Bao Gu continued to head north, guided by the position of the sun. The mountains and forests became steeper and more difficult to navigate, with rocks of various sizes scattered throughout. Fallen leaves and vines covered the ground, and the trees grew more lush and tall. Ancient trees that were hundreds or even thousands of years old were everywhere, some so large that it would take three or four people to wrap their arms around them.
Bao Gu realized she had strayed off course. Even though she was heading north, the area to the north was so vast that a slight deviation could lead her far away from the wooden hut. As the saying goes, one wrong step would lead you down the wrong path forever.
Bao Gu was completely lost and had no idea whether to head to the left or right of north, or to continue straight on to find her way home. Seeing that the sky was gradually darkening and that it would be night in another two hours, she knew she would have to spend another night in the wilderness.
The experience from the previous night left her with lingering fear, and she had to prepare in advance for spending the night in the wild.
The beasts in these mountains were elusive and extremely skilled at stealth and camouflage. It was rare to sense their presence before they attacked, and by the time they did, they were already very close. The only thing she could do was to swing her axe to meet the enemy the moment she felt the beast pounce. Each encounter was a life-and-death struggle, each time teetering on the edge of death.
Bao Gu found a depression in the land. The terrain here was slightly lower and damp, with exposed rocks covered in moss and signs of water erosion. Even though it was the dry season, she could still find some puddles and water trickling down from the mountain. The water flow was minimal, forming small, uneven puddles along the mountain’s contours. After a heavy rain, this place would probably become a stream.
She thought about how these beasts were extremely adept at using the terrain and vegetation to hide their tracks, and even rocks served as hiding spots for them. She chose to spend the night in a dry creek bed with a gentle slope and an open view, but because the ground was damp, the fallen leaves could not be used as firewood, so she had to go a bit further to gather some.
While picking up firewood, Bao Gu accidentally found some low-grade spiritual herbs, including two mature hemostatic and muscle-regenerating herbs, as well as some spiritual herbs that were not in her own courtyard.
Gathering firewood was not a difficult task for Bao Gu, who had a storage bag. No matter how much firewood there was, she could carry it all back. She collected all the burnable twigs and leaves into her storage bag. As dusk approached, she returned to the dry creek bed with a large amount of firewood and started a vigorous bonfire.
The storage bag had a preserving effect. Even in the heat of summer, food placed inside would not spoil and would retain its warmth. Hot cooked meat put into the storage bag would still be warm the next day when taken out.
Bao Gu took out a freshly killed wolf from her storage bag, its body still warm and blood dripping. She skillfully skinned and gutted the wolf, laboriously removed the sinews, and placed the bloody wolf meat on the fire to roast. Then she took the wolf skin and sinews to a puddle to wash off the blood, and spread them out near the fire to dry using leaves. Afterward, she took out the tiger she had killed, skinned and gutted it, and dried the tiger skin and meat.
After the wolf meat was cooked, Bao Gu cut off a wolf leg to satisfy her hunger and then checked on the drying pelts and sinews. The wolf and tiger skins were now dry, and their thick fur felt smooth to the touch. From the color of the fur, it was evident that both the wolf and tiger were well-nourished and not lacking in food. She guessed that their attacks on her were probably not out of hunger, but because they saw her as a delicacy.
The fatal wounds on the skinned tiger and wolf were on their heads, leaving their pelts undamaged and intact, which made them convenient to use.
Bao Gu used her axe to cut the skin around the tiger’s limbs and made a hole in the center of the tiger skin large enough for her head to fit through. She put her head through the hole and draped the tiger skin over her body—the tiger skin was wide and large, and Bao Gu’s petite frame was completely enveloped, with only her ankles exposed. Her initial plan to make a sleeveless vest was foiled, and she had to further modify her tiger robe. To make it easier to lift her legs during a fight, she cut the front hem of the tiger skin from the middle up to her waist, creating a slit that allowed her to kick freely. She cut the tiger skin from under her arms to her waist according to her body size, then used arrowheads to drill holes and threaded tiger sinews through the holes to “sew” it together. After cutting the sides of the tiger skin, she connected it to the shoulder area and sewed it into sleeves.
