Divine Tang Era

Across the stream lies a tall forest.

This grove of trees is of unknown age; the trees are very tall, and dead trunks can be seen lying on the ground from time to time. Because of its long history, the trees are covered with moss.

The tall trees blocked out the sunlight, making the forest eerily cold and devoid of warmth. This feeling became even more pronounced the closer one got to the stream and the more shady the area.

Xu Dan walked through the forest, wielding the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, occasionally smashing through the bushes ahead with the hammer. Every single weed and shrub in the forest was taller than him, so he had to smash through them to move forward. Sometimes he even had to jump into a tree to see the path ahead.

He once tried to walk by jumping in the trees, but he almost fell down once because he didn't stand properly, which made him completely give up the idea.

Emerging from the woods, one finds a hillside covered with scattered rocks and trees, making it difficult to traverse.

Xu Dan is short, needless to say. He hopped and skipped along the way, like a rabbit or a groundhog. He finally climbed the mountain and wanted to see the distance, but his view was blocked by tall trees. Helpless, he could only climb the trees.

Looking ahead, an endless expanse of verdant green stretches across the land, undulating and winding.

After observing for a while, Xu Dan noticed what appeared to be a tall mountain in the far east.

It seemed his decision to go east was right; perhaps he could find a place where people gathered after crossing that mountain. He looked east, then north, then south, and finally west, where he saw a continuous range of foothills. Seeing this, he lost all desire to explore further. For someone his age, entering the forest would be like throwing a grain of sand into the ocean.

When the time comes, don't ask anyone for help; just don't be the one being asked for help.

"roar"

Suddenly, a loud roar came from the mountains.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Xu Dan ran in the direction of the roar. A short while later, he arrived at the foot of the mountain valley. To his left was a cliff face, and near the summit, a rock jutted out, forming a brim that covered the cliff.

A swarm of black bees built their nests under the cap cliff. It's unclear how long they've been there, but each nest is enormous.

A giant bear stood at the foot of the cliff, thumping its chest and roaring at the black bees, seemingly trying to scare them away with its invincible bear-like presence that dominated the forest.

Unfortunately, they ignored it.

One plan failed, so a second was devised. The giant bear grabbed a prepared rock and hurled it at the beehive, smashing down a large chunk of honey. Overjoyed, it ran over, grabbed the honey, and turned to flee. The familiar movements clearly indicated it was a repeat offender. Angry black bees swarmed after it, stinging the giant bear and causing it to roar and howl, but its pace didn't slow at all, and it quickly escaped the ravine.

"A good opportunity."

Xu Dan's eyes lit up.

He quickly cut a vine from the forest and ran up the cliff. He tied one end of the vine to a tree on the cliff and the other end to his waist. Then he emptied his mushroom backpack, grabbed the vine with his Eight Degrees Sword, and slowly walked down the cliff.

Maoyan Cliff is not far from the mountaintop, and Xu Dan arrived at the place in no time.

At this moment, the black bee had not yet returned from chasing the giant bear, and there were not many bees in the hive, which gave him the perfect opportunity.

Fearing the bees would return, Xu Dan moved with lightning speed, dangling in mid-air, one hand gripping his backpack, the other using his Eight-Degree Sword to slice off pieces of honey and stuff them into the bag. Below the cliff, countless crescent-shaped beehives dotted the landscape; Xu Dan only needed to slice one piece to fill his backpack.

Without wasting any time, he simply slung his backpack over his shoulder and grabbed the vines to climb up.

Back on the mountain, Xu Dan untied the mountain vines, picked up the venison water bag that had fallen to the ground, grabbed the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and ran down the mountain for his life.

Because he saw bees flying back.

After running quite a distance and seeing that the black bees were not chasing them, they slowly turned back. When the black bees that had been chasing the giant bear returned and saw that one of their hives had been cut off, they assumed it was one of the giant bear's accomplices and turned to chase after the giant bear again.

The giant bear thought the black bees had left and had just emerged from its hiding place.

Unexpectedly, these vengeful guys turned around and shot at me, scaring me so much that I ran away for my life.

In the mountains and forests, only the melodious screams of bears remained.

Back in the treehouse, Xu Dan took out a stone basin to collect the honey. When that wasn't enough, he went to the stream, grabbed a rock, and carved it into a mortar, finally filling all the honey in his mushroom backpack. Looking at the full mortar, Xu Dan picked up a piece and ate it; it was sweet, a taste he had never experienced before.

That evening, instead of eating venison stewed with cordyceps, he sliced ​​the smoked venison, scalded it with boiling water to soften it, and then ate it with honey.

He didn't expect that what was originally just laziness would turn out to be surprisingly delicious when honey was spread on the hot, smoked meat slices.

After finishing his meal, Xu Dan took out a chair and sat on the outdoor platform, gazing at the starry sky. It was still so beautiful, so captivating, and he could never tire of looking at it. The calls of wild animals occasionally drifted from afar; what initially felt strange had now become a symphony under the night sky.

He never expected that there would be such a ferocious beast as a giant bear in the back mountain, so close to the treehouse.

Luckily, I built my treehouse high up; otherwise, I wouldn't even know if it would be eaten by wild animals one day.

Then he thought of the mountain shadows he had seen during the day; he knew without even going there that they were quite far from here.

He originally planned to stay there for a while, then use the treehouse as a starting point to slowly head east. If he couldn't find anyone, he would come back and continue searching in a different direction. But after seeing the mountain, he suddenly had a new idea.

Since there are mountains over there, why don't we go and take a look?

You could also build a treehouse there and live there, then slowly look for places where humans can live.

However, it's quite far from here, so we need to be fully prepared to go. If we have to stay in the wild, we'll need a tent and other things. I was originally planning to make a book basket, but now I can combine that with making the book basket.

As for bows and arrows, let's talk about that later!

This thing will take a lot of time to make, and with my own skills, even if I make it, it might not be usable. I'll think about it later.

In the following days, he began to prepare for his departure.

A tent is essential for sleeping outdoors at night. The materials for a tent are readily available: tough mushroom hide and deerskin. However, deerskin is scarce, so mushroom hide is the best option. Mushroom hide is soft and easy to carry. Deerskin can be made into sleeping bags, and any leftovers can be used to make boots and hats.

Those two cat-like things have long bodies and soft skin, perfect for making a pair of trousers.

The hides of three white-lipped deer are actually quite large, more than enough to make a tent.

Xu Dan, however, didn't do that; he still chose to make a sleeping bag. The remaining portion was used to make a garment, a hat, a pair of gloves, and two boots. Ideally, the best thread for sewing these things would be deer tendon, but unfortunately, he didn't have any, so he had to use the inner fibers from the bark of old trees.

After the inner tendons are pulled out and dried, they are coated with deer fat and then baked dry over a fire, resulting in a product with good toughness.

After making the tent and clothes, Xu Dan also made a book basket and used the remaining deerskin to make a small awning for his head.

Then, he began to sort through the things in the house, preparing items for his departure.

He had the essential tent for the trip, plenty of food from the three venison he'd hunted earlier, and some water in his water bag. If that wasn't enough, he'd have to find more along the way. Besides these, he also had bowls and chopsticks. These things were originally made of stalactites, but once on the ground, he replaced them all with wood, making them much lighter.

As for the abundant honey in the stone mortar, having finally found it, Xu Dan naturally wouldn't let it go.

So he filled two water pouches with ten-pound water each, and ate the rest; he just couldn't leave any.

Three days later, seeing that everything was ready, Xu Dan shouldered his bag, locked himself in the treehouse, and ran quickly forward.