Chapter 95: The Mountain Pursuit

The boat drifted along the gentle current, with emerald, layered peaks rising on both banks.

A breeze came off the water, carrying fallen leaves one by one onto the surface.

I lay back on the gunwale, eyes closed, the faint fragrance of tea lingering in my nose.

It was an old-fashioned covered boat, the sort that looked almost out of place beside the modern pleasure craft that passed from time to time.

It belonged to a Miao father and daughter. The father poled the boat while the daughter sang Miao folk songs beside him. Her voice was clear and lovely, lilting and melodious, though I could not quite make out what she was singing.

“The tea is ready,” Huo Sirui said.

I sat up, took the cup, and sipped. Then I nodded. “Not bad tea ceremony.”

Huo Sirui said nothing, but there was still a trace of pleasure in her heart. On this whole journey, I had been the one living like a lord, while she had somehow become the maid.

It was as if the moment she followed me to Western Liang, she had sold herself to me.

After two cups of tea, Huo Sirui handed me a cigarette and lit it for me, as though she had done it countless times before.

But in truth, she had only been with me for ten days.

“Where are we going?” Huo Sirui finally could not help asking.

“Hundred-Cave Miao Village,” I answered, my gaze drifting far away. It had not been long since I left, so why did coming back again feel strangely weathered?

The boat went downstream, and by dusk it reached the pier of the little town below Hundred-Cave Miao Village.

At an old residence in town, I pushed the door open and walked in.

I lifted an eyebrow. It was the house Zhang Yueru had rented, and she had never given it up. I had thought that after so long without anyone living here, it would be covered in a thick layer of dust.

To my surprise, it was spotless. On the table, there was even a vase with fresh flowers in it.

“You’ll stay here tonight,” I said.

“And you?” Huo Sirui asked.

“As for me?” I lifted an eyebrow at her and smiled faintly.

She understood instantly and gave a low, displeased huff.

...

Hundred-Cave Miao Village, Shaman Peak.

Shaman Peak was a newly coined name; it had once been called Twin Peaks.

Mountain Spirit Grotto had likewise been renamed Shaman Cave.

The cave had been remodeled and now brimmed with the mysterious flavor of the Miao people.

Deep inside was a pool, and above the pool stood a lotus seat. On it sat a naked woman cross-legged, her long hair hanging down into the water.

Around her, a swarm of gu insects circled in flight. In the pool, a snake had raised its head, tongue flickering.

Beyond that, countless mountain spirits wandered in the darkness.

Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes. The gu insects gathered together and let out shrill cries.

All through the cave, brightly colored poisonous snakes slithered over and arranged themselves into a snake formation.

At that moment, I stepped out from the side and slowly walked in.

Ayouduo hurriedly ordered the snakes and insects to disperse, then stood up.

She was naked like that, utterly unconcerned with exposing herself to my gaze.

“Master,” Ayouduo said, bowing in the Miao manner.

“Mm. It’s been a while, and your strength has improved again,” I said with a smile.

Ayouduo wrapped herself in a cloth and led me to the inner room, which was her own boudoir.

“How is the matter I asked you to investigate?” I asked as I sat on Ayouduo’s bed, my eyes drifting to her pair of straight, snow-white legs. Yes, more than enough to keep me entertained for a year.

“I found out that Qu Yuanshan is currently cultivating in Mount Li. He should be looking for the right chance to break through. As for what happened to you last time, it has already been verified as a misunderstanding, caused by lies from two peripheral Taoists at the Daoist temple,” Ayouduo said.

“A misunderstanding? Heh.” I let out a cold laugh. To say it was only a misunderstanding and then hunt me down for so long—fine, even if what happened before was a misunderstanding, Qu Yuanshan’s ambush that drove me into the Burial-Sky Sand River was outright murder.

Was that all just supposed to be brushed aside? Impossible.

“Where on Mount Li is Qu Yuanshan?” I asked.

“Only the general area is known. It’s primeval jungle there; ordinary people simply can’t get in, and if they do, they never come out again,” Ayouduo replied.

“Knowing the general location is enough,” I said.

Trying to break through smoothly? Dream on.

At that moment, Ayouduo turned her back to me and bent down to prepare the Miao medicinal broth for me.

The cloth she used as a bath towel was very thin; under the lamplight, it was somewhat sheer.

My mouth went dry. That pose was far too enticing.

Ayouduo turned around and handed me the finished broth. It could clear heat and dispel toxins, and it tasted sweet and mellow. Among the Miao people, it was commonly drunk as tea.

