First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

After the temple fair ended, Ms. Lin seemed to have become much more open-minded.

Spring goes and autumn comes, the four seasons turn.

Another year has passed in the blink of an eye.

If you're on a celestial mountain, there's hardly anything special happening in a year, but in the mortal world, people change every year.

During that year, Miss Lin took him out to play many times. They tasted pancakes from street vendors, listened to the piano music in the elegant house, felt the wind at Sanping Lake, and smelled the incense at Qingfeng Temple.

Young Master Lin had already married half a year ago, so all Xu Mu could give him were pills.

The first-stage elixir requires spiritual herbs and magic power, making it too troublesome to refine. Therefore, some ordinary pills were made to promote marital life and fertility, wishing them a son soon.

In the end, it was Master Lin who secretly came to ask for medicine.

This old guy is really still going strong.

It just so happened that it was the New Year, so he gave these kinds of pills to Master Lin.

After the New Year, there was another temple fair, and Xu Mu accompanied Miss Lin to visit it again, but this time the sights and feelings were different.

Seeing no sign that Miss Lin was getting married, and seeing no need to wait for her to marry, he left a letter and a small gift before departing.

The person who delivered the food came over and immediately knew he had already left.

……

"The cries of monkeys on both banks could not stop the light boat from passing through ten thousand mountains."

Xu Mu followed a large river downstream and entered a remote mountainous area.

This world is full of demons and monsters, and the dangers for ordinary people traveling around are even greater, which is a pity.

Places rarely visited by people often have the most beautiful scenery.

The most wondrous, magnificent, and extraordinary sights in the world are often found in dangerous and remote places, rarely visited by people.

Xu Mu rowed a small boat, carrying a sword on his back and a gourd of wine hanging at his waist.

Looking at the blue sky and white clouds, and the sunshine shining on the mountains and rivers, I felt small, but I felt happy and shouted loudly, as if I wanted to call the mother gorilla over.

Only when the world is so vast can one roam freely.

It's fortunate that this place is in the Dharma-ending Age; otherwise, such a beautiful place would probably have become the mountain gate of some sect.

They soon arrived at a mountain hollow, abandoned the boat, and entered through the opening.

The mountain loomed overhead, with a large gap at its base, resembling an open mouth, and the rock face was covered with vines and moss.

"Excellent terrain, a naturally formed aura that gathers spiritual energy," Xu Mu exclaimed.

Even in this land of declining Dharma, there are still some blessed lands and grottoes rich in spiritual energy.

Although it's not as grand as a celestial mountain or cave dwelling, it's sufficient for Qi Refining stage cultivation.

This open "mouth" looks like a whale sucking in water; it's dark inside, and the real treasure trove is to be found deep inside.

He took out a lantern from his storage bag and lit it with a spark.

Following the light of the lanterns, we walked in and saw a small opening, as if there was light coming from it. At first, it was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for a person to pass through. After walking several dozen steps, it suddenly opened up into a bright and spacious place.

A valley hidden behind the mountain suddenly appeared before our eyes, with fallen petals, lush grass, and a sense of vitality in the plants.

"What a great place!" Xu Mu exclaimed with delight.

This place probably can't grow any first-grade spiritual herbs, but these readily available spiritual herbs can be used to make fertilizer to nourish first-grade spiritual herbs, and then the first-grade spiritual herbs can be used to make second-grade fertilizer to nourish second-grade spirit-nourishing fruits.

The Spirit-Gathering Fruit is the main ingredient for refining the Spirit-Gathering Pill.

As long as these spiritual herbs can grow continuously, he can continue to cultivate spiritual medicines and refine Spirit Gathering Pills for cultivation.

"This is it. I'll stay here and farm from now on." Xu Mu rubbed his hands together happily.

Just then, an incomparably domineering tiger roar came from the depths of the valley, shaking the mountains and forests.

Xu Mu smiled upon hearing this. If this was the demonic beast that inhabited this place, then everything was settled.

He was not intimidated by the tiger's power at all; after putting away his lantern, he continued walking inside.

The sun shines brightly in the sky, and white clouds drift lazily by.

Deep in the valley, a silver light shone; it was a river flowing down, nourishing the vegetation within.

Xu Mu walked and looked around, as if he were inspecting his own territory.

Finally, a large white-browed tiger leaped out, its slanted eyes and golden pupils staring coldly at him. It was on all fours, nearly as tall as a person, and its thick tail was like a coiled python.

