He couldn't change the vehicle's owner. He couldn't use someone else's vehicle, nor repair or drive it. All he could do was dismantle it for materials.
Wood ×13
Metal ×3
Leather ×1
What a bunch of crooks! A whole ox cart had only yielded this little. Journey Survival had taken at least seventy percent.
And they hadn't even given him a pound of beef from that huge ox.
After cleaning up the mess, Zhu Jiusi had no intention of sleeping, either.
He loosened up, swallowed two mouthfuls of roots, drank half a gourd of water, and continued onward.
Every two or three li, he stuck a branch into the ground, then took out the Crude Clairvoyant and looked ahead. Unfortunately, he found nothing.
He still hadn't seen the Mountain God Temple.
He opened the Scroll and looked at the line near the top.
[Status: Fusing Talisman (Time Remaining: 28:57:41)]
Almost there. By nightfall tomorrow, the talisman would be completely fused.
He glanced at the chat and saw Sparrow's message.
Sparrow had finished rebuilding his nest and was now offering food in exchange for materials across the chat, hoping to renovate it.
It was a little pricey. For the first nest renovation, he needed 150 of each basic material.
He remembered that the first time he renovated a vehicle, it had only taken 100.
Humans and demons really were different.
But renovation was necessary. The first renovation for humans gave their vehicles defensive capabilities, allowing them to stay near their vehicles without fear of monster attacks after the beginner period.
After its first renovation, a Demon Cultivator's nest could become mobile.
Whether human or Demon Cultivator, everyone had to complete at least one renovation within the seven-day beginner period.
That was also why Zhu Jiusi was so anxious to find the Mountain God Temple.
The Mountain God Temple's hidden properties weren't as powerful during the beginner period, so Path Seekers could always stumble into one by sheer chance.
After the beginner period, finding a Mountain God Temple would be an uphill battle!
Thanks to Sparrow's experience, no one had been foolish enough to trade food for materials before. Now the market had finally opened up.
The prices were just inflated. Right now, one steamed bun could be traded for fifteen basic materials.
That was far above the normal market price.
Judging from the odds of finding things inside Gourds, food and basic materials should have been worth about one to five.
Now the price had tripled, at least. Drinking water was even impossible to find for sale.
It was too hard to find in Gourds.
But the Demon Cultivators were living it up.
They used to think human cultivators had vehicles while Demon Cultivators had to walk everywhere. But now they were doing just fine!
They were beasts now. As long as they could get over the mental hurdle, they could eat whatever they wanted. Herbivores especially had food everywhere along the road.
Zhu Jiusi did his best not to touch the food in his inventory. Along the way, he dug up every edible root he could find—the ability came naturally. He didn't need to learn it; one sniff was enough to tell him what he could eat.
The roots were full of water, which saved him a great deal of drinking water.
After taking a bite of root, Zhu Jiusi put away the Scroll and continued on his way.
Maybe he'd used up all his luck last night. By the time darkness had completely fallen, he hadn't seen a single Gourd.
Could Journey Survival have a fixed total amount of materials? He'd gotten a share of materials from killing that person, so had Journey Survival skipped giving him Gourds in return?
Huff!
Zhu Jiusi bit through a section of root and yanked it out, then swallowed it in three or four bites.
The sun went down, and night fell in an instant.
The way the date changed in Journey Survival was incredibly strange. There was no gradual transition. The instant the sun set, it was the dead of night; the moment the sun rose, the world changed from dark to bright.
After three years, Zhu Jiusi had long since gotten used to this strange cycle of day and night. But it was clear that everyone else still found it novel.
Quite a few people in the chat were still talking about the weather.
Several other lucky ones had also stumbled into Mountain God Temples and Land God Temples.
Some had finished renovating their vehicles and were showing them off, while others looked regretful as they started trading for basic materials—the supplies needed to rebuild a nest were no small amount.
Zhu Jiusi glanced at the record of today's journey on the Scroll.
Eighty-one li was already quite good. If he walked much farther, his hooves wouldn't be able to take it.
Even so, the tips of all four hooves were aching faintly.
He couldn't walk any farther tonight.
