. He vaguely detected that something was amiss from the question.

The old hunter shook his head, pointing at the dilapidated temple ahead. “Let’s hurry along first. We’ll talk when we arrive at the Mountain God Temple.”

With the relentless downpour, it was indeed not the right environment for discussing matters. Qi Wu nodded and uttered a few words of encouragement, urging everyone to quickly seek shelter from the rain in the Mountain God Temple.

Once everyone arrived, they didn’t bother caring about appearances. Removing their straw raincoats, they plopped down on the ground panting. Then, they quickly checked their wicker baskets to see if anything had been damaged by the rain. If these baskets were ruined by the rain, their whole trip would have gone down the drain, and they would be totally unable to recover their losses.

“Phew, fortunately, we wrapped them with waterproof cloth beforehand. Big Brother Qi, I have to give it to you for having such foresight.”

The Mountain God Temple was not particularly grand, but it was spacious. Three old mountain god statues covered in dust stood in the center, their surroundings filled with dirt and feces. The memorial tablets written with the mountain gods’ names were missing, and the offerings had long been eaten by wild animals. Even the two main doors had disappeared, and the wrecked windows let the frigid wind in.

Everyone didn’t mind it much. For them, any shelter from the rain was a good place.

Qi Wu took out some goods from his wicker basket as offerings for the three mountain gods, thanking them for letting them use the temple for shelter. The three mountain gods were crudely sculpted from clay, but they could still be distinguished. The mountain god in the middle wielded a gentleman sword[1] with a righteous expression. The two mountain gods flanking him represented literature arts and martial arts. One donned a scholarly robe and held a book, demonstrating literature while the other exuded a pure upright aura, a symbol of the military. The statues were arranged according to their ranks.

“Mountain gods, please bless us to have a safe journey.” Qi Wu couldn’t shake off the feeling that the three mountain gods had much spirituality to them, almost as if they were alive.

1. This is what a “gentleman sword” may look like. ☜

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