From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

This startled the three of them.

Fortunately, the scorpion moved slowly. After the three calmed down, they took out the Dragon Binding Rope and, with their cooperation, bound it. Finally, Partridge Whistle pierced its head with a dagger and killed it on the spot.

They thought that was the end of it, but just as they were about to go inside the coffin to check, the scorpion's shell suddenly cracked open, and a large group of white scorpions, about the size of a fingernail, crawled out.

Densely packed!

The quantity exceeds ten thousand!

Partridge Whistle was terrified and dared not look at the contents of the coffin again. He dragged the old foreigner and Hua Ling up the rope.

Unfortunately, Hua Ling was stung by those little scorpions and became poisoned...

"That scorpion was a female, hiding in that coffin to recuperate, perhaps in preparation for giving birth. It was in its weakest state that made it so easy for us to kill it."

Partridge Whistle sighed, “The big scorpion is easy to deal with, but the little scorpions that crawl out of its body are difficult to deal with. They are like the army ants we have seen in the desert. They look small, and a child can crush them, but if there are many of them, they can devour even an elephant! Besides, those scorpions are poisonous, so we naturally dare not leave them behind!”

“That female scorpion should be one of the two Black Pipas,” Lu Jin guessed. “Now, because of you, one of them has died prematurely, and we only have one left to deal with.”

"But since the female scorpion is about to give birth, the male should be nearby. Why didn't he attack you?"

Li Muxuan pondered this question, "Could it be that the female ate it? I've heard that female spiders and female mantises will eat the male in order to give birth to their young."

“We don’t know much about scorpions’ habits in this regard.” Partridge Whistle shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know, but considering that Mo Pipa had obtained Qi and gained sentience, he figured that even if she had such habits, she would probably be able to endure it.

"It's most likely that it went out to help the mother scorpion hunt."

Jiang Liu thought of a possibility: "Among the three evils of Ping Mountain, the six-winged centipede earth dragon king is hidden in the mountain belly, the ink pipa is located on the mountain peak, and the remaining black dragon snake is still unknown."

It's getting dark, so it's not advisable to act at night. Let's wait until dawn tomorrow to explore the mountaintop and remove the other end of the ink pipa.

The Last Xuanjiao Serpent—

Jiang Liu's gaze fell on the red girl. "President Chen has come out in such a grand manner this time. It seems that the tomb of a Yuan Dynasty general is not enough for them. They will definitely search the mountains again and find the underground palace. When that happens, the commotion may attract the Xuanjiao Serpent."

Although this would mean that most of the artifacts left in the mountain would be obtained by the warlords, the most important thing was to get rid of the black dragon snake and make it safer for the people in the Old Bear Ridge area to go into the mountains to collect herbs.

The others nodded in agreement.

After everyone returned to the mortuary, Hong Guniang led Partridge Whistle, Old Foreigner, and Hua Ling to see Chen Yulou. Upon learning that the Earth Dragon King in the underground palace had been eliminated and that the Yuan Tomb was located in the area of ​​the top of Ping Mountain, the latter was overjoyed but also somewhat ashamed.

Having taught himself the basic skills of "observation, listening, questioning, and palpation," Chen Yulou had never failed in his tomb raiding endeavors. However, after failing twice at Ping Mountain, it was only thanks to the Mountain-Moving Taoist and Jiang Liu's group that the true location of the Yuan Dynasty general's tomb was found. Chen Yulou felt ashamed of his own shortcomings.

However, as the head of Changsheng Mountain, Chen Yulou was also very good at handling his emotions. He immediately extended an invitation to Partridge Whistle and others, hoping that they would join Changsheng Mountain, and even offered to let him sit in the second-in-command position.

After all, Chen Yulou had figured it out. His tomb raiding was also for the purpose of managing the warlord's power and expanding the scale. He couldn't keep raiding tombs forever, as it would damage his reputation. It would be best to have another capable person join him and do this kind of work in his place.

