"Let's spend the night here!"
Gu Shi Yi drove the carriage to a small valley with relatively flat terrain. A few yards down there was a babbling creek. Gu Shi Yi went to fill his water bladder with some clear water, watered the old broken pot for Big Boss, and then untied the old horse to let it graze and drink nearby. He then raised a fire on this side, seated himself next to it, and in no time, the chill of the mountains was dissipated. Gu Shi Yi took out a piece of dry bread to toast it and said to Li Yaner, who was sitting on a large rock on the side, with a smile,
"Luckily, you and Big Boss don't need to eat or drink, so I can save quite a bit of silver!"
Li Yaner smiled, but the smile was somewhat melancholic,
"I've already forgotten what food tastes like!"
Seeing her disappointment, Gu Shi Yi hurriedly comforted her,
"When you find a suitable body in the future, you can eat as much as you want. It's best if it's from a rich and noble family, with all sorts of delicacies at your disposal!"
Li Yaner nodded and smiled,
"You're right... I will definitely taste all the delicacies of this world in the future..."
As they were talking, they suddenly heard the horse neighing. With a start, Gu Shi Yi turned to look at the old horse and saw its nostrils flaring as it dashed toward the fire, stopping right behind its master - the clever old horse had sensed something wrong and had immediately sought safety.
Gu Shi Yi arched an eyebrow, sprang up on the spot, and at the same time, reached for the bundle beside her, pulling out the Old Taoist Priest's Peach Wood Sword,
"What's wrong?"
Li Yaner took cover beside Big Boss with an anxious face. Big Boss twisted its body and said in a thin voice,
"Gu Shi Yi, there's a presence of Spirits and Monsters..."
Gu Shi Yi's expression turned serious; she looked around, nodded, and responded solemnly,
"There is indeed the presence of Spirits and Monsters, but don't be afraid..."
Travelers alone in the mountains were most likely to attract mountain spirits and wild monsters. She and the Old Taoist Priest had encountered them countless times. Scanning the surroundings, Gu Shi Yi's gaze settled on the pitch-dark forest not far ahead, and with a slight tweak at the corner of her mouth, she chuckled,
"No worries, they shouldn't have deep Cultivation..."
Having said that, she sat down again as if nothing had happened. She picked up the softened dry bread and took a few bites with water, her expression calm as she looked towards the grass in front of her. Big Boss snorted,
"Just a Little Sprite, daring to act arrogantly in front of Big Boss!"
Gu Shi Yi rolled her eyes at it,
"Shut up, to my knowledge, there are several rather powerful Spirits and Monsters in these mountains, each with hundreds of years of Cultivation. Although you've lived for a thousand years, you're just a Pine Tree Spirit. Apart from bullying other plants and grabbing territory, you can't do much. Don't get cocky!"
If anything like that happened to him, aside from slipping underground to escape, he had no other skills. If he encountered another Spirit skilled in Earth Escape, he'd be easily captured and end up as an extra meal for someone!
Feeling his weakness exposed by her words, Big Boss didn't dare to boast anymore and stood there without moving. Meanwhile, Li Yaner, witnessing this for the first time, couldn't help feeling nervous. She peeked out from behind the broken pot, her gaze fixed in the direction Gu Shi Yi was looking. Sure enough, a soft rustling sound approached from there - something was coming!
Li Yaner was visibly tense,
"What is it?"
Big Boss shook its body and replied,
"It's just a grass spirit, nothing to worry about!"
Even he couldn't be afraid of such a small grass spirit!
"But... you should be careful. If you get caught, a few stomps will crush you, and without any vessel to inhabit, you'll become a solitary ghost and wild spirit!"
The life of a solitary ghost and wild spirit was not pleasant – they might get turned into ghost slaves, toiling under the command of powerful ghost kings, and without dispersal of soul, they could never be freed.
Gu Shi Yi glanced at Big Boss, then reassured her slightly frightened best friend,
"Don't be scared, spirits of plants and trees are afraid of fire. As long as we have a fire going, they won't dare come too close!"
While she spoke, the rustling stopped and something seemed to settle in the grass near the fire. Before long, a bumpy, human-like shape emerged from the grass. It had a head, a body, and limbs. Illuminated by the firelight, the round object that resembled a head could be seen sticking out of the grass, covered in bumps and without facial features of eyes, nose, mouth, or ears, roughly the size of a human palm,
"It's so small..."