Warning

Upon learning that the Chen Family intended to hire people to build a road into the mountains, Zhang Yuan felt deeply uneasy.

After fending off the neighbor auntie, the more he thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

Thus, Zhang Yuan did not linger at his old home and returned to Linhe County at the fastest possible speed.

He first went to the medical hall and sold two freshly dug Rock Ginseng plants, receiving nearly thirty taels of silver.

Zhang Yuan did not intend to save all of this silver to repay his debts. He spent more than half of it on cultivating the Boulder Foundation Skill, as well as medicinal herbs needed to nourish his mother.

The formula for the accompanying Medicinal Soup of the Boulder Foundation Skill was costly, but no matter how costly it was, Zhang Yuan would not give it up.

That was because combining medicinal baths with the stance skill produced excellent results. As long as he practiced diligently every day, his vitality and blood value would keep increasing.

Though the pace was slow, the accumulated gains over time would surely be considerable!

Naturally, his mother's medicine could not be stopped either.

So this bit of silver was not enough. Zhang Yuan needed to earn even more!

The problem was that his plans had encountered a setback.

Or rather, an obstacle!

After returning home and eating the dinner his mother had carefully prepared, Zhang Yuan shut himself in his room.

He took off his shirt, spread his fingers, and grabbed the Treasure Map pressed against his chest.

Then he tore it off with force!

Holding this human-skin Treasure Map, Zhang Yuan placed it beneath the oil lamp and examined it carefully, comparing it with his memories.

He discovered that the treasure-hunting route shown on it actually passed through the area where the Crow Spirit resided.

This was also the part of Thousand Peak Mountain Zhang Yuan was most familiar with at present!

Zhang Yuan had once speculated.

The strange entities had territories.

This guess stemmed from the several times he had cooperated with the Crow Spirit, though it was not necessarily entirely correct.

But the Crow Spirit clearly would not stray far from the place where it operated.

If his guess was right.

Then the Chen Family's road-building venture into the mountains, whose purpose was unclear, was very likely to come into conflict with the Crow Spirit!

And the Chen Family had invited the Linhe City God Statue!

A divine statue represented a deity. Like an imperial edict from the emperor, it carried the might of "as if I were there in person."

Five years ago, Zhang Yuan had awakened and gradually recovered memories of his previous life.

He had been filled with curiosity about many things in this world.

What intrigued Zhang Yuan most was undoubtedly the ancestral hall in the village.

Because the ancestral hall could ward off invasions by strange entities.

This special function of the ancestral hall was not a superstitious legend, but a real power that science could not explain!

Everyone believed that the ancestors who had passed on and were worshipped by their descendants were protecting them.

Zhang Yuan had once asked Old Master Chen about it.

Old Master Chen had merely smiled without answering Zhang Yuan's question.

There had been a strong air of "the Master did not speak of strange forces and spirits" about him!

Yet Old Master Chen had not denied the ancestral hall's function at all.

As for the City God Temple in Linhe County, it was a higher-order existence than an ancestral hall, capable of protecting an entire city.

What Zhang Yuan worried about was that if the Chen Family brought out the City God Statue to deal with the Crow Spirit, the latter would suffer badly!

After mulling it over, Zhang Yuan left home again early the next morning and headed for Thousand Peak Mountain.

Still beside that babbling brook, he swept his gaze around and called out, "Crow Brother!"

This time, Zhang Yuan called repeatedly before the Crow Spirit finally arrived late, landing on a branch not far from him.

The strange entity tilted its head, a trace of puzzlement appearing in its eyes.

"Crow Brother, I'm afraid we have trouble!"

Zhang Yuan let out a long breath, then told the Crow Spirit every detail of the Chen Family's preparations to build a road into the mountains.

By rights, Zhang Yuan was human, while strange entities were mankind's enemies. He should have stood on humanity's side.

But Zhang Yuan had never even considered betraying the Crow Spirit.

Without Crow Brother's help, how could he have gained what he had today? He would have long since been crushed beneath the Corvée Silver Chen Yuanwai had imposed on him, unable to turn his life around!

The human heart was more treacherous than any strange entity.

Between the Chen Family and the Crow Spirit, Zhang Yuan stood with the latter without the slightest hesitation.

After quietly listening to the end, the Crow Spirit did not speak, seeming to ponder something.

A moment later, it suddenly spread its wings and flew away.

Zhang Yuan was utterly baffled—what was that supposed to mean?

But he quickly received his answer.

The Crow Spirit flew off and flew back, taking less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea.

It carried something in its beak and dropped it before Zhang Yuan.

It was, astonishingly, a golden hairpin!

Zhang Yuan's feelings were simply beyond words.

Was this a gift of thanks from a strange entity?

He bent down and picked it up.

The hairpin felt heavy and substantial in his hand. Its design was simple and antique, carrying a unique charm.

A blood-red gemstone was set in the center of its floral ornament.

Though Zhang Yuan did not know much about gold and silver jewelry.

Gold itself was extremely valuable; one tael of gold was worth ten taels of silver.

He roughly estimated that this golden hairpin was worth thirty or forty taels of silver!

Of course, its exact price would still have to be appraised at a pawnshop.

After thinking it over, Zhang Yuan solemnly tucked it into his clothes and bowed. "Thank you, Crow Brother!"

The Crow Spirit flapped its wings. "Caw~"

Zhang Yuan suddenly realized.

Other than when they had first met, when the Crow Spirit had spoken a few words to him, it had barely opened its mouth during their later encounters.

The two sides relied entirely on mutual understanding to cooperate.

But that was actually quite nice. Better than having the other party be a chatterbox.

It was strange enough just thinking about it!

Zhang Yuan did not waste any more time afterward.

After obtaining the Crow Spirit's consent, he once again searched the surrounding area for living creatures that could trigger the Divine Nest.

Extraordinary genetic specimens such as ants and insects.

Since there was no fixed target, Zhang Yuan was still, as before, searching for a needle in the sea, wandering through the dense forest and hoping to stumble upon a stroke of great luck.

But Zhang Yuan's luck was clearly not as good this time. He wandered for nearly two hours and encountered quite a few animals and insects, yet the Divine Nest never reacted.

Only when Black Feather, accompanying him at his side, trembled in warning did Zhang Yuan reluctantly stop searching.

He left the mountains and returned once again to Chen Family Village.

Although he had already informed the Crow Spirit, Zhang Yuan was still not fully at ease.

So he planned to keep watch on the situation here every day. If anything changed, he could promptly notify the Crow Spirit.

As a result, Zhang Yuan found many people busy in the wasteland at the eastern end of the village.

They carried over timber and thatching, piled earth into mounds, cleared weeds, and leveled the foundations.

They were plainly building houses on a grand scale!

Without drawing attention to himself, Zhang Yuan found a child watching the commotion and asked around. Only then did he learn that this was another scheme by the Chen Family.

Relying solely on the able-bodied young men of Chen Family Village was clearly not enough to build a mountain road twenty or thirty li long, so Chen Yuanwai would hire more workers from the County Town to come help.

These houses were being built for the outside laborers!

Zhang Yuan had not expected the Chen Family to go so big, putting on such a display in this remote mountain village.

He felt there were many problems here, yet after racking his brains, he could not make sense of them.

"Zhang Yuan?"

At that moment, an arrogant voice came from behind Zhang Yuan!