Mountain Master

Gan, three unbroken lines; Kun, six broken lines,

Zhen, a bowl turned upright; Gen, a bowl turned upside down...

A rune flickered between Zhu Jiusi's brows, then slowly vanished into his body.

In the previous cycle, countless people had fused with runes. Runes could be formed from myriad Great Paths.

Music, food, books, writing, painting, blades, swords...

But the runes of the Primordial Eight Trigrams stood above all others. That was an indisputable fact!

No one knew where the Primordial Eight Trigrams had come from. They only knew that every person who fused with one of the Eight Trigram runes was a powerhouse on Journey Survival.

Everyone who fused with an Eight Trigram had a special identity.

Zhu Jiusi knew only two: Kan Trigram · Water Monarch, and Li Trigram · Phoenix King.

Now there was a third: Gen Trigram · Mountain Master.

Zhu Jiusi looked at the Scroll, his gaze settling on the words [Mountain Master].

A line of text slowly appeared.

[Mountain Master: Fuses all things into himself.]

Looking more closely, he found no further information. Yet, in a hazy way, he somehow understood what the Mountain Master was.

Simply put, after fusing with the Gen Trigram, the Mountain Master currently had only one ability.

He could absorb basic resources to strengthen his body.

In other words, metal, stone, and wood were his spirit stones—resources for cultivation.

And Zhu Jiusi could sense that this absorption had no limit.

As long as he had enough basic supplies, he could become strong enough to punch a hole in heaven and earth.

But there was a major drawback: the time it took to transform into human form would likely be pushed far back. At the same time, cultivating spells would be twice as difficult!

Zhu Jiusi froze. Even if he'd known the result would be like this, he still would have summarized the Laws and fused with the Gen Trigram without hesitation!

Did body cultivation and spell cultivation matter? Did human or beast form matter? Staying alive was what mattered!

The only problem was that Journey Survival was so stressful. In a pig's body, it would be hard to find a Dao companion to regularly relieve the pressure.

No matter! At worst, he could find a pig demon too. He'd heard pigs enjoyed themselves for longer!

Excited, Zhu Jiusi took out a bundle of stone (five pieces). As if by instinct, he opened his mouth and sucked in. The stones turned into ochre light and vanished down his throat.

He closed his eyes and sensed carefully, but felt nothing unusual.

He hopped about, running back and forth, sprinting and leaping, yet didn't feel any stronger.

Zhu Jiusi: "?"

He took out two more bundles of stone and swallowed them the same way. He closed his eyes and concentrated, but still felt nothing.

He unfurled the Scroll and checked his stats. There was no change.

Unconvinced, Zhu Jiusi simply took out all the stone and sucked it in.

Seventeen bundles of stone turned into red light and disappeared. There was still a pile of stone on the ground, but he couldn't swallow any more.

A strange feeling welled up inside him.

He'd had enough stone. Now he needed metal and wood.

Zhu Jiusi took out all the metal and wood and sucked them in.

The metal turned into white light, the wood into green, and both spun into his belly like a whirlwind.

A hundred of each.

Then a feeling of fullness rose from his body, as if every cell had eaten its fill.

He was hot and frenzied! Right now, he desperately wanted a rake. He could plow thirty mu of land in one go!

He put away the materials on the ground, gulped down half a Gourd of water, shook himself, then pushed through the repulsion and charged into the night.

His qi and blood surged. If he didn't use all this strength, he felt like he'd burst.

Run!

He broke through the repulsion and ran onward!

Every muscle in his body was engaged.

The harder he pushed, the stronger the repulsion from the mountain path became. The stronger the repulsion, the more of his explosive strength it consumed.

A virtuous cycle. Excellent!

Without the repulsion, simply running wouldn't have been enough to burn through all this strength.

Zhu Jiusi ran more and more smoothly. He ran for over an hour before the strength in his body finally began to ease.

A wave of comfort spread through his limbs and bones.

Zhu Jiusi looked at the Scroll.

[Life: 31]

His Life had increased by 1.

Zhu Jiusi: "..."

