Gou Zai Fei Men made up myths

In the dead of night, Shen Mo sat alone on a tattered futon in the sect leader's meditation room (which was actually just a slightly more complete side room). This was considered a small "perk" of being the sect leader!

He took out the sect leader's jade pendant and examined it carefully in the moonlight.

"System, has the jade pendant's energy been restored? Can it still be scanned?"

[Energy recovery in progress. Current energy level is 3%, only supporting minimal information retrieval. Deep scanning or causal editing requires more energy.]

It seems that relying on system cheating search methods won't work; we'll have to rely on human effort.

Shen Mo stroked the jade pendant, recalling the strange phenomenon it had exhibited in the market during the day. It wasn't just a system effect; he felt the jade pendant itself seemed to tremble slightly.

"Just who are you?" Shen Mo murmured to himself, "Qingyun Patriarch... what kind of person are you?"

With questions about the past and plans for the future in mind, Shen Mo slowly drifted off to sleep. This was the most restful night's sleep he had had since his transmigration.

The next morning, the first rays of dawn shone through the hole in the main hall, dispelling the chill of the night. Shen Mo opened his eyes, took a deep breath of the fresh, grassy air, and felt much more refreshed.

He came out of the room and looked at his three disciples who were still fast asleep. His sense of responsibility as the "master" grew even stronger.

After waking everyone up, Shen Mo began assigning tasks.

"Junior Brother Tie," he first looked at his eldest disciple, counted out ten spirit stones from the pile, handed them over, and once again instructed, "Your mission is the most important."

"Go down the mountain immediately and go to a more distant market town to buy enough rice, flour, cooking oil, salt, and dried meat to last us a month."

"Remember to buy from different stores, don't flaunt your wealth, and go and come back quickly."

This is the foundation of everyone's survival; it must be resolved first.

Shi Tie accepted the spirit stone, feeling its heavy weight. His dark face was full of solemnity: "Sect Leader, rest assured! I know what's important! I will definitely handle this matter well!"

He patted his chest forcefully, carefully stuffed the spirit stone into his inner pocket, turned around and strode down the mountain, his figure quickly disappearing into the morning mist.

After seeing Shi Tie off, Shen Mo turned to Su Xiao and A Yuan and said, "Our search cannot stop. But we are short-handed, so we need to be strategic."

"Junior Sister Xiao, you are meticulous, so you are in charge of inspecting every brick, stone and carving in the main hall, side hall and square, especially those with carvings or places that look different from the surroundings."

"Ah Yuan," Shen Mo looked at his junior sister again, his tone gentle, "You have a keen sense of smell. Go to the herb garden, the stream, and the edge of the forest behind the mountain. Pay attention to the scent of the ground and the growth of the plants. Is there any place that feels particularly 'comfortable' or 'different'?"

"Yes, Senior Brother Sect Leader!" Su Xiao and A Yuan replied in unison.

Shen Mo walked to the entrance of the main hall again, his gaze sweeping across the entire dilapidated sect courtyard before finally settling on the stone lion.

"I'll sit in the central hub and sense it carefully again." He sat down cross-legged, trying to concentrate that faint wisp of divine sense and, with the remaining energy of the system, conduct a wide-area low-frequency scan.

Time passed in the silent search. As the sun rose higher, only the rustling of leaves in the cold wind, the soft tapping of Su Xiao on the bricks, and the rustling of A Yuan moving through the grass remained in the valley.

Shen Mo's divine sense was like a malfunctioning radar, intermittent and the information it returned was blurry and unclear. The system's energy was also nearly exhausted, and the scanning was intermittent, like an old radio searching for a weak signal, occasionally catching a trace of something unusual, only to have it disappear in an instant.

About an hour later, Su Xiao and A Yuan returned one after the other, both with undisguised disappointment on their faces.

"Senior Brother Sect Leader," Su Xiao reported, wiping the fine sweat from his brow, "We've searched almost every inch of the main hall and the plaza. Besides the ruins, there's nothing but ruin. We haven't found anything unusual. The markings on some of the floor tiles are so weathered they're almost invisible; they look like ordinary anti-slip patterns."

