Chapter 32

The inheritance of the Eight Mountain Lord Paintings had already been imprinted in Yang Junshan's mind. Before leaving the stone cave, Yang Junshan used an iron-feathered arrow to completely destroy the eight murals on the stone wall. Only Xiaohuzai, the little tiger cub, tilted his head and watched Yang Junshan's actions, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes, seemingly not understanding why Yang Junshan would do such a thing.

After the eight murals were destroyed, the faint demonic aura that originally emanated from the stone wall suddenly disappeared. Yang Junshan had also eliminated a source of demonic disaster for Mengyu County.

Although Yang Junshan had not yet fully recovered, his successful advancement to the Immortal Spirit Realm greatly enhanced his strength. At this moment, among all the young cultivators hunting Immortal Spirits in the mountains, Yang Junshan's cultivation could be considered invincible.

Unfortunately, Yang Junshan only had a carved large bow and a half quiver of iron-feathered arrows left. If he encountered Zhang Yueming and his group, he would still have to run away.

Putting Xiaohuzai back into his backpack, Yang Junshan, after leaving the cave, could further experience the different sensations brought by the improvement in his cultivation. His vision seemed clearer, his hearing more acute, and he could easily sense the faint spiritual energy permeating the surroundings.

Finding the traces left by Zhang Yueming and his group in the mountain hollow, Yang Junshan tried to catch up with these people. Unfortunately, after spending half a day, he lost their trail at a mountain stream.

Yang Junshan then attempted to search for the den of the Ground Stepping Bear alone. Unfortunately, without any traces to follow, finding the den of the Ground Stepping Bear in the vast Baique Mountain was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Although Yang Junshan felt regretful, he ultimately had to give up.

Both the Mountain Tiger and the Ground Stepping Bear had already begun to transform into demons. Since there was a demonic inheritance in the Mountain Tiger's den that formed a source of demonic aura, did it also mean that there was a similar inheritance in the Ground Stepping Bear's den?

Whether to find the Ground Stepping Bear's inheritance or to destroy a possible source of demonic aura, Yang Junshan needed to locate the Ground Stepping Bear's den. Unfortunately, he could not explain this to others, nor could he make the demonic inheritance known to everyone.

Although he did not find the Ground Stepping Bear's den, Yang Junshan unexpectedly found the traces of a group of Mountain Drilling Rats. Mountain Drilling Rats, at best, could be considered low-grade ferocious beasts. They themselves did not give birth to Immortal Spirits, but in their nests, there might be a low-grade Immortal Spirit called "Grain Stone."

This type of Immortal Spirit often forms due to the Mountain Drilling Rats' habit of stockpiling large amounts of food. In the process of collecting food, they instinctively move some food rich in spiritual energy to their nests for storage. Over time, the spiritual essence in these foods begins to gather and condense, forming a green, stone-like crystal, which is the low-grade Immortal Spirit "Grain Stone."

However, it is not easy for this low-grade Immortal Spirit to form successfully. First, the food stored in the Mountain Drilling Rats' nest must be sufficient and diverse. The food must also be stored for a long time, and it must be rich in spiritual energy.

Most of the nests where this type of Immortal Spirit is found are old nests that have been passed down for generations and have a long history. Some nests may have a history of over a hundred years, with dozens of generations of Mountain Drilling Rats breeding and storing food, making it more likely for Grain Stones to form.

The traces of the Mountain Drilling Rats that Yang Junshan found seemed to be a group that had recently split from a larger group, with a nest history of no more than a few years. It would be difficult for Immortal Spirits to form in such a short time.

However, since he had found the traces, he decided to follow them to see what he could find. After all, anything is possible.

Although they are ferocious beasts, they are quite timid. However, if provoked, a group of a dozen or even dozens of Mountain Drilling Rats could be troublesome.

After finding a cave dug by the Mountain Drilling Rats, Yang Junshan searched the surrounding area and quickly found several more rat holes. However, he was only looking for Immortal Spirits, not to capture all the Mountain Drilling Rats.

He used the rat holes to determine the approximate location of the nest and began digging from the rat hole closest to the nest. Soon, the Mountain Drilling Rats in the cave sensed the disturbance, and a fat, cat-sized gray rat emerged, which Yang Junshan pierced with an iron-feathered arrow.

The scent of blood spread, and the Mountain Drilling Rats in the nest soon became agitated. At this moment, the benefit of not blocking all the rat holes became apparent. The rats fled through different holes, with about twenty of them scattering.

