Mountains and giant beasts, cabins in the woods

This time, Liu Xingmo did not sit in the carriage, but instead sat cross-legged on Bao Hei's back.

Baohei is very smart; it knows to just follow the route without needing its owner to pay attention to it.

Liu Xingmo entered a semi-cultivation state, circulating the "Turtle Shell Technique" throughout his body, and sharing his own blood and energy with his contracted beast, allowing Bao Hei to circulate another part of the "Turtle Shell Technique"—the turtle body method.

With his blood and energy replenished, Bao Hei felt a surge of strength and trudged along the long mountain path.

It grew extremely fast, reaching two meters in just one and a half months. Its shell was high and domed, with regular diamond-shaped cracks.

Its luck circulates naturally within its body, increasing and strengthening as its physique grows. Its luck is currently at the eighth level of the first tier, not far from breaking through.

Its master's bestowed "Turtle Shell Technique" has also progressed, with its blood and energy circulating throughout its body along fixed meridians, forging its skin, flesh, muscles, and bones. By calculation, it has just entered the first level of the Blood Path.

This is the power of innate mythical beasts as contracted beasts: cultivating both paths and complementing each other.

Liu Xingmo quickly exhausted his own blood and energy, at which point he took out a bottle of medicine, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

As the heart beats rapidly and the lungs contract violently, the spiritual energy in the air is absorbed into the body more quickly, transforming into wisps of blood energy.

There are fewer and fewer pedestrians on the main road.

Liu Xingmo continued his cultivation on his own.

Liu Yizhu would occasionally glance at him with a strange look.

After crossing another mountain, between two cliffs in a valley, there stands a majestic city wall.

We've finally reached the border.

The residents of the village, whether from the west town, the east town, the south village, or the north village, would never come to such a remote place.

Liu Yizhu led the way toward the city wall, with Liu Xingmo following behind.

Suddenly, a hedgehog as tall as two people popped out, its pointed nose twitched, and it bared its mouthful of sharp teeth: "What are you two doing here?"

Liu Yizhu replied bluntly, "Come chop wood! Let us out of the city!"

"My little darling! Stop bothering me, okay? The bears in autumn are fierce. We're counting on eating our fill to get through the winter!" The hedgehog rummaged through its quills and pulled out two coins. "Here, go buy some firewood by the roadside."

One side is engraved with flowers, and the other side is engraved with fish. The brownish-yellow metal disc is stained with green rust. It is a circulating copper coin with a face value of 10 pieces.

Liu Yizhu looked indignant: "I don't accept charity! Let me out!"

The hedgehog held out its paws to Liu Xingmo: "Go back now, okay?"

Liu Xingmo shook his head with a wry smile.

Since we've come all this way, let's accompany Liu Yizhu on his final journey, just as if we've made a friend.

The hedgehog shook its head and turned back, opening a small door a few meters high on the huge city gate that was tens of meters high.

Liu Yizhu and Liu Xingmo drove off.

The atmosphere changed abruptly as soon as we entered the wilderness.

The trees were as tall as mountains, their branches as thick as rocks, and their canopies as broad as canopies. A thick layer of fallen leaves lay piled up, where countless snakes, insects, and rodents lurked.

In the realm of the inhuman, even a scorpion or centipede can easily take a person's life.

Fortunately, there are skilled individuals stationed here at this time of year.

Several elderly men with profound presence, and a dozen or so majestic and powerful beasts.

In addition, a large group of woodcutters gathered here, sweating profusely.

They drove swarms of giant reptiles to drag the dead branches and leaves to a safe open space.

Armed with machetes and axes, and chanting loud slogans, they sorted the messy branches and leaves neatly and dried them in the sun.

They carried bundles of firewood, lined up in long queues, and climbed the sloping stairs to a truck the size of a house. After unloading, they returned to their arduous work.

This firewood will be transported to Midtown and sold to tens of thousands of residents there. The logging will continue into the depths of winter to ensure every household has fuel for their stoves.

Liu Xingmo drove up and asked, "Uncle! How much is this firewood?"

The tanned woodcutter chuckled憨厚ly, "I'll just give it to you! The land belongs to our family, the trees belong to our family, and the money I get is also from our family."

"Benjia" refers to the administrative group comprised of the Liu family's ancestors and elders. In Heilongzhai, "Benjia" is equivalent to "public family."

Liu Xingmo unceremoniously piled firewood all over the cart, his dark, beady eyes becoming even more resentful.

The only thing we could do was feed the turtle a few dried fish to urge it back to the city wall.

Liu Yizhu also finished tidying up a cart of firewood and drove back side by side.

Suddenly, several enormous shadows swept across the ground.

Instantly, everyone on the ground looked up warily.

It turned out that it was just a flock of geese flying south in a V-shape.

Liu Yizhu suddenly remembered something: "Go east, there are goose nests in the reeds over there, you can get bird feathers there. I collected some down feathers before, I can give you the extras."

Liu Xingmo clapped his hands and laughed, "I know that. I've been fishing there before, and I've already filled a whole bucket with feathers. After all, a fisherman never comes home empty-handed!"

"Air Force? What Air Force? Warriors riding birds? Is that your dream?" Liu Yizhu asked.

"The legion that returned empty-handed! It definitely wasn't me! Absolutely!" Liu Xingmo waved his hands in protest.

……

We passed through the dense woods and returned to the stone walls.

Fortunately, nothing happened this time. With so many experts in charge, no one dared to come forward despite the pressure from the strange beast.

The sun is about to set.

The jungle was pitch black.

A suffocating silence washed over us like a tide, with only the distant howls of wolves echoing through the valley.

The jungle has reverted to its dangerous nature.

The woodcutters also returned; they dared not linger in such a dangerous environment. They set up camp inside the city walls, lit a bonfire, and began to sing work songs.

Liu Xingmo and Liu Yizhu knew they couldn't go home today and had to stay here overnight.

The woodcutters' chants were very enthusiastic, just like their wine.

Liu Xingmo and Liu Yizhu were dragged from the edge of the camp by a burly man and sandwiched in the middle of the crowd.

These middle-aged men asked all sorts of questions, as if they were long-lost elders.

Liu Xingmo responded with a smile.

Liu Yizhu was not doing so well; he kept a deadpan expression the whole time.

When the woodcutters heard his name, they were all taken aback, and then wave after wave of them came to toast him.

Liu Xingmo chuckled to himself as he drank half a bottle of orange wine.

When he went to the car to get the new fruit wine, he found that the bag was already empty.

Oh no, I drank too much today and all the wine is gone.

Just as Liu Xingmo was trying to find a place to hide, he was caught by the hedgehog and taken back to the center of the camp.

Many eyes were on him.

Liu Xingmo chuckled awkwardly and said, "I'm just a nobody, don't mind me. Everyone, eat and drink as you please..."

"No! You're the leader of that newspaper-selling gang! You're the story writer!" Someone with sharp eyes recognized Liu Xingmo immediately.

Now, Liu Yizhu, who had just been the center of attention, was suddenly ignored.

Everyone gathered around Liu Xingmo, asking him all sorts of questions.

Some wanted to find out how the story would unfold, while others wanted to speak out against the injustices that had occurred in the past.

Some people, getting quite excited, grabbed Liu Xingmo by the collar and shouted, "You're just a writer! How could you possibly understand this story! That person was truly special, let me tell you..."

"Okay, okay! You know better than I do."

The party went on very late, and most of the woodcutters were completely drunk and went to sleep in whatever haystack they could find.

Liu Xingmo didn't know when he fell asleep.

When he woke up, he was huddled in a pile of hay, smelling strongly of alcohol.