It seemed quite intelligent, not attacking immediately, but trying to scare Xu Mu away.

Xu Mu, however, was an ungrateful person. With a faint smile on his face, he continued walking forward.

The tiger demon finally roared and pounced.

Xu Mu pointed his fingers and drew his sword, which blocked the tiger's claws. He then shook out five more flying swords from his storage bag.

A total of six flying swords encircled the tiger demon.

He stayed in Wuzhou City for a year and a half and learned the Six Harmonies Imprisoning Dragon Sword Formation.

The six flying swords work together in various ways, aiming to trap and kill the enemy, combining offense and defense.

The difficulty in mastering sword formation techniques lies in simultaneously controlling multiple flying swords and then forming an array.

However, he had already mastered the skill of wielding multiple hoes while farming, and his mental strength had been honed through repeated training, making it easy for him to control six flying swords. Therefore, learning this sword formation was much easier for him.

The earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a technique or method of escape) given by Yan Qing is also showing initial results, allowing one to escape at least ten meters away.

With the protective magic treasure given by Yan Qing and the "Eye-Bright Sword" for his life-saving, he was almost foolproof. No matter what kind of monster was lurking in this place, he was confident that he could subdue it.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario did not occur. More than 140 years had passed since he first heard of this place, and now there was only a tiger demon at the second level of Qi Refining.

With six flying swords circling around, the Dragon-Trapping Sword Formation easily subdued the tiger demon.

The tiger demon was unable to move. Seeing Xu Mu's nonchalant and effortless manner, panic immediately appeared in its eyes, and it let out a whimper, as if begging for mercy.

Xu Mu approached it and, seeing that it seemed quite intelligent, asked, "Heaven cherishes life. If you are clever, I will spare your life and have you guard my mountain. How about it?"

Whether the tiger demon understood or not, it quickly gave up struggling and closed its eyes.

Xu Mu released the constraints of the formation, and it immediately lay down on the ground, bowing its head in submission.

Seeing that it was indeed intelligent, Xu Mu nodded in satisfaction, reached out and stroked its tiger head, reassuring it, "Don't worry, I'm just farming and cultivating here, I won't commit any killing."

The tiger demon seemed to understand, and licked its palm with its tongue.

"Show me around this place, I'll be staying here from now on," Xu Mu said.

The tiger demon let out a low growl, turned around and took two steps, then quickly retreated, crouched down, and gestured for him to sit on its back.

Xu Mu laughed and flipped over to sit on its back.

This was my first time riding a tiger, and such a big one at that.

Unfortunately, the sensation of farting wasn't very comfortable. As the tiger demon moved, my lumbar spine undulated, unlike the flatness of a horse's back.

After adjusting my position and sitting a little forward, it felt much better.

The tiger demon carried him forward, across the stream, and into the depths of the valley.

The entire valley is uneven, with many rocks washed down from the mountains, piled up into low hills.

Xu Mu sat on the tiger's back and looked around. He saw rabbits in the grass, sika deer on the hillside, monkeys in the trees, and birds circling in the air, all of which seemed to be watching him.

These animals seem to possess a kind of spirituality, but they cannot yet be called demons.

"Demon" is a general term used by humans to refer to animals that have achieved success in cultivation. There should be very few demon beasts in the entire valley.

The tiger demon carried him to a low hill deep in the valley, where there was a dug-out cave, which should be its lair.

Xu Mu dismounted from the tiger's back. After the tiger demon roared a few times at the cave entrance, a tiger roar also came from inside the cave. Then, a tigress led two tiger cubs out.

Before the tigress could understand what was happening, the tiger demon pressed down on her head with a paw, signifying its submission to Xu Mu.

The two tiger cubs were too young to understand anything. It was the first time they had ever seen a person walking on two legs, so they stared with curious eyes and ran up to Xu Mu to look at him.

Xu Mu smiled, squatted down, and patted the heads of the two little tigers.

One tiger is yellow, like its mother, and the other is white, like its father.

He said to the tiger demon, "From now on, you will guard my medicinal herb fields and provide me with prey, understand?"

The tiger demon let out a low growl, seemingly able to understand human speech, though it was unclear to what extent.

Regardless, Xu Mu was very satisfied.

He not only had land to farm, but also servants to serve him.

If we have the tiger demon offer up prey, meat shouldn't be a problem. As for vegetarian food, we can plant some vegetables when we grow medicinal herbs, which will allow us to live a pastoral life.