Scholar Song, Do You Want a Woman?

"Have you been living here all along?"

Song Chengan turned to look back.

This was a desolate village, overgrown with weeds.

Most of the houses were nothing but broken walls and crumbling ruins. The only one in better condition was where First Boss Bai lived.

It was also where Song Chengan taught these monsters.

The buildings exposed amid the weeds were scorched black, as if a great fire had swept through them.

"No, I live in the mountains."

The Black Cat before Song Chengan said.

Among the monsters, it was Song Chengan's favorite, perhaps because it was the only domestic animal.

First Boss Bai and Second Boss Huang could of course also be considered domestic animals, but they had Shapeshifted—or were halfway through Shapeshifting. Compared to them, the Black Cat before him was rather more adorable.

First Boss Bai had told the Black Cat to see Song Chengan out.

"Only First Boss Bai and Second Boss Huang live in the village."

The Black Cat continued.

"Scholar Song, Scholar Song!"

"Do you want a woman?"

The ground shook.

Then a Black Bear came charging toward Song Chengan with a sack slung over his shoulder.

"What do you think, Scholar Song? Like her?" The Black Bear opened the sack.

Song Chengan stared wide-eyed at the woman inside the sack.

"This Old Bear knew you'd like her."

"Grey Squirrel said you wanted to leave this place. This Old Bear heard that and figured you must be wanting a woman."

"See? You don't want to leave now, do you?"

The Black Cat's eyes widened as well. "Bear, The Boss said no eating people and no bothering people! You went down the mountain to bother someone—I'm telling The Boss!"

The Black Bear's expression changed. "I didn't bother her! This person came willingly, insisted on following This Old Bear up the mountain."

"You human, hurry up and say it. Didn't you?"

"Y-yes... Great King, spare my life! This little woman will do whatever you ask!"

The woman nodded frantically in terror.

Song Chengan's mouth twitched.

If he were in this woman's place and saw a terrifying Black Bear standing nearly three meters tall, speaking human words, he would say he had come willingly too.

"Scholar Song, hehe, you're not leaving now, right?" The Black Bear leaned closer with a chuckle.

Song Chengan sighed helplessly. "I've already said farewell to Boss Bai. I'm leaving the mountain now."

The Black Bear's face fell when he heard that. "Isn't the mountain good?"

"There's honey to eat, rabbits to eat, and mountain fruit... Most importantly, you still haven't finished telling me what happened to that Black Bear Spirit in the end."

Heh. That last part was the crux of it, wasn't it?

"Did the Great Sage beat him to death with one swing of his staff?"

"The Great Sage's divine powers are vast. Surely he would not tolerate a Black Bear causing trouble."

Song Chengan smiled. "Old Bear, you needn't worry."

"Though I'm returning home, I promised First Boss Bai that I'd come to Mount Luo once every month to teach everyone."

Only then did the Black Bear Spirit reveal a hint of a smile. "That's wonderful."

Still, on the face of a three-meter-tall Black Bear, that smile looked frightening no matter how one looked at it.

Fortunately, Song Chengan was used to it by now.

"Then what do we do with this human woman?"

"I'll toss her into the woods."

The Black Bear spoke as he reached to pick the woman up.

Song Chengan hurriedly stopped him. "I happen to be heading down the mountain. Let her leave with me."

As he spoke, Song Chengan had the Black Bear set down the woman, whose face had turned deathly pale with fright.

This woman... had more nerve than he did. At least she had not fainted outright.

He had better stay farther away from this stupid bear in the future. What if one day the bear decided he liked some Immortal Sect's saintess or successor and went to snatch her up? Wouldn't Song Chengan be cursed with rotten luck?

"May I ask where you are from, miss, and what your name is?"

Song Chengan and the Black Cat walked down the path, with the still-shaken woman following behind them.

"G-Great King, I'm from Zhao Family Village."

"Oh, oh. My name is Zhao Yuan'er."

"Oh, oh."

"Miss Zhao, there's no need to be afraid. I'm not a monster."

"I was also an innocent person abducted here. Fortunately, these monsters are not utterly vicious and evil."

"I-I'm not... afraid." Zhao Yuan'er did not look like she believed him.

"That's good." Song Chengan looked at Miss Zhao's pale face.

Zhao Family Village?

It was some distance from Spirit Mound.

Spirit Mound was so vast that he would likely never encounter this person again.

That stupid bear.

Song Chengan cursed inwardly.

Miss Zhao had seen how familiar he was with these monsters. If she went home and exposed him—

Colluding with monsters was a serious crime.

If the Demon Suppression Division found out, Song Chengan would be in deep trouble.

"Follow me, or you'll get lost."

As Song Chengan pondered, the Black Cat spoke.

Song Chengan raised his head.

Before them was a dense forest, so thick that not even wind could pass through.

Looking closely, it seemed somewhat gloomy and sinister.

"This is..."

The moment Song Chengan followed the Black Cat into the dense forest—

He was startled.

Though it was only a single step away, the moment he stepped inside, it was as if he had entered another world.

All he could see was dense fog.

Visibility stretched no farther than a few meters.

It was truly strange beyond measure.

