Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 6 Dead Mountain Town, Mutated Monsters
Stepping into the dimensional node, space twists and turns.

The next second, they found themselves in a strange and eerie town, the entire town shrouded in a layer of eerie green light.

A slightly eerie female voice came from beside my ear:
"Welcome to the Beginner Outpost of the Mysterious Abyss, Dead Mountain Town. The town is a safe zone, and you can return to Dead Mountain Town at any time for supplies. Once you leave Dead Mountain Town, you can begin your adventure."

The female voice was eerie and mechanical, devoid of any emotion, and didn't sound like a real person.

It's more like some kind of "system" message broadcast.

"Dead Mountain Town?"

Curious, I looked around. The gloomy, dilapidated houses were arranged in an orderly fashion, and many adventurers came and went among them, as if they had long been used to it.

Trying to use mental power to carefully sense it, one can vaguely feel the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from [Dead Mountain Town].

"The scroll depicting the Three Stars of the Copper Axis possesses extremely high spiritual fluctuations."

Yes, the entire Dead Mountain Town outpost is essentially a landscape painting.

Each dimensional node has such an outpost, serving as a temporary base and supply point for adventurers.

This eerie abyss area, serving as a "beginner dungeon," is protected by such a domain scroll, ensuring the safety of adventurers.

Most of the adventurers in the town are novice spirit masters of level two or three, with students making up the majority.

After a quick tour, I encountered no fewer than three university freshman training teams.

The new students who entered Dead Mountain Town were noticeably more well-behaved. They were all nervous, as if they had entered a haunted house, and were often frightened by the furnishings and scenes of the underworld in Dead Mountain Town.

"Ah~ Ghost!"

"But I always feel like something is following us."

"Can you stop making such a fuss? It's just a uniquely shaped gate tower."

"But speaking of which, why is there blood flowing from that gate tower, and why are there two rice dumplings hanging there as lanterns?"

"This is the style of art in the realm of eerie scroll paintings; you'll get used to it."

"Waaaaah, Mommy~ I want to go home!"

"What are you crying for? Now you're scared? Weren't you all so arrogant before you came?"

The teachers leading the group chuckled mischievously, thoroughly enjoying themselves; this was exactly the effect they wanted.

Wu Xian admired the various eerie and terrifying scenes in Dead Mountain Town as he walked, without feeling any fear. Instead, he began to comment on them in his mind.

"There are a lot of horror elements, but they're too formulaic, too low-level, and lack originality."

"The atmosphere and lighting layout are not very well done."

"This can even have a bronze axis three-star?"

It's at most on par with those horror-themed escape rooms from my past life.

Alone, he strode out of the domain light barrier of Dead Mountain Town.

The scene before my eyes suddenly changed; as far as the eye could see, it was dark, desolate, and devoid of any life.

Silently summoning the God of Wealth, he searched for prey along the rugged and treacherous terrain.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, I didn't encounter a single monster.

"Everyone says the monsters in the Strange Abyss are elusive, but surely they're not this elusive?" Wu Xian wondered to himself. "Or is it that there aren't many monsters left near Dead Mountain Town, and we need to explore deeper?"

Even after exploring for more than an hour, they still couldn't see any trace of the monster.

However, he inadvertently caught a whiff of "wealth" and, following the scent of wealth, successfully found two pieces of material brimming with yin energy, as well as a fleshy plant growing on an unknown skeleton.

Judging from the rate at which the God of Wealth's wealth increases, these materials seem to be quite valuable.

It's certain that we've broken even.

You spend money to run a dungeon and don't even encounter a single monster. What kind of situation is that?
"Ok?"

Wu Xian's gaze fell on the God of Wealth, and he suddenly realized something. He immediately put the God of Wealth into a scroll.

After a brief period of calm, things started to feel strange.

A chilling wind swept over him, and he felt a cold shiver run down his spine, as if countless eyes were watching him from the shadows.

"..." Wu Xian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It turns out that the God of Wealth was too "high-class" and scared the little devils away.

The next second, his legs were tightly wrapped by hair that shot out from the ground, and he began to experience various discomforts all over his body, as if some invisible force was choking him, making it difficult to breathe.

Looking down, a grotesque, disfigured face appeared, ripping open his guts.

Wu Xian was so frightened that he instinctively summoned the God of Wealth again.

"Ow—!"

With a roar from the black tiger, all discomfort vanished instantly.

The God of Wealth swept his majestic eyes around, his steel whip crackling like thunder.

boom! boom! boom!
In an instant, the surroundings were filled with ghostly wails and howls, and wisps of green smoke were blasted out by the lightning. Strands of invisible power flowed into the God of Wealth's body, turning into "experience points" to help him increase his painting spirit level.

Wu Xian collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief. After confirming that he was not seriously injured, he realized that everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Even so, I was still terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

After calming down, looking at the clusters of yin spirits and the strange remains around him, he instantly became excited.

He quickly pocketed his spoils, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hiss~ The damage is a bit much," Wu Xian said with a hint of heartache as he looked at the badly damaged and grotesque corpses. "Please, take it easy, this is all hard-earned money!"

While collecting spoils, the God of Wealth's "wealth" also increases.

After killing monsters, you not only get experience and materials, but also extra wealth, which is a unique extra income for him.

One fish, three ways to cook it—how wonderful!

After finishing, he put the God of Wealth away again, his previous fear long since overwhelmed by the allure of wealth.

It's okay if you pee your pants from being scared, as long as you make money, and you can also practice your courage along the way.

Moreover, this method of fishing by yourself is quite efficient.

Unfortunately, the monsters nearby seemed to have learned their lesson, and after waiting for a long time, nothing happened.

Reluctantly, they had to find another place to continue "fishing".

As expected, the "newbies" were easily hooked, and a large number of them were ruthlessly slaughtered by the God of Wealth.