However, Partridge Whistle knew that the world was in chaos and did not want to have too much contact with Chen Yulou, so he politely declined his invitation and made it clear that the Mountain Moving Taoist lineage only wanted the Muchen Pearl and would not take anything else.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yulou did not extend the invitation further, but he did not give up the idea either. However, he understood that he had only known the other party for a short time, and extending an invitation suddenly would be somewhat inappropriate. Continuing would make him appear eager to seek out talented people, but it would also be beneath his dignity.

Not advisable.

We need to consider this carefully...

After dinner, Chen Yulou invited Partridge Whistle, Luo Laowai, and Jiang Liu into the house to discuss the tomb-digging operation for the next day.

Although he spoke of tomb raiding, Chen Yulou's words revealed a deep longing for Partridge Whistle.

As for the river flow?

Chen Yulou knew he wouldn't get involved in this line of work, so he left his attitude at that.

Jiang Liu was happy to have some peace and quiet!

After the discussion, everyone returned to their rooms. Since the mortuary was not large, Jiang Liu, Lu Jin, and Li Muxuan shared a room, which was considered good. The people brought by Chen Yulou and Luo Laowai could only sleep in tents or directly under the eaves.

"Thank you for saving my life, young hero."

On his way back to his room, Jiang Liu encountered Sai Huohou and Dili Chui.

"There's no need for that."

Seeing that the two were covered in bandages but had strong voices, Jiang Liu knew that they were out of danger and would recover in about half a month. The only drawback might be that their skin would be different from that of ordinary people after recovery, and they would probably have to wear masks in the future.

However, the two of them didn't care; as long as they could survive, that was enough.

They came here hoping that Jiang Liu would take them with him when he leaves.

Having survived this ordeal, if they were to remain on Changsheng Mountain, the others would surely mock them for their appearance. Moreover, they had witnessed the true abilities of the extraordinary individuals and now desired to cultivate diligently, hoping to one day unleash their full potential, rather than remaining as half-baked practitioners as they were now…

# Chapter 162 Hearing of the Old White Ape in the Mountains

"Does General Manager Chen know about this?"

Seeing that the two wanted to follow him, Jiang Liu did not agree immediately.

"know."

He kicked the ground in response.

Sai Huohou said that after applying medicine and bandaging, the two of them found Chen Yulou and told him that they wanted to leave Changsheng Mountain. Chen Yulou agreed and gave each of them one hundred silver dollars.

This also shows that Chen Yulou treated his subordinates well. He wasn't angry when they wanted to leave and even gave them a settlement allowance. He truly deserves to be called a hero.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Liu nodded slightly and said, "In that case, there's nothing to be shy about. How about this, you all go down the mountain first, head east to Renjia Town, find an inn to rest, and when I set off on my return journey, I'll take you all with me to cultivate!"

"Yes!" X2

Sai Huohou and Dili Chuan were extremely excited. They immediately packed their bags, bid farewell to the brothers they were fairly familiar with in Changsheng Mountain, and hurriedly left Laoxiong Ridge.

Afterwards, Jiang Liu glanced at the crescent moon in the sky, which was shaped like a hook, and took out the picture of the monkey observing the sun and moon. The moon that the white ape was looking at along the way also changed into the shape of a crescent moon.

Ever since he obtained the "Monkey Observing the Sun and Moon" picture, Jiang Liu would take it out every day to compare the movement of the sun and moon in the sky, and he would sigh to himself: "Monkey observing the sun and moon, during the day, the sun moves from east to west, and at night, the moon waxes and wanes. This picture must have been used by some strange person in ancient times to measure time."

Just as he was about to roll up the painting, he noticed that the scenery in the mountains had changed slightly, and the trees in the mountains seemed to be more lush.

It's not just the sun and moon that change?

Jiang Liu was somewhat surprised. He focused his attention on the monkey in the painting and noticed that its body seemed to have risen and fallen slightly compared to before, and the position of its arms also seemed to be slightly different from before. However, the changes were so minor that they could not be noticed unless one looked closely.

It's not just the sun and moon in the painting that change, but also the scenery and the monkeys' movements; however, compared to the movement of the sun and moon, the changes in the other scenery are very slow.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west every day, so during the day, the sun in this painting will also adjust according to the light, corresponding to rising in the east and setting in the west.

