Rain Seeker

Do not take the path back!!!

Afraid that people might miss it, Zhu Jiusi sent seven or eight messages in a row, flooding the chat.

Rain Seeker: "It was hard enough to take a single step forward, why would you want to turn back?"

Sparrow: "A path back? Why would you go back?"

The bird wasn't dead yet; it seemed its wing had healed.

A group of people asked questions, but Zhu Jiusi did not reply.

A message popped up on his Scroll:

[Reward: A Path Seeker has survived the Journey Survival and summarized the fourth law. A reward is granted!]

A yellow light flashed across the Scroll and landed on an object at his feet.

It was a rune. Even with three years of experience, Zhu Jiusi could neither understand nor recognize it.

The earthy-yellow rune trembled, shot into the center of Zhu Jiusi's brow, and vanished.

An Innate Rune!

Zhu Jiusi understood instantly—there were no mentors in Journey Survival, and most divine objects were named by the Path Seekers themselves.

Some Path Seekers had discovered that certain runes possessed innate power; once fused, the Path Seeker would gain a specific talent.

Thus, they were called Innate Runes.

Fusing an Innate Rune took time, and Zhu Jiusi could not yet feel what kind of rune this was.

"Congratulations to the Path Seeker for summarizing the first law. Would you like to issue a Myriad World Announcement?"

The Scroll asked again.

"Announce it!"

As soon as Zhu Jiusi gave his consent, the Scroll shook with a clatter and began to emit light, as if afraid he might change his mind.

The Scroll even manifested falling flower petals, desperate to attract attention.

[Myriad World Announcement: In the 66th District of the Immortal Seeking Domain, Path Seeker "Master of Cloud Stack Cave" has deduced the fourth law. May all Path Seekers strive forward!]

[Law Four: Seek the path without regret; the path cannot be reversed. If one forces a return, they must pay back tenfold that very day.]

Two consecutive Myriad World Announcements suppressed the flood of chat messages.

The crowd went silent for a moment, then immediately erupted.

Squatting Grass and the others: "Holy crap! I'm struggling just to keep up with the normal path, and Boss Master of Cloud Stack Cave is going against the flow?"

Sparrow: "Going against the flow is one thing, but to be able to make up for it tenfold—is the boss a god? Can he fly on a sword, or does he have a flying boat or a cloud?"

No wonder the color and state of the boss's Heavenly Tribulation earlier were completely different from theirs; the boss was going against the flow!

Since he could summarize a law, he must have made up the distance.

Beaver Does Not Drink: "The boss is a high-level player; he's already summarized several laws today."

If not for the boss hinting that there might be a glimmer of survival in Journey Survival, the moment he transformed into a beaver, he would have given up on moving forward and just waited for death at his dam.

A group of people were talking, but Zhu Jiusi didn't have time to reply.

The announcement rewards had arrived, and the reward for summarizing a law was much better than the first kill of the Silver Gourd.

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

Water!

There was water!

After running for a whole day, aside from getting a little moisture from roots, Zhu Jiusi hadn't had a single drop of water to drink!

Once the rewards arrived, he immediately took out a Water Gourd, stomped a hole in the ground, and carefully placed the gourd upright in the pit. Holding it down with his two hooves, he pulled out the stopper, bit the mouth of the gourd, and tilted his head back.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

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

Being a pig had its advantages, but it also had its shortcomings.

During his light jog today, he hadn't dug up many roots.

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

Journey Survival was the stingiest when it came to food and water; he didn't know how many people had starved to death in the early stages.

Now that he was a Mountain Boar, his appetite was even larger! Ten pounds of sweet potatoes a day was barely enough to solve his hunger—no, wait, he wasn't even full yet!

Night fell, and the temperature on the mountain road dropped instantly. Without an extracted lair, he didn't even have a place to shelter from the wind.

There were also mosquitoes buzzing around, biting him from time to time.

Fortunately, he was still in the novice protection period, and there were no monster attacks in the thick fog.

When following the path of a demon, one shouldn't extract a lair too early. Once extracted and fixed to the ground, if the novice protection period ended, he wouldn't even know how he died.

Zhu Jiusi lay on his side beneath a large tree, his tail flicking back and forth to swat away mosquitoes as he rested, waiting for the rune to finish merging with his body.

He had seen runes in his past life; the fusion process took two hours, so he just had to wait...

"What the hell!"

Zhu Jiusi's entire boar body sprang up. In the previous cycle, he had seen people merge with runes with his own eyes, and it only took two hours!

But...

[Path Seeker: Zhu Jiusi]

[Daoist Name: Master of Cloud Stack Cave]

[Identity: Demon Cultivator · Mountain Boar]

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

[Nature: 5]

[Life: 30]

Three days!

Zhu Jiusi was completely stunned. He shook his boar head violently, his ears flapping against his face. He closed his eyes and opened them again, looking back at the scroll.

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

He hadn't misread it; it was indeed three days!

This wasn't right!

In the previous cycle, he had known more than one person with runes.

There was even a regular stress-relief partner of his who had merged with a "Blade" rune right in front of him, and it took exactly two hours—not a second more!

He had also inquired about others merging with runes, and it was always two hours.

Runes shouldn't be divided by strength; they should all take two hours... right?

Actually, Zhu Jiusi wasn't entirely certain, as he had been too weak in the previous cycle.

There were countless categories of runes: attack, defense, magic, combat, auxiliary...

They were as numerous as the hairs on a cow.

Perhaps there were things he didn't know?

Runes were also divided into different grades. Zhu Jiusi once had a fleeting romance with a fairy, and that woman's rune was of the unique, top-tier variety.

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 required more time?

He suddenly felt a pang of distress.

During the rune fusion period, the probability of monster attacks doubled. Although he was currently in the novice protection period, Zhu Jiusi couldn't be sure if the fusion process would break that "protection."

Zhu Jiusi quickly scanned his surroundings; there were no signs of any monsters appearing, yet he still looked toward the thick fog on both sides, feeling uneasy.

The thick fog was as calm as a stagnant pool of water.

It didn't look like monsters would appear, but he still felt unsettled. For a moment, he didn't even dare to sleep.

He even had the urge to take out his Beast Nest; if monsters really did come, the nest could defend against them.

But the Beast Nest couldn't be taken out lightly. Seven days later, when the novice protection period ended, he would die without a lair!

Within these seven days, he had to modify the Beast Nest so it could be carried with him, like a snail shell.

Humans needed a Land God Temple to modify vehicles, while demons needed a Mountain God Temple to modify their nests.

He propped up his telescope on a tree branch and looked into the distance. It was already dark, and he couldn't see very far. But there were no temples in the areas he could see.

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 into one.

Lost in his wild thoughts, he drifted into a hazy sleep.

After a nap of just over two hours, Zhu Jiusi suddenly woke up in a fright, having dreamed that he was buried deep within a mountain, merging with the earth itself.

Once his racing heart settled, he glanced at the countdown on the scroll, shook his body, rubbed his mosquito-bitten, itchy hide against the tree, and set off once more.

The seven days of the novice period were the only time in the entire Journey Survival when one could travel at night.

It was just that traveling at night felt like being repelled by a magnetic field, with gale-force winds blocking the way. Every step forward was as difficult as ascending to heaven.