Thinking About the Road Ahead: Spirit Monsters in the Mountains

After leaving Elder Song's pharmacy, Yang Ning walked home carrying the two bundles of medicine he had been given. His hands felt heavy, and his heart was not the least bit lighter.

Elder Song's purpose in offering help in the snow was indeed worth questioning. Where in the world was there such a thing as a free meal?

Elder Song looked kind and benevolent, and his words were full of appreciation and support.

But having lived two lives, Yang Ning knew all too well that debts of favor were the hardest to repay.

He had accepted these medicines today. If the other party asked something of him someday, how was he supposed to refuse?

"But someday is someday. It isn't now.

Right now, I'm just a poor boy with nothing to my name. These exchanges of favors mean nothing to me at the moment. I'm the one getting the benefits."

He did not let those worries linger in his mind for long, instead looking at things from a more optimistic angle. At that thought, a faint smile appeared on his face.

Returning to the training room he had rented, Yang Ning carefully put away the medicine bundles, then sat cross-legged on a cushion and closed his eyes in thought.

The joy of breaking through the Body Tempering Realm and the ease brought by receiving an investment in medicine had long since settled. In their place came cautious consideration of the road ahead.

His "investor" had been right about one thing. Now that he had achieved something in martial arts, it was time to consider his future.

With the Destiny System at his side, cultivation posed no obstacle. His strength was naturally his greatest reliance.

But martial cultivation and the improvement of one's strength had never been as simple as shutting oneself away to train bitterly.

Resources, knowledge, real combat, influence...

Not one of these could be lacking.

Now that his blood and qi had undergone one transformation, he could be considered to have stepped through the gates of martial arts. Within the Outer City, he could go anywhere.

But where to go was a matter of great importance.

The Outer City was a hodgepodge of every sort of person, filled with gangs and associations. They all lived by their fists—what family did not need martial artists?

Yet the places that could truly be called good places, decent places, were exceedingly few.

Yang Ning did not think his moral standards had risen particularly high since being reborn into this world—

Otherwise, he would not have killed those two bandits without even blinking and dumped their bodies in a dark alley.

Yet there was still a bottom line in his heart. It had come from his previous life, a bottom line that might seem laughably absurd to most people in this world.

But Yang Ning knew the mixed bag of gangs and trades in the Outer City. Their sources of profit, line after line, trampled ruthlessly over that bottom line in his heart.

On the surface, they appeared to conduct legitimate business, but behind the scenes there were brothels, gambling dens, boy concubines, opium, mutilation and organ harvesting...

Those were the industries the gangs truly relied upon to survive. Every one of them sucked the marrow from people's bones, turning how many peaceful, happy families into broken homes where wives and children were scattered and families were destroyed overnight.

And once one entered those gangs, it was no different from jumping into a vast dye vat.

From then on, one's fate was no longer one's own. Today you killed me, tomorrow I killed you; hatred spread like creeping weeds, and there would never be a peaceful day.

Even if one joined a legitimate trade or organization, some accidents could not be avoided.

His older brother Yang An had struggled in the outer hall of Hundred Herb Hall for eight years, suffering every humiliation, all for the chance at a relatively stable path of advancement.

But even so, a single casual remark from Fei Yan could return everything to square one. The infighting within an organization was no gentler than what lay outside.

Still, Yang Ning had spent these years hauling carts everywhere as a porter, and he had seen more and more.

To be honest, compared with certain places, Hundred Herb Hall was already a relatively "proper" upright force. At the very least, it still cared about basic appearances.

His older brother was now raising money so that he could join it as well. That was a kind of simple wisdom.

"Perhaps Uncle Song's words were not without reason."

Yang Ning opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the darkening sky beyond the window.

"If I haven't yet decided to devote myself to any particular group, or found a place truly worth entrusting myself to...

The Martial Arena...

May really be a place to tide me over."

He slowly rose and began pacing around the cramped room. After weighing the matter, he stopped firmly in place.

"But I can't simply believe one side of the story. I still need to investigate it carefully before I can know the truth."

In the blink of an eye, half a month flowed away like water.

A dusty figure carrying a medicine basket appeared outside the Yang Family home.

Yang An wiped away the sweat that had streamed down his forehead from hurrying along the road. Feeling the pain from the wound on his right leg, he let out a breath of hot air.

"I'm finally home."

Looking at the curling smoke rising from his home's roof, he pushed open the door and entered, only to see his wife and child busy in the kitchen.

His wife, Liu Ying, looked up and brightened with joy, only to immediately notice the bloodstains on Yang An's right leg.

She was about to cry out in alarm when she saw Yang An give her a meaningful look.

Only then did she realize that their daughter, Hua'er, was nearby.

Suppressing the doubts in her heart, she helped Yang An over to a table and chair.

She called their daughter Xiao Hua over to watch the stove. After he had washed up, she hurriedly rolled up Yang An's trouser leg and saw a wound stretching from his ankle to his calf. Fortunately, it was not deep.

She asked anxiously,

"You've been gone for less than half a month. How did you get such a huge gash? What dangerous place did you go to this time?"

Yang An merely smiled gently.

"Less than half a month—where could I possibly have gone?

I merely wandered around Sunset Cloud Mountain near the county town a few times, thinking to gather some herbs."

"How did you suffer such an injury merely wandering around the nearby mountains? The last time you went out for an entire month, you weren't injured nearly this badly."

Faced with his wife's doubts, Yang An remained silent for a long while before slowly speaking.

"This time, I... I think I encountered a Spirit Monster in the mountains."

"What? A Spirit Monster!"

His wife could no longer contain her shock and said in a trembling voice,

"The wild Spirit Monsters from storybooks that can speak human words, are as clever as ordinary people, eat human hearts and livers, and devour human souls...?"

Hearing this, Yang Ning could not help but smile bitterly.

"If it truly had been one of those mighty Spirit Monsters from the storybooks, I'm afraid I would have already lost my life on Sunset Cloud Mountain.

This time, I entered the mountain with the herb-gathering team from Hundred Herb Hall's outer hall.

Once the group had spread out, I planned to head toward Sunset Cloud Mountain's main peak to see whether I could pick some valuable herbs to help support the family.

At the time, several companions were beside me. We had just spotted a purple-red lingzhi at the edge of a cliff and were about to pick it.

But when we approached, we saw a Black Fox crouching there.

Before we could react, the Black Fox took a step forward and let out a low growl.

The fox had been far away, yet its voice echoed right beside our ears!

The next moment, we felt mist enveloping us from all sides, and we lost our bearings. We hurriedly scattered and fled.

But after walking for only a short while, we realized we had already gone far from that place.

One of us even gathered his courage and returned to the original spot, only to find that the place had become calm and peaceful. Everything was as tranquil as waking from a dream.

I cut my foot on a rock while fleeing. It looks serious, but it's actually nothing serious."

After finishing, Yang An looked at his wife's bewildered, helpless expression and shook his head slightly.

"Some things do not need to be pondered if they cannot be understood.

I came to no harm on this herb-gathering trip.

I have had similar experiences in deep forests before, and I have heard others in the hall speak of them as well.

It is simply that Sunset Cloud Mountain has never had such strange creatures. It seems even the mountains around this county town have become more complicated."

After hearing her husband's words, Liu Ying fortunately did not dwell further on the matter of the Black Fox guarding the lingzhi. She replied,

"The mountains have become complicated, and the city isn't simple either.

This world... sigh!

Life for ordinary folk like us is becoming harder and harder. Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, clothes, shoes, cloth, needles, and thread—what isn't rising in price? These past few days, it's all thanks to Sister-in-law Qi and Ning."