Rain Seeker

Don't turn back!!!

Afraid people wouldn't see it, Zhu Jiusi sent seven or eight messages in a row to flood the chat.

Rain Seeker: "I finally managed to take a step forward. Why would I turn back?"

Sparrow: "Turn back? What for?"

The bird was still alive. It seemed its wings had healed.

A crowd of people asked questions, but Zhu Jiusi didn't answer.

A message appeared on his scroll:

[Reward Notice: A Path Seeker has survived in Journey Survival and summarized the Fourth Rule. A reward shall be granted!]

A flash of yellow light passed over the scroll, and an object landed at his feet.

It was a rune. Even with three years of experience, Zhu Jiusi still couldn't understand it or recognize it.

The earth-yellow rune quivered, shot into the space between Zhu Jiusi's brows, and vanished.

An Innate Rune!

Zhu Jiusi suddenly understood. Journey Survival had no teachers or lineages; most divine objects were named by the Path Seekers themselves.

Some Path Seekers had discovered that certain runes possessed innate power, and that fusing with one would grant them a certain talent.

Hence the name Innate Rune.

Fusing with an Innate Rune took time. Zhu Jiusi couldn't yet tell what kind of rune this was.

"Congratulations on summarizing the First Rule, Path Seeker. Would you like to make a Myriad World Announcement?"

The scroll asked again.

"Announce it!"

The moment Zhu Jiusi gave his approval, the scroll quivered and shone, as if afraid he might change his mind.

Flowers even rained down from the scroll, as though it feared it wouldn't attract enough attention.

[Myriad World Announcement: In District 66 of the Immortal Seeking Domain, Path Seeker "Master of Cloud Stack Cave" has deduced the Fourth Rule. May all Path Seekers press on and strive onward!]

[Rule Four: Seek the Dao without regret; the Dao cannot be reversed. If you force your way back, you must repay tenfold that very day.]

Two consecutive Myriad World Announcements pushed the flood of chat messages aside.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then the chat exploded.

Squatting Grass and the others: "Holy crap! I barely made it down the normal path by rushing as fast as I could. And the big boss Cave Master went against the flow?"

Sparrow: "Going against the flow is one thing, but he can even make up the distance tenfold? Is the big boss a god? Can he fly on a sword, or does he have a flying boat or a cloud?"

No wonder the color and appearance of the big boss's Heavenly Tribulation earlier had been completely different from theirs. He'd been going against the flow!

To summarize a rule, he must have made it back.

Beaver Does Not Drink: "The big boss is a veteran player. He's already summarized several rules today."

If the big boss hadn't suggested that Journey Survival might offer a glimmer of hope, the instant he turned into a beaver, he would've given up on moving forward and waited to die by his dam.

Everyone was talking, but Zhu Jiusi didn't have time to reply.

The announcement reward had arrived. The reward for announcing a summarized rule was much better than the first-kill reward for the Silver Gourd.

Metal ×125, Stone ×125, Wood ×125, Drinking Water ×5

Water!

There was water!

He'd been running all day. Apart from getting a little moisture from roots, Zhu Jiusi hadn't had a single drop to drink!

As soon as the reward arrived, he took out a Water Gourd. He first stamped a hole into the ground, then carefully set the gourd in it with its mouth facing up. Holding it down with his hooves, he pulled out the stopper, clamped his mouth around the opening, and tipped his head back.

Glug, glug, glug.

The gourd wasn't small; it held a standard two liters of water. But it felt like it had only moistened his throat.

Being a pig had its advantages, but also its drawbacks.

After a day's light run, he hadn't dug up many roots.

The ten pounds of sweet potatoes Zhu Jiusi had brought were all gone. Tomorrow, he'd have to gnaw on steamed buns and cabbage.

Journey Survival was stingiest with food and water. Countless people had starved to death in the early days.

Now that he was a Mountain Boar, he needed even more to eat! Ten pounds of sweet potatoes a day barely kept him fed—no, not warm. His stomach wasn't even full!

