Green Umbrella Mushrooms Were Really Great~

Walking down the road.

Ling Wuyuan recalled the warning from that man earlier.

Moving at the running speed of an ordinary person, Ling Wuyuan kept a blank expression as he silently mused to himself:

"Looks like I need to conceal the bow and longsword a little more..."

"For example, perhaps I should wrap up the mark on the sword hilt?"

"Or completely wrap up the short bow?"

Originally.

He had thought he was merely passing through and that no one would pay much attention to a newcomer like him.

So he had only given his equipment some simple treatment.

But the gang member guarding the gate had given him a lesson right away.

It was hard to say how strong the other party was.

But his eyesight was truly first-rate.

He had spotted the problem at a glance...

Thinking about all sorts of random things.

Ling Wuyuan drew closer and closer to the deep mountains and ancient forest.

Accordingly.

The road grew more and more rugged, while pedestrians became fewer and fewer.

Moreover, the already thick fog was steadily becoming denser.

Even with Ling Wuyuan's eyesight, he could only barely make out things within roughly a hundred meters.

If ordinary people came here, even carrying lanterns, they would probably only barely be able to see within ten or so meters around them.

Before long.

The road ahead of Ling Wuyuan vanished completely.

At that moment, he understood.

He was about to enter the mountains.

Looking ahead.

Although white fog filled the sky before him, he could vaguely see through the sea of mist to towering peaks in the distance. Each was hundreds or even thousands of meters high. Linked together, they looked like the spine of some prehistoric beast, inspiring instinctive dread...

[Fog Sea Forest] was one of the largest forests in Snow Deer Prefecture, even in all of White Mist Country. It was said to stretch thousands of li from north to south, spanning several prefectures.

Black Stone City and the surrounding region were all considered the borderlands of [Fog Sea Forest].

Precisely because of that.

The natural resources in these areas had always been fairly abundant.

All kinds of minerals could be easily mined, and all kinds of wild beasts could be hunted.

Of course.

The price was that one could easily encounter all manner of extremely dangerous demon beasts here.

Several centuries ago, there had even been an incident where a high-level demon beast had nearly massacred an entire city.

At present.

Although there did not seem to be any dangerous demon beasts officially recorded in the surrounding area, Ling Wuyuan still chose to fully arm himself, just to be safe.

For example, the longsword and short bow on him had been specially bought for today.

Although his original longsword had been forged from hundred-fold refined iron, it was ultimately only the most basic standard-issue weapon.

Against Ling Wuyuan, whose single arm could exert nearly three thousand jin of force, it was truly a little inadequate.

At best, it could barely be used.

If paired with his innate ability, Ling Wuyuan sometimes even had to worry about casually swinging the longsword hard enough to snap it...

Therefore.

With the thought that a good weapon could be used for longer, Ling Wuyuan had spent heavily on three fairly decent quality weapons: a longsword, a dagger, and a short bow. He had also bought some relatively good special arrows.

"Let me think, it should be this way..."

After carefully observing the terrain for a while.

Ling Wuyuan successfully found a patch of terrain specially marked by the White Crow Gang.

According to the records, it was an area of low-to-moderate danger with relatively abundant resources. Although one might encounter carnivorous beasts, they posed no real danger to Body Tempering Realm cultivators. Even experienced professional hunters could come here to make a little extra money.

More than half an hour later.

Ling Wuyuan was crouched on the branch of a tree roughly thirty meters tall, carefully using the dagger he carried to cut a kind of wild mushroom with a pale green exterior.

At this moment.

Though the place he was in sounded quite high up.

It was not particularly conspicuous in reality.

After all, this ancient forest was filled with trees of such height.

There were even many, many colossal trees around him that reached a hundred meters high.

"Green Umbrella Mushroom, non-toxic, delicious, usable in medicine and cooking. It often grows on the surfaces of various trees. Its fragrance easily attracts venomous snakes to linger nearby..."

