My sister broke off her engagement to marry someone richer? My older sister married me and became in

The crowd at the entrance of the courtyard dispersed quickly, like the receding tide.

Only three people remained standing in the same spot, without moving.

Besides Master Liu who spoke earlier, the other two were named Old Man Chen and Crippled Sun.

Old Chen is not a talkative man, but in these mountains, he is the best at "smelling" the way. He can walk dozens of miles without getting lost, even with his eyes closed, by following the scent in the wind.

Sun the Cripple had a leg injury caused by a bear when he was young, but his hand skills were the best in the group. He could make ropes and knots that could lift a cow.

These three, along with Master Liu, are the top four trailblazers among the mountain hikers around Hongshitun.

Lu Qingshan looked at them, without saying a word, and simply nodded.

"Uncle Liu, Uncle Chen, Uncle Sun."

"Thank you for your hard work, you three. Please come with me into the mountains."

He turned around and called out into the house.

"Scar!"

Scarface Liu led five burly men out of the house quickly.

These people were his brothers who had followed him all over the country and risked their lives, and now they had become the guards of Xiushan Industry.

They still carried a lingering bandit aura.

Lu Qingshan took a large backpack that had been prepared in advance from Lin Xiulan and slung it over his shoulder.

Inside the backpack were specially made ropes, deer bone skewers, emergency rations, and medicine for injuries.

"Set off."

He uttered two words, took the first step, and walked towards the south.

Scarface Liu and his group followed closely behind.

The three men, including Master Liu, exchanged glances and then silently followed.

Instead of taking the main road, the group went straight into the boundless forest behind the village.

The further you go in, the more difficult the path becomes.

The towering ancient trees blocked out the sun, making the forest dim. Underfoot was a thick layer of fallen leaves that had accumulated for countless years; one step could sink up to your ankles.

A damp, white mist swirled along the ground, carrying the smell of decaying vegetation that filled our nostrils.

The forest was eerily quiet; the only sound was the soft rustling of a group of people walking on the fallen leaves.

Occasionally, the cries of unknown wild beasts could be heard in the distance, piercing and eerie, causing the men under Scarface Liu to instinctively place their hands on the short knives at their waists.

"Everyone, perk up!" Scarface Liu shouted in a low voice.

They were gangsters, but even they felt uneasy entering this old forest.

Lu Qingshan, however, seemed to be back in his own backyard.

His steps are small, yet quick and steady; he can always find the least strenuous path in a place that seems to have no way out.

After walking for about two hours, a bottomless ravine appeared before the group.

Across the ravine was a mountain, entirely dark brown, almost entirely barren.

The mountain walls are steep, as if they had been cleaved by a giant axe.

The mountain wind rushed up from the ravines, blowing against my face with a biting chill.

"Golden Mountain..."

Looking at the Black Mountain across the way, a hint of apprehension flashed in Liu Ye's cloudy eyes.

"This is it."

To get to Jinbaoshan, you have to go down to the bottom of this ravine first, and then climb up from the other side.

This gully is called "Soul-Breaking Gully" by the locals.

Sun the Cripple walked to the edge of the ditch, peered down into it, picked up a stone, and threw it in.

I waited for ages, but there was no response.

"No, I can't go down." He shook his head. "This slope is too steep, there's nowhere to put my feet."

All eyes turned to Lu Qingshan.

Lu Qingshan didn't say anything, but walked to the edge of the ditch, grabbed a handful of soil, and let go.

The soil was blown away by the wind, forming a faint yellow mist that drifted diagonally down the cliff.

He glanced at the direction in which the soil was scattering, then listened intently to the sound of the wind.

The blue tail that had been quietly following at his feet suddenly let out two low "woofs" in a direction below the cliff.

Lu Qingshan looked in the direction Qingwei had warned him.

About forty or fifty meters below that steep cliff, there is a protruding stone platform.

The stone platform was small, with several crooked pine trees growing on it, shrouded in mist, appearing and disappearing in the mist.

