Wild cultivation begins with wielding the Taiyin talisman.

As dawn broke, they finally emerged from the swamp.

Ning Che turned around and glanced back.

Behind them, near the swamp, the miasma had almost dissipated, becoming so faint as to be invisible.

But there are still many water rats, including some ninth-rank demon rats, so why is there not a trace of miasma left?

Could it be that the herb was the source of the miasma here, which is why the miasma dissipated as soon as it was pulled out?

But if that's the case, then why did the leader previously slay demons and weaken the miasma?

Ning Che stopped thinking; there was no point in dwelling on it.

My body is broken and exhausted, but fortunately the road ahead is still open.

As dawn broke, he arrived at Caixia Village and saw a stone tablet standing quietly at the village entrance.

Beside the stone tablet, there were three figures.

Lin Ye was pacing back and forth in front of the stone tablet, while Zhao He squatted beside it, hugging his knees, like a petrified sculpture. Zhong Hongyao was fiddling with a small blue bottle when she noticed them first.

"Star! What—what happened to you?"

She was first delighted, then startled, her gaze fixed on Ning Che's right arm, which hung limply at his sides.

Lin Ye also saw Ning Che. He was quite excited and rushed over, but stopped halfway. Because he stopped so suddenly, his feet plowed two tracks in the ground.

He saw Ning Che covered in blood, his withered right arm, and Lin Caiwei beside him.

Lin Ye's lips visibly trembled; a curse word was on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't know who to curse at.

Ning Che forced a smile: "Everyone's here—Lin Caiwei and I have already killed those four Rank 8 rat demons, we're safe."

"They're all here." Zhong Hongyao quickly stepped forward and explained the situation: "We've already asked the village cultivators to send a message to the mountains. Reinforcements should arrive soon. How are your injuries? Can you wait until they get here?"

Her gaze swept over Ning Che's withered right arm and the wounds on his body, finally landing on Lin Caiwei.

Lin Caiwei was still holding Ning Che's elbow, showing no sign of letting go.

Zhong Hongyao withdrew her gaze and turned to fetch her medicine box.

"Brother Xing, what happened to your hand...?" Zhao He also went around to Ning Che's right side, cautiously getting closer to take a look, but not daring to touch it: "You didn't get... done by that four-eyed rat..."

"Yes." Ning Che did not shy away from the question.

Zhao He was so shocked he stammered, "Then what? I mean, Chen Mu..."

Ning Che knew what he wanted to say, shook his head and sighed, "Thanks to Lin Caiwei for arriving in time, she saved my life."

He fell silent again. Lin Ye pushed past him and squeezed in front of him, pressing for details of the battle. Ning Che didn't hide anything and said a few words, but was interrupted by Zhong Hongyao.

She said Ning Che was badly injured and needed to be bandaged and rested; standing there talking would hinder his recovery.

Ning Che didn't feel that standing for a while would cause any trouble, but he had to follow the doctor's orders, so he had no choice but to comply and go to a house surrounded by the crowd.

Zhao He stood at the very back, his eyes red-rimmed.

Ning Che didn't forget to use his somewhat lacking emotional intelligence, pressing his shoulder with his good left hand.

Zhao He's gaze was fixed on his withered right arm, his lips moved, and his eyes reddened even more. The hand was still in the arc of holding the knife, the knuckles stiff, unable to straighten anymore.

"It's good that you're alive," Ning Che said.

Zhao He nodded sharply, buried his face deeply, and stared intently at the mud stuck to the toes of his boots.

This was someone's house, and it was utterly bare. Ning Che was led to lie down on a bed with a strange smell. Lin Caiwei followed him in and sat quietly in the corner by the bed.

Zhong Hongyao was by the bedside, and she bent down to treat his injuries.

From this angle, Ning Che could see a glimpse of spring. He closed his eyes, intending to rest for a while and open them again once he was healed.

But as soon as I closed my eyes, an overwhelming wave of fatigue washed over me.

