Hermit in the Mountains

Upon hearing Da Huang's warning, Gu Changsheng's mind snapped out of his meditative state, and his Yin spirit returned to his sea of ​​consciousness.

The transparent vortex around his body returned to its original form. Without the blessing of the Yin God, the vortex could only rotate slowly, drawing in the wood spirit energy within a three-meter radius around him.

He exhaled, and the hot air reacted with the cold air from the outside, creating a white mist.

I got out of bed, stood on the floor, stretched my limbs, and picked up my Huawei phone from the bedside table to check the date, time, and weather.

February 3, 2025, 2 PM, Minor Snow.

The moment I unlocked my phone and turned off airplane mode, WeChat emitted a notification sound and displayed several red numbers.

When I opened WeChat, I saw a message from Yang Dashan, a villager from Xiahe Village. It turned out that he had sent the message when he went up the mountain to deliver goods.

His place of seclusion belongs to the collective mountain land of Xiahe Village, which is 30 kilometers away from the Zhongnan Mountain and Wutai Mountain scenic area and 100 kilometers away from Chang'an City.

Gu Changsheng did not choose a location too close to the Zhongnan Mountain scenic area for two reasons: firstly, the large flow of people would disturb him; and secondly, the rent would be too high.

The famous Taoist holy site is located near Zhongnan Mountain, where at least 50,000 to 100,000 people come to cultivate themselves.

He didn't know how many of them were true cultivators.

For three months after entering the mountains, he was busy exploring the methods of cultivation and determining his own path of cultivation, without having much spare energy to pay attention to the outside world.

He chose a small mountain village 30 kilometers away from Zhongnan Mountain and Wutai Mountain as his place of seclusion.

Firstly, the area is sparsely populated, and secondly, the rent is cheap. The rent for one mu (unit of land area) of mountain land is only 300 yuan per year, so he directly rented ten mu for a ten-year term.

The mountain where he practiced seclusion was a full three kilometers away from Xiahe Village. Villagers usually wouldn't come to the mountain he contracted to avoid disturbing his practice.

Every two weeks, only one villager, Yang Dashan, would come to deliver supplies.

Gu Changsheng opened the wooden door, and a gust of cold wind rushed in, producing a cloud of white mist with each breath.

He stood at the door of the wooden house, gazing at the endless Qinling Mountains, the entire mountain range covered in a layer of white snow.

February is already late winter, temperatures are rising, and the snow on the mountains is starting to decrease.

The mountain he was on was not high in altitude and had no thick snow. The snowflakes that fell from the sky would melt into water a few hours after landing.

He built a total of three wooden houses. The main house is 10 meters long and 4 meters wide, with a total area of ​​40 square meters. It is divided into a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen.

Twenty meters to the left of the main house is a 4-square-meter dry toilet, which serves as both a toilet and a bathing area;

Five meters to the right of the main house is an eight-square-meter storage room, usually used to store tools, timber, farm implements, etc.

The land in front of the wooden house is planted with vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, peppers, radishes, ginger, and garlic, making it self-sufficient and allowing for a free variety of vegetables.

As of now, after renting land, building houses, and purchasing materials, his assets have shrunk by 90%, leaving him with a balance of around 30,000 yuan.

Now that I have a direction in my spiritual practice, the next step is to consider how to make money.

Even when living in the mountains, one still needs money to purchase living supplies and to save money to buy spiritual resources in the city.

Such as ancient jade and artifacts imbued with spiritual energy, rare ancient books recording the lives of ancient cultivators, cultivation of herbal seeds for alchemy, and the search for unique minerals to forge artifacts, etc.

The essential techniques for cultivation—alchemy, weapon crafting, array formation, and talisman making—will be his next focus of study.

Spiritual practice is very resource-intensive and expensive.

Why did ancient alchemists like to serve emperors, princes, and nobles in alchemy, talisman making, and weapon forging? It was because these people controlled the vast majority of the country's resources.

They might travel all over the country and spend years in deep mountains and dense forests without finding the materials needed for alchemy, but the treasures of emperors, princes and nobles might contain the materials needed for alchemy, weapon making, and talisman making.

Modern society is different from ancient times, so Gu Changsheng did not reveal to outsiders that he could sense spiritual energy.