After recalling some information he had read in books, he began to recall its price.

"Let me think. This stuff seemed to sell for three silver coins per jin in Black Stone City. The canteen at the White Crow Gang's base has a standing purchase price of two silver coins and thirty copper coins per jin. There's probably more than half a jin here... Mm, that should cover two days of food expenses..."

Ling Wuyuan had no objection to the White Crow Gang's relatively low purchase price.

That was simply determined by location.

The White Crow Gang was closer to the forest than Black Stone City. As the place of origin, prices were naturally cheaper.

Besides.

The gang was full of cultivators, so gathering this sort of thing was not very difficult.

With all those factors combined, the purchase price was naturally relatively low.

Over the past half hour.

Thanks to his excellent vision and perception.

Aside from the mushrooms before him, he had made some other gains as well, with a total value of around four silver coins.

Putting aside everything else.

The fact that it was enough to cover several days of food expenses alone already made him feel the trip had been worthwhile.

In fact, if his appetite had not been so enormous—one person eating as much as at least ten—then an ordinary hunter who earned several silver coins like this could have turned around and headed home right now.

They could lie back for a month or so with both meat and vegetables, no problem at all.

For a moment.

Thinking about his food expenses.

Ling Wuyuan felt a sincere ache in his balls.

A life of working hard and staying busy just to eat and drink was truly helpless.

At the same time.

The dagger harvesting mushrooms in his hand completed its entire acceleration in the blink of an eye, pinning a dark green venomous snake that was crawling downward to the branch directly above Ling Wuyuan's head with lightning speed.

Looking up.

Although the snake's skull had been completely pierced through.

The sharp blade had nailed its head firmly to the branch, but the Green-striped Viper's Life Force was no small matter. Even now, its slender body, roughly 1.8 meters long, was still thrashing desperately.

But no matter how its body writhed, it was all futile.

Death had already become fact.

After observing its scales and body for a while, a string of information surfaced in Ling Wuyuan's mind.

"Green-striped Viper. Highly venomous, extremely fast-moving, and highly aggressive. Once an ordinary adult is bitten, they rarely survive even with prompt treatment. Adult Form specimens are approximately 1.4 to 2 meters long. Their venom can be made into lethal poison or medicinal remedies. Their skin is waterproof and sunproof, suitable for making ornaments, clothing, and backpacks. Snake meat and snake blood are excellent for replenishing blood and strengthening the kidneys. Long-term consumption of fresh snake gallbladders and snake brain can brighten the eyes and improve the consumer's eyesight..."

"Conclusion: This thing is best eaten on the spot. The fresher the ingredients, the better!"

Recalling this information.

Ling Wuyuan immediately understood that studying really was extremely useful.

At the very least, it let people know what things were worth and what they could be used for.

Being a civilized person was really nice~

Then.

He moved beneath the Green-striped Viper, opened his mouth, and caught the fresh blood flowing from its head down along the dagger.

"Mm..."

"It tastes a little fishy..."

As for whether it might contain snake venom?

Ling Wuyuan did not care.

As long as there were no wounds in one's mouth when consuming snake venom, snake venom was merely protein.

Besides, even if he were actually poisoned, it did not matter.

With his Physical Fitness, this little bit of snake venom could not kill him at all.

If three to five Green-striped Vipers injected all their venom into his bloodstream at once, that might be enough to poison him to death.

Only after the Green-striped Viper's body stopped moving did Ling Wuyuan take it down, crack open its skull and suck out the still-steaming brain matter. Then he cut open its neck and drank the blood that still retained some warmth. Finally, he removed and swallowed its gallbladder. As for the remaining snake body, he tossed it into the basket on his back. The venom and skin were worth some money, while the meat and bones could be brought back to make soup.

Mm~

Green Umbrella Mushrooms were really great~

They not only provided mushrooms, but venomous snakes too. Now he truly had both meat and vegetables~