So be it.

He thought it wouldn't hurt to take a break for a while.

And so I drifted off to sleep.

In a daze, he saw Chen Mu prostrate on the ground kowtowing to him. He wanted to help Chen Mu up, but he couldn't reach him.

Chen Mu kowtowed three times to him, then expressed his gratitude profusely, finally saying that the underworld was urging him to depart. Ning Che seemed to understand something and didn't stop him.

But as Chen Mu walked, a rat suddenly popped its head out from behind him and followed him.

Seeing this, Ning Che sensed something was wrong and tried to chase after him to warn him, but he couldn't catch up. In his anxiety, he shouted.

Then I woke up.

There were no old wood or rats, and I was still lying in bed. After a while, I couldn't smell the strange odor anymore.

His right arm was wrapped in layers of colorful strips of cloth, and it had noticeably thickened. The other wounds had also been treated, and the pain had subsided, making him quite comfortable.

Lin Caiwei remained sitting on the edge of the bed, doing nothing and without changing her posture in the slightest.

She seemed to have an exceptional ability to endure loneliness. If an ordinary person sat for a long time doing nothing, they would probably be unable to resist moving around.

Ning Che got up, preparing to go for a walk; he wasn't used to lying down.

Zhong Hongyao and the other two sat silently in the main room, the atmosphere heavy and tense. They only stood up when Ning Che came out.

Ning Che smiled and told them to sit down, saying he was just out for a look and there was no need for such a fuss. But the crowd still treated him like a rare animal, surrounding him as they walked out.

Outside, the midday sun illuminated the four large characters "Suppress Demons and Protect the People," and the peeling red paint on the characters looked like dried blood.

……

Seven hundred miles away.

In the mountains, in the council hall.

Inside the hall, sandalwood incense burned; it was made of ordinary sandalwood strips and had a very faint scent.

Mu Qingming sat upright behind the desk, his blue robe swirling in the smoke.

A map lay on the table, and his fingertips pressed precisely on the two characters "Rat Swamp" on the map.

A man in gray knelt in front of the hall, his head bowed low.

"The main medicine is gone."

Mu Qingming's fingers didn't move, but his fingertips pressed a shallow indentation into the map, where the words "Rat Swamp" were deeply embedded.

The hall was deathly silent, with the smoke of sandalwood rising straight upwards.

"That girl?" Mu Qingming's voice was very soft.

Cold sweat beaded on the gray-clad man's forehead: "Yes, I never expected her to—"

"bite."

The teacup tapped lightly against the table, the sound soft, yet like a heavy hammer blow to the heart of the man in gray. His words came to an abrupt halt.

The hall fell silent again, until a thin layer of ash settled in the incense burner.

Mu Qingming picked up his teacup and took a sip.

The tea had long since gone cold.

His gaze passed over the windowpane and landed in the southwest, towards the Rat Swamp. Seven hundred miles of mountains blocked his view; even as a sixth-rank expert, he couldn't see anything.

Legend has it that there is a vision that can see a thousand miles, and can see every detail of a region.

Such a realm must be incredibly mysterious; how could we not go and see for ourselves?

His tone was flat, even slightly amused, as if he were talking about something trivial and amusing.

"interesting."

He put down his teacup and turned the map over.

The back of the map was covered with names written in dense, vermilion ink, some new and some old. Some names were marked with an X, and others had small notes next to them.

He picked up his pen, dipped it in ink, and slowly drew a circle around a name.

The circle was drawn very perfectly.

That name is Ning Che.

After circling the name, he added two small characters next to it.

After finishing writing, he put down his pen, examined it for a moment, and nodded in satisfaction.

The man in gray knelt on the ground, not daring to raise his head, and naturally did not see what the two words were.

"Alright, you can go now."

The man in gray felt as if he had been granted a pardon and bowed as he withdrew from the hall. The hall door opened, and a burst of sunlight flooded in, causing him to squint.