I took it and drained it in one gulp.

Ayouduo glanced at the lower part of my body and suddenly gave a soft, delighted laugh.

“You’re my master. If you truly want it, I...” As she spoke, she reached up to untie the cloth around herself.

“Uh... I’ve got something else to do. I’m leaving first.” I sprang to my feet and fled in disgrace.

Ayouduo was excellent in every way. She matched my aesthetic standards perfectly, and if I wanted to do anything to her, she could not disobey.

But whenever I thought of the life-bound gu she kept there, I felt a shiver run through me, and a shadow settled in my heart.

The fire in my body was fierce and impossible to suppress.

In the darkness, I entered a familiar stilt house.

“Ah...” Mingxue’s voice came from inside, half shocked, half delighted.

Then her soft, winding cries rose and fell, at times like a clear mountain stream, at times like a waterfall crashing with thunderous force.

The moon, shy as a maiden, hid itself behind the clouds.

The next morning, I woke to Mingxue’s emperor-like service.

Thinking about it, I really was quite fortunate. Whether Ayouduo’s devotion was genuine or false, she was still my maid; my orders were heaven’s decree to her.

And Mingxue, this married woman, bent over backward to please me. I didn’t need to command her at all; she naturally treated me like an emperor.

As for Huo Sirui, that once-proud woman had also turned into something like my servant.

However, having only a rough understanding of psychology, I more or less knew this was dependence born of trauma.

Perhaps one day, if her mind were rebuilt, she would return to her former attitude toward me. Or perhaps that dependence would grow even deeper.

I went to the cave behind the cliff to check on Zhang Yueru. Her figure was already impossible to make out, completely wrapped in a cocoon of energy, and who knew when she would finally emerge from it.

...

Mount Li, also known as the Mountain of the Departed, meaning that everyone who entered it would become a departed soul.

The departed—the ones who leave.

This mountain lay at the northernmost edge of the Pousuo range, and half of it already extended beyond the borders of the country.

This was a no-man’s-land. Primeval forest stretched for nearly a thousand kilometers, making it the largest primeval forest in the northwest region.

With my pack on my back, I stood before a stone marker.

“No-man’s-land. Dangerous. Entry forbidden!” Bright red warning words were carved into it.

It was said that no one who entered the primeval forest of Mount Li had ever come out again.

“No one can come out?” I murmured to myself, then stepped over the marker and entered the dense forest.

Huo Sirui had wanted to come along too, but I was tracking Qu Yuanshan’s trail. If she came with me, she would only be a burden, so I left her in the little town.

On the outskirts, I could still see traces of human activity.

That meant there were still people reckless enough to come here, at least daring to venture around the edges.

But farther in, traces of human presence all but vanished.

Ever since I absorbed the soul power of Huo Mingzhong, my spiritual power had grown considerably. It showed most clearly in my perception of things: before, I could sense a flying insect ten meters away, but now that range had stretched to fifty or sixty meters.

The benefits were not limited to perception. Most importantly, it kept me alive. Those with strong spiritual power had an exceptionally keen instinct for danger.

Sometimes, a reaction time measured in a fraction of a second was enough to decide life and death.

Ayouduo had told me that three days earlier, someone had seen Qu Yuanshan enter Mount Li.

I held a compass in my hand and moved swiftly through the forest with nimble steps.

Along the way, I encountered many wild beasts: white-browed tigers, pit vipers, black bears, forest wolves.

Ordinary beasts posed no threat to me at all. The moment my baleful aura flared, they were the ones who had to avoid me, not the other way around.

I tracked him nonstop at high speed for two days and nights, and I had a feeling the distance between Qu Yuanshan and me was growing ever smaller.

Then, all at once, my rapidly advancing figure came to a stop.

The smell of blood!

I twitched my nose and swept my gaze over several shattered trees and the deep gullies carved into the ground. Everything showed that a fierce battle had taken place here not long ago.

Stepping over a broken trunk, I saw a corpse.

It was a monkey corpse, more than two meters long. Just by seeing the ironwood spike in its hand, still radiating demonic aura, I knew it was a monkey demon. That ironwood spike was a weapon refined from its own demonic energy, also known as a demon artifact.

A demon capable of refining demon artifacts and possessing intelligence was called a spirit, no longer merely a beast.

I took a closer look. The monkey demon’s skull had been split open, and its demon core had been taken.

If I had not guessed wrong, Qu Yuanshan was the one who did it.