Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

But his steps did not stop there. Eventually, he came to a mountain peak, where he saw the tiger demon that ate human flesh.

The tiger demon, of course, did not recognize who the boy was. It should not have taken such a young person seriously. However, after several rounds, its demon generals were no match for the boy. It actually became afraid, revealed its true form, transformed into a demon tiger, and tried to escape.

The boy remained silent, only focusing on wielding his sword.

He practices the sword of slaughter, each move aimed at cutting off the enemy's escape route.

Monsters whose cultivation was inferior to his could often be killed with a single sword strike. However, this tiger demon was no ordinary creature. It might possess great fortune, and over the past ten years, its cultivation had improved considerably. Yet, it dared not risk its life in a fight with humans and only wanted to escape.

Just as the tiger demon leaped down from the mountaintop, seemingly about to disappear into the wilderness, the young man swung his sword and slashed straight at it.

This sword strike sliced ​​off half of the mountainside.

The boy was simply swinging his sword. He had been swinging his sword every day in the past, and at this moment, he was simply swinging his sword again.

With a single sword stroke, he cleaved the tiger demon and Green Mountain in two.

All the demons on the mountain were annihilated by the sword intent, leaving no survivors. The refugees bound below the demon gate stared blankly at the boy, their eyes seemingly filled with light.

The boy released the refugees, who knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Thank you, Sword Immortal, for saving our lives."

The boy did not reply; he found the tiger demon's corpse under the rolled-down rocks.

He sat in front of the mangled corpse of the demon tiger for the entire night.

None of the refugees dared to approach him, but they too had been starving for a long time. First, monsters ate people, and now people were eating monsters. The leopard demon, wolf demon, eagle demon, and bear demon on the mountain were all roasted clean by them, leaving only the tiger demon with a mutilated corpse.

The boy ignored everything and didn't get up until the sun rose the next morning.

The day he slew the tiger demon was the only day in all these years that he didn't wield his sword.

The sunlight shone on him; he had killed his enemy, yet there was no smile on his face.

They couldn't help but sigh as they looked at him, and then they dropped their swords.

The sword, which looked excellent, struck a rock with a light touch and, like the mountaintop, split in two.

Zhuang Xing understood; this was the complete dream.

The dream ended, and silence fell all around.

He heard the sound of flowing water again, and paused for a moment. In a daze, he was back in the cave where the murals were hidden.

His spirits plummeted. He felt no supernatural powers, and the lingering charm on the mural vanished.

He tried touching the wall again, but it didn't respond.

He was unable to return to his homeland; he only witnessed two grand dreams.

He felt lost, as if waking from a dream. He walked out of the cave in a daze, only to find himself still in the dark wilderness, devoid of any human presence.

"Perhaps the old mandrill is still around..."

Zhuang Xing climbed the mountain, hoping to find the old mountain demon. Before going to find the old mountain demon, he also caught two grass carp in the river as a gift.

But when he found the dilapidated wooden house, when he stepped into that drafty and leaky place, all he saw was empty dust.

Zhuang Xing spent the night in this wooden house.

He lit a fire in the hearth and didn't sleep all night.

...

脉络

As dawn broke, Zhuang Xing, who had been sitting all night, gazed at the sunlight filtering through the roof, where dust motes floated in the sunlight.

He stood up, ready to go to the next place.

Before leaving, he planned to take the diary with him.

Although he has read it, let's keep it as a memento.

With that thought in mind, he opened the cabinet and found the yellowed diary.

The pages were a bit damp, so he relit the fire in the hearth, intending to dry the diary and remove the musty smell.

I also grilled those two grass carp. He didn't have an appetite last night and still doesn't, but he can't go without eating. If he wants to go further, he needs to pay attention to eating and resting.

With two swift strokes of his sword, he gutted the grass carp, scraped off its scales, went outside to whittle two wooden strips, and used them to skewer the fish from its mouth to its tail, then stuck them into the fire pit to roast it.

The only seasoning he had was a little salt, coarse rock salt that a villager he had met that day had given him.

He sat down and, while the fish was grilling, opened the thread-bound book to ensure it was heated evenly.

With no one to accompany him, he would flip through his diary alone, uncovering each page that was stuck together.

He paused for a moment when he reached the last page.

There were words he had never read before, content he had never seen before:

"That year, I answered the emperor's omen and obtained the position of the treasure ship by virtue of my ability to command strange beasts. The world is vast, and I thought there were many monsters I had never seen on the other side of the sea, so I went there happily. But when I returned, I was already old and frail, and the world had changed dynasties."

