The Beginning of It All

After stopping and starting along the way, Shen Ge now had a large wicker basket on his back. It was crude, but packed full of medicinal herbs and spirit herbs.

Wearing a grass skirt, Shen Ge walked along a narrow country path. It was the first sign of human activity he had seen in over a month.

After spending so long in the deep mountains and old forests, he was about to reenter human society, and the thought left him a little excited.

As for Little White, there was no way Shen Ge could take her out of the deep mountains and old forests. She was a wolf, after all, and was best suited to life in the wild. Still, Shen Ge had fed her several medicinal herbs that were a full five hundred years old, which should give her strength a considerable boost.

Shen Ge had also given her a task. He had found a Scarlet Blood Fruit Tree in a tiny stone cave, and it was a treasure: its fruit was the main ingredient in the Vast Origin Pill, which was used to break through to the Golden Core realm.

But the tree had only just finished forming, and it would be at least another thirty years before the Scarlet Blood Fruit could be harvested. So Shen Ge told Little White to check on it whenever she had time, lest someone else beat them to it.

"Who made this path? It's nearly overgrown, and they don't even know to cut it back." Shen Ge kept grumbling as he used protective Spiritual Qi to force his way along the path, through tangles of thorns and branches.

After going another two or three li, he heard the sound of wood being chopped and hurried over. Before long, he saw a man in ragged hemp clothes swinging an axe at a tree. Shen Ge waved and called out, "Woodcutter, brother, how far is it to the nearest settlement?"

The woodcutter turned and saw a man dressed in grass and leaves like a savage. He wasn't even wearing shoes, his two bare feet planted on the ground. The sight gave him quite a fright.

If he hadn't seen the flowers and herbs in the big basket on the man's back, he really would have thought he'd run into a savage.

The woodcutter put down his axe and pointed north. "Herb gatherer, you must be lost. There's a village five li north of here, called Sea Village."

"You're pretty lucky you haven't attracted any fierce beasts, being alone out here in the deep mountains and old forests."

"Thank you for showing me the way, brother." Shen Ge cupped his hands in thanks, then pulled a leaf-wrapped package from his basket and tossed it over. "This is some hemostatic powder I made myself. Please don't disdain it, brother."

After bidding the woodcutter farewell, Shen Ge strode off in the direction he had indicated.

Behind him, the woodcutter glanced at the ground Shen Ge had crossed barefoot, his face full of confusion. "Strange. Doesn't that young fellow bleed or feel pain?"

The more the woodcutter thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. People rarely came to these deep mountains and old forests, and a young man suddenly appearing dressed in leaves and thatch was strange no matter how he looked at it. What was more, the young man walked as though on level ground, as if the rocks and branches didn't dare stand in his way.

"Could I have run into a mountain spirit or wild monster?" The woodcutter shuddered in alarm, snatched up his axe, and hurried off in another direction, leaving even the firewood he had chopped behind.

But before long, the woodcutter came running back. He looked at the packet of hemostatic powder Shen Ge had tossed onto the ground, his expression somewhat hesitant. After struggling with himself for a while, he picked it up and left.

Moving swiftly, Shen Ge emerged from the woods in less than the time it took an incense stick to burn and saw the little village nestled in the valley.

Mountains enclosed the village on all sides, with only a narrow valley to the north leading outside. A creek of middling size gurgled through the valley.

At first glance, it looked every bit like a paradise hidden from the world.

Composing himself, still a little excited, Shen Ge strode down with the basket on his back.

Whatever else he did, getting a set of clothes came first. He had truly had enough of wearing this leaf-and-grass skirt.

"Mother, why isn't this person wearing clothes?" a thin, small girl asked, pointing at Shen Ge as she spoke to the woman washing clothes by the creek.

The woman clapped a hand over the girl's eyes and gave Shen Ge a disgusted look. "Don't look. You'll ruin your eyes."

Shen Ge had intended to tease the little girl, but with the woman glaring at him so unkindly, he thought better than to invite a rebuff.

"Auntie, does anyone in your village sell clothes? I lost mine in the mountains, and I'm really too embarrassed to enter the village like this."

"Get lost, get lost! I don't have the clothes you want." The woman waved him away impatiently, as though the person before her were a mountain spirit or wild monster.

"Clothes? Please come with me," said a young woman washing clothes nearby. She put the clothes she had finished washing into a basin and stood up.

The young woman looked a little immature, perhaps only seventeen or eighteen. She wore hemp clothes, and though her skin was somewhat dark from long exposure to the sun, her features were too pretty for that to matter. She was just a little malnourished and looked rather frail.

Shen Ge bowed with cupped hands. "Many thanks, Fairy. You have a kind heart, Fairy, and will surely be blessed for it someday."

At being called a fairy, the young woman's pretty face turned red. No one had ever praised her as a fairy before, so she lowered her head in embarrassment and said quietly, "If you keep that up, I won't get you any clothes."

"Han Yu, you little hussy, are you in heat? You see a fair-faced man and take him home. Have you no shame? You're a disgrace to your parents!"

"You saw it too. This man came out of the mountains looking like a savage. Do you even know what sort of person he is, daring to take him home?"

Listening to the woman's abuse, Shen Ge frowned in displeasure. A remark or two would have been one thing, since he really didn't look very presentable, but she was going a bit too far by keeping it up.

Shen Ge slowly turned to stare at the woman. The moment their eyes met, her body went rigid, and her torrent of words stuck in her throat as though someone had seized her by the neck.

"Auntie, know when to stop."

Han Yu left with her head lowered. As she passed Shen Ge, she said quietly, "I'm sorry. Please don't be angry. Auntie Wang only meant well by me."

Shen Ge's expression softened into a smile. "Don't worry, Fairy, I'm not angry. It's just that what this auntie said was too ugly, and I'm not used to hearing it."

"Come on, I'll get you some clothes to wear," Han Yu said softly. Then she walked straight off with her head lowered.

Shen Ge was just about to follow, but he put his foot back down as soon as he raised it. "Fairy, go on ahead. I'll follow at a distance."

"After all, I'm afraid that walking beside you looking like this might tarnish your reputation."

Han Yu didn't answer. He couldn't tell whether she had heard him or not, but either way, she didn't stop walking.

Once she was about fifty meters ahead, Shen Ge followed.

As soon as he entered the village, Shen Ge was rather glad of the decision he had just made. At the sight of him, women chatting among themselves pointed and whispered, young girls ran back into their homes with red faces, and some men even came up looking to hit him.

Shen Ge didn't want trouble either. He released Spiritual Qi from his whole body, forming an oppressive presence that gripped their hearts. Crushed beneath it, they all wilted like frost-stricken eggplants, not daring to take another half step forward. Indeed, as Shen Ge continued onward, the people in front of him kept retreating.