Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

“When she was bullied by other children in the village, as long as I stood up, those children would be scared and run home. I would go to their homes and say that if anyone dared to bully my daughter again, I would twist their head off and kick it like a ball. Those bastards were all scared to death, and their parents didn’t dare to talk to me. They never dared to show their faces in front of my daughter again.”

“When my daughter was still healthy, she liked to go with me to the mountains to chop firewood.”

"As long as I hear her call me 'Daddy,' I feel like I have inexhaustible energy."

"Everyone says my daughter is stupid, but she is not stupid at all. She can clearly call me 'Daddy' and pick flowers for me."

The bearded man drank his wine and gave a self-deprecating smile.

"It's been like this since I was a child. No matter how hard I try, I can't get what I want."

“Even though I do a lot of work at home, my parents and older brother don’t like me, and my wife is the same. I couldn’t keep Xiao An with me.”

"Perhaps I am not destined to have such a good daughter, but at least I hope that my daughter can rest in peace."

"I beg you, Taoist priest, to help me fulfill this wish."

"The dead rest in peace; it is the way of Heaven," Zhuang Xing said. "Uncle Wei, get some rest and don't drink too much. We still have to go up the mountain tomorrow."

"What the Taoist priest says is true."

The bearded man put down his wine jug, glanced at the skeletons in the courtyard one last time, and went back to his room to sleep.

Zhuang Xing sat in the courtyard until late at night. When the red pandas got sleepy, he told them to go to bed and rest.

He sat quietly, gazing silently at the skeleton before him.

The skeleton seemed eager to go outside, and it kept crawling towards the outside without stopping.

Even if it falls down, it will try very hard to get up, but it seems not to understand how to get out of this predicament, not to understand how to get out of that small fence, like a lost child.

Zhuang Xing stopped looking and went back to his room to rest and recharge.

...

He got up early the next morning.

Since the horse couldn't go up the mountain, Zhuang Xing told Wuzhui to stay in the village and wait for him to return.

He and the bearded man pushed open the fence gate and placed Xiao An in front of it.

The skeleton finally took a step and walked towards the mountain gate.

Zhuang Xing and Big Beard followed behind it, while the pandas went ahead to scout the way.

The skeleton was inflexible; when it encountered the river, it only thought about wading across, unaware that the river could easily wash it away.

In this situation, the only option is for the bearded man to pick up the skeleton and carry it across the path.

The journey was short, but the skeletons traversed it with great difficulty. In the end, the group finally embarked on that rugged mountain path.

Go forward.

Chapter 165 A Place Where Ghosts Gather

Zhuang walked up this green mountain. There was a small path on the mountain, which was the path that people from the foot of the mountain used to take to go up the mountain to chop firewood, pick mushrooms, and gather wild fruits.

Zhuang Xing originally thought that Xiao An would easily fall or get lost once they reached the mountain, but to his surprise, she seemed to know the way and knew where to go after they got there.

It seems she has evolved from a single-celled organism to the intelligence of a three-year-old child. Before going up the mountain, she would only point and bang on one spot, but now she knows how to find her way.

Clearly, this was not a coincidence; neither humans nor demons can suddenly evolve their intelligence.

“There is indeed something unusual about this mountain.” Zhuang Xing looked at the inconspicuous green mountain.

Mountains like these are everywhere, but one that can transform a red panda into a demon and bones into monsters is truly extraordinary.

He remained vigilant about his surroundings, but nothing happened as he walked up the mountain.

Reaching the mountainside, we came across a wooden bridge spanning the river. The bridge was clearly broken in the middle, with only ropes and some broken wood remaining. It had been washed away by the rising water.

Xiao An seemed to want to cross the river, but instead of wading into the water, she looked at Big Beard and Zhuang Xing.

She seemed to know that she had fallen into the fast-flowing river and would be swept away, perhaps even torn to pieces.

"Xiao An, do you still recognize your father?"

Seeing that his daughter seemed to have regained her senses, the bearded man nervously called out to her, but she did not answer him or respond to him.

He lowered his head in disappointment and asked, "Young Taoist priest, do you think this skeleton is my daughter, or a demon that has taken my daughter's body?"

He often pondered this question, but could never come to a conclusion, perhaps because he was unwilling to accept the outcome.

"I dare not make a definitive conclusion," Zhuang Xing said. "But since these are Xiao An's bones, the one most compatible with them is naturally Xiao An's spirit. If they were soulless bones, they could not possibly rise up so soon after being buried if they wanted to become demons. Based on my knowledge, it should be that Xiao An's spirit is trapped inside the bones."

“Uncle Wei, let’s keep going. Since we’re heading up the mountain, and Xiao An is gradually regaining her senses, maybe she’ll be fully conscious once we get to where she wants to go.”

