Becoming a god starting from the weasel

That night, Niu Shan learned many tricks of the trade, and almost all of the ways that the landlord Huang used to make money were told to Niu Shan.

Niu Shan then realized that there were so many intricacies involved.

Black Wind Mountain covers an extremely vast area, spanning several countries, and is covered with many ancient trees and wild delicacies.

Almost all the villages surrounding Black Wind Town rely on these things to make money.

Then came the labor service: organizing fellow villagers to work for caravans and taking a cut.

Although it doesn't bring in as much money, it's still a viable option.

During this period, an ancestral hall was built in Huangni'ao, and ten clan soldiers were raised. However, the land available now is not enough to support them, so money is needed to support the soldiers.

After thinking it over, Niu Shan immediately made arrangements for the matter the next day, with Huang Changming personally leading them into Black Wind Town.

Black Wind Town is the only large town among the surrounding villages: it has all kinds of martial arts schools and academies, and most of all kinds of inns.

Initially, many of the old merchant caravans that had cooperated with Huang Changming hid away when they first met him.

Only a few smaller businesses, knowing that the Huang family had offended the Li family, still gritted their teeth and used the people from Niujia Village.

Firstly, Niu Shan's offer was indeed cheap; secondly, Huang Changming's analysis of the pros and cons and their long-standing friendship led to the agreement.

In this way, Niu Shan sent a group of young men to work, and he also earned back a total of about fifty taels of silver.

Inside one of Huang Changming's former residences in the town, Niu Shan grinned from ear to ear as he looked at the plate of fifty taels of silver in front of him. When had he ever seen so much silver?

Huang Changming simply smoked his pipe and then said.

"Look at you, so pathetic."

"But don't worry during this time, there is a shortage of food in all the surrounding counties."

"When you grow your grain this year, you can sell it, and it will be worth more than fifty taels."

Huang Changming was incredibly shrewd. How could he possibly win over those cowardly and greedy businessmen by relying solely on so-called friendships and cheap deals?

The only way was to tell them that they could sell them a lot of grain this year.

The situation outside is quite different from that at the foot of Black Wind Mountain. The food shortage will only worsen there. Selling grain now is practically like making your own money.

"Well? It's already May, have you decided on a date yet?"

Huang Changming, dressed in brocade robes, stood up and went to Niu Shan, whose eyes were still shining as he looked at the silver, and asked him.

  

After thinking for a while, Niu Shan said, "I think the day to meet the mountain god can be set for May 10th."

Niu Shan had already decided on a date for the mountain god's sacrifice: the night he would meet the immortal.

"My life as a peasant from a mountain village changed from that day on."

Huang Changming didn't care about setting the date; he figured it was just a way to fool the villagers anyway.

"Alright, then May 10th. We'll buy some things these few days, and then we'll go back together."

"I've already made arrangements for Big Dog and Sanwa here. They'll report to us if anything happens."

Niu Shan nodded, and then Huang Changming looked at Niu Shan's plain clothes with some disdain.

"The money has just arrived. Come with me to town to have two sets of clothes made."

The date is May 10th.

Niu Shan and Huang Changming both changed into brocade robes, as did the ten clan soldiers they had carefully selected.

Despite being called a clan army, they were nothing more than a private army composed of a group of half-grown boys they had picked up.

Huang Changming taught them martial arts and provided them with food, and they all changed their surname to Niu and became Huang Changming, Niu Shan's knife.

Inside the mountain god temple beneath the old tree on Black Wind Mountain, a yellow weasel dressed in a Taoist robe sits upright on a prayer mat with its eyes closed, enjoying the offerings from the men, women, and children of the entire village.

Niu Shan stood at the very front of the line, bowing most respectfully, while Huang Changming stood beside him, his face solemn.

Anyone who is disrespectful will be summoned by Huang Changming and flogged in front of the entire village.

No one dared to resist this, because it was all the rules set by the Mountain God!

Every household accepted the money, and due to the intimidation of the Niu Shan clan soldiers, they had no choice but to obey orders.

The Records of Chang'an City, Records of Sacrificial Rites, Origin of the Sacrifice to the Black Wind Mountain God

In the fifth year of the Taichu era of the Great Zhao Dynasty, the empire was newly established, and a drought struck.

The old name of this place was Huangni'ao. It was a remote village at the foot of Heifeng Mountain. The place was remote and sparsely populated. For generations, people lived by the mountain and relied on the products of the mountain forest to make a living.

