Mountain God Temple

Zhu Jiusi had no interest in traveling, but in Journey Survival, there was nothing to do except travel.

Everything he wanted was out there on the road.

For three years, he had grown used to walking the road alone.

The night passed without a word. He traveled.

Every step required him to push against an enormous force!

Sometimes he really wanted to send Journey Survival a suggestion—show a little respect for the habits of beasts.

Wild boars were supposed to sleep during the day and travel at night!

Who would set obstacles at night for nocturnal animals?

After traveling ten miles, he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

There were still five hours until dawn. Zhu Jiusi found a hollow beneath a tree, rooted out a perfect pit, and plunged headfirst into it.

He glanced at the Scroll chatroom, then prepared to sleep.

It was the dead of night, but plenty of people were still awake. Many were following Zhu Jiusi's example and trying to summarize the rules.

Snow Young Master: "A rule! Nocturnal animals are more likely to find Gourds while traveling at night than during the day!"

Heart Without Darkness: "Watch out for the fog on both sides. It keeps billowing, and I can't shake the feeling something's about to appear!"

Zhu Jiusi watched, smiling.

What they said was all true, but none of it was a rule. Even if one or two guesses happened to be right, it didn't matter. The rules of Journey Survival only counted once they had been summed up through personal experience.

Guesses didn't count!

Watching everyone keep trying to summarize the rules, yet seeing no announcement appear, Zhu Jiusi went to sleep, satisfied.

Mosquitoes swarmed all night. Their bites were fierce, but they added a little life to the lonely mountain road.

Zhu Jiusi woke almost right on schedule. The time was frozen at 6:58, just two minutes before dawn.

Zhu Jiusi stretched and looked back along the road he'd come.

The mountain forests on either side were still. Beyond the trees lay impenetrable, dense fog. The road was like a gorge, stretching from some unknown place toward an unknown destination.

Someone in his previous life had made a theory about this.

In Journey Survival, as long as you survived, you'd grow stronger day by day, and the abilities you mastered would become increasingly close to myth.

Perhaps reaching the end of this road meant becoming an immortal, or a god?

As he let his thoughts wander, a sliver of white appeared in the east.

Then the great sun leapt into the sky, and daylight burst forth in an instant.

Night and day in Journey Survival always came so suddenly.

After munching on half a cabbage, Zhu Jiusi set out again.

He searched for Gourds and for underground roots and tubers.

Snow Young Master's summary had been right. Nocturnal animals were much more likely to find Gourds at night than during the day.

Unfortunately, once these seven days were over, traveling at night would no longer be allowed.

He walked and searched along the way.

Before the sun had even set, after traveling twenty-five miles, Zhu Jiusi found a place sheltered from the wind and rooted out a nest.

Wild Boars really should travel at night. Last night, he had only traveled for half the night, yet he'd collected four Wood Gourds and one Bronze Gourd.

Today, after traveling twenty-five miles, he had found only three Gourds.

Altogether, that gave him Metal ×15, Stone ×10, Wood ×15, Flatbread ×5.

His luck wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't good either. That came to about forty portions of materials a day, on average.

More or less the average for Journey Survival.

Dig a pit, sleep!

He woke three or four times in the middle of the night. It was a habit Journey Survival had instilled in him. There was danger everywhere, and it was hard to get a sound night's sleep.

Especially since he still hadn't taken out his nest.

The last time he woke, it was already pitch-black, and a faint chill was blowing in.

He drank half a Gourd of water, rooted out half a cabbage, glanced at the Scroll, and continued traveling.

[Status: Rune Fusion in Progress (Time Remaining: 46:37:31)]

The rune fusion wouldn't finish for another two days.

Zhu Jiusi was growing more and more eager. After a full day, he was somewhat prepared for the outcome—if nothing went wrong, he'd obtained a powerful rune!

Great Path No Regrets could be called the most fundamental and important rule Path Seekers had ever summed up.

