The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3061 Returning to the Canyon
After nightfall, Chen Mo figured the two old men would be back that night, so he packed up all his belongings. Once everything was ready, he would pack up the tent the next day, and that would be it.

As for the black cloud beast in the canyon, Chen Mo thought for a moment and decided not to recall it. After all, he still needed the beast to perform tonight. Continuing their journey would likely have to wait until tomorrow night. Therefore, he decided to wait until tomorrow night to recall the black cloud beast, so as not to arouse suspicion or reveal the situation below the canyon.

"Amo, what are you packing up?" After finishing her practice, Ouyang Ruoxi heard the commotion outside the tent and came out. Seeing Chen Mo packing up some loose things, she asked curiously.

"Okay, let's pack these odds and ends first, so we won't have to spend too much time packing when we leave," Chen Mo said, turning around and smiling at Ouyang Ruoxi.

After all, although the three women were all martial artists and quite capable, they were still women, and they carried a lot of odds and ends with them. Therefore, if Chen Mo packed them up now, he wouldn't have to spend too much time packing later.

"Shall we continue on our way?" Ouyang Ruoxi looked around but didn't see anything.

In the distance, the lights of several family temporary camps were still on, but there was little activity; everyone was busy cultivating. Apart from a few people keeping watch in the darkness, there was hardly anyone else around.

"Not yet." Chen Mo said while packing his things, "However, I estimate that the two of them might come back tonight, and then we should set off tomorrow night."

"Ah, so in such a hurry? I was hoping to stay here a little longer and cultivate more," Ouyang Ruoxi said with some regret. She hadn't had much to do these past few days, so she had been focusing on her cultivation. Especially with honey as an aid, her cultivation speed was like a rocket, incredibly fast! In just a few days, she had advanced from the eighth level of the Acquired Realm to the ninth level.

Therefore, Ouyang Ruoxi has become less clingy to Chen Mo these days, immersing herself entirely in cultivation. The joy that cultivation provides is simply irresistible.

Chen Mo stepped forward, gently pulled Ouyang Ruoxi into his arms, patted her back, and then said, "Cultivation cannot be immersed in all the time. You also need to relax occasionally, otherwise your body and meridians will not be able to take it, and it may even lead to an unstable foundation. When you reach a bottleneck, it will be more difficult to break through."

"Yes, I understand. But my cultivation has improved a bit too quickly these past few days, and I couldn't help myself," Ouyang Ruoxi said with a smile. She, who always maintained a cold expression towards others, freely displayed her smile in Chen Mo's arms, and for a moment, the sweet scent of love filled the air.

Seeing Ouyang Ruoxi's radiant smile, Chen Mo secretly cast a calming spell on himself.

Just as the two were getting intimate, there was another noise inside the tent, and they quickly separated. Ouyang Nan and Ouyang Nana also crawled out of the tent, and their expressions were somewhat strange when they saw Ouyang Ruoxi and Chen Mo.

This made Ouyang Ruoxi blush. If it weren't for the darkness, she would have really wanted to crawl back into the tent.

"Amo, you just said that we're probably leaving tomorrow night?" Ouyang Nan asked curiously.

It seems that this aunt had already finished her practice and overheard his conversation with Ruoxi.

Chen Mo nodded and said, "Pretty much. I estimate that the two should be back tonight. If everything goes well, then we will definitely set off again tomorrow night."

Hearing Chen Mo's affirmative answer, Ouyang Nan nodded. However, she frowned, thinking about the situation at the lake, and was somewhat worried.

Just as they were talking, Chen Mo heard a sound coming from the bush passage.

He turned to look at the crowd and said, "You really can't talk about this person; he'll collapse if you do."

"Amo, what's wrong?" Ouyang Ruoxi asked curiously after hearing this.

"The two of them are back," Chen Mo said, pointing towards the bush passage.

Upon hearing this, the group immediately stood up and looked towards the path through the bushes, but after listening for a while, they heard no further movement.

However, they believed Chen Mo wouldn't speak without reason, so they continued listening. After a while, they finally heard footsteps.

Then, a light source was seen coming from the bush path, indicating that the two people had indeed returned.

Sure enough, as the light source flickered, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing emerged from the bushes and stood at the entrance of the passage.

"Elder Qian, Elder Zhou is back!" A guard on duty shouted as soon as he saw the two figures.

Immediately, the martial artists regained their senses and quickly ran towards the entrance of the passage.

In the past two days, after Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing left, apart from Chen Mo and a few others, the other martial artists were all somewhat worried.

After all, if the two most powerful cultivators in the team left, and a strange beast rushed over to attack them, it would be a huge problem.