“What you say makes sense, Daoist Master.” After listening to Zhuang Xing’s analysis, the bearded man perked up. “The bridge has collapsed. Let’s go somewhere else and see if there’s a way to get across.”

“The river water comes down from the mountain. If we cross the river at a different place, we might have to go to the other side of the mountain, which would take a lot of time.” Zhuang Xing took out his sword. “Uncle Wei, please wait a moment. I will build another bridge.”

"Build a bridge?" The bearded man was taken aback.

While he was still in a daze, Zhuang Xing had already drawn his sword.

He cut down three sections of a tree, which were about the same width as the river. He then channeled his inner energy to cut off the tree crowns, and single-handedly placed the three logs across the river.

Although the river is swift, it is only five or six meters long. Zhuang Xing can easily jump across it. This bridge was built specifically for Big Beard and Xiao An.

Zhuang Xing leveled the wooden bridge and wedged it between the original bridge piers, making it easy to walk on.

The bearded man stretched out his foot to test it. Although it was just a temporary bridge, even he, a strong man weighing over 200 pounds, did not feel any swaying when walking on it.

So he picked up Xiao An and strode over.

The group continued up the mountain, passing through forests and along paths.

The pandas arrived at their familiar spot and began to hunt for moss, nibble on tender bamboo shoots and bamboo stalks.

The pandas said their original den was near this forest.

There is a large bamboo forest on this mountain, with lush green bamboo and many bamboo shoots sprouting from the ground.

Xiao An walked ahead, entering this deep forest.

By dusk, she looked quite different from her foolish self down the mountain.

She reacted to her surroundings, looking at a cluster of pale yellow wildflowers in the bamboo grove.

Behind her empty eye sockets, though it was pitch black, she still seemed to be "looking" at the bunch of wildflowers as if she were alive.

Neither the bearded man nor Zhuang Xing disturbed her, allowing her to observe quietly.

After watching for a while, she actually picked the wildflower. She held the small flower in her palm with her clenched fingers, and then went to the bearded man and raised her arm.

The bearded man paused for a moment, then his calloused, broad hands trembled as he took the flower.

He seemed to see his daughter's smile, and he seemed to hear her whispering his name in his ear.

The daughter smiled broadly and said in her slurred speech, "Daddy, flowers."

The bright sunshine of that day came to mind. Throughout the year, while living alone at the foot of the mountain, he had plenty of time to recall these unforgettable scenes.

Four-year-old Xiao An could still jump and hop around. She insisted on going with her father, so when spring was in full bloom, he put his daughter in a basket and took her up the mountain.

The daughter's small hands rested on the basket, like a fledgling bird peeking out, looking out.

At that time, he had just divorced his wife and sent her back to her parents' home. He had no friends, had long since stopped contacting his parents, and had no one to confide in about his inner turmoil.

But seeing his daughter running around energetically, he felt that as long as his daughter was there, his life was meaningful.

I feel that everything he did and all the hardships he endured were meaningful.

That was the first and only time in his life he had ever received flowers, just like now, as his daughter handed them to him.

He will never forget that smiling face with dimples, and the little mud on his daughter's hands and nose.

"Daddy..."

The enormous red sun sank below the horizon, night fell, and he heard a sound coming from beside him.

He wasn't hallucinating; he turned around abruptly and saw his daughter's face.

"Xiao An..."

It was a semi-transparent ghost; it reached out to touch its daughter's face, but its fingers could only touch the air.

"Father..." Xiao An cried out, "Hurry..."

Xiao An spoke like a normal person, but her eyes held a look of worry.

The temperature around us suddenly dropped, as if we had fallen into an ice cellar.

The red pandas bared their teeth, and a thin mist rose around them, revealing a dozen or so faint outlines.

They are all spirits, but not human spirits; they are beast spirits.

It is a lost soul wandering here.

Zhuang Xing understood why Xiao An became more lucid the higher she went up the mountain; a part of her soul was trapped there.

Her past dazed and foolish behavior may have been due to her soul leaving her body; she should have been a potential cultivator.

That's why her bones wanted to find this place; it was simply an instinctive desire to retrieve her soul.

At this moment, her soul was finally whole, and she regained her senses.

Chapter 166 Slaying Evil Spirits

The bearded man had never seen such a scene before and was immediately horrified.

These beast souls were ethereal and elusive, unlike Xiao An, and were surrounded by an evil black aura.

They were all ferocious carnivorous beasts: jackals, black bears, tigers...

Seeing that these beast spirits were emaciated, Zhuang Xing knew that they must have starved to death before they died.

Like the wild animals that starved to death in the mountains and fields during the heavy snows of recent years.

Starvation is arguably one of the most painful ways to die.

Starving to the point of being pale and emaciated, only to die unwillingly, this kind of death will accumulate deep resentment.

Ordinary ghosts are fine, but even if they become vengeful spirits, they will turn to ashes in a few days after being exposed to the sun.