A-Yuan whispered, "I...I went to the herb garden and the stream. The grass there...all looked pretty much the same, nothing special. It's just...it felt like the air was a little more humid by the stream, but...but it didn't seem to make a difference."

She lowered her head in slight frustration.

Shen Mo's heart sank. Had he misjudged the situation? Was the stone lion's guidance merely a coincidence? Or had that faint source of spiritual energy already completely dissipated?

Just as the atmosphere became somewhat tense, heavy and hurried footsteps came from down the mountain.

It's Shi Tie!

He was carrying a bulging sack on his shoulder and holding a package wrapped in oil paper in his arms. Although he was covered in sweat, he looked excited.

"Sect Leader! I'm back!" Shi Tie slammed the things down on the ground with a dull thud. "I've bought everything! Top-quality corn, wheat flour, and this huge piece of salted meat! I did as you instructed, buying it from several different shops without attracting attention!"

Seeing the real grain, Su Xiao and A Yuan's eyes lit up. With these things, they wouldn't have to worry about food for at least a month! It was a basic sense of security.

"You've worked hard, Junior Brother Tie." Shen Mo nodded, feeling somewhat relieved, at least the logistics were temporarily secured. "Have some water and rest your feet."

Shi Tie gulped down several mouthfuls of water, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and looking at the somewhat somber atmosphere of the three, asked in a simple voice, "Sect Leader, have you... found that source of spiritual energy yet?"

Su Xiao shook her head and sighed, "No, we've searched almost everywhere we could think of."

A-Yuan added softly, "Hmm... I didn't find anything."

Shi Tie scratched his head, looked at his somewhat dejected junior brothers and sisters, then at the sect leader who was frowning in thought, and suddenly said:

"Sect Leader, I'm strong, I'm fine! How about I go and dig through those caves in the back mountain again? Last time I only got a general idea, this time I'll dig deeper! Maybe the Ancestral Master buried some treasure very deep!"

Seeing Shi Tie's energetic demeanor, Shen Mo couldn't bear to dampen his enthusiasm. Besides, trying different approaches was a good thing. He nodded:

"Alright. But be careful, pay attention to safety, and get out immediately if anything seems wrong."

"Alright!" Shi Tie replied, picked up the broken iron pickaxe leaning against the corner of the wall, and turned to run towards the back mountain.

Shen Mo turned his gaze back to the stone lion, his brows furrowed. The system's final guidance was "15 degrees southeast, 30 zhang".

That direction… He paced over and carefully surveyed the area. Thirty feet away, there was a pile of rubble and waist-high weeds, looking even more desolate than the main hall.

Could it be under the rocks? Or...?

His gaze swept past the pile of rocks and looked further into the distance—below the cliff face on the back mountain, a gentle slope with exceptionally lush vegetation! Because it was blocked by the pile of rocks, A-Yuan probably hadn't looked over there carefully just now.

"System, could you sense the direction of that last bit of energy?" Shen Mo tried to communicate in his mind.

[Insufficient energy... Unable to perform an effective scan...] The system's response was so faint it was almost inaudible.

We can only rely on manpower!

"Junior Sister Xiao, A-Yuan, let's go take another look over there." Shen Mo pointed to the lush, gentle slope, "Focus on checking the area where the grass is growing particularly well."

The three of them walked through the pile of rocks and came to the gentle slope. The wild grass here was indeed taller and denser than elsewhere, a large, lush green expanse.

"Separate teams and carefully examine the ground and rocks for cracks, scratches, or anything that feels different," Shen Mo instructed.

The three bent down and began a thorough search. Su Xiao used a twig to part the grass and examine the ground; A Yuan relied on her childlike intuition, touching and looking here and there; Shen Mo carefully observed the direction of the rocks and the distribution of vegetation.

Time passed slowly, but still nothing was found. The digging sounds coming from the direction of the back mountain gradually stopped, presumably because nothing had been discovered.

Hope seemed to fade away as the sun began to set.