Worry

The season had deepened into late autumn, and the air had turned quite chilly.

Rising in the morning, one could even see white frost coating the withered, wild grasses.

Within the mountain forests, the lush leaves of many trees had already turned a brittle yellow; with a single gust of wind, they rustled down from the branches, blanketing the earth.

Shen Changchuan had been back in Dawan Village for several days now.

During his absence, no untoward incidents had occurred in Dawan Village; all was well.

The worst-case scenario had not come to pass, and Shen Changchuan breathed a sigh of relief.

During these few days of rest, he had taken the opportunity to cultivate his Breath-Concealing Technique to the 100% level of perfection.

This was not because his innate talent and comprehension were superhuman, allowing him to master the technique in a mere few days.

Rather, it was the result of the efforts he had made a month ago while trekking into the mountains to search for the ruins of the immortal cave.

When he first set out along the map, he had been repeatedly attacked by all manner of snakes, insects, rodents, and even wild beasts and demonic beasts.

Even with the Spirit Eye Technique to scout ahead and avoid them, the constant harassment had been relentless.

At the time, he surmised that because his aura was completely unmasked, he was as conspicuous to the local beasts as a louse on a bald man's head, which was why he faced such constant trouble.

Consequently, Shen Changchuan had pulled the spell compendium summarized by the Four Evils of He Mountain from his storage bag and studied the Breath-Concealing Technique contained within.

He practiced this method as he traveled, restraining his aura as much as possible.

The subsequent events unfolded exactly as he had anticipated.

With the application of the Breath-Concealing Technique, he became, in the eyes of the passing wild beasts and demonic creatures, little more than a moving rock or a log.

He encountered few further attacks.

It was precisely because of this that, after reaching his destination, Shen Changchuan was able to remain in the dense forest and observe the habits of the Gale Falcon for several days, all while remaining perfectly hidden without being discovered.

Perhaps it was this very experience that allowed Shen Changchuan's insights into this spell to advance by leaps and bounds.

Unity of knowledge and action—perhaps that is also a shortcut to cultivating spells.

Reflecting on his journey through the mountain forests, combined with the process of perfecting the Breath-Concealing Technique over the last few days, Shen Changchuan had gained some new realizations regarding the cultivation of spells.

Deep within his heart, a seed had been planted.

However, Shen Changchuan had no time to ponder these thoughts in detail.

The day had arrived for the journey to Wu Family Market, as agreed upon with the masters of the other six villages.

On this morning, the cultivators from the six villages, located dozens to a hundred miles away, had organized their own people and driven three or five carts each, laden with goods, to converge upon Dawan Village.

The entire caravan totaled over a dozen carts and a hundred men.

The cargo on their carts consisted mostly of Spirit Grain.

It was stored in boxes crafted from inexpensive white jade, lined with woven Spirit Grain stalks to prevent damage during the journey and to stop the spiritual energy within the grain from dissipating.

Among the masters of the six villages, the Fan, Song, Miao, and Tao clans were all minor cultivation families with nearly a century of heritage, living off the spirit fields their ancestors had painstakingly reclaimed to keep their family legacies alive.

The Li Clan had been established by outsiders decades ago; it was said they had purchased the village from a down-and-out master.

The final village was somewhat different; its master was named Guo Cheng, and his specific origins were unknown.

About a dozen years ago, Guo Cheng arrived at the desolate Old Mountain Village and discovered a spirit spring with very thin spiritual energy amidst the overgrown mountains, thus founding the base of Old Mountain Village.

Old Mountain Village was not named after Guo Cheng's surname to form a "Guo Family Village."

Because what Guo Cheng established within Old Mountain Village was an organization called Old Mountain Temple.

It was said that Guo Cheng was determined to seek the immortal path and establish a sect, recruiting those with affinity as disciples rather than relying on family bloodlines to pass down his influence, and thus Old Mountain Temple was born.

Although, due to the fact that Old Mountain Temple had only been established for a dozen years, there were only three meager plots of spirit fields in the temple, and the Spirit Grain produced was barely enough to cover the required tributes, leaving only a pittance behind.

However, he possessed the craft of charcoal burning, selecting choice timber and combining it with spirit spring water and other materials to produce charcoal used to assist in alchemy and artifact refining.

It held a certain value, and he lived quite a comfortable life.

More than half of the Old Mountain Temple caravan was loaded with that specialized refined charcoal, clearly prepared to be taken to Wu Family Market for trade.

Among the six leaders, Guo Cheng possessed the greatest strength, having reached the fourth level of Qi Induction.

The other five were all around the third level of Qi Induction.

"Since everyone is here, good, let's set off!"

Once everyone had gathered, Shen Changchuan appeared. He swept his gaze around the circle and, without wasting words, directly signaled for everyone to depart.

The group was stunned for a moment.

The head of the Li Clan reacted first, hurriedly pulling Shen Changchuan aside to ask, "Wait, Young Master Shen, is it just you? Are there no others?"

"That's right. I have a storage bag; one person is sufficient. Is there a problem?"

They were well aware of the matter regarding the slaying of the Four Evils of He Mountain, so Shen Changchuan did not hide the storage bag he had taken as spoils of war, instead revealing it and giving it a shake toward them.

Come to think of it, seeing these people with their carts piled high, Shen Changchuan felt the storage bag in his own hand was exceptionally sweet.

He secretly thanked the four brothers of the Four Evils of He Mountain for their generous contribution.

"No, Young Master Shen, this journey is currently taking place while those roving bandits are running rampant. It is fraught with danger. Should we wait for more people before we all set off together?"

The head of the Li Clan could not help but be anxious.

In the past, although they had traveled to Wu Family Market in the company of the Shen Clan from Dawan Village, the Dawan Village guardian at the time, Shen Shiying, had a cultivation base above the fifth level of Qi Induction!

Coupled with the powerful methods of the Shen Clan and the assistance of everyone else, contending with an enemy at the sixth level of Qi Induction was not a problem.

Once the bandits struck, they could not kill everyone; if someone escaped and brought the news back to the Shen Clan thousands of miles away, it would be a disaster.

The fate of the Hu Clan in Dawan Village twenty years ago was still fresh in their memories.

Therefore, very few bandits dared to covet them.

But what was this situation?

When this young man from the Shen Clan had invited them to view the corpses of the Four Evils of He Mountain a few months ago, he had revealed his own cultivation aura, which was only at the mid-fourth level of Qi Induction.

Even now, his aura had not changed much from before.

If they encountered bandits, the enemy could crush them with superior cultivation, slaughter everyone, throw the bodies into the wilderness to feed the demonic beasts, and destroy all traces. Even if the Shen Clan behind him was powerful, they would have no way to avenge him!

The head of the Li Clan was, quite literally, startled out of his wits.

"Wait for people? Wait for whom?"

"Well, Young Master Shen, why not have your elders accompany us?" the head of the Li Clan asked tentatively.

In his eyes, it would be best if they could dispatch the Shen Clan senior who had dealt with the Four Evils of He Mountain.

"Elders? What elders would I have? It's just me. Let's get moving."

Shen Changchuan felt somewhat bewildered.

He felt the other party had misunderstood something, but he couldn't be bothered to explain.

He had been looking forward to Wu Family Market for quite some time and did not want to delay and miss the window.

After Shen Changchuan turned around, the head of the Li Clan, Guo Cheng, and the other four clan heads all exchanged glances, their faces filled with worry.

This... this boy was young and reckless, insisting on not listening to advice. What were they to do?!

The road to Wu Family Market was not an easy one to travel!