He raised the Crude Telescope and looked ahead. The Mountain God Temple was still nowhere to be seen.
His luck was terrible!
He shook his head, dug a shallow pit in the woods, and plunged into it headfirst.
The Scroll floated in front of him. After lurking in the chat for a long time, he tried to glean some useful information from the other Path Seekers' conversations.
As he read, a private message came in.
Rain Seeker: "Big shot, I've put together a summary of the chat from the past two days. I'll send it to you."
As she spoke, she sent him a long message summarizing quite a bit of useful information from the chat over the past two days.
Some people had speculated about the laws, while others had shared tips on finding things inside Gourds.
More importantly, there were the names of the villains Zhu Jiusi was looking for.
More than thirty names in all.
Next to each name, she'd also noted the patterns in their messages.
"Big shot, I think they must be some kind of little clique. They may not be targeting you specifically. They might be targeting every Path Seeker who's had a lucky break."
"They either want people to share their opportunities from some supposed moral high ground, or they want people to share information."
"However..."
Rain Seeker paused, then continued, "The people I've highlighted in red are clearly more focused on you. They've tried several times to steer the conversation your way, hoping to whip up a crowd and force you to reveal the rewards from the laws and information about the Silver Gourd."
Zhu Jiusi glanced at the list. Heart Without Darkness and Daoist Number 323 were at the top.
"All right, thanks. I know what to do!" Zhu Jiusi replied, then sent over half a gourd of drinking water.
Rain Seeker: "!! Thanks, big shot. If you have any work for me in the future, just let me know!"
She couldn't afford to be polite. She was a fish, and she'd been out of water too long. Her scales were curling up.
The water she'd found wasn't enough. For her, this half-gourd of water from Zhu Jiusi was a lifesaver!
Damn it! She didn't know how to curse, but she'd decided that today she'd join Orchid Pavilion Scholar's group and learn how to curse at anyone who started acting up.
"Don't mention it!" Zhu Jiusi replied. He glanced at the time, put away the Scroll, and closed his eyes.
The third day of Journey Survival was over.
Immortal Seeking Domain, Region 66. Population: 7,472.
It was already the third day, and plenty of people were still dying to the Heavenly Tribulation the instant the sun went down.
That was the way of seeking the Dao. No matter how hard you tried, that didn't mean you'd survive.
He couldn't remember how he'd fallen asleep. He slept until the sun was high in the sky, then jerked awake.
He'd overslept—his talisman was nearly done fusing, and his body had entered a stage of excessive drowsiness.
Even after waking, he was still groggy, tempted to flop straight back down.
After chewing a few pieces of root, Zhu Jiusi forced himself onto the road.
He was so drowsy that he could fall asleep at any moment. He had to finish today's distance as soon as possible.
He could barely focus as he traveled that day. He even missed two Gourds, only realizing what had happened after walking more than ten meters. Then he hurried back to pick them.
He set out at seven. It wasn't until two in the afternoon that he'd covered fifty li, much slower than usual. Even when he jogged, he would doze off from time to time, then jerk awake to find himself still walking.
At least he hadn't gone the wrong way!
He forced himself to run another four or five li, making sure he'd covered ten times the distance he'd need to retrace his steps. Then he couldn't take it anymore. He plunged into the woods without even having time to dig a pit.
He fell headfirst to the ground, and soon his snores rang out.
He slept deeply, beset by one bizarre dream after another.
At one moment, he felt as though a mountain was pressing down on him. At the next, he was the mountain, though he didn't know whom he was pressing down on.
He rolled over in his sleep, and the sky seemed to collapse and the earth split apart, as though the mountains and rivers were enraged.
Finally, after who knew how long, a thunderous boom erupted in his consciousness, like a volcano erupting.
Zhu Jiusi jolted awake. Night had fallen.
He stared blankly for a moment before a heavy sensation swept over him.
The talisman had finished fusing.
Zhu Jiusi couldn't wait to look at the Scroll.
[Path Seeker: Zhu Jiusi] [Daoist Title: Master of Cloud Stack Cave] [Identity: Mountain Master] [Gender: 5] [Life: 30]
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