"East Mountain? Trying to lure me over there?"
Li Yu glanced toward East Mountain, smiled, and turned back toward the little shop. "Even if I'm going, I should finish eating first!"
He had just taken a step when the system notification made him pause.
"Received resources submitted by the host of the 'Supreme Heavenly Book.' Store them in the Resource Library?"
"Huh? That kid Zhou Yi made some gains? Store everything in the Resource Library."
Opening the Resource Library, Li Yu saw several newly appeared demon beast corpses and some medicinal herbs. He smiled. "He's already started grinding monsters and leveling up. Looks like he'll grow quickly. Very good."
Li Yu nodded in satisfaction.
During this time, Zhou Yi's usefulness had not been particularly apparent, and Li Yu had gained little benefit from him. But Li Yu knew very well that this was a long-term investment.
Li Yu could only remain in this world for one year. Even if he looted everywhere he went, what he could obtain within a year would still be limited. Zhou Yi was different. As long as he kept growing and moving forward, he could provide a steady stream of resources.
The short-term returns might not have been obvious, but the prospects were certainly promising.
He turned and returned to the little shop.
As soon as he entered, Old Jiang asked Li Yu, "Benefactor, what happened?"
"Nothing. Someone was injured, so I just helped treat him."
Li Yu smiled as he sat down at the table. "Old sir, could you stop calling me benefactor? My name is Li Yu. Just call me by my name."
"How could that be..."
"Don't!"
Seeing that Old Jiang was about to persist, Li Yu hurriedly interrupted him. "Just call me Yu-ge'er. Everyone else does."
"Brother Yu."
Little Tingting called to Li Yu with a smile, picked up some food with her chopsticks, and held it out to him. "Brother Yu, have some food."
"Little Tingting is the best."
Li Yu accepted the food Little Tingting had picked up for him with his bowl, praised her with a smile, and patted her head. A faint, imperceptible glimmer sank into her body.
A little later, the three of them finished their meal.
"Old sir, I need to go out for a while. Don't open for business today. Close the door and stay home to look after Little Tingting."
Li Yu spoke to Old Jiang, moving a finger slightly. Another faint glimmer descended onto Old Jiang.
Rising and walking out of the shop, Li Yu glanced toward East Mountain. His escape light flashed, and he shot into the sky.
His escape light sped like wind and lightning. Moments later, Li Yu landed atop East Mountain.
"This is the place?"
Li Yu turned his head and looked around. It was merely an ordinary mountain peak, plain and unremarkable, with nothing unusual about it.
"What sort of show had the Li family arranged? Were they planning to ambush me here, swarm me when I arrived, and take me out?"
Li Yu smiled, casually brushed his hand over his waist, and lightly flicked the Soul-Shaking Bell there with his fingertip.
"Ding!"
A soft chime rang out, clear and pleasant, like a gently swaying wind chime.
Invisible ripples spread with the ringing, like unseen waves radiating outward in all directions.
This was a divine ability contained within the Soul-Shaking Bell, called Soul Shock.
The sound of Soul Shock stirred up the fears hidden deep in one's heart, making people tremble in terror and lose their souls to fright.
This divine ability targeted the mind. The more complicated one's thoughts, the stronger the Heart of Fear. Beasts that acted purely on instinct, however, were unaffected.
Li Yu used the sound of Soul Shock to see whether anyone was lying in ambush nearby.
"There really wasn't an ambush?"
The sound of Soul Shock swept through the surroundings, but there was no movement whatsoever. Li Yu found this somewhat surprising. "So they didn't use such a crude method? Looks like I underestimated the Li family."
"But... no matter how many tricks they had, they would be useless before me."
Li Yu smiled and took a few steps across the mountaintop. Then a thought occurred to him. Since there might be Source Ore here, why not look for it? He had nothing better to do anyway.
"System, scan the area and see whether there's any Source Ore nearby."
Since there might be Source Ore, spending some energy on a scan would be worthwhile. He might even make a profit.
"Micro Source Ore deposit detected."
There really was something. The system quickly displayed the location of the Source Ore in Li Yu's mind.
"There really is some!"
Li Yu smiled as he looked at the deposit shown in his mind. "It isn't much, but it should at least cover the cost."
This Source Ore deposit was very small, spread across an area less than five hundred meters in radius. It was also scattered in fragments, with only one patch roughly ten meters across containing a denser concentration.
Li Yu walked to the concentrated area, activated resource recovery, and waved his hand. The rocks, dirt, and vegetation aboveground, along with the buried Source Ore below, were continuously collected by the system into the Resource Library.
Moments later, a pit more than ten meters across appeared on the ground. Li Yu had stripped away the Source Ore along with the rocks and debris.
"I'll forget the scattered bits. There's too little of it. Not worth wasting time."
He stomped his foot, and immense force collapsed the ground. The pit that had just appeared was buried once more.
"Huh? That stomp even unearthed a piece of source? Interesting."
When he stomped down, a fist-sized amber crystal was exposed amid the collapsed earth.
"So this is source?"
Li Yu bent down and picked up the Source Stone. The amber crystal gleamed brilliantly, while a pure and vast power surged within it.
"As expected of a crystallization of Life Essence! Truly extraordinary!"
Li Yu held the Source Stone in his palm and inwardly marveled at the crystal, more dazzling and beautiful than any gemstone.
"Thief, how dare you!"
"Little thief, put down that Source Stone!"
"You bastard, how dare you secretly mine Source Stone?"
"Get him! Beat him to death!"
Furious shouts rang out behind him. Immediately afterward, streaks of spiritual light tore through the air as all kinds of weapons came smashing down at Li Yu.
"Hm? So overbearing? They wouldn't even let me say a word before rushing in to kill me?"
Li Yu turned around and saw several men flying through the air on escape light, their glowing weapons whistling down at him.
Li Yu frowned, irritation rising in his heart.
These people were the Li family's backup plan? They acted so tyrannically, refusing to give anyone a chance to speak and immediately attacking. How decisively murderous.
But... what good would that do them?
"You brought this upon yourselves!"
Li Yu snorted coldly and lightly flicked the Soul-Shaking Bell at his waist.
"Booong..."
This time, it was no longer the faint sound of a wind chime, but a tremendous peal of a bell.
The deep and resonant toll surged into the heavens, echoing across the land and shaking the nine skies.
A violent shockwave swept outward.
Flowers and grass shattered. Trees shattered. Rocks shattered. Everything standing before the soundwave was shaken to pieces.
That naturally included the few men who had just appeared.
"Worthless trash, yet they dared act so tyrannically. They truly didn't know the meaning of death."
Li Yu snorted and swept his sleeve. A gust of wind rolled forth, clearing away all the dust hanging before him.