Starting Immortal Cultivation from a White Dog

Chapter 13 Sleepless Night

The news that Chi Limu possessed the potential to become a celestial child quickly spread throughout the entire village, plunging everyone into ecstasy.

It's important to know that the reason White Dog Village was able to exist was not because of the hunting team, nor because of the white dog, but because someone from the village entered Skull Mountain and became a cultivator.

To become a cultivator, one needs to possess immortal roots. People with immortal roots are extremely rare. Every year, Skull Mountain sends people to patrol the eighteen villages. One of their important tasks is to search for spiritual children with immortal root aptitude.

More than sixty years have passed since the last discovery that Manxiongmu possessed the potential for immortality. In those sixty years, not a single person with the potential for immortality has appeared in Baiquan Village.

In fact, this is the norm. Even in a large village like Crimson Blood Village with thousands of people, it is usually difficult for someone with immortal roots to appear in a hundred years.

There are now three people from Chixue Village on the mountain, which is a very rare occurrence.

The eighteen villages under the jurisdiction of Skull Mountain range from the smallest village, White Dog Village, to the largest village, which has more than 10,000 people. The eighteen villages together have a population of nearly 100,000.

The area spanning a thousand miles has only a population of 100,000, primarily because survival in this wild and untamed jungle is extremely difficult.

Whether they are ferocious birds and beasts or demons and monsters, they can all bring utter destruction to these villages.

At its peak, Baiquan Village had over a thousand people, but a single demonic calamity could cause heavy casualties in the village.

This is the fate of the people of southern Xinjiang...

Although there are cultivators on Skull Mountain, they only regard the Eighteen Villages as one of the resources within their territory, using them to recruit spiritual children with immortal roots. Therefore, they only provide limited protection.

Only those practitioners born in the Eighteen Villages can provide more help to the ordinary people in the villages.

With the Crimson Wood possessing the qualities of a celestial root, coupled with the Wild Bear Wood, White Dog Village would undoubtedly enjoy a higher status on Skull Mountain. Under the protection of these two cultivators, the village would surely enter a phase of rapid development in the coming decades.

This plunged the entire village into a frenzy of celebration. Whether it was the hunting of the python that was almost a spirit, the arrival of Man Xiongmu as the patrolman, or Chi Limu possessing the aptitude of immortal roots, all of these were joyous occasions for the entire village.

The series of happy events brought the entire village to a fever pitch.

Even the clan chief, for the first time ever, took out his treasured cow horn wine. You see, food is scarce in the village, and even corn is precious. It is only used to brew wine in years of good harvest.

Most of the brewed wine would be sealed and stored in cow horns, but today the chieftain took out all the cow horn wine he had treasured in the past, and cooked python meat to start a lively bonfire party.

The arrival of the patrolmen meant they no longer needed to worry about the beasts and spirits of the night, and could freely sing and dance around the campfire, enjoying fine wine and food.

As night falls, a chilling wind howls, and the spirits of beasts roam the night, their roars echoing across the sky, instilling in ordinary people a fear that originates from the depths of their souls.

However, Man Xiongmu took out a small black banner, about the size of a palm, from his bosom. It was covered with dense, blood-red runes.

He tossed the small black banner into the night sky, and in the blink of an eye it transformed into a huge banner that hovered in mid-air, the black banner trembling violently in the eerie wind.

However, when the ghostly beasts saw the banner from afar, they immediately went around it and dared not approach it at all.

Everyone in the village witnessed this scene, and even though they knew that Man Xiongmu was one of their own, many people still knelt down in awe.

Such methods are both divine and demonic, even the spirits of beasts must retreat, how can one not be in awe!
The campfire blazed brightly. After Manxiongmu unfurled the banner, there was a brief silence, but soon a huge cheer erupted, and the atmosphere became lively again.

Even the usually calm and rational Gu Xiongmu drank a lot of alcohol, and his face became extremely flushed. The reason his father named him Gu Xiong was that he hoped he could become as useful as the wild bear tree that was once taken into Skull Mountain.

Although he has not become a cultivator, he leads his people to hunt in the jungle, so that they do not have to suffer from hunger.

As the wine flowed freely, his eyes reddened, and looking at Man Xiongmu, he seemed to be thinking of his father…

The clan chief then pulled Manxiongmu to drink with him. The two were very close playmates when they were young. Since Manxiongmu went up the mountain, he had only come down the mountain a few times in the past few decades, and each time he came and went in a hurry.

Only by becoming an inspector this time would he be qualified to stay in a village for an extended period. The two drank and talked about the past, the chieftain's aged face flushed red in the flames.

“Bear, this may be the last time we meet. I am too old, and I have felt the call of my ancestors.”

"However, now that you have become the inspector and Chi Li has the talent of immortal roots, the village will definitely get better and better."

"I can finally rest easy..."

Looking at the aged face of his childhood playmate, Manxiong Mu wanted to say something comforting, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Humans are born, grow old, get sick, and die; this is the natural order of things. Only those with the potential to become immortals are qualified to become cultivators and defy fate.

Recalling his carefree childhood in the village and the cruel life he experienced after arriving on Skull Mountain, he took a big gulp of wine and muttered a curse under his breath, though it was unclear what he was cursing.

"Let's drink! Let's drink!"

Laughter, anger, and tears filled the air; a strange and unrestrained atmosphere permeated the entire village.

Even the old man from Chilimu was helped to the campfire, where someone brought him a bamboo chair so he could sit and enjoy the wine and food.

The old man took a sip of the wine in his cup, watching Chi Limu chasing and playing with Bai Long'er in front of the campfire, his gaze gradually becoming hazy.

“My son, Chi Li has the potential to become an immortal. I was always worried that if I left, she would still be so young and wouldn’t be able to survive.”

"Now I can finally relax!"

He sipped his drink slowly, his face gradually turning redder, as if he had returned to his youth.

He looked at Manxiongmu and the chieftain, at the drunken Guxiongmu, at Chilimu and Bailong'er, at the other tribesmen, and at the roaring campfire, and murmured, "How wonderful!"

"This wine is really good..."

The night was filled with jubilation, and everyone let loose. Many people got drunk, though they hadn't actually drunk much. Perhaps it was the atmosphere that made them feel intoxicated, even without alcohol.

Just as dawn was breaking, Chi Limu carried Wu Tian to her grandfather. Her little face was flushed, and she was a little tired after playing all night. She tugged at her grandfather's clothes and said, "Grandpa, Grandpa, I'm tired. Let's go home..."

She called out several times, but the old man didn't respond.

Wu Tian curled up in the little girl's arms. He could already sense through the wind that the old man had stopped breathing and his body was cold.

At first, Chi Limu didn't react, but later, when her grandfather remained silent, she seemed to understand something.

Before anyone knew it, two streams of clear tears rolled down from his eyes and landed on Wu Tian's snow-white fur.

"Bai Long'er, Grandpa is asleep, isn't he?"

"He must be too tired, let's take him home."

"Grandpa, you must be too tired. Shall we go home?"

Wu Tian felt the cold tears dripping onto his body and gently rubbed his head against the little girl's chest.

"Wang Wang~"

(End of this chapter)