Chapter 33

Unlike what He Gui thought, Wu Mian just suddenly remembered the scene of their first meeting. Apart from knowing that this old man was called He Gui, he couldn't recall anything else about the old man. When He Gui mentioned the fourth map, he almost opened his mouth to ask what it was.

Wu Mian lay half-reclined in the carriage, squinting his eyes at He Gui. He was not a man of many words, and He Gui didn't think much of his appearance. The old man continued to chatter while driving the carriage, recounting how he had gone to great lengths to carry the unconscious Wu Mian out of Xianyang City. He had spent the two gold ingots Wu Mian had on him to buy this carriage and food and drink. They were preparing to go to Yang Mountain to avoid the war, where the old man had once built a cave retreat. It had been abandoned, but he never thought it would be useful again after more than a hundred years.

However, as He Gui kept talking, the fragments of Wu Mian's memory slowly began to connect. By the time they reached the foot of Yang Mountain two days later, Wu Mian's memory had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent. However, his body was still weak from exhaustion, and it would take a long time to fully recover.

At the foot of Yang Mountain, He Gui sold the carriage cheaply and exchanged it for enough food for Wu Mian for two or three months. Then the two of them went up Yang Mountain together.

He Gui's cave retreat was built on the mountaintop, and it took them a day and a night to get there. After more than a hundred years, He Gui had forgotten the location of the cave. They circled the mountain peak for half a day, and just when Wu Mian was about to collapse from exhaustion, He Gui finally found the entrance. Wu Mian began to wonder if the old man had done it on purpose, finding the location just when he was about to collapse.

After He Gui removed the concealment spell on the cave entrance, a moss-covered and vine-covered cave appeared. "I kept this place just in case Xu Fu and I had a falling out. I didn't completely abandon it."

As he spoke, the old man entered the cave first, and Wu Mian followed. Once inside, he realized that the inside was completely different from what he had seen outside. Before entering, it looked dark and full of rocks and animal bones, like a den for tigers and leopards.

But inside, there were no rocks or bones. The space was incredibly large and neatly divided into several areas. Stone benches, stone tables, and stone beds were all present, and even a set of chimes was placed in a corner.

He Gui, upon entering, pointed to the furnishings and said, "Feel free to sit, don't be shy, it's like being at home..." Before he could finish, Wu Mian had already plopped down on the stone bed, half-lying and half-reclining, and said to the old man, "The bed is mine, you sleep on the ground. It's cooler there." "......"

Wu Mian naturally took over the cave, and then started ordering He Gui around. Although this made the old man grind his teeth in frustration, he thought that to recover his abilities, he would need the help of this young brat who could eat raw rice. Thinking of this, he had to suppress his anger and take good care of the young brat first.

He Gui didn't need to sleep, so while Wu Mian slept on the stone bed, the old man sat on a stone bench. Although his eyes were closed, he knew everything that happened in the cave. This was a habit that had been ingrained in him over hundreds of years. Resting was easy, but there was a problem with the food.

He Gui had long mastered the art of abstaining from food and didn't need external sustenance. But Wu Mian was different; he would bite if he was too hungry.

The food was already bought and would last Wu Mian for three or four months, but water was a bit of a problem. The cave originally had a water source, but when He Gui left, he used magic to divert the water flow to prevent the cave from flooding. When he returned, he no longer had the ability to do so. He knew the location of the water source but couldn't get a single drop. To get water, he had to walk a few miles to fetch mountain spring water. Of course, Wu Mian wouldn't do such a task, so it was left to the old man who looked like he was over a hundred and forty years old.

This kind of life went on for more than two months, and Wu Mian's body began to slowly recover. During this time, he took out the silk scrolls left by Xu Fu and started studying the explanations and summaries of the Fangshi techniques. However, the Four Directions Classic was still too profound and difficult for the current Wu Mian. Fortunately, he had He Gui, who had a deep understanding of the techniques but couldn't use them.

At first, the old man tried to act like a master and a father, but after a spark of electricity flashed from Wu Mian's fingertips, He Gui dropped his pretensions. Without Wu Mian even asking, he began to explain the key points of the Four Directions Classic in great detail. His patience and thoroughness were such that even Xu Fu himself might not have been able to match it. With such a good teacher, Wu Mian's understanding of his own techniques improved significantly. All that was left was to wait for his full recovery and then find the location of the fourth map.

He Gui was confident that no one else knew about this cave. Once Wu Mian fully recovered in a few months, they could leave. However, just when Wu Mian's food was about to run out, something unexpected happened.

When He Gui sold the carriage for food, he also got some silver, in case Wu Mian needed more food. As the stored food dwindled, the old man went down the mountain to get more supplies.

He Gui was gone for two days and a night, and it wasn't until the morning of the third day that he returned to the cave with a bag full of food. But when he saw Wu Mian, his face was off, and he immediately said, "I saw people from Guangren at the foot of the mountain. They are here for us."

Wu Mian's food had run out the day before, and he was starving and looking for something to vent his frustration on. Hearing He Gui's words, he frowned but first snatched the bag from the old man's hand, found a coarse grain cake inside, and took a bite before saying, "How do you know they are here for us?"

He Gui sighed and said, "I wish I was overthinking it, but I heard it clearly..."

After going down the mountain, the old man didn't rush to buy food. Instead, he wandered aimlessly around the villages at the foot of the mountain. He had the idea of letting Wu Mian go hungry and see his misery, so he took his time, looking for a teahouse or tavern to pass the time. But when he was idly walking past the house where he had sold the carriage, he saw a young man with fiery red hair holding a portrait of Wu Mian and talking to the owner of the house.

He Gui recognized the red-haired young man; he was Guangren's disciple, named Huoshan. Despite his young appearance, Huoshan was actually over a hundred years old. Xu Fu had personally examined his constitution and found that Huoshan was not suitable for the elixir of immortality. Guangren, unwilling to let his obedient disciple enter the cycle of rebirth, secretly used a forbidden technique to preserve Huoshan's youth and extend his life, tying his own life to Huoshan's. Thanks to his master's immortality, Huoshan had also touched the threshold of immortality.

However, a forbidden technique was still a forbidden technique. When Xu Fu found out, he was furious, but it was too late to undo it. If the technique was broken, both Guangren and Huoshan would die. Reluctantly, he severely punished the master and disciple. The Great Fangshi even considered replacing the successor, but after looking at all his disciples, he found no one better than Guangren. Despite his grave mistake, he had no choice but to pass the position of Great Fangshi to his eldest disciple.

After this incident, Huoshan became even more obedient to his master. A hundred years ago, when his techniques had not been sealed by Xu Fu, He Gui wouldn't have given Huoshan a second glance. But now, he had to avoid Huoshan.