A beam of faintly cold sunlight slipped through the half-collapsed roof and into the room, illuminating the dust-covered interior.
Broken tiles, snapped roof beams, and ruined tables and chairs came into Chen Mu's view one by one.
Looking out through the half-remaining door, he saw towering peaks on both sides and collapsed, shattered houses scattered throughout the vast valley. The ruined room beneath his feet was instead the most intact one.
Though he had expected this, Chen Mu still could not help sighing in disappointment.
This was already the fifth day since he had left Black Wind Gully.
Following the rough directions provided by Old Yang, the wizened old man, Chen Mu had investigated carefully and finally found this valley more than two hundred li east of Black Wind Gully.
The traces left behind showed that people had indeed once lived here in groups. It was most likely the mountain stronghold where Old Yang had lived several years ago.
But clearly, after being ravaged by a Calamity Demon, this place had been completely abandoned.
"I'd thought perhaps people might gather here again." Chen Mu sighed.
After carefully sweeping the area once more with the True Hearing Technique and confirming that there were no traces of Yinlings, he could only return in disappointment.
Half a month later.
On the eastern slope of Black Wind Gully.
By the eastern window outside the thatched wooden cabin, Chen Mu sat against the wall in a small bamboo chair, drinking tea.
Old Yang at the foot of the mountain had given him the tea leaves, saying they were wild mountain tea picked from the nearby mountains. The fragrance was faint, yet despite being steeped in hot water, the tea carried an icy chill on the tongue.
More than twenty days had passed, and a