Divine Tang Era

The forest was dense, and even if there were wild animals, they would disappear at the slightest sound of wind or noise.

By the time he arrived, the person had already vanished.

There were some small fish in the stream, and new shoots from the trees and grasses in the forest that could be eaten as wild vegetables. However, he only wanted to eat meat right now, so he would save the fish and vegetables for later.

Since he couldn't find it in the forest, Xu Dan decided to go to the grasslands outside.

I saw so many wild animals a few days ago, there's no reason I can't find them.

At the very least, we could see what that cloud-like, jade-colored radiance we saw that day was all about.

Having made up his mind, he was about to leave the forest when he suddenly heard a rustling sound. Xu Dan stopped and waited a while, then heard a series of "yo-yo" sounds coming from afar. It was the call of deer; he hadn't expected there to be deer here.

Xu Dan's eyes lit up, he stopped in his tracks, and turned to walk toward the sound coming from Lu Ming.

Deer are timid animals. To avoid being frightened away by their own movements, they no longer swagger around as before, but walk cautiously, like little mice stealing oil and eggs.

The sound grew closer, and Xu Dan dared not go any further, fearing he might scare the deer away.

I quietly climbed a tree and looked around.

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead in frustration, wondering if he was being foolish for not using his supernatural abilities. Immediately, he focused his gaze, his upper black pupil and lower purple-gold pupil aligning and converging into a single line. The scene in the distance came into view.

A herd of white-lipped deer, like elegant ladies, strolled leisurely through the forest.

Several stags with large antlers watched their surroundings warily, their ears twitching slightly as they listened carefully to the sounds around them; some gentle does lowered their heads to chew on tender buds, while some fawns ran carefree beside their parents, yet were tightly protected within them.

Each of these deer had a cloud of mist floating above its head. It was white, just a small white cloud, and these were all ordinary deer.

Looking at the clouds of fortune, Xu Dan frowned. The constant appearance of these clouds when observing distances felt strange; it would be better if they disappeared. Just as he was pondering how to remove the ability to see white clouds, the white clouds vanished above the deer herd in the blink of an eye.

"Huh?"

So it's controlled by thought, that makes things easier.

Xu Dan tried to manipulate the clouds of fortune above the deer herd, making them appear and disappear repeatedly. After playing for a while, he suddenly felt a little dizzy, realizing it was too mentally taxing, and immediately dared not try again.

Take a break and recharge.

The deer herd had slowly approached, completely unaware that a person with ulterior motives was lurking in the forest.

Xu Dan did not make any move, but patiently waited for the deer to approach.

Closer, closer, closer. He kept calculating the distance between them in his mind, gripping the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer tightly. The deer herd drew closer, and just then, Xu Dan moved. He leaped out of the forest, grabbing the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer and hurling it at the nearest stag.

It was as fast as an arrow released from a bow.

The buck saw someone jump up from the forest and reacted quickly.

Just as it turned its head, the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer caught up, piercing through its chest, then drilling into the hindquarters of a doe, grazing the head of a fawn, and embedding itself straight into the trees behind it.

As he threw the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, Xu Dan simultaneously drew his Eight-Degree Sword and pounced on the deer herd.

But it jumped too far and landed among the deer.

The deer, terrified, fled in a frenzy, one of them running right into Xu Dan's arms and being killed by his sword. He was about to kill more, but seeing several deer already lying on the ground, he stopped. It would be too wasteful; he already had plenty of meat, enough to last him a long time.

The herd of deer quickly dispersed, leaving behind only the three dead deer and a pool of blood.

Xu Dan was too small to carry more than one deer at a time. To avoid being chased by wild animals in the forest by the scent of blood, he quickly carried one deer to the front and then came back to carry the other. After several such trips, he finally managed to bring all the white-lipped deer back to the treehouse.

There's too much venison; it won't keep for long in this weather.

Xu Dan used the old method of smoking to preserve the meat. Smoking is simple in this place; you just need to put the skinned and chopped meat on the smoking rack.

There are plenty of pine trees here; the aroma from the smoke will definitely taste better than from the underground caves.

So he began processing the venison, first removing the entrails and then skinning it. He had originally planned to dig a trap and use the entrails to catch something. But seeing so much venison in his hands, he abandoned that idea and instead smoked the entrails over a fire. After smoking, he buried them to prevent wild animals from smelling them and digging holes to steal them at night.

Soon, the skinned meat was cut into large chunks and hung on a large wooden frame made of tree trunks.

Xu Dan placed dry firewood and leaves underneath and lit a fire, then put fresh pine branches on top to smoke it. As for the flames, he always relied on drawing them on the stone with his Eight-Degree Sword.

There were no stones here, so they used the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, which produced more sparks than stones. In an instant, a thick plume of smoke shot straight into the sky.

"If someone were nearby, they would definitely come to check, and then I could return to the civilized world," Xu Dan thought, gazing up at the column of smoke. Unfortunately, after waiting for three days, not a single person appeared, causing him to lose all hope that anyone was nearby.

In the past two days, the internal organs of the white-lipped deer, which had been smoked and buried in the ground, were still dug out.

I wonder what stole it from; that's quite a taste.

Xu Dan wasn't unaware of it, but he didn't dare to go out at night.

When he checked during the day, he found that the burial site had been dug up, and the internal organs were nowhere to be seen. That night, he also saw something that seemed to have smelled something and ran to the treehouse, but the door was closed, and it couldn't get in. The thing could only scratch outside, while Xu Dan just slept and ignored it.

I don't know what that thing was, it scratched for a long time and then started making noises. It sounded so pitiful, like it had lost its parents.

Xu Dan originally wanted to go out and kill it, but then he thought that it was a life no matter what, so he decided against it.

Actually, I was a little scared. His delicate skin and tender flesh were exactly what those animals wanted.

The smoked venison was all kept inside the house, and a special cabinet was made for its storage, just in case it was stolen. With food in hand, he also fetched some water to store, so there was no need to worry about water and food shortages for the time being.

This way, he will have time to do his own things.

Xu Dan is not a person who enjoys crowds.

Living in this place with its fresh air and sparse population wasn't bad for him. But... now that he was here, as a child, he had to explore and see what kind of world this was, otherwise he wouldn't be content.

So, the day after processing the venison, he set off with water and food.

While you're at it, cut down the wooden ladder to prevent wild animals from coming to your door again.

Although no one came after he smoked the venison, making him suspicious of the possibility that someone was nearby, he couldn't rule out the possibility that someone was indeed there but couldn't come for some reason. Therefore, he decided to go and check it out himself. He would search all four directions—east, west, south, and north—and if he was sure no one was there, he would have to head east.

Why is it in the east?

Because China's terrain is high in the west and low in the east, the eastern coastal areas are mostly hilly and plain.

Of course, it may not be the only direction; we'll see how things go and make adjustments as needed.