The terrain in the mountains changed frequently, and one wrong step could leave one lost among the hills. Chen Shi often ventured into the mountains, but if he wasn’t careful, he would still get lost.
Now, the stone ship was like a bright beacon in Qianyang Mountain, constantly emitting a rosy glow that guided them.
What was even more terrifying was the clash between those who had reached the Primordial Spirit level. The fluctuations emitted, even weakened by layers of mountains and trees, still made Chen Shi’s heart skip a beat when they reached him. It was as if an invisible wave had pierced through his heart, causing his heart to either stop abruptly or race.
Those who had cultivated their Primordial Spirit were just that powerful.
"Sir Li faked his death to escape, making the stone ship the focal point of the heroes’ contention, while he himself could watch coldly from the sidelines. Indeed, it’s a clever strategy."
Chen Shi led the way forward when he suddenly said, "But, after all, Sir Li only faked his death. After the incident with the stone ship, if Sir Li starts moving around again, wouldn’t he be laughed at?"
Li Xiaozheng didn’t mind and leisurely said, "If it brings real benefits, why should I care about the notoriety? Moreover, if I get the Great Ming Treasure Ship, my power greatly increases and the Li Family values me more. As my status rises, some will mock me, but others will respect me. Then, I’ll pick a few highly respected scholars, give them some money, and naturally, they’ll speak well of me. Their words, lacking reason, will still make some sense."
They climbed over a cliff and passed through a valley when Chen Shi suddenly slowed down.
Li Xiaozheng and Li Tianqing were puzzled and followed Chen Shi’s gaze, only to see a few dozen grey-clothed figures, with grey shoes and hats, only about seven or eight inches tall, playing on the grass ahead.
The little grey-clothed figures, seeing them, seemed frightened and hastily ran into the woods.
Li Xiaozheng’s eyes lit up: "This group of little grey-clothed figures must be Spiritual Medicine that has gained spirituality after thousands of years! If we can follow them and find where their roots are, we could harvest a lot of high-quality Spiritual Medicine. Consuming them could enhance our Cultivation Realm, and even save lives!"
Chen Shi took out a few incense sticks, lit them, and planted them in the ground, indicating they should bypass this patch of woods.
Li Xiaozheng, surprised, stepped forward to follow him.
"You’re wrong, sir. These are wolfsbane that has formed spirits. Eating them, even if you have reached the Primordial Spirit level, would cause you to burst and die immediately," explained Chen Shi cautiously as he scanned the surroundings. "Moreover, these little grey figures are somewhat ferocious. They’ve crafted many fine needles, incredibly thin, thinner than cow hair, and coated with poison. If we disrespect them, they would come out holding bamboo tubes and blow poisoned needles at us."
Li Xiaozheng looked back and saw many little grey figures had come out of the woods again, each holding a bamboo tube and carrying a quiver made of leaves filled with poisoned needles on their backs.
Seeing the incense Chen Shi had left, they immediately gathered around and sniffed curiously.
The leader of the little grey figures gestured towards Chen Shi, the motion bizarre, as if communicating.
Chen Shi gestured back, equally anomalously.
The little grey figure leader returned among his people, while Chen Shi continued forward with Li Tianqing and Li Xiaozheng.
"Qianyang Mountain is truly filled with such strange wonders."
Li Xiaozheng was quite amazed and laughed, "If one’s cultivation is slightly lower and they rashly enter the mountains, they would certainly die without knowing how. However, such minor techniques are useless against descendants of great clans."
No sooner had he spoken, they saw about a dozen corpses sprawled on both sides of the mountain path, each with darkened faces and blood flowing from all orifices – clearly victims of poisoning!
The surrounding mountains and forests were in disarray, the damage caused by Golden Core cultivators.
These people appeared to have been ambushed and suffered heavy casualties.
Li Tianqing examined the bodies and said, "These are people from the Xia Family... ahead there are more! They’re from the Yang Family... over there are also masters from the Xu Family, many dead!"
Li Xiaozheng, unfazed, addressed Chen Shi, "Being at the Golden Core stage, they are merely peripheral members of the big clans. They didn’t keep their Golden Cores activated at all times, so it’s their own fault they were ambushed by the little grey figures. If they had kept their Golden Cores active, this wouldn’t have happened."
The three of them and a dog continued on and found several middle-aged men lying dead on the road.
One of them still clutched the body of a little grey figure, his death particularly brutal.
He was bleeding from every facial orifice, his flesh including his internal organs completely dissolved, leaving only his skin and clothes. Astonishingly, his divine shrine, Divine Embryo, and Nascent Soul had turned into a pool of black water, apparently having died not long ago.
The deaths of the other few were also extremely horrific, but they weren’t poisoned by consuming the little grey figures.
Li Tianqing further investigated and said, "There are many hair-like fine needles stuck into the soles of their feet, likely from needles that were set on the ground, piercing their shoes and feet, killing them through poisoning."
Chen Shi looked at Li Xiaozheng.
Li Xiaozheng, his expression unchanged and smiling, said, "Among the great clans, there are often some greedy Nascent Soul Realm mediocrities who don’t recognize poisons, thinking they are supreme Spiritual Medicines, and meet their deserved fate here."
Chen Shi couldn’t help but praise, "Sir Li needs no scholars. Sir Li is himself a scholar."
Li Xiaozheng laughed heartily, not at all embarrassed.
As they reached a dry riverbed nearby, they saw a strangely dressed man, quite far from the stone ship, sitting motionlessly when suddenly his ears started growing rapidly, within a short time stretching longer than banana leaves to about three and a half meters and about two to three meters wide.
His two ears stood erect, orienting towards the direction of the stone ship as if he were listening intently.
His Qi-Blood converged, and six arms sprouted from below his ribs, from front and back alike.
Each arm busily moved about, holding a brush, rapidly writing and drawing on paper, though it was unclear what he was writing.