More Strange Monsters meant a boost in human energy; more importantly, the Local Deity grew stronger and could expand his territory, even completely absorbing the surrounding territories.
Whether to nurture monsters or humans was a matter to contemplate after arriving "Above the Clouds." The examinations were left to the Ox-headed Man. Li Banfeng returned to his Portable Residence and immediately sensed something was off about the atmosphere. It was charged—excited. The walls felt somewhat hot to the touch and emitted occasional mild roars and tremors. Though he hadn’t heard the Old Man’s voice, Li Banfeng could sense that the entire Portable Residence was thrumming with excitement!
When the Old Man got excited, everyone in the house felt a sense of fear, not daring to speak loudly.
The Gloves woke up, ran to Li Banfeng’s side from the rack, and whispered, "The Old Man found something good in the Third Room."
"What good thing?"
The Gloves said, "We didn’t dare to go in; the Old Man didn’t want us to see."
Li Banfeng walked to the Third Room, and his wife cautioned, "Husband, don’t bother looking. He probably just picked up some little trinket outside. It’s nothing special."
His wife’s words only increased Li Banfeng’s curiosity—
As soon as he entered the room, Li Banfeng was stunned.
There were five large stones in the Third Room.
Li Banfeng asked incredulously, "Old Man, why did you bring these stones back?"
"Ah Qi!" the Old Man whispered, his voice low and mysterious. "These are Sky Heart Stones."
The Old Man reminded him, "I told you before, the price of one Sky Heart Stone could match that of a pair of railway tracks!"
The price of a pair of railway tracks was equivalent to a Hundred Joy Gate.
Li Banfeng was overjoyed. He hugged one of the stones and said, "First, we go to Medicine King Valley, find Shopkeeper Feng’s brother, and discuss the price with him."
The Old Man asked, "Discuss the price for what?"
"To sell! This one has to fetch at least a million Ocean Dollars!"
"Sell what?!" The Old Man got angry. "I’m keeping them to construct the train station!"
Li Banfeng still remembered this: three Sky Heart Stones were enough to build a large station, and the Portable Residence could stop there for an hour.
Using so many Sky Heart Stones just for the train station construction made Li Banfeng feel somewhat distressed.
"Let’s wait until we move somewhere else to build the station!"
The Portable Residence said, "Ah Qi, you must take a long-term view. This is your territory, and there will be many things to do in the future. Building a larger station will give us more time."
Li Banfeng smacked his lips. "The thing is, there’s already a train station here."
"The previously collected Joy Soil can be reclaimed; we can build a new station elsewhere, without wasting anything."
Further argument was useless. The Portable Residence was impatient to build a large station now, and Li Banfeng could only agree.
What puzzled Li Banfeng was, where did these Sky Heart Stones come from?
"I’ve explored this territory countless times. Wherever I went, you followed. How come we’ve never found Sky Heart Stones before?"
"Sky Heart Stones belong to The Unnamable; their locations aren’t fixed. This time we were just lucky that all five stones gathered right here in your territory!"
Li Banfeng still couldn’t quite grasp what ’The Unnamable’ truly meant, so he decided not to dwell on it.
The Portable Residence began constructing the train station, and Li Banfeng first went to check on the status of the examinations.
The Ox-headed Man had ten Strange Monsters ready.
Adopting the appearance of the Local Deity, Li Banfeng told the Ox-headed Man, "If you can’t beat them, withdraw quickly. Don’t lose your life over this."
The Ox-headed Man chuckled. "I’ll pass on the message, but it’ll be hard to say whether they’ll hold back."
The lure of three months’ worth of cultivation level was immense. When the appointed hour arrived, the Strange Monsters charged into the designated plot of land.
Chu Er led eleven subordinates to face the enemy, and a chaotic battle ensued within the three-mile territory.
After watching for more than half an hour, with no side gaining an upper hand, Li Banfeng left. He wanted to wander the territory to see if he could find more treasures like Sky Heart Stones.