And so, wave after wave, they amassed a large amount of bizarre abyss material.

The God of Wealth also unknowingly advanced to the second star, his aura greatly strengthened, and the wealth around him became increasingly abundant.

【Mysterious Altar True Lord - Zhao Gongming】 Version: Original (Gold Embroidered Border)

Rank: Crimson Fate Scroll

Painting Spirit: ★★

Spirituality: 14
Innate Traits: Attracts wealth and treasures, protects the body with wealth, and controls lightning and electricity.
"Running dungeons is definitely the fastest way to make money!"

Of course, other spirit masters certainly don't have it as easy as him; they all live on the edge, risking their lives to earn money.

Although the profits were considerable, the cost of purchasing the scrolls was even greater.

……

In the town of Dead Mountain, inside a dilapidated mansion.

A woman in her early twenties, dressed and made up in a slightly eerie manner, opened her eyes in surprise.

"Huh, why are there so many refining profits all of a sudden?"

As the protector of Dead Mountain Town, Xue Lingling was filled with doubts.

Just now, [Dead Mountain Town] suddenly received a large amount of refining benefits, indicating that someone is hunting a large number of monsters, and in a short period of time.

This was the first time she had encountered such a situation since taking over Dead Mountain Town more than half a year ago.

"Could something have happened that prompted the training camp coaches to intervene?"

"Interesting. It seems there are some experts among this year's team leaders!"

It's important to know that the monsters in the eerie abyss are notoriously difficult to deal with, and anyone capable of hunting them down on such a large scale in such a short time is no ordinary creature.

He immediately raised his hand and tossed out a scroll painting.

The scroll unfurled in the air, and amidst the pervasive yin energy, it transformed into a mahogany coffin covered with talismans and carved with strange patterns.

Xue Lingling leaped into the air, stepping onto the coffin lid and flying out of Dead Mountain Town.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side, Wu Xian, having reaped a bountiful harvest, was already on his way back to Dead Mountain Town.

There were significantly fewer strange creatures around; even without the God of Wealth present, no monsters dared to approach him.

"It's like I'm the monster here?" This made Wu Xian both laugh and cry.

The journey was smooth and uneventful.

Unfortunately, this "calm and peaceful" situation only applied to him; the other adventurers were still in dire straits.

From afar, one could see a man and a woman struggling painfully amidst a pile of mechanical ruins.

The two stood back to back, frantically attacking the air.

One of the male students was holding a mechanical flamethrower, yelling wildly, "Aaaaah... I'll burn you all! I'll burn you all!"

A water elemental sprite floated in front of the female student, attacking aimlessly under her command.

"Waaaaah, don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! My parents are Level 7 Spirit Masters!"

Why isn't Teacher Liang here yet?

Wu Xian, passing by, couldn't help but ask curiously, "Um... what are you guys afraid of?"

“A ghost—!”

The next second, the flames of the flamethrower were already rushing towards him.

Wu Xian's mind went blank for a moment. He quickly summoned the God of Wealth to shield himself. The abundant flow of wealth easily blocked the scorching flames.

"Are you blind?" Wu Xian cursed, speechless.

Perhaps because of the appearance of the God of Wealth, the two who had gone mad quickly calmed down and looked around in fear, "Have they...gone?"

"Waaah, I don't want to play anymore, I want to go home!"

The female student appeared to be having an emotional breakdown.

"Thanks, buddy," the male student breathed a sigh of relief. "This place is fucking creepy, there are a bunch of weird bugs that are frantically crawling all over me."

"Strange insects?" Wu Xian was puzzled.

"You can't see?" The male student's face turned deathly pale as he spoke, his hand trembling as he pointed behind Wu Xian, "You...you...you..."

Tentacle monsters, formed from the fusion of machinery and flesh, appeared behind Wu Xian, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

At the same time, a bolt of lightning struck out of nowhere.

boom!
The terrifying mechanical tentacle monster convulsed and collapsed on the spot, thrashing about as it tried to burrow into the ground, but was struck by lightning once more.

Wu Xian turned around in surprise and discovered a bizarre, half-dead monster lying behind him. It looked like an octopus without a body, covered only in tentacles, its entire body pieced together from flesh and mechanical fragments.

"A mutated monster?" Wu Xian's eyes lit up slightly.

A mutated monster is a monster from another dimension that has been distorted and mutated due to the influence of other dimensional forces.

For example, this monstrous creature in front of us, mutated and infected by mechanical forces, can be simply understood as: a Frankenstein's monster.

The stitched-together tentacled monster struggled in its death throes, trying to attack Wu Xian, but was pinned to the ground by the black tiger under the God of Wealth's crotch and died instantly.

After collecting the Stitched Monster's corpse, a large amount of wealth visibly gathered on the God of Wealth's body.

"Good stuff!"

Everyone says mutated monsters are more valuable, and it's true.

Looking at the man and woman beside them, they were already dumbfounded, and it took them a long time to recover.

"So strong!" the female student murmured in shock.

"Wow, impressive, buddy! Which university are you a freshman at?"

Wu Xian ignored him and calmly walked away with the God of Wealth.

Only the two people were left, still shaken and unable to calm down for a long time.

Soon after, a giant blue dragon landed nearby; it turned out to be the teacher who had led the group that they had met in the Dimensional Plaza earlier.

"Did you two send out a distress signal?" The teacher in charge looked around in confusion. "What's going on?"

The two looked at each other as if they had seen a savior, "Teacher Liang, you've finally come, waaaah!"

"Was it dangerous?" Teacher Liang asked in a deep voice, "Did you handle it yourselves?"

"I just ran into a guy, he seems to be a freshman from another training team..." The two of them took turns describing the amazing scene they had just witnessed.

(End of this chapter)