Yang Junshan continued digging the cave while paying attention to the Mountain Drilling Rats escaping from the surrounding holes. He noticed that these rats were all quite fat, which was a good sign.

Mountain Drilling Rats are a type of ferocious beast with a strong sense of danger. Their instinct to store food makes them prefer to store food even if it means barely surviving. Therefore, to determine if a nest has sufficient food reserves, one only needs to look at the fatness of the rats. If the rats are fat, it means the food in the nest is abundant enough to make them feel secure, and the more abundant the food, the higher the possibility of forming an Immortal Spirit.

After the Mountain Drilling Rats scattered and realized the danger had passed, they returned and began to make "squeaking" sounds around Yang Junshan, trying to scare the person who was destroying their home. However, they never had the courage to attack Yang Junshan together.

Finally, with the collapse of a layer of soil, a nest about three feet high and wide appeared before Yang Junshan. The various foods stored inside almost filled the entire nest, estimated to be about two shi (a unit of weight).

Ignoring the increasingly urgent squeaks of the dozens of Mountain Drilling Rats around him, Yang Junshan used the iron-feathered arrow to dig through the pile of food, searching for the possible low-grade Immortal Spirit.

As he dug through the pile of food, the disappointment on Yang Junshan's face grew. Even after moving hundreds of pounds of food, he still did not find what he was looking for.

What a pity!

Although he knew the chances were slim, Yang Junshan still felt a bit regretful. He casually threw the iron-feathered arrow to the ground, but it sank into the ground by more than a foot.

Yang Junshan exclaimed, "Hmm," wondering if his increased cultivation had made him so strong.

He stepped on the ground, and with the collapse of the soil layer, another food storage nest about a foot in size appeared before him. The Mountain Drilling Rats, which had been making noise, suddenly fell silent.

It turned out to be a double-layered nest. These rats are really clever!

Yang Junshan praised, but he did not hesitate to start searching the lower layer of the nest. Soon, his iron-feathered arrow dug out an object, which rolled out from a pile of plant seeds, roots, and nuts.

The emerald green crystal was roughly round, and as it rolled on the ground, the light inside it continuously shifted. It was the low-grade Immortal Spirit Grain Stone, formed from the essence of various plant fruits.

The Mountain Drilling Rats did not expect that the person before them was not after their food. Seeing Yang Junshan turn to leave, and that the food in the damaged nest was not reduced, the rats immediately swarmed back, began to dig new nests under the original nest, and moved all the food to the new nests. This would be a long-term project, but perhaps in a few years or even decades, another low-grade Immortal Spirit might form in this nest.

Looking at the sky, Yang Junshan saw that there was still half a day before the Baique Mountain hunting ground closed. He weighed the nuts he had collected from the Mountain Drilling Rats' nest and thought that the time should be sufficient. Perhaps he should look for the shrub where the Mountain Drilling Rats collected these nuts. If he was lucky, he might find it.

The nuts in Yang Junshan's hand were seeds from a shrub. Although the nuts themselves were ordinary fruits, the place where this shrub grew might also have a type of fungus called Chonggu, which, although not an Immortal Spirit, was a low-grade spiritual herb that could be used to refine medicinal pills and even magical pills. Yang Junshan knew of a magical pill that was highly effective for mid-stage cultivators, and the main ingredient for refining it was this Chonggu.

Although Yang Junshan was only proficient in basic alchemy and knew nothing about refining pills, these spiritual herbs could be exchanged for jade coins, which were valuable.

The Baique Mountain was vast, and although it was not a spiritual herb plantation, it did have many spiritual herbs growing in it. In the past, young cultivators entering the Baique Mountain would often collect some spiritual herbs while hunting Immortal Spirits, which was an additional gain.

However, perhaps because of his good luck this time, he had not found a single trace of a spiritual herb in the Baique Mountain over the past few days. Otherwise, with his knowledge from his previous life, he would not have missed any opportunity.

Now that he had found a place where spiritual herbs might exist, Yang Junshan naturally would not let this opportunity for additional gains slip away.

However, just as Yang Junshan turned a hill and saw a patch of shrubs in the distance, a desperate shout came from far away: "Jingjing, run! Those things are catching up!"

Recognizing the voice as that of his fellow villager Hao Zhuang, who was still alive, Yang Junshan realized that Jingjing must be Xu Jing, and they were together!