"There it is." Lu Qingshan pointed to the stone platform.

Following the direction he pointed, Liu and the others frowned.

"That place is a dead end," Old Chen said in a muffled voice. "You can't go up or down, and it's windy; nothing can survive there."

This is the experience of mountain runners.

Lu Qingshan smiled.

"Uncle Sun, it's up to you now."

Sun the Cripple didn't ask any more questions and took out a hemp rope thicker than a thumb from his backpack.

He walked up to a big tree and, in no time, used an extremely complicated yet sturdy knot to tie the rope tightly to the trunk.

"Boss, you..." Scarface Liu looked at Lu Qingshan, somewhat uneasy.

"You wait up there."

Lu Qingshan walked to the edge of the cliff, grabbed the rope, and tested his strength.

Then, he turned and glanced at the crowd.

In that instant, Liu Ye, Chen Laonian, and Sun Quezi, three old-timers who had roamed the mountains all their lives, clearly saw a light in Lu Qingshan's eyes that they had never seen before.

That was absolute confidence and unquestionable control.

Before they could react...

Lu Qingshan had already leaped into the air, sliding down the rope and into the vast expanse of white mist.

"Boss!" Scarface Liu exclaimed, lunging towards the edge of the cliff.

At the top of the cliff, Master Liu gasped.

Old Chen and Crippled Sun clung tightly to the rocks on the cliff edge, staring wide-eyed down.

Lu Qingshan's figure appeared in mid-air like a nimble ape.

He slid down the rope for more than ten meters, then pushed off the smooth rock face with both feet.

Using this force, he swung sideways.

At the highest point of the swing, he released one hand and precisely grabbed an old vine that stretched out from a crack in the rock.

His body traced an astonishing arc in the air before landing steadily on the protruding stone platform.

The entire process was smooth and fluid, without a single unnecessary movement.

At the top of the cliff, there was a deathly silence.

Scarface Liu and his brothers had mouths so wide they could fit an egg inside.

They've seen murderers and arsonists, but they've never seen anyone descend a cliff like this.

Mr. Liu's hands were still trembling slightly.

"evildoer……"

On the stone platform.

Lu Qingshan steadied himself and untied another small backpack from his waist.

He walked to the innermost part of the stone platform and stopped behind a patch of inconspicuous moss.

Sure enough, he saw a plant there.

The plant was only about a foot tall, but its entire body was covered with a faint, dreamlike purple hue.

On its main stem, exactly six palmate compound leaves have emerged.

Six-petaled leaf!

King of Ginseng!

Even though Lu Qingshan had lived two lives, his breath hitched the moment he saw the King of Ginseng.

He did not act immediately.

Instead, he took out three incense sticks from his backpack, lit them, and respectfully placed them in the soil in front of the Ginseng King.

Then, he knelt on one knee and solemnly kowtowed three times to the Ginseng King and to this great mountain.

That's the rule.

It means "Please refer to".

All things have a spirit, especially treasures like these that have absorbed the essence of heaven and earth and taken hundreds of years to grow. They cannot be "dug up" but must be "invited".

Only when you show proper etiquette will it be willing to go with you.

After kowtowing, he took out a roll of red string and a chopstick-sized stick made of deer bone from his backpack.

He held his breath and gently tied a red string to the main stem of the ginseng king.

This is called "locking the ginseng," to prevent it from becoming sentient and escaping through earth magic.

After doing all this, he picked up the deer bone skewer and began to carefully dig down from a foot away from the ginseng king.

His movements were slow and gentle, as if he were handling a priceless treasure.

Every shovelful of soil was handled with utmost care.

Sweat dripped from his forehead down his cheeks and into the soil, but he was completely unaware of it.

Half an hour later.

When the entire ginseng king, along with a large clump of black soil around it, was completely removed, Lu Qingshan finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

This ginseng king has intact roots and a plump rhizome, and its shape resembles a curled-up baby.

The faint purple halo appeared even more mysterious in the dim mist.