Wild cultivation begins with wielding the Taiyin talisman.

The sunlight was still dim.

Where the white shadow had just disappeared, a faint chill lingered in the air, like well water rising from the ground in late autumn. The frost on the surface of the sand had melted away, leaving only a few slightly darker damp patches, which were being dried by the wind at a visible speed.

Lin Caiwei stood there waiting for them.

She hadn't gone far. When the white figure appeared, she stopped there, her back to the pale silhouette, as if she hadn't seen anything. The wind blew the sand at her feet into a thin arc, around her cloth shoes, and into the depths of the wasteland.

Ning Che took a step.

His steps were slow, but his direction was clear—towards the girl. Lin Ye took two steps back and glanced back at Zhong Hongyao. Zhong Hongyao was holding the child, her face not looking good, but she still followed.

Lin Caiwei then turned around and continued walking forward.

She walked a little slower than before, as if she were waiting for them.

The three remained silent the entire way, exchanging glances, and even Lin Ye showed surprisingly little impatience.

The wasteland stretched out beneath my feet, with no reference points in sight, only the distant woods and the carriage behind me growing smaller and smaller.

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Finally, Lin Caiwei stopped.

She turned around and looked up. Sunlight shone from behind her, enveloping her in a warm, yellow halo.

The wind suddenly stopped.

She raised her little hand and pointed to the ground beneath her feet, where the soil showed obvious signs of being disturbed.

"Uncle, it's right here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sunlight seemed to dim even further.

The wind that had just stopped swirled around her, carrying a chill like the frost of midwinter, giving Ning Che a vague, indistinct feeling. He felt that this place, this moment, was like being bathed in moonlight, making him feel completely at ease.

A layer of white frost spread along the ground from the direction of her finger.

The sand rippled and shook, then cracked open, revealing bluish-black, withered finger joints.

Those were human hands, dead hands.

It gripped the ground and struggled to climb upwards, causing the soil to churn and bulge, which was then pushed aside.

Zhong Hongyao's face turned deathly pale, and she instinctively retreated behind Ning Che. Lin Ye also took a step back, assuming a defensive stance.

A human figure rose up from the sand.

His back was hunched, and the cuffs of his mountain guardian's robe were worn white. The fabric was covered in mud and gravel, as if he had been buried in the wilderness for a long time. His eye sockets were empty, two dark holes, pointing in Lin Caiwei's direction.

A narrow slit opened in the robe at the chest. The edges were clean, as if sliced ​​by an extremely sharp blade. A faint, greyish-white light seeped from the depths of the slit, slowly dissipating outwards.

Those were marks left by the Crescent Moon Blade.

It did not pounce on the crowd, nor did it roar.

It knelt down before Lin Caiwei.

The sound of the knee striking the sandy ground was muffled, like striking an empty coffin. The grayish-white wisps of light emanating from the knife wound on its chest drifted towards Lin Caiwei, as if drawn by some invisible force, landing on the sand at her feet and disappearing.

Lin Caiwei looked down at the crack, then looked up at Ning Che, clapping her hands in praise, "Uncle is amazing!"

Ning Che remained silent.

Zhong Hongyao also saw that face. Her fingertips trembled violently, as if she had shivered. Then she raised that hand and pressed it forcefully to her mouth.

The corpse remained kneeling, like a docile pet, while the ground continued to tremble, as if something more was about to burst forth from the earth.

The strength of this withered ghost is still unclear. If all these corpses possess the fighting power of the white figure from earlier...

Ning Che had felt his own weakness countless times, but he never had any way out.

He suppressed the turmoil within him, revealing not a trace of it. He stepped forward slowly, his tone calm: "There's no need to call them out; the vehicle can't carry that many people."

Lin Caiwei blinked, and without making any move, the trembling of the ground suddenly stopped.

"So, what does Uncle want to do?"

Her voice was still crisp and clear, exactly the same as when she asked, "It's right here."

Ning Che looked at her, his tone like that of a little tiger coaxing a cub that wanted to steal bird eggs: "Let them rest here for now, we'll go into the city first—when we get there, Uncle will buy you some delicious food and fun toys."

Lin Caiwei looked at him for a long time before finally smiling: "Okay, Uncle, you can't lie."

Ning Che nodded and straightened up: "Let's go back to the mountain."

He turned around, his pace as unhurried as when he came. Lin Ye and Zhong Hongyao quickly followed, and they could hear Lin Ye muttering curses under his breath, though they couldn't tell who he was cursing.

A very faint sound came from behind me. It was the sound of sand falling back to the ground.

The body sank again, without struggling, like a stone sinking to the bottom of the water. The sand closed up again, leaving only a few slight indentations. Perhaps with the winds of the wasteland, it would soon become indistinguishable.

The six people got into the car.

The mountain guard's horse, of unknown breed, was quite magnificent. It was pulling seven people and a lot of luggage, and its speed had not slowed down noticeably.

But Ning Che still miscalculated one thing.

He was always at his peak, but the driver wasn't. Traveling day and night like this, the driver simply couldn't keep up.

Reluctantly, after a brief discussion, the group changed their route again and decided to stay overnight at Shizhu Village.

On the way, everyone in the carriage was very quiet.

Lin Caiwei sat in the corner, sometimes glancing at Ning Che, sometimes at the desolate world outside the window. She had no expression and made no unnecessary movements, like a well-behaved child.

Zhong Hongyao sat opposite Ning Che, holding the child. She kept her head down, her fingers deftly manipulating silver needles, inserting them, twisting them, withdrawing them, then moving on to another acupoint, and inserting them again. Her movements were noticeably slower, and she didn't look up once more.

Lin Ye sat on the side, staring blankly outside. Across from him was Lin Xiuer, who kept her eyes fixed on the child.

Ning Che kept his eyes closed, cultivating while maintaining only basic vigilance towards the outside world. Time was of the essence; he wished he could cultivate for two days in one.

Just as the carriage entered the territory of Shizhu Village, a crescent moon appeared on the horizon.

Ning Che opened his eyes, saw his house, and stopped the carriage.

"Wait for me at the village entrance," he said.

Only Lin Xiuer responded; the others remained silent.

Ning Che got out of the car. His house was right next to the wasteland, which was quite convenient.

Pushing open the wooden door, the hinges made a dry, rattling sound. The room was dark; twilight streamed in through the window, dividing the floor into two sections of light and shadow.

The table, chairs, and bed remain exactly as they were when he left.

His gaze fell on the windowsill, where the cloth was still there, along with the white soil, and on it was a... bluish-purple, plump seed, its seed coat slightly raised.

It actually sprouted!

Ning Che quickly stepped forward to look: he saw that the sprout was just a tiny point, not yet showing its head, but bathed in the moonlight, it emitted a very faint white glow, similar to his Dao talisman.