I am a living immortal.

Su Mu had already left Qingshangang. The strong smell of medicine was soon dissipated, and he was heading towards where Taotie was.

On the way, he asked the old goat where he had been in Qingshangang before, but when he got a period of silence, he knew that the goat had found a place to eat a full meal while they were busy.

The old goat saw Su Mu's expression and knew that he was cricketing. He argued, "You can't expect too much from a goat. I only have four hooves and one mouth. My hooves can't help, so I have to rely on my mouth."

As he spoke, he raised a hoof to show Su Mu.

"Your reason is quite strange. It's one I never thought of."

"This is not a reason, but a fact..."

"Well, did I blame you wrongly?"

"That's it."

A man and a sheep were walking and chatting on a path.

Walking on a small road with not many people, there are only a few villages to be seen after turning around. The further north you go, the lower the temperature becomes. The originally green trees change color, as if they are moving along with the seasons, from early spring to late autumn.

Occasionally, passers-by on the roadside would look at Su Mu.

Only then did he realize that he had not taken off his Taoist robe. He was used to wearing it when Qingshangang was busy.

Wearing a Taoist robe, holding a whisk in his hand, and leading a goat, his strange appearance is somewhat similar to that of a sorcerer. Passersby all think he is a sorcerer passing by and can't help but take a second look at him.

This area was not very prosperous, and there were no established villages. Most of the houses were built along the hills, and most of them were children and the elderly. Su Mu walked past someone's door. The old man was holding a rice sieve woven with bamboo strips and flipping it up and down, raising clouds of dust. In the rice sieve was a kind of weed seed similar to rice but much smaller. That was the family's food supply for a few days, just enough to keep them from starving to death, especially in this season when the grass and trees were withered. These were all stored food, and they would have to survive until the early spring of next year.

When the old man saw Su Mu, he would slow down his movements, but there was a look of vigilance in his eyes.

A child of five or six years old hid behind the old man and looked at Su Mu and the old goat curiously. His clothes were dirty, and no one knew where they got from playing.

This kind of family is the majority.

They cultivated a small vegetable patch in the mountains, planted some vegetables that could survive the winter, raised a few chickens and ducks, and lived on the collected food. There were no young and middle-aged people there. They probably found work in the city or in the towns and villages. There were mountains everywhere and no fertile farmland, so they could only live like this.

I can't come back many times throughout the year.

Su Mu walked in the mountains for several days, and met only dozens of people at most, which was almost non-existent in such a vast forest. Some of them were living poorly, like the old man and child he met earlier, who were barely surviving. There were also some who were living well. Su Mu met several hunters, and their lives were very different.

Su Mu also used rations and salt to exchange for some wild game, such as pheasants, rabbits, and even a kind of mountain deer. Many people would also exchange food for some meat to satisfy their hunger, and the hunters were happy to do so, after all, eating meat alone was not enough.

Hunters would also hunt large animals and cut off their furs to take to the town to exchange for food, but that would have to wait until next year as the journey was too far for him this time.

"Are you going to town?" The hunter sprinkled a pinch of salt into the pot to season it. The mountain spring water in the pot bubbled and cooked the whole fish into a mush. He picked out a piece and handed it to Su Mu.

"Yes, thank you." Su Mu replied after thanking him.

"That's a long way to go, still forty or fifty miles. Besides, the mountain road is difficult to walk on, with many twists and turns. It will take several days to get there."

The hunter gave Su Mu a rough direction.

Why did they invite Su Mu to eat meat? It was because of salt and tea. These things were very precious and most people couldn't buy them. Although it was just a small piece, it was enough for the hunter to treat him like a guest. As for why he didn't rob, it was because people were much more dangerous than wild beasts when walking in these vast mountains. If they failed to steal a chicken and lost a handful of rice, that was a small matter. It was common for people to die in these mountains.

Besides, Su Mu was dressed like a Taoist priest, which made him look somewhat mysterious, so it was even more unacceptable to provoke him.

Adding some mushrooms and a sprinkle of salt to this chicken soup