After two hours of hard work and sweating profusely, Bao Gu finally finished her tiger robe. The fur side faced inward and the leather side outward, making it very warm to wear. The only downside was that the tiger skin was a bit heavy, but Bao Gu’s current strength was good, and it did not hinder her movements. Instead, she felt an added sense of security with the thick tiger skin armor, which could protect her from animal claws.
She then cut the wolf skin to make a neck protector for herself. The double-layered wolf skin neck protector was not only warm but also a sturdy defense. These ferocious beasts liked to attack the neck and head, which were vital areas, so she had to be careful. After making the neck protector, there was still a lot of wolf skin left. Bao Gu, adhering to the principle of not wasting, made a wolf skin hat for her head, and then two sets of leg guards to protect her thighs and calves. With some wolf skin remaining, she made wrist guards, and finally, she made a pair of wolf skin boots, replacing her worn-out, hole-ridden, and non-waterproof thousand-layer cloth shoes that she had been wearing for several months.
Bao Gu had no mother and depended on her father for survival. A girl who couldn’t sew well would have trouble getting married. Aunt Zhou from next door cared a lot about Bao Gu and taught her sewing from a young age. Therefore, although Bao Gu’s leather suit was made with holes drilled by arrows and muscle strands from tigers and wolves, it was sewn quite neatly and fit well, making her slender figure appear a bit rugged.
Yu Mi, hidden in a tree a few dozen steps away, watched Bao Gu’s sewing skills with continuous admiration and surprise. Without needles and thread, she managed to make such a neat set of leather gear using only an axe and arrows!
Yu Mi knew Bao Gu’s shortcomings—five spiritual roots and she was slightly lacking in talent. The advantages were her diligence, ability to manage spiritual herbs, sewing skills, cooking, and daily life skills. Although she had been cultivating for four months and was still at the first stage of Qi Refining, Bao Gu was also not as strong as an ordinary martial artist who had practiced for years. Yet, she managed to survive well against the repeated attacks of wild beasts, which was quite impressive. Yu Mi also recalled Bao Gu’s ferocity when encountering wild beasts. The tiger that came out to hunt had barely shown its face before Bao Gu charged with her axe, leaping forward in a single bound and smashing the tiger’s head with a powerful blow, showing the fierceness and spirit befitting a disciple of Xuantian Sect.
If it were just Bao Gu’s own strength, she would not have been able to achieve this. Clearly, she had channeled the true energy within her body into her arms during the attack to achieve such an effect. Not many disciples at the first stage of Qi Refining knew how to use the true qi in their dantian. In fact, most disciples at this stage were as weak as ordinary people and could not defeat fierce beasts like Bao Gu.
Yu Mi was dissatisfied with Bao Gu’s cultivation progress, but it was extremely rare for Bao Gu to seek a breakthrough in the dangerous mountains and forests filled with beasts despite being stuck in a cultivation bottleneck and having low cultivation. With such determination, it might be possible for her to break through her talent limitations and carve out her own path. Yu Mi was however slightly dissatisfied with Bao Gu’s vigilance. Her own strength was much higher than Bao Gu’s, so it was normal for Bao Gu not to detect her. However, even when wild beasts quietly approached from a hundred steps away, Bao Gu had no awareness at all. Yu Mi had seen Bao Gu look around several times and thought she had noticed something, but Bao Gu continued to focus on her sewing, completely unaware. To allow Bao Gu to concentrate on her sewing, Yu Mi silently took care of those beasts for her. Now, Bao Gu, you can continue to train hard, your senior sister will leave first.
Yu Mi did not leave immediately but flew at a low altitude while concealing her presence, dealing with all the low-level demon beasts within dozens of miles, beating them until they all lay in their nests, ensuring they would not dare to leave for several days. Only then did she leave.