"Follow me, or even I won't be able to find you."

The Black Cat spoke.

Song Chengan did not dare let down his guard and hurriedly followed the Black Cat closely.

Miss Zhao was so frightened that she grabbed onto Song Chengan's sleeve.

After an unknown amount of time, the mist dispersed.

Song Chengan looked up. They had already arrived at the foot of Mount Luo.

People said the deep mountains outside Spirit Mound City were crawling with demons and monsters. He had once thought it an exaggeration, but now it seemed they had been conservative.

They were all monsters.

"I'm leaving."

Song Chengan turned back.

The Black Cat glanced at him, then turned and walked into Mount Luo, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

First Boss Bai's true form was a goose, Second Boss Huang's was a big yellow dog, and then there were the Black Cat, weasels, foxes, rats...

First Boss Bai and Second Boss Huang were likely the first to become monsters, and they had attained the Dao by teaching these other monsters.

First Boss Bai had the greatest talent.

A monster needed a stroke of fate to become a spirit.

Could there be some Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in that desolate village?

But even if there were, they had nothing to do with him.

He could not possibly seize them from First Boss Bai.

A monster that had Shapeshifted.

Just thinking about it made Song Chengan's scalp go numb.

"Miss Zhao, let's go."

"O-okay."

Once they left Mount Luo and the horde of demons and monsters was no longer at her side, Zhao Yuan'er was not quite so afraid.

"Stone Bridge Town is not far ahead."

"Here's some money. Miss Zhao can hire an ox cart to take herself home."

As he spoke, Song Chengan took several dozen copper coins from Tao Guan.

"Young Master Song... I can't take this!"

"Take it."

Song Chengan left no room for argument as he stuffed the coins into Zhao Yuan'er's hand.

Song Chengan hesitated briefly before speaking.

"Miss Zhao."

"In the Chen Kingdom, colluding with demons and monsters is a serious crime."

"You and I are both common folk. If people learn that we were abducted by monsters yet returned completely unharmed, the Government Office will surely come to question us."

"When that time comes, we won't be able to explain ourselves. After a round of severe torture, even if we did not collude with demons and monsters, they would make us into people who had."

"You must think of an excuse to muddle through it."

Zhao Yuan'er's face instantly turned pale.

Then she drew a deep breath. "I understand, Young Master Song!"

"Young Master Song, I've got it!"

Zhao Yuan'er racked her brains along the way and finally came up with a reason.

But when she turned around, Song Chengan was nowhere to be seen.

At some point, Song Chengan had long since slipped away with oil beneath his feet.

"This new Phantom Body is aging more slowly. Is it because my cultivation has extended my lifespan?"

Song Chengan looked at the Phantom Body condensing within the Ancient Mirror Space.

It was aging more slowly than the first Phantom Body.

"Probably. After all, in this era, living to sixty or seventy already counts as longevity. The Dao Seed Realm can live to one hundred and twenty."

"Should I condense another Phantom Body to cultivate the Summoning God Technique?"

Song Chengan acted as soon as he thought of it. In an instant, another Phantom Body condensed in the Ancient Mirror Space.

The moment that Phantom Body appeared, it formed hand seals and practiced the spell recorded in that Daoist scripture over and over.

Summoning God Technique!

Song Chengan's consciousness left the space within the Void Heaven Mirror.

"Song Chengan, where have you been these past few days?"

Song Chengan's household was located in an ordinary little courtyard in the east of Spirit Mound City.

He and his mother had once lived here together, but she had passed away seven years ago. Since then, Song Chengan had lived here alone.

His mother's face had grown somewhat blurry in his memory, and that made Song Chengan feel a little sad.

But it was only for a moment. His mother had died of old age and met a peaceful end.

As for his father, he had gone to collect grain many years ago and vanished. Song Chengan and his mother searched for him for many years, but the man had simply disappeared without a trace.

Later, they stopped searching. They assumed he had encountered evil people somewhere, set up an empty grave with his clothes, and left it at that.

Song Chengan's family had fled to Spirit Mound City as refugees, coming from Sanjiao Prefecture.

It was said that a once-in-a-century flood had struck Sanjiao Prefecture back then, turning several counties into a vast ocean.

Song Chengan's family must once have possessed a considerable fortune.

At the very least, when his parents fled to Lingqiu County, they bought dozens of mu of fertile fields, a grand three-courtyard residence, and opened Song's Restaurant in the city.

What a pity.

In the end, Song Chengan had gambled away all those properties.

Looking back now, someone had probably set him up.

Otherwise, how could an honest man like him have lost such a vast family fortune completely within only a few years?

"Song Chengan, I'm talking to you."

Song Chengan came back to his senses.

The one speaking was Brother Dan, the son of Uncle Zhou, his fisherman neighbor next door.

The little brat was biting a candied hawthorn skewer as he questioned him!

"I went out to play. Little brat, stop asking so many questions. Go play somewhere else."

As he spoke, Song Chengan snatched the candied hawthorn skewer from him and took a bite.

The little brat immediately burst into loud tears, and Song Chengan hurriedly used two fingers to pinch his upper and lower lips together.