Tier 3

At the foot of Little East Mountain lay the Settlement.

Chen Mu's residence.

Before the Wooden Cabin was a wooden platform half a meter above the ground and two meters wide.

The eaves above had been extended outward like the brim of a hat, serving as the roof of the corridor in front of the house.

At that moment, a Square Table stood in the corridor.

Two lanterns hung overhead, while flames flickered in the firepit not far away. The area before the Square Table was brightly lit.

"We leave on the twenty-first. Make preparations early," Jie Jia said calmly as he slowly set down his chopsticks.

Half a month left?

That was enough time to prepare supplies.

Chen Mu nodded.

"Do you need me to hire a carriage?"

"No." Jie Jia shook his head. "I'll arrange it."

Chen Mu immediately shot him a suspicious sideways glance. "You're not going to charge extra for the carriage, are you?"

Jie Jia glanced at Chen Mu and calmly nodded.

Chen Mu stared at Jie Jia, utterly speechless.

He actually admitted it?!

Were his tricks really this blatant?

Jie Jia calmly pulled out a piece of white silk cloth to wipe his mouth, then casually tossed it into the nearby firepit.

Chen Mu's mouth twitched.

To make money, Jie Jia was frugal in every possible way. Yet when it came to personal hygiene, he was never stingy.

Chen Mu would bet that piece of white silk had been used no more than twice! It might even have been disposable!

"The journey is long. Bring plenty of food," Jie Jia emphasized the words "plenty of food."

Chen Mu rolled his eyes. "Including yours, right?"

Jie Jia looked entirely justified.

Chen Mu realized that the Proficiency Cheat was not all good.

His Culinary skill had indeed risen quickly, but he could not shake off this freeloader who kept mooching meals.

"Don't worry. I may not have much else, but I have more than enough Fasting Pills!" Chen Mu declared with a grand wave of his hand.

Jie Jia stared at Chen Mu expressionlessly.

"Rice balls, rice balls! Meat floss rice balls, all right?!" Chen Mu snapped.

It was just a name. Did he have to mock it endlessly? As long as it tasted good and filled the stomach, wasn't that enough?

Early the next morning, after breakfast,

Chen Mu put on Yang Zhi's disguise as usual.

With a small bamboo basket as high as his knee on his back, he followed the familiar road toward the Bailang River.

The Settlement market was as lively as ever. Old Liu Tou was already hawking Great Strength Pills early in the morning.

And people were actually buying those flour balls.

Chen Mu nodded in greeting, then walked straight through Market Street. Following the laborers preparing to head into the mountains, he left the Settlement.

"Which unlucky bastard got his guts ripped out by wolves today?" one laborer quietly asked.

"Didn't hear anything." His companion shook his head in confusion. "Did those Yamen Runners really go clear out the wolves?"

"Only if the sun rises in the west!" another companion snorted coldly.

"Keep your voice down. Don't go looking for trouble," someone warned.

"Don't count on them. Try not to go out at night, and be careful yourselves."

The laborers could not help nodding.

Chen Mu silently gathered gossip from the Settlement.

But he did not hear the news he wanted.

At the western foot of Little East Mountain, he parted ways with the laborers and soon arrived at last night's stone bridge.

Chen Mu walked onto the bridge with a natural expression, showing no sign of anything unusual.

He casually surveyed the scenery along both banks of the Bailang River.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted two patches of dark blood on the ground.

The Burly Man's corpse had already vanished, and Lu Jin was nowhere to be seen.

Who had taken them away?

Had Lu Jin been rescued?

Would the County Office investigate?

Chen Mu's steps remained steady, though thoughts churned in his mind.

One was dead, and the other's fate was unknown.

One was a ruthless bandit who had exterminated an entire family. The other was a County Office constable.

This should have been a major incident that shook the county town, yet the nearby Settlement had not heard even the slightest rumor.

By the Bailang River, in a calm bend of water.

Chen Mu sat atop a rock on the bank.

Thinking of last night's sudden incident, he shook his head after a moment. "There's no use overthinking it. Better grind Proficiency."

The Gray Wall rose before him.

Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation: 9397/10000/Second Tier;

Compared to the turtle-like pace of the Body Tempering Technique, the Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation was advancing at breakneck speed.

