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Deep in the mountains...
Song Cheng got up, and naturally, Tong Jia was awakened as well.
Hearing her man shouting, her sleepy eyes slowly regained clarity, realizing what had happened.
So, she looked around but saw the mist rising over the grey mountains and the ice-cold wind howling.
In such a weather, deep in the mountains and old forests, a woman like Yune couldn't possibly run far.
Tong Jia exclaimed in shock, "Sister Yune... couldn't have... lost her will to live, right?"
She knew the truth and, naturally, understood Yune's pain.
For Yune, Tang River Village was nothing short of an Endless Hell.
But what puzzled her was why the villagers hated Yune so much, especially when she recalled the scene at The place where those dishonest lovers were punished, it terrified her. She felt the villagers had gone mad.
Song Cheng tapped the ground lightly with the Fine Blade, revealing the frost-covered branches on the ground as ripples spread.
He bent down, picked up a frost branch, and piled it into the ashes of the extinguished campfire.
Tong Jia quickly got up.
Sleeping in the cave, of course, she slept with her clothes on.
She carefully retrieved a fire starter and went to light it.
After several attempts, the campfire blazed to life.
The light brought warmth, forming a gentle and fragile domain of light, resisting the pervasive cold and desolation of the mountains.
The two huddled near, sitting in one place.
Tong Jia took out some cakes to heat them up and eat, saying, "Brother Cheng, you didn't notice anything last night either? Also, now you should tell me why we had to escape into the deep mountains, right?"
Song Cheng naturally didn't hide these matters from his woman, so he explained the "Principles of Forbidden Formation" and the "Collusion between Ding Family's third son and bandits," then concluded, "I guess we had just left the village when it got looted by bandits. And Sister Yune... she had become a taboo, or rather, a terrifying filthy thing."
Tong Jia's delicate body trembled; she was incredibly intelligent and suddenly said, "The villagers seemed to have gone mad, is it also the influence of the taboo? I remember they were xenophobic, but never completely lost their minds..."
Song Cheng nodded and said, "It's the seeds of evil, flowering in the soil of taboo."
Tong Jia said, "Then... we..."
Song Cheng said, "The core of the taboo is Sister Yune. Think about it, how many people in the entire village were still good to Sister Yune at that time?"
Tong Jia suddenly understood.
At that time, only she and Song Cheng were good to Yune.
Perhaps it was Yune's power subtly protecting her and him.
But such a thing... just hearing about it chilled her to the bone.
Song Cheng pulled her into his arms, his shoulder around her, suddenly feeling a mysterious itch in his eyes, a sinister flow peeking from his skull, then wrapping and filling his eyeballs in the socket.
He rubbed his eyes.
The itch was replaced by a feeling of swelling.
"What's wrong, Brother Cheng?" Tong Jia noticed something unusual.
Song Cheng suddenly widened his eyes, revealing those cloudy jade-like pupils, from which strands of dark black tadpoles swiftly converged into black eyeballs.
The fiery-red flames, the dancing gray-black branches in the fire, the pale cave, ash-colored mountains, ghostly mist, the petite wife beside wrapped in cotton...
Everything appeared, everything became clear.
"I... I... I can see now."
Song Cheng couldn't believe it.
He kept looking around, though he used to see every day in his previous life, opening his eyes now brought an indescribable freshness.
Tong Jia said, "It must be Sister Yune helping you, we should thank her.
Even though she became an evil spirit, we can set up a tablet for her, burn incense, and pray daily.
If we have money in the future, we can even build her a shrine."
Song Cheng sighed lightly and nodded.
...
...
For breakfast, the two ate cakes, then began discussing their next move.
Tong Jia drew a map on the ground. She often roamed in the mountains and was naturally familiar with the environment here.
"Here, here, then winding like this, we can reach Shanghe County.
But if we don't go to Shanghe County and detour north, we will reach the Six Towns, but this route is very long.
If not heading north and wanting to go to the Prefectural City, we must turn south. This road... is not only long but also lacks mountain paths and is seldom traveled."
The three routes were quite clear.
One headed to Shanghe County, possibly encountering bandits.
Another to the Six Towns, which was a long road.
The last to the Prefectural City, a path long and arduous.
Among these, Shanghe County was what Tang River Village's villagers referred to as the 'county town.'
The Prefectural City was the superior city governing Tang River Village, Shanghe County, etc.
As for the Six Towns, it was a special place known as a 'military town' with a fierce populace, many martial artists, and rumored to be rampant with factions.
This place used to be the Great Wall against foreign invaders, but lately, strange changes seemed to have occurred. Previously, a general came to Tang River Village to conscript men, directing them towards the Six Towns.
"Brother Cheng, where do we go?" the young lady asked.
Song Cheng looked at the route map on the ground, feeling that each path was fraught with danger, and after a long pause, suddenly said, "Why not live in seclusion?"
"Seclusion?"
The young lady counted on her fingers, "But in this great winter, what will we eat?"
Song Cheng stood up and said, "Since I've regained my vision, I can try hunting in the mountains."
He could 'see through walls to view data,' so animals in hibernation were 'easy targets' for him, and theoretically, food wouldn't be a problem.
He could improve his power by bonding with the young lady.
He could deduce cultivation techniques, even if the success rate was only 10%, he could attempt more times.
He already had the "White Snake Blade" as his first pot of gold.
The only concern was the dense woods might nurture another taboo.
Without human presence, it was hard to fill the Yin, inevitably breeding taboo.
But if he saw the emergence of taboo, he could take the young lady and leave in advance.
In his previous life, he often saw novels where such things happened, "the protagonist hurried from one place to the next, getting caught in all kinds of bothersome and thrilling events..."
At those times, he often thought "old chap, are you hyperactive or what? Can't you settle at a stable place, utilize all available resources, and then move when your resources are no longer sufficient to support your advance? What's the rush?"
Having room for improvement, Song Cheng decided not to leave.
His eyes were healed.
He wanted to cultivate in this deep mountain.
He immediately decided so, saying, "My dear, we need to find a place with water, it'll make life easier."
The young lady blinked at him, softly saying, "Really going to live here?"
Saying so, she added to herself, "Okay, okay, since you're my man, who else should I listen to if not you?"
She started packing the luggage again.
The luggage piled like a small mountain.
She was about to shoulder it again when Song Cheng effortlessly grabbed it, slinging it over his shoulder with ease visible in his movements.
The two walked a while when Song Cheng suddenly saw data emerge from under the soil not far away:
[Strength: 0~0].
He rushed forward, channeling power into his arm, swinging the blade down.
Splat!
The blade pierced the soil as if striking something.
The black [Strength: 0~0] turned gray and then disappeared.
Tong Jia called from behind, "My dear, what are you doing? What can you hit through the soil?"
Song Cheng kicked the ground, revealing a hole. With a flick of the blade, he lifted a plump rabbit out.
He grinned, "We have meat to eat today. By the way... what did you call me?"
Tong Jia: ...
She suddenly looked at Song Cheng and said softly, "I called you my dear."
Then she continued, "My dear, you... you combined with that wandering ghost, you're not just some ordinary disciple of a gang, right?"
Song Cheng was startled.
Tong Jia said, "You must be at least an elite disciple of a gang."
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