Although most of these demon beasts were at the Qi Refining or Foundation Building stages, Yu Mi could handle a group of them. Bao Gu had entered the territory where demon beasts roamed, and any demon beast that emerged could take her life with a single strike.
The world of demon beasts was even more brutal than the human world. To become a demon beast, whether in intelligence or attack power, they were much higher than ordinary wild beasts. People liked to hunt demon beasts to improve their cultivation, and demon beasts also liked to hunt and consume spiritual pills and cultivators with pure constitutions and abundant spiritual energy to enhance their strength. In the world of cultivation, between humans and demon beasts, the stronger party was the predator, and the weaker was the prey.
Even though Bao Gu’s talent was extremely poor, Yu Mi wanted to protect her and see how far she could go, especially since Bao Gu was the one she had brought into the world of cultivation and led into Xuantian Sect’s Ling Yun Peak.
Bao Gu did not know that Yu Mi had watched over her for a night, driving away the wild beasts that saw her as prey. After finishing her sewing, she was both tired and sleepy, but she still did not dare to relax her vigilance. Holding her axe, she sat cross-legged by the fire, closed her eyes, and circulated the true qi in her dantian to rest.
After a whole day of traveling and resting with the true qi in her dantian, she found that the true qi had a significant effect on her body. When she was very tired, meditating and regulating her breath with the true qi in her dantian allowed her to recover her physical strength and spirit much faster than sleeping. Maintaining a light sleep state while circulating true qi for rest also achieved the effect of restful sleep, and even better, she felt fully refreshed. Most importantly, Bao Gu felt that as she practiced with this method, the true qi in her dantian would spread throughout her body, making her feel strong. Even if she had injuries, they were not uncomfortable. Probably due to the spiritual herbs and cultivation, her injuries healed very well. Just now, she noticed that some of the scratches on her body had scabbed over. Even the place on her calf where a chunk of flesh had been bitten off was showing signs of healing, although the only downside was that the wound was concave due to the missing flesh. She looked at the scabbed pits on her calf and worried that the new flesh that grew after the scabs fell off would cause scars.
In the morning, Bao Gu ended her meditation. She had expected another night of battle but was surprised to find that the night was unexpectedly peaceful, with no beast attacks and not even a mouse or rabbit appearing. Although Bao Gu had stayed up late to finish sewing her leather gear, she felt energetic and spirited after nearly three hours of meditation and practice.
She was lost and could not find her way back to the wooden hut, so she stopped searching. Since she was in the direction of Xuantian Sect’s Ling Yun Peak, she decided to keep walking in one direction. She would eventually leave Ling Yun Peak and reach populated areas, where she could ask for directions back. Others might not be able to find her small wooden hut, but they would definitely know the place where Martial Aunt Bai, the great white snake, cultivated.
After a simple wash and eating some of the roasted wolf meat from last night, Bao Gu picked up her axe and set off again.
Bao Gu strongly suspected that she was heading deeper into Ling Yun Peak. The trees in the forest grew more and more lush, and even in this crisp autumn season, there was fog enveloping the woods. From time to time, she would find some spiritual herbs, even those that had grown for decades. There were also many animal trails and shrubs trampled by wild beasts in the mountains.
Bao Gu had to be extremely cautious, but the forest was eerily quiet, with no sign of ferocious beasts.
Bao Gu did not dare to be careless and proceeded with heightened vigilance. In the past two days, she had encountered wild beasts dozens of times and had deeply realized that the more ferocious the beast, the better it was at hiding and ambushing, and the more fierce its sudden attacks.
In the afternoon, she emerged from the dense forest and saw a bamboo grove shrouded in mist. The crisp and cheerful chirping of birds came from the direction of the bamboo grove, and gray rabbits hopped around the edge of the grove. These rabbits were much more alert than she was; the presence of hopping rabbits indicated the absence of predators. Compared to the dense forest behind her, which was so quiet that it made her feel extremely uneasy, she preferred the bamboo grove with hopping rabbits.
Bao Gu headed straight for the bamboo grove and soon entered it.
