Yang Family Town

At dusk, the setting sun resting on the mountaintops had yet to fade, while the moon had already climbed the willow tips.

The mountain cold swept outward from the Great Wu Mountain Range, which lay sprawled across the earth, bringing wave after wave of bone-piercing chill.

Even though Shen Xiu's blood and qi were abundant and he had reached the second realm, the repeated cold gusts from the mountains still made fine goosebumps rise unconsciously across his skin.

He had now arrived near the Great Wu Mountain Range, fifty li north of Taixi City.

This mountain range stretched across Heyang Commandery for several thousand li. Its medicinal herbs and other resources were immensely abundant, supporting generation after generation of herb gatherers at the Foot of the mountain.

Shen Xiu had come to be a herb gatherer for once as well.

This was the final task he had accepted earlier.

He guessed that the employer who had commissioned the task was probably a wealthy woman, because the task was to obtain a Face-Preserving Fruit from these mountains.

It was one of the main ingredients specifically used to refine a Youth-Sustaining Pill.

As for its location, that wealthy woman had provided route and location details for finding the Face-Preserving Fruit. The map was fairly detailed; she had apparently spent a great deal of money to buy it.

Women truly spared no effort in their pursuit of beauty.

After walking forward for a while, wisps of cooking smoke rose into view. Rows of dilapidated little houses entered his sight, and a small town that depended on the Great Wu Mountain Range, populated mainly by herb gatherers, hunters, firewood cutters, and the like, slowly unfolded before him.

Shen Xiu had learned beforehand that at the foot of the Great Wu Mountain Range here, there was a place to stop and rest called Yang Family Town.

It was already nearing evening. Clearly, he could not stay outside for long. Who knew what might lurk in such wilderness in a world where demons, monsters, and evil spirits existed?

The moment he reached the town entrance, Shen Xiu saw several dried heads hanging from wooden frames on both sides, swaying freely in the chaotic wind.

Seeing someone arrive, a young man in a tattered red robe by the town entrance brightened. He strode over with the swagger of someone who recognized neither kin nor law, blocking Shen Xiu's path.

He glanced arrogantly over Shen Xiu from head to toe, then said lazily, "One qian of silver to enter the town."

Shen Xiu reached out and handed him a prepared piece of broken silver. The red-robed youth revealed a satisfied smile and waved him inside.

Before coming here, Shen Xiu had already asked around about this town.

It was said that the ancestors of the local Yang Family had first settled here. Over time, they gathered nearby refugees and scattered households, establishing this small town.

With the mindset of remaining vigilant in peace and preparing for a rainy day, they sent people to stand guard day and night, protecting the safety of the town's residents. As for what sort of protection they actually provided, Shen Xiu did not know clearly either.

Still, he was new here and had no desire to draw attention, so naturally he followed the local rules.

Once inside the town, a battered, pothole-riddled street came into view. Mosquitoes ran rampant in the black, filthy water.

The sanitation was truly beyond words.

Further down the street, equally rundown shops and taverns lined both sides.

This degree of decay was almost utterly incomparable to Guiyan Town, where Shen Xiu had been before.

Outsiders called it a town, but calling it a somewhat larger village would have been more fitting.

Shen Xiu entered a nearby small tavern with a wine banner hanging outside.

He found the tavern extremely rundown, its interior chaotic and disorderly. Many of the tables and long benches were split with fine cracks, while the bowls, chopsticks, and wine cups were all carved with reckless scars.

Yet even so, more than half the shabby tavern was filled with people, mostly men dressed in worn-out clothes.

Some carried herb baskets for gathering medicine, some held woodcutting blades, and others bore bows for hunting. They were all sorts of men struggling to make a living.

They drank and ate meat together, cups and bowls crisscrossing across their tables, while wildly boasting to one another and shouting their opinions as though none were above or below the rest.

The Great Wu Mountain Range was damp, and during the rainy season it became even colder and wetter. Before entering or leaving the mountains, some men drank a jug of hot wine to warm themselves. It was common practice among those living near the mountains.

After all, even when nothing happened, drinking a little wine and boasting a little could make the hard days of scraping out a living seem full of flavor.

Amid the rising and falling shouts and the back-and-forth drinking games, Shen Xiu walked to an empty table and set down the long saber on his back.

In an instant, gazes of every kind shot over from the other tables.

Most people who made a living gathering herbs in this area were familiar faces. An outsider appearing here was like tossing a black pig into a herd of white pigs—they would spot him immediately.

After all, the town had only so many people. They saw each other countless times every day, so they were naturally exceedingly familiar with one another.

Naturally, their eyes fell upon the corner of the Hundred-Refined Saber protruding from Shen Xiu's table. Strange looks flashed through their eyes, greed plain for all to see.

For people like them, who licked blood from the blade and climbed mountains to worship gods, danger was always present. Sometimes finding a fat sheep to fleece for a little windfall was perfectly normal.

Shen Xiu did not fear those gazes. After noticing them, he even exposed the entire blade, letting them see exactly what sort of saber it was.

Some of the cleverer ones recognized the saber's value. Then they looked at Shen Xiu's confidence, a bearing far from ordinary.

They naturally thought of the confidence backing him, and naturally weighed whether their own strength was sufficient—whether they could swallow him whole.

Sure enough, some of the dubious gazes in the tavern diminished. Some people calmed down, while others still stared at Shen Xiu's young face.

Their eyes were thoughtful, and no one knew what they were calculating.

Ignoring their varied expressions, Shen Xiu ordered a large plate of beef and a jug of wine, eating and drinking slowly. Once he had finished, his body gradually warmed up.

All that remained was to go out and find lodging.

Not long after he left the tavern, he immediately noticed two petty thieves following close behind him. They made almost no effort to conceal their movements, acting openly and brazenly.

As he passed a wall, Shen Xiu threw a punch.

With an explosive boom, the sturdy wall tore open a huge hole in an instant as though it were made of paper.

Seeing such power, the two thieves behind him looked at each other. After considering the toughness of their own bodies, they decisively and sensibly left.

After finding a rather poor inn, Shen Xiu made do for the night while clutching the Hundred-Refined Saber. Having asked about the directions, he left the town and headed toward the Great Wu Mountain Range.

The Great Wu Mountain Range had over a thousand peaks, some large and some small, some famous and some unknown.

This time, Shen Xiu was heading for Crimson Blood Peak at the tail end of the range.

Crimson Blood Peak stood roughly six or seven hundred meters high. Amid the Great Wu Mountain Range, it was not worth mentioning before those main peaks that rose over a thousand zhang, and could only be considered a small dirt mound.

It was named for the distinctive nature of its mountain body, which was mostly composed of red stones. When rain fell upon it, it looked as though it had been dyed in blood.

After setting out, Shen Xiu arrived at Crimson Blood Peak, the target location of his task, when vast swathes of red entered his field of vision.

He recalled the route marked on the map he had studied, identified a direction, and headed deep into a forest.

According to the map he had examined earlier, the Face-Preserving Fruit was located in the stone forest at the end of this woodland.