On the tenth day of the fifth month of that year, the head of the village, Niu Shan, led all the local people to establish a sacrificial ceremony and respectfully worship the Black Wind Mountain God.

This marks the beginning of the local custom of annually worshipping the mountain, praying for a bountiful harvest, and warding off disasters…

After a busy day, the villagers finally returned to their village for the feast.

All the meals were provided by Niu Shan, which immediately calmed down the villagers of Huangni'ao who were exhausted after a long day.

Looking at the meat on the table and the rice in the pot, they smiled happily. Even those who had been beaten couldn't stop smiling and ate with their mouths full of oil.

Inside the ancestral hall, on the table at the very top, Huang Changming looked at Niu Shan with a hint of helplessness.

"It's fine if you tear off some clothes for Shidun and the others, but what's with tearing off two Taoist robes?"

Listening to Huang Changming's words, Niu Shan couldn't help but think of his recent trip to Daxian Temple.

Now a plaque has been erected above the temple, which was given to him back then.

Although the immortal no longer wanted to look at him, he still respected the immortal in his heart.

After regaining his senses, Niu Shan simply said while offering a toast, "Father, there's no need to say more about this matter; it's all my way of showing respect to the Great Immortal."

Hearing Niu Shan's words, Huang Changming's face flushed even more from the alcohol. He assumed Niu Shan was simply infatuated and shook his head with a light laugh.

"Very well, then let it be an offering to the Mountain God."

It was already sunset. Inside Yuanchou Temple, Chen Yang, who was trying to break through the tenth bottleneck of spiritual power, ultimately failed.

Looking at the nine streams of spiritual power within his dantian and the seventy-one strands of spiritual energy drifting around him, Chen Yang couldn't help but let out a long sigh of frustration.

"It's been five days already, why can't we break through this bottleneck?"

Chen Yang, who was sitting cross-legged inside the Taoist temple, also felt somewhat helpless.

After eating five catties of white corn, Chen Yang reached his current cultivation level, a rapid advancement.

However, after that, they got stuck on this bottleneck, which was even more difficult than the previous bottleneck of condensing spiritual energy.

According to Kong Ling, every ten levels is a minor hurdle, and things only become smoother after one has accumulated enough cultivation. However, he is currently trapped at the first hurdle.

Looking at the setting sun outside, Chen Yang unconsciously placed his hand on his lower abdomen.

Within the dantian, a small bead floated, and at the center of this bead, a drop of bluish-green spiritual liquid floated.

In addition, there are some white spirit crystals on the surface of the small bead.

"Since I've tried these past few days and still can't overcome my bottleneck, I'll have no choice but to use spirit crystals."

Chen Yang originally planned to use it today, but he didn't expect it to take so long to break through to the tenth level of spiritual power.

"Alright, there's no rush for this."

"Let's have some white corn after dinner, and then continue our breakthrough."

With spirit crystals and spirit liquid, Chen Yang is determined to break through this time. He is not trapped by his state of mind, but simply lacks the talent. However, with spirit crystals, he doesn't need to worry too much.

It was a good time to take care of other chores, since for Chen Yang, nighttime was not much different from daytime; he could see clearly in both conditions.

Pushing open the courtyard gate and looking at the setting sun, Chen Yang couldn't help but think of the peach tree in the backyard.

"The peach blossoms should still be blooming, right? I'll go sit on a chair in the back and rub off the rice husks."

But just as Chen Yang stepped out, he caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent from the entrance of the Taoist temple.

It smelled of pine, but it was different from the old pine tree that the black-haired man in the temple had found. But it was still quite good for an ordinary family.

However, the difference between the two is still huge, and Chen Yang has a keen sense of smell, which is why he was able to smell it so acutely.

Upon arriving at the door, I pushed it open and saw a package on the threshold. The rosin was coming from inside.

Upon opening the package, two sets of blue Taoist robes embroidered with brocade cloud patterns were found inside:

The inner neckline of the first garment features a yin-yang fish pattern at the end of the waist tie, adorned with moon and star motifs.

Looking at the other one, it is a solitary crane amidst blue clouds and white dewdrop patterns, although both are Taoist robes worn daily.

However, both the materials used and the workmanship are extremely exquisite, clearly showing that a lot of care was put into it.