"The world has changed, and the people on the treasure ship are no longer united. I have no intention of associating with them, so I will leave alone."

"I have no relatives or friends, so I remembered the mandrill I bought that year and came back to this place."

"More than sixty years have passed, and I never expected that it would still be in this wooden house, instead of returning to its clan."

"It stays here, as if it still recognizes me, and dances with joy when it sees me."

Strangely enough, I developed a sense of intimacy with a mountain demon.

"Fine, I'm too lazy to go anywhere else."

What I wrote down was just this brief sentence.

He immediately realized that this was content added later.

It's that person from back then who's returned...

Could it be... that the old mandrill is still alive?

Where did they go?

I'm too lazy to go anywhere else.

Could it be that they're still on this hilltop?

Zhuang Xing raised his head and looked outside.

Are there any other people on this mountain?

He longed for it; at that moment, he desperately wanted to see a living person, someone he could talk to.

Moreover, judging from the text, they were predecessors who returned from the treasure ship.

The treasure ship crossed the East China Sea, and the wild goose spirit also crossed the East China Sea and flew to Xuanqing Temple. There might be some kind of turning point in between.

That senior might be knowledgeable and able to answer his questions.

Zhuang Xing closed the book, not even bothering with the grilled fish by the fire pit, and walked out of the wooden house, through the desolate autumn forest.

He followed the water source, where there was a higher probability of people being near the river.

After walking for a while, he suddenly saw a stone tablet and stopped.

There were no words carved on the stele, but there were pictures.

It was a mandrill, a mandrill holding a sword in its hand.

A rusty sword was stuck in front of the monument. The swordsmith recognized it; it was originally the sword in the old mountain demon's hand.

Born without a name or surname, it dies without a name either. It's better to carve a portrait of it than to have a name that has never been used.

He immediately understood that this was the monument of the old mandrill.

Zhuang Xing stood silently in front of the monument and bowed.

He continued forward. Since the monument was here, the person who erected it should also be nearby.

Sure enough, after walking around, we found a house next to the water source.

It was much better than that dilapidated house, and there was a fence around it, enclosing a yard.

The yard was clean enough, and someone was sweeping fallen leaves with a broom in hand.

If autumn leaves aren't swept up every day, they'll fall everywhere.

He was an old man with white hair. Although he was old, he did not look frail and looked very robust, with a calm and steady demeanor.

Zhuang Xing stepped forward, about to introduce himself, but the old man raised his head first and greeted him.

Why did you come back?

The old man seemed to recognize Zhuang Xing from his words, and Zhuang Xing immediately realized who the old man knew. The first time he encountered something like this, he would feel bewildered, but the second time was unexpected, the third time, and the fourth time, he would get used to it and know how to deal with it.

“Old sir, you must have mistaken me for someone else.” Zhuang Xing cupped his hands in greeting. “Although I look like you, I am not the person you know.”

"You've mistaken me for someone else?" The old man frowned, put down his broom, stepped forward, and looked closely. "It really is him. Your aura is so different from his. Where did you come from?"

“They came from another world,” Zhuang Xing said.

What is this other world?

"In another realm, the Great Yu Dynasty has not yet perished."

The old man stroked his beard, looking thoughtful.

"A few months ago, a Bifang flew to my courtyard, carrying a letter that I had sent on the treasure ship years ago. That letter must have been written sixty years ago. That Bifang was also the one I raised sixty years ago. If your world is still intact, then the Great Yu Dynasty is still alive..."

Zhuang Xing was overjoyed upon hearing this: "Old sir, do you know where Bi Fang went?"

He understood immediately. The Bifang must be the strange bird that delivered the message to the emperor back then, and it was probably the old man who sent the strange bird back.

The old man shook his head: "I have no intention of raising it anymore, so I released it back into the mountains. As for where it went, I don't know."

Zhuang Xing was anxious: "Please help me, sir. I have been lost in this place for many days. I have heard people say that Bifang has gone back. It would be good if you could tell me where Bifang flew to."

The old man glanced at him and said, "Alright, come in. I'll make some tea."

The two sat at the table, and the old man brewed a pot of hot tea.

"I am Zhuang Xing, may I ask your name, sir?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"You've come here not to ask my name, have you?" the old man said. "We've only met by chance, there's no need to ask any more. Just tell me about yourself, and about that Bifang. Tell me what happened to Bifang."