The rune awarded for it was bound to be top-tier.

The Path Seeker who had summed up this rule in the previous round had never become famous.

Probably because he died too early!

Zhu Jiusi vaguely remembered that the Path Seeker had figured out the rule and received the announcement's reward. It had caused quite a stir, but he died before the beginner period was over.

Interest in summing up rules in the chatroom had already died down, though people still popped up now and then.

Zhu Jiusi scrolled up and saw that quite a few people had tried to explore the dense fog and sum up its rules—and without exception, their avatars had all gone dark.

Quite a few people in the hall had also tagged him, and some had messaged him directly, asking how to summarize the rules and what rewards came from doing so.

A few had asked him seven or eight times, then cursed him out when he didn't reply.

After three years in Journey Survival, Zhu Jiusi no longer cared about any of that—mark them, block them!

If they ran into each other in a Secret Realm later, he could have a proper discussion with them then.

But some people were grateful.

Rain Seeker sent him ten Stone and left a message: "Thanks for the guidance, boss. If I hadn't had your advice, I would've stayed trapped in the pool, too scared to come out, and died ages ago."

The name seemed familiar, but Zhu Jiusi couldn't remember. He'd probably crossed paths with him in the previous round, but not often.

Zhu Jiusi didn't accept the Stone. He returned the materials and replied, "Don't mention it. I was just making a wild guess. Keep it up!"

Rain Seeker didn't reply. He'd probably fallen asleep by then.

Zhu Jiusi didn't look any further. He shook himself out and started traveling.

In the silent darkness, the Mountain Boar struggled onward.

There really were more Gourds to be found while traveling at night than during the day.

Not twice as many, perhaps, but at least thirty percent more.

By the time Zhu Jiusi had traveled until dawn, he'd covered just under twenty miles, yet found a full eleven Gourds, including a Bronze Gourd.

Metal ×15, Wood ×10, Stone ×25, Drinking Water ×5, Flatbread ×5

Food and water were far too hard to come by. On average, the chance of finding food was only one in five.

Water was even harder to find!

Even in the middle of the night, plenty of people were begging for food and water in the hall.

Quite a few tagged him directly. Zhu Jiusi didn't reply. After three years of Journey Survival, he'd long since gotten used to life and death.

He didn't go out of his way to kill people, but he wasn't a saint, either. Food and water were far too important right now, and even he had to ration his supplies.

After searching along the way until dawn, Zhu Jiusi found a safe spot and went back to sleep.

Dawn had come. It was the third day of Journey Survival.

The number of people shown on the Scroll was dwindling. Who knew what they'd done in the middle of the night? They'd died despite the protection period.

66th Dao-Seeking District of the Immortal Seeking Realm, Population: 8676

But the rate of decline had clearly slowed. After two or three days, everyone had learned how to struggle to survive.

Zhu Jiusi found a comfortable position and was just about to sleep.

Suddenly, a message came through on the Scroll.

Sparrow: "!!! I've seen a ghost!"

Then came a video. An owl stepped on a branch and snapped it, tumbling down—but it didn't hit the ground. Instead, it crashed through a skylight into a run-down temple.

The owl had been resting on a branch on the temple roof, but it couldn't see the temple. The building had been hidden and transparent; the owl had only discovered it after crashing inside.

Someone had found a Mountain God Temple!

Zhu Jiusi perked right up.

In the video, a statue of a mountain god stood in the main shrine. Various hammers were arranged below it.

"A treasure?"

"A Secret Realm?"

The chatroom sprang to life. It was already the third day, and plenty of people had started exploring Journey Survival.

There were all sorts of guesses.

Immortal trials, an apocalyptic game, a world of consciousness...

Had this owl entered somewhere like a Secret Realm?

Sparrow: "You can modify your nest here!"

After saying that, he sent another string of exclamation marks. His words practically screamed that he'd seen a ghost: "I left my nest back at the starting point!!"