He quickly recited the incantation.

Black Smoke appeared in midair.

A fist-sized lump of Drunken Bait appeared out of nowhere, then splashed into the water and dispersed from sight.

Chen Mu repeatedly used Five Ghosts Moving Mountains to move the bait.

Every two or three meters, he tossed a lump into the river, allowing the Drunken Bait to spread before ignoring it.

He found a large white rock by the river and sat down.

Closing his eyes slightly, Black Smoke began flickering in and out of existence around him.

At noon, Chen Mu stopped practicing and took out Rice Ball Fasting Pills.

After many improvements, the rice balls were not only delicious but also rich in nutrients and extremely high in calories.

For an ordinary person, one was enough to replace a meal.

Chen Mu's Body Tempering Technique consumed enormous amounts of energy. Yet after swallowing five, he no longer felt hungry.

Full and satisfied, Chen Mu habitually looked toward the Gray Wall.

Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation: 9722/10000/Second Tier;

"Push a little harder, and I'll grind the Five Ghosts Incantation to Tier 3 today."

He fed the fish floating all over the water's surface to the Five Ghosts Bag.

Without resting, Chen Mu immediately resumed grinding Proficiency.

By evening.

Chen Mu came back to himself with a pale face.

With a thought, he spat out a complex incantation in one breath.

Whoosh!

Black Smoke spread out, and two lifelike paper figures the size of palms appeared out of nowhere.

They were covered in blood-red patterns, and each bore a large black character on its back: one "Winter," one "Spring."

Chen Mu let out a long breath and curiously examined the Spring Paper Man.

It was slimmer than the first Paper Man, with more delicate features as well.

Chen Mu controlled the two Paper Men to float beneath a head-sized rock.

Four hands and two heads pressed against the rock together.

"Up!"

The Little Paper Men's legs trembled like sieves, their little faces twisted in strain, yet the rock did not budge in the slightest.

Chen Mu: "..." I was overthinking it. I was overthinking it.

Even with two Yin Soul Paper Figures, they could not escape being useless Paper Men.

Chen Mu had been misled by Daoist Qianshan.

The Paper Men under his control could block Iron Lotus Seeds and contend against the Sleeve Sword.

As soon as the Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation showed some progress, Chen Mu had wanted to try it out.

Yet they were still useless trash. They would struggle even to lift a sheet of toilet paper!

"Without using medicine men for refinement, Paper Men are just Paper Men."

Raise medicine men, sacrifice Yinhun.

This was a secret refinement method recorded at the end of the Thousand Mountains Scripture.

It described using human lives to enhance the power of magical artifacts.

Chen Mu had given it two looks before decisively abandoning it. With the Proficiency Cheat, he did not need to worry about increasing his strength.

He might as well avoid such a quick-fix secret method with endless hidden consequences!

Casting the evil method from his mind, Chen Mu continued studying the Tier 3 Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation.

With a thought, the Paper Men turned into Black Smoke and vanished.

Patter, patter!

A fish appeared out of nowhere five meters away, flopping wildly on the ground.

"Good!" Chen Mu was thrilled. "The placement range of Spirit-Disturbing Smoke has increased by another meter."

Poisoning someone from five meters away greatly increased his margin of safety!

With another thought,

another fish appeared five meters in front of him, while a Fasting Pill appeared five meters behind him.

"Because there are two Paper Men, I can take out two different things in two directions at once." Chen Mu pondered.

Using Yin Soul Paper Figures felt like gaining invisible hands.

One more Paper Man meant one more hand.

"Deploying Spirit-Disturbing Smoke is even more flexible now."

Simply put, he could poison enemies in two directions at the same time.

"The time to recite the incantation has been shortened to a single breath."

"The placement range has increased to five meters."

"Simultaneous placement in two directions."

Together, these three improvements meant that the Tier 3 Five Ghosts Moving Mountains Incantation, when paired with Spirit-Disturbing Smoke, was no longer merely a tool for sneak attacks.

Even in a frontal battle, it possessed considerable power.

"What a haul. Time to head home!"

Chen Mu waved his hand, and all the fish on the river's surface vanished.

He slung the bamboo basket onto his back and quickly disappeared from the riverbank.