Therefore, the martial artists genuinely hoped that Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing would return soon, so that everyone could settle down. It could be said that Zhou Zixing and Qian Ying had become the pillars of support for the martial artists in the valley.

"Elder!"

"Elder Qian!" "Elder Zhou!"

……

For a moment, all the martial artists shouted in front of Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing nodded to everyone, and then Qian Wantong nodded to Qian Wantong in acknowledgment. Qian Wantong then turned to the crowd and said, "Everyone, please go back first. The two elders returned late at night and need to rest. Go back now, and the elders will meet with your team leader tomorrow to discuss the next steps. Go back now."

Upon hearing this, everyone gradually returned to their temporary camp, but instead of resting, they quietly discussed something. Although the discussion was somewhat chaotic, it was clear that everyone's morale had risen.

Previously, when the two old men left, everyone was rather depressed, and morale was even somewhat low. Now that their support has returned, everyone's spirits are gradually returning.

As the two old men turned to return to their temporary camp, Chen Mo called out to Lan Caijie, who was hiding behind Zhou Zixing. At a distance of three and a half meters, the message could easily be relayed to Lan Caijie as they passed each other.

This time, Chen Mo didn't accompany the two old men to the lake, so he naturally didn't know what had happened to them these past few days. Therefore, to avoid being tricked by the two old men later, he contacted Lan Caijie beforehand to find out everything that had happened to the two old men at the lake.

After Zhou Zixing and Qian Ying returned to the temporary camp, they did not rest. Instead, they called Qian Wantong over and asked him about the situation there after the two of them left.

After Qian Wantong finished speaking and found that nothing serious had happened, he instructed him again to call the leaders of each family together at dawn for a meeting, as there were some things that needed to be done together the next day.

Seeing that there was nothing else, Zhou Zixing told Qian Ying and then returned to the Zhou family's temporary camp.

Although they didn't encounter any major difficulties along the way, they consumed about two-thirds of their innate energy in their dantian. It can be said that the small amount of the tiny red thread made them realize that although the defensive body wasn't very powerful, it was still quite useful.

On the way to the lake, there was a line of red defenses protecting us from the outside world. Even after we arrived at the lake, we only used less than a third of our innate power. This shows how important it is to rely on the defenses to pass through the Red Bee area.

So, on their way back, the two decided that they would not only continue to build defensive structures, but also gather more wood and shrub branches so that when they reached the lake, they would have enough materials to build a raft to cross the lake.

When the two of them began to meditate and cultivate to recover their strength, Chen Mo went to a secluded place, and Lan Caijie followed him.

After the two met, Lan Caijie reported to Chen Mo what the two old men had done in the past two days.

After hearing the report, Chen Mo felt somewhat relieved. Although he was very powerful, he now needed to protect three people. After all, Ouyang Nan and Ouyang Nana were Ruoxi's family, and out of love for Ruoxi, he also needed to protect them.

If danger were to occur and rescue were not provided in time, Ouyang Ruoxi might suffer the loss of a loved one, and their relationship might be strained. That's why Chen Mo's caution is ultimately necessary.

He hadn't expected that arranging Lan Caijie to monitor Zhou Zixing in the hilly area would bring so many benefits. It was truly an unintentional move that gave him the upper hand.

……

The next day, Qian Ying convened a meeting early in the morning with several family leaders and Zhou Zixing.

At the meeting, he briefly explained the situation at the lake and the purpose of the defensive structure. He then issued orders for everyone to work together to build the structure and collect wood and vines.

Once they reached the lake, if the bridge was unusable, they would need to build a raft to cross it. They had the wood, but not much rope to tie it up, so they would need to collect small branches from the bushes to bind the wood together and make the raft.

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately began to take action.

They cut down trees, gathered shrubs and vines, went to the hills to fetch water, and made defensive structures.

In fact, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing had privately discussed making more defensive structures and, while they were here, they wanted to collect some more honey.

After all, honey that can aid in cultivation and increase cultivation speed is no exaggeration. So, given the opportunity, I'll naturally collect some more.

Especially after these past few days of consumption, the warriors have almost used up their honey, leaving many empty bottles, so they can naturally continue to collect some honey.

Furthermore, for everyone, continuing to collect honey is something they are very willing to do.

Chen Mo hadn't expected that, despite his original plan to retrieve the black mist beast from the canyon after dark and then head towards the lake, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing, after creating numerous defensive structures, had Qian Wantong collect empty bottles before nightfall. Furthermore, following their previous honey-collecting operation, they gathered a large number of highly skilled individuals to prepare for honey harvesting.

As for the journey to the lake, it would naturally be postponed by one day.