He had no relatives or friends, and no one to care about, so he simply stayed in the mountains to cultivate himself, watching the clouds drift by, living a carefree and leisurely life.

"Brother Gu..."

A greeting pulled Gu Changsheng back to reality.

Gu Changsheng turned his head to look in the direction from which the sound came, which was also the direction of the mountain path.

What came into view was a robust middle-aged man wearing thick cotton-padded clothes.

The man's name is Yang Dashan, a villager from Xiahe Village at the foot of the mountain. He has a junior high school education and is an honest farmer.

He saw that Yang Dashan was honest, kind, and strong, and that he also had a Wuling van. He made an agreement with him to help purchase daily necessities every two weeks and deliver them to the mountain, for which he would pay Yang Dashan.

For the first two months, he relied on the supplies sent by Yang Dashan to support his daily food and drink. In the third month, the situation improved a bit. The vegetables he grew were ready to eat, and his two hens started laying eggs.

He didn't know how long it would take for him to be able to abstain from grains, but he was gradually becoming self-sufficient on the mountain, except for the trouble of growing staple foods.

As for electricity, it's basically only needed for browsing the internet on mobile phones. Two power banks are enough. Every time Yang Dashan delivers goods, he brings a fully charged power bank up and takes the empty one back to recharge.

The internet connection isn't at full strength, but it's sufficient. He doesn't need to watch videos or TV series; he mainly uses the internet to research information.

There is a stream in the valley a few hundred meters away, so there is no problem with water supply on a daily basis.

Yang Dashan carried a bamboo basket on his back. He called out to Gu Changsheng but received no response. When he got closer to the wooden house, he called out again.

"Brother Gu..."

When Yang Dashan called out the second sentence, Gu Changsheng stepped out from under the eaves and went to greet him.

"Brother Yang, thank you for your hard work."

He walked up to Yang Dashan and took the plastic bag from the other's hand. "Give it to me."

The two went into the kitchen to put away their supplies. Gu Changsheng invited, "Brother Yang, come on over to the living room for a cup of hot water and a rest."

"Thank you, Brother Gu." Yang Dashan stood at the door of the wooden house, raised his hands to pat the snowflakes off his body, shook himself off, took off his canvas shoes, and stepped into the living room.

The two sat around the stove, and Gu Changsheng picked up the kettle on the stove and poured Yang Dashan a glass of boiled water.

The moment the boiling water is poured out, wisps of white steam are produced.

"Watch out, it's hot!"

"Thank you, Brother Gu." Yang Dashan smiled, holding the iron water cup in both hands to warm them, and occasionally blowing air into the cup.

He looked at Gu Changsheng across from him, whose face was ruddy and whose thick hair reached past his shoulders. The dark circles under his eyes, bald head, and thin body that he had seen three months ago were gone.

He casually asked, "Brother Gu, you seem to be getting more and more energetic. Have you fully recovered?"

"Thank you for your concern, Brother Yang. I've fully recovered," Gu Changsheng replied with a smile.

He also praised the scenery of the place, saying, "The mountains and waters here are beautiful. I go to bed on time every night and exercise in the morning. My energy and spirit recover quickly. I made the right choice coming here."

"I finally understand why so many people throughout history have liked to live in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain."

"The air quality here in Zhongnan Mountain is good, the environment is quiet, and there is no urban noise, making it a great place to recuperate."

Yang Dashan took a sip of water and nodded. "It's good that you're feeling better."

The two chatted for more than ten minutes, and Gu Changsheng stood at the door of the wooden house watching Yang Dashan leave.

He waved and said, "Brother Yang, be careful on your way down the mountain. Send me a message on WeChat when you get home."

"I will. It's cold outside, Brother Gu. You should go back inside." Yang Dashan waved goodbye to Gu Changsheng while carrying his bamboo basket, then turned and headed down the mountain along the path.

Gu Changsheng watched Yang Dashan's figure disappear at the end of the path, then looked towards the more distant Chang'an City.

After the winter snow melts, he will find some time to go into the city to see if there is any spiritual energy there.

Three months ago, no spiritual energy was detected in Shanghai, Chang'an, or the counties along the route.

The city was filled with a chaotic mix of energy fields, devoid of any spiritual energy.