After walking over three miles to the south, the outline of a great mountain appeared amid the hazy night.
Li Banfeng was very familiar with his own territory; there shouldn’t be a mountain here. This was supposed to be grassland.
Approaching the mountain for a closer look, he saw the vegetation was extremely lush, making it nearly impossible to find a path up.
There definitely wasn’t a mountain like this in his territory; it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
Li Banfeng didn’t rashly ascend the mountain; he immediately went to Meng Yuchun’s dwelling.
Meng Yuchun was in front of her mirror, engaged in her practice. Li Banfeng waited at the door, inadvertently interrupting her.
After sending away two sisters, Meng Yuchun wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "You came to find me just to ask about the mountain? There are many hills in your territory; what’s so strange about that?"
Li Banfeng shook his head. "This isn’t a mountain from my territory."
Meng Yuchun scoffed. "A hundred miles of territory isn’t small; who can remember it so clearly? Is it not within reason to misremember some places?"
Meng Yuchun spoke the truth. For those engaged in Home Cultivation, it was common to misremember places, and she herself didn’t remember her own territory all that clearly.
Li Banfeng said, "I am a Traveling Cultivator. How could I possibly forget an entire mountain?"
"So what if you’re a Traveling Cultivator? Is that supposed to be so great? If you remembered wrong, just admit it. It’s not like I’m going to laugh at you, am I?" Meng Yuchun, huffing slightly, followed Li Banfeng to the base of the mountain. She looked up at the peak, remaining silent for quite some time.
There really wasn’t such a tall mountain within Li Qi’s territory.
Meng Yuchun, pinching her chin, struggled to come up with a reasonable explanation. "New Lands are constantly changing; the occasional emergence of a new mountain is also a very reasonable occurrence."
Li Banfeng knew Meng Yuchun was proud and understood she might occasionally bend the truth a little to save face.
According to Li Banfeng’s understanding, changes within the New Lands meant new plots of land continuously coming into existence; he had never heard of a New Land changing once it had formed.
After their idle chatter, Meng Yuchun also felt the situation was rather peculiar. "I’ll go back and ask the Custodian; he’s very experienced and knowledgeable and has likely heard of similar occurrences."
Once Meng Yuchun departed, Li Banfeng walked around the mountain, found a place where the trees were not too dense, and applied the Path-breaking Technique.
Trees scattered to either side, revealing a small path ahead.
The path, seventy to eighty meters long, closed behind Li Banfeng as he walked, the Technique dissipating and the forest returning to its original state.
Forging ahead step by step, Li Banfeng expended a great deal of energy. By the time he reached the mountainside, the forest had thinned considerably, allowing him to proceed without using the Technique.
A few drops of water landed on his face, and Li Banfeng thought it might be raining.
New Lands could experience rain, and sometimes rainfall was a Hunter’s life-saving straw, but today was very sunny; the moisture was from the mist within the forest.
In the thick fog, he continued towards the summit. Amidst the vegetation, Li Banfeng saw no other living creatures, not even an insect.
Approaching the top, Li Banfeng caught a scent of ink.
Following the scent, Li Banfeng came upon a desk in the forest with an unfinished ink painting on it.
The painting depicted a young man dressed in a long gown, wearing a scarf, with bright, piercing eyes gazing into the distance, his expression brimming with an energy unique to scholars.
As the arms were yet to be finished, Li Banfeng couldn’t tell what the man was holding or what gesture he was making.
Next to the painting, an inkstone sat with ink that had not yet dried.
Li Banfeng looked around, his gaze returning to the painting.
The man in the painting, originally looking into the distance, had eyes that had shifted slightly and were now looking directly at Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng stared at the ink painting for a long time when suddenly he sensed someone approaching.
From the depths of the forest, a figure slowly emerged, becoming clearer with each moment.
An old man in his sixties, with disheveled white hair and holding a writing brush, approached Li Banfeng.
It was the master artist Fu Taiyue—Li Banfeng recognized him.