He'd swallowed a hundred of each basic material and run himself ragged for over an hour, yet his Life had only increased by 1?

That was nothing compared to the Life Nourishing Pill!

Zhu Jiusi carefully examined the Scroll.

[Path Seeker: Zhu Jiusi]

[Dao Title: Master of Cloud Stack Cave]

[Identity: Mountain Master, First Tier (1%)]

[Status: Normal]

[Sex: 5]

[Life: 31]

There was now a progress indicator after Mountain Master. His Life had increased by 1, and his progress was only at 1%.

Zhu Jiusi had never met a Mountain Master, but he'd encountered Water Monarch in the previous cycle. They'd shared a brief night of passion.

By then, Zhu Jiusi had been in Journey Survival for a long time, with his Life and Sex both above 200. Water Monarch had only just entered the Third Tier.

Yet Zhu Jiusi couldn't even fend off one of her hands. He'd been forced into it that time too... He hadn't been able to resist at all.

So for beings like Mountain Master and Water Monarch, the amount of Life and Sex gained with each tier was probably different.

The First Tier of Mountain Master only raised his Life by 100. The Second Tier might raise it by 200 or even more?

Zhu Jiusi's heart suddenly burned with excitement. He glanced at the materials in his inventory.

Stone × 130, wood × 138, metal × 133

There wasn't much left. If he came across a Mountain God Temple, it wouldn't even be enough for the initial upgrade.

But... it was only the fourth day. Given his luck, he'd probably find a Mountain God Temple just before the protection period ended. He'd have plenty of time to gather the materials for the upgrade.

Swallow!

Zhu Jiusi made up his mind at once and took out all his basic supplies again.

He opened his mouth and swallowed.

The materials turned into three streams of light and entered his mouth. That stuffed-to-bursting feeling returned.

But Zhu Jiusi didn't immediately charge off. Instead, he stared in bewilderment at the materials that remained.

There were more left!

Last time he'd swallowed a hundred of each. This time he'd swallowed a hundred and ten of each!

The amount of materials he needed had increased!

A sense of foreboding suddenly came over Zhu Jiusi. The Mountain Master was probably a resource-devouring beast!

He might not be able to afford to raise himself!

No wonder Water Monarch, whom he'd met in the previous cycle, had been so frighteningly strong yet so poor she didn't have a penny to her name. She'd even taken advantage of him.

Mountain Master, Water Monarch, and other Path Seekers who'd fused with the Eight Trigrams probably all relied on outside resources to cultivate.

It had been four days. He'd received two more Myriad World Announcements, yet had only saved up a little over two hundred of each basic supply. Now they were almost all gone...

What made Zhu Jiusi even more uneasy was this: had the required materials increased by ten each from the first time, or had they gone up by ten percent?

Those were completely different outcomes!

At the thought of what he'd need in the future, even his pig's body went soft.

He didn't dare think about it any longer. He put away the remaining supplies, felt the heat rising inside him, and set out on the Dao Path once more.

On a winding mountain path stretching beyond sight, a mountain boar jogged along with difficulty.

Oink~

Oink~

The muscles all over the mountain boar's body trembled. He'd clearly reached his physical limit.

At last, he made it past a stretch of muddy road, and the swollen feeling inside him gradually faded.

Life +1

He'd finally done it.

Zhu Jiusi felt dizzy and lightheaded. He'd reached his absolute limit, his legs wobbly beneath him. He stumbled and toppled toward the side of the path.

After a few lurching steps, he felt himself crash through something. He raised his head with difficulty and saw that he'd blundered straight into an ancient temple.

Before him stood a solemn Mountain God statue. In its hands, it held a booklet.

Seeing a pig charge inside, the statue actually spoke.

"The Great Dao is hard to seek. Path Seeker, do you need shelter? I can empower your den."

Zhu Jiusi: "..."

Zhu Jiusi: "!!!"

The Mountain God Temple he'd been searching for all these days had appeared out of nowhere.

The Mountain God Temple could upgrade his den, but—he didn't have any materials right now!