Night fell, and the temperature on the mountain path dropped sharply. He hadn't extracted a den, so he didn't even have a place to shelter from the wind.

Mosquitoes buzzed around, biting him every now and then.

Luckily, he was still in the beginner protection period, and no monsters had yet attacked from the thick fog.

Those who followed the demon path couldn't extract their dens too early. Once extracted, a den would be fixed in place. After the beginner protection period ended, they'd have no idea what killed them.

Zhu Jiusi lay on his side beneath a big tree, swishing his tail to drive away mosquitoes. As he rested, he waited for the rune to finish fusing with his body.

He'd seen runes in his previous life. Rune fusion took two hours, so he could just wait...

"Damn!"

Zhu Jiusi leaped to his feet, his whole pig body springing up. In the previous cycle, he'd personally seen someone fuse with a rune. It had taken only two hours!

But...

[Path Seeker: Zhu Jiusi]

[Dao Name: Master of Cloud Stack Cave]

[Identity: Demon Cultivator · Mountain Boar]

[Status: Fusing with Rune (Time Remaining: 71:54:33)]

[Sex: 5]

[Life: 30]

Three days!

Zhu Jiusi was completely stunned. His pig's head shook wildly, his ears smacking his face. He closed his eyes, opened them again, and looked at the scroll once more.

[Status: Fusing with Rune (Time Remaining: 71:53:48)]

He hadn't misread it. It really was three days!

This was wrong!

In his previous life, he'd known more than one person with a rune.

One of them had even been his regular stress-relief partner. He'd watched her fuse with a "Blade" character rune right in front of him. It had taken exactly two hours, not a second more!

He'd also asked around about other people's rune fusion. It had always taken two hours.

Runes shouldn't differ in strength. They all took two hours... right?

Actually, Zhu Jiusi wasn't entirely sure. He'd been weak in the previous cycle, after all.

There were countless types of runes: offense, defense, magic, combat, support...

More than the hairs on an ox.

Maybe there were types he didn't know about?

Runes also came in different grades. Zhu Jiusi had once had a brief encounter with a fairy. Her rune had been the one-of-a-kind, top-tier kind.

Had he obtained a top-tier rune?

Zhu Jiusi's heart suddenly began to race.

Or... was his compatibility with this rune so poor that it needed more time?

His heart sank.

The chance of monster attacks doubled during rune fusion. Although it was still the beginner protection period, Zhu Jiusi couldn't be sure whether fusing with a rune would break through the "protection."

Zhu Jiusi quickly checked his surroundings. No sign of any monsters appeared, but he still nervously peered into the thick fog on either side.

The fog was as still as a pool of stagnant water.

It didn't look as though any monsters would appear, but deep down, he still wasn't certain. For a moment, he didn't even dare to sleep.

He was even tempted to take out his Beast Nest. Its protection could hold off monsters if any really came.

But he couldn't take out the Beast Nest lightly. The beginner protection period would end in seven days. Without a den, he'd die!

He had to modify the Beast Nest so he could carry it around within those seven days, like a snail shell.

Humans needed a Land God Temple to modify their vehicles. Demons needed a Mountain God Temple to modify their dens.

He propped a telescope on a tree branch and looked into the distance. It was already dark, and he couldn't see very far. But there was no temple anywhere in sight.

Land God Temples and Mountain God Temples were hidden locations. You couldn't see them without a telescope.

Of course, if you were lucky, you might stumble right into one.

Lost in thought, he drifted into a hazy sleep.

After dozing for a little over two hours, Zhu Jiusi suddenly woke with a start. He'd dreamed that someone had buried him in a mountain and he was fusing with it.

Once his panic settled, he glanced at the countdown on the scroll, shook himself, and rubbed his mosquito-bitten, itchy body hard against the tree. Then he set off again.

The seven days of the beginner period were the only time in all of Journey Survival when it was possible to travel at night.

But traveling at night felt like an invisible force was pushing him away and fierce winds were blocking the road. Every step was as hard as climbing a mountain.