The phases of the moon—new moon, crescent moon, first quarter moon, gibbous moon, full moon, waning gibbous moon, last quarter moon, and waning crescent—are measured in units of "months".

The changes in the rest of the scenery in the painting...

Or is it measured in "years"?

Thinking about this possibility, Jiang Liu felt more and more that this painting was a toy used by some strange person to serve as an alarm clock in the past. But was it a bit too "idle" to go to so much trouble to draw a picture that could correspond to the movement of the sun, moon and stars and the changing of the four seasons in order to measure time?

Jiang Liu acknowledged that there are people in the world who dedicate themselves to art, but most extraordinary people are not like that, and this painting is clearly not something an ordinary person could create.

To figure out the secret, it would take at least a year to copy and record the daily changes in the painting.

To be even more precise, it would need to be recorded every hour...

Can't a person get any sleep?

Muttering a curse to himself, Jiang Liu put the scroll away, tucked it behind his waist, and decided that once this matter was resolved and he returned to the territory of the Sanyi Sect, he would find some free time and spend another year recording it...

···

"set off!"

As the rising sun shattered the darkness and dawn broke, Chen Yulou and Luo Laowai, full of confidence, led hundreds of people to set off for Ping Mountain once again.

After learning that the tomb of the Yuan Dynasty general was located on the summit of Ping Mountain, Chen Yulou had a clear goal. However, Luo Laowai planned to follow the route that Jiang Liu and his group had explored the day before, enter the underground palace through the crack at the foot of the mountain, and move out the valuables inside first.

Seeing Luo Laowai's actions, Chen Yulou looked slightly puzzled. After all, the other party was a tomb raider. Knowing the details of the tomb of the Yuan Dynasty general, he did not intend to go with them but instead wanted to go to the underground palace first.

Furthermore, even if the funerary objects in the underground palace were all brought out by Luo Laowai's men, they would still have to be split 40/60 with him; it was impossible for him to take an extra piece!

However, Chen Yulou's attention was focused on the tomb of the Yuan Dynasty general, and he didn't think too much about Luo Laowai's strange behavior.

Lu Jin and Li Muxuan didn't know much about Luo Laowai and didn't pay much attention to him. Instead, they went up the mountain with Chen Yulou and the others to search for the other Mo Pipa.

Jiang Liu recalled the red dot on Luo Laowai's back when he came out of the barbican, and kept it in mind, but didn't say anything more.

Just as they reached the halfway point on the mountainside, in the open space near the ravine, the dense forest nearby began to sway.

"what?"

Chen Yulou already knew that there were three monsters in the mountain: the Xuanjiao Snake, the Mo Pipa, and the Earth Dragon King. The six-winged centipede had been eliminated by Jiang Liu and his group, and one of the female Mo Pipas had also died, leaving only the male. So, was the one in the forest the male Mo Pipa or the Xuanjiao Snake?

So he ordered more than twenty strongmen to surround him, holding guns and aiming at the woods.

"Whizzing!"

Before the Unloading Warriors could even fire their guns, pebbles flew out of the forest and struck their wrists.

"boom!"

Someone was startled and fired a shot.

Boom!

The bullet struck something hidden in a tree in the forest and fell straight down.

"Is it a monkey?"

Hong Guniang exclaimed in surprise, "A monkey that can throw stones at people?"

monkey?

No.

This must be a gibbon.

Jiang Liu, who was cultivating the innate talisman diagram, had sharp eyes and did not see that the monkey had a tail. Moreover, the monkey's arms were obviously much longer than its legs, so it must be a gibbon.

But if you ask him what kind it is—

Sorry.

He wasn't a biology expert in his previous life.

Judging from the lower half of this gibbon's body, it seems more human-like, with a straight back rather than a hunched posture.

Just after the gibbon died, the rustling sounds coming from the forest gradually faded away, clearly frightened by the death of its companion.

“This should be the monkey that the villagers of Nanzhai mentioned, the one that steals clothes, baskets, medicinal herbs, and food from people passing through here.” Chen Yulou then told the Unloading Ridge Warriors to put down their guns.