Mountain God Temple

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

Everything he wanted was on the road.

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

The night passed without incident, spent entirely on the move.

Every step required him to push against a massive repulsive force!

Sometimes he really wanted to offer feedback to Journey Survival—show some respect for animal instincts.

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

Who sets obstacles for nocturnal animals at night?

After walking twenty miles, he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

With five hours left until dawn, Zhu Jiusi found a hollow by a tree, rooted out a perfectly arched pit, and dove headfirst into it.

He took a glance at the scroll chat room, preparing to sleep.

The night was deep and quiet, but there were plenty of people staying up, many of them following Zhu Jiusi's lead in summarizing the laws.

Snow Young Master: "Rule! Nocturnal animals traveling at night have a much higher chance of obtaining gourds than during the day!"

Heart Without Darkness: "Beware of the mist on both sides; it's churning, and I keep feeling like something is about to emerge!"

Zhu Jiusi watched and smiled.

What they said were facts, but they weren't laws. Even if one or two happened to be right, it was useless; the laws of Journey Survival only counted if they were summarized after personal experience.

Guesses didn't count!

Watching the group continue to summarize without a single system announcement appearing, Zhu Jiusi fell asleep satisfied.

Throughout the night, mosquitoes and insects flew about; although their bites were fierce, they added a touch of vitality to the lonely mountain road.

Zhu Jiusi woke up almost exactly on time, the clock frozen at 6:58, two minutes before daybreak.

Zhu Jiusi stretched his body and looked back at the path he had traveled.

The mountain forests on both sides were quiet, and beyond the trees lay an impenetrable thick fog; the road was like a canyon, with no indication of where it came from or where it led.

In his past life, some people had speculated about this.

In Journey Survival, as long as one survived, they would grow stronger day by day, and the abilities they mastered would increasingly trend toward the mythical.

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

As he pondered aimlessly, a streak of white appeared in the east.

Immediately after, a great sun leaped out, and the sky brightened in an instant.

Night and day in Journey Survival always arrived so abruptly.

Gnawing on half a head of cabbage, Zhu Jiusi set off once again.

He searched for gourds and also for underground roots.

Snow Young Master was right; nocturnal animals had a much higher chance of encountering gourds at night than during the day.

It was a pity that after these seven days, he would no longer be able to travel at night.

He walked and searched simultaneously.

Before the sun had even set, having traveled fifty miles, Zhu Jiusi found a sheltered spot and rooted out a nest.

Wild boars really were meant to travel at night. Yesterday, he had only traveled for half the night and had already scavenged four wooden gourds and one bronze gourd.

Today, he had walked fifty miles and only obtained three gourds.

In total: Metal x15, Stone x10, Wood x15, Flatbread x5.

His luck wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't good. On average, that was about 40 units of materials per day.

It was just about the average value for Journey Survival.

Dig a pit, sleep!

He woke up three or four times during the night. This was a habit formed by Journey Survival. With crises lurking at any moment, it was hard to sleep soundly.

Especially since he hadn't retrieved his nest yet.

When he woke up for the last time, it was pitch black, and a cool breeze was blowing.

He drank half a gourd of water and rooted through half a cabbage. He glanced at the scroll and continued his journey.

[Status: Fusing Talisman (Remaining Time: 46:37:31)]

It would take two more days for the talisman fusion to finish.

Zhu Jiusi was growing more and more expectant. After a full day, he had some mental preparation—if nothing went wrong, he had obtained a powerful talisman!

Great Path No Regrets could be called the most fundamental and important law summarized by the Path Seekers.

The rewarded talisman, naturally, should be top-tier.

The Path Seeker who summarized these rules in the previous round never made a name for themselves.

Likely because they died too early!

Zhu Jiusi vaguely remembered that the Path Seeker had indeed summarized the patterns and received the announcement reward. It had caused a sensation, but they died before even clearing the novice period.

The fervor for summarizing the laws in the chat room had died down, though someone would still pop up from time to time.

Zhu Jiusi scrolled up, seeing that quite a few people had wanted to explore the dense fog and summarize the rules—and then, without exception, their avatars had all gone dark.

There were also many people tagging him in the lobby, or even sending direct messages, asking how to summarize the patterns and what the rewards for summarizing the laws were.

There were even those who asked seven or eight times, and when Zhu Jiusi didn't reply, they would immediately start cursing.

After three years of Journey Survival, Zhu Jiusi no longer cared about such things—mark, block!

He would settle the score properly if he ran into them after entering a Secret Realm later.

But there were also those who expressed gratitude.

Rain Seeker sent ten units of stone with a message: "Many thanks for the guidance, Boss. If it weren't for you, I'd still be trapped in the water pool, too afraid to come out, and would have died long ago."

The name sounded familiar, but Zhu Jiusi couldn't quite place it. They must have had some contact in the previous round, though not much.

Zhu Jiusi did not accept the stone, returned the materials, and replied: "You're too kind, I was just making a wild guess. Keep it up!"

After the message was sent, Rain Seeker didn't reply; they were likely asleep at this hour.

Zhu Jiusi stopped looking, shook his body, and began his journey.

The dark night was silent, and the Mountain Boar trudged forward with difficulty.

Traveling at night, there were indeed more gourds than during the day.

Not double, but at least thirty percent more.

By the time Zhu Jiusi walked until dawn, he had only covered about forty li, but he had managed to scavenge eleven gourds, one of which was a Bronze Gourd.

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

Harvesting food and water was too difficult. On average, the probability of finding food was only one in five.

Water was even harder!

Even in the middle of the night, many people in the lobby were begging for food and water.

Quite a few tagged him directly, but Zhu Jiusi did not reply; having spent three years in Journey Survival, he had long grown accustomed to life and death.

He didn't kill people proactively, but he wasn't a saint either. Food and water were too important at this time; even he had to ration his own supplies.

After searching until daybreak, Zhu Jiusi found a safe spot and laid down to sleep again.

Dawn had broken; it was the third day of Journey Survival.

The number of people displayed on the scroll was dwindling; one had to wonder what they did in the middle of the night to die even during the protection period.

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

However, the rate of decline had clearly slowed down. After two or three days, everyone knew how to struggle for survival.

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

A message suddenly appeared on the scroll.

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

Immediately after, a video followed. It showed an owl that snapped a branch and fell, but instead of hitting the ground, it crashed through a skylight into a dilapidated temple.

The owl had been resting on a branch above the temple, yet the temple had been invisible, hidden and transparent. It wasn't until the owl crashed inside that the existence of the temple was revealed.

Someone had stumbled upon a Mountain God Temple!

Zhu Jiusi instantly perked up.

In the video, a Mountain God statue stood in the center, with various hammers placed below it.

"Treasure?"

"Secret Realm?"

The chat room became lively. It was already the third day since they arrived, and many people had been trying to explore the mechanics of Journey Survival.

There were all sorts of guesses.

Immortal trials, doomsday games, consciousness worlds...

Had this owl entered something akin to a Secret Realm?

Sparrow: "You can renovate your nest here!"

After saying this, he sent a string of exclamation marks, his words revealing he had seen something truly hellish: "My bird's nest was left back at the starting point ages ago!!"