"Hmm, did you encounter anything strange?" Seeing Li Si’s expression, Su Heng’s heart tightened, and he couldn’t help but ask in a low voice.
"We found the meat of Tai Sui; it grows from the ground," Li Si frowned and said, "but we heard some unsettling rumors from the villagers."
"Let’s hear them."
"At first, the villagers discovered Tai Sui growing in the ground. Many people dug it up and took it home to eat. What’s more, no matter how much was taken out, it would grow back the next day. The villagers of Heikui Mountain thought it was a treasure bestowed by heaven. However, they soon ran into problems..."
"Those who had eaten the meat of Tai Sui starved to death," Li Si said.
"Starved to death?" Su Heng couldn’t believe it.
"Mmm." Li Si nodded, "The villagers say, after eating the meat of Tai Sui, they couldn’t eat anything else. But this thing is peculiar, the more you eat, the more rapidly your body becomes emaciated, and by the time of death, only skin and bones remain. It’s almost as if..."
"It’s as if the nutrients of their bodies were consumed by the meat of Tai Sui," Su Heng said softly.
"Exactly," Li Si agreed.
"I’ve seen the corpses of those dead villagers; the skeleton of an adult looked like that of a seven or eight-year-old child. A misshapen skeleton covered with a layer of withered, darkened skin. I’ve faced many dangers in my time, but I was still somewhat frightened when I first saw that scene."
"The old farmer on the black market had no good intentions," Su Heng remarked softly.
"Master..." Li Si looked at Su Heng with a worried expression.
Su Heng knew what he was thinking, shrugged his shoulders, and turned to look directly into Li Si’s eyes, "Do you think I look like there’s something wrong with me now?"
Li Si shook his head.
"There you have it," Su Heng said softly, "Here’s what we’ll do, offer the villagers some silver tael or food in exchange for the Tai Sui meat. Despite the unsavory rumors, I need that stuff. I’ll leave this matter in your hands."
"No problem," Li Si nodded.
Although the story sounded bizarre, as long as the meat of Tai Sui wasn’t consumed, there shouldn’t be any major issues.
The meat of Tai Sui had been appearing in Heikui Mountain for several months, and those villagers were still living there healthily.
Thus, after accepting this task, Li Si himself wasn’t too fearful.
"More and more peculiar things are happening in the world," Su Heng said quietly, watching Li Si’s hastily departing figure.
Ever since consuming the flesh of a water ghost, Su Heng had realized his body was extraordinary.
His attribute panel gave him a formidable ability.
It made him fearless of most curses and corpse poisons.
However, he couldn’t afford to be careless. The world was changing, and to go further, he must remain cautious.
...
And so, half a month swiftly passed.
The climate was gradually warming up, but the people of Changqing County were not happy about the arrival of warmer weather; a strange and oppressive haze covered the entire city, and the vibrant life of spring had disappeared.
Water ghost attacks on residents were still happening, and with increasing frequency.
Even though the county government tried to hide the news, fear was uncontrollably spreading, gradually leading to a loss of order.
Cases of violence, harm, and robbery were occurring frequently.
In just a short period of less than half a month, hundreds of gangs emerged in Changqing County.
Among those gangs, the ones with the most members and the best equipment, who were also the most audacious, even dared to attack officials and people from the three major families.
Some people in Changqing County wanted to leave.
But it was difficult,
Changqing County is located in a valley, and to reach the outside world, one had to cross Heikui Mountain.
There is a highway in Heikui Mountain, and it was normally fine to travel on.
But recently, for some unknown reason, fog had started to rise in the mountains, and there were frequent reports of wild animals attacking travelers.
The roads were blocked, making Changqing County feel like a huge cage.
This also led to an increasingly oppressive and restless atmosphere in the city…
Boom!
The weather was gloomy, with dark clouds rolling.
A thunderclap sounded in the distant sky, and several black crows with red eyes flapped their wings, swooping over the eaves.
Under the eave, Su Heng slowly opened his eyes.
[Su Heng]
[Height: 1.90 meters]
[Weight: 265 pounds]
[Stage: Vein Mutation 55%]
[Cultivation Technique: Pure Yang Skill Level Eight (special effect: Pure Yang True Qi), Black Evil Technique (Beginner)]
[Attribute Points: 30]
Because he had obtained a large amount of genial beast meat from Heikui Mountain, his rate of attribute point increase had accelerated compared to the past.
Besides that, the progress of his vein mutation had advanced from thirty-five to fifty-five points.
As for cultivation techniques…
Even with thirty attribute points.
The Pure Yang Skill still could not advance to the next stage, hitting a threshold.
Su Heng had a guess that this technique was almost fully cultivated to its peak by him, and although it was possible to break through further, it would require a large number of attribute points.
As for deciding what to do, Su Heng hadn’t made up his mind yet.
However, during this time, Su Heng had managed to cultivate the Black Evil Technique among the other two internal cultivation techniques to the beginner level.
A plus sign faintly appeared behind the Black Evil Technique.
"First continue to accumulate attribute points. If I still can’t advance the Pure Yang Skill at fifty attribute points, then I’ll switch to cultivating the Black Evil Technique and the Red Poison Technique,"
Su Heng briefly thought it over and soon had a rough plan.
With his cultivation of the Black Evil Technique, Su Heng gained more understanding about the vein mutation.
Different cultivation techniques correspond to different veins.
For instance, the veins corresponding to the Pure Yang Skill are in the contours of the body, while those of the Black Evil Technique involve the arms and throat.
If continuing with this line of thought,
A single technique could not bring Su Heng’s vein mutation to one hundred percent.
To bring his physique to the ultimate level, he had to assimilate and master the strengths of various schools.
This was not an easy task.
Fortunately, his talent was exceptional, and he also had the support of the attribute panel.
Reaching this stage was not difficult and, evidently, would not take too long.
Yet…
Su Heng had always been exploring on his own since he began his cultivation.
He felt that he still lacked a complete cultivation system, which could cause him to take many detours.
"Why haven’t those two Grandmasters from Qingmao Mountain arrived yet?" Su Heng thought of the Grandmasters from Qingmao Mountain whom Su Gui had once mentioned; perhaps they had the heritage in this area.
However,
He didn’t know what accident they might have encountered on the road.
The journey from Qingmao Mountain to Changqing County only took about seven or eight days, yet it had already been half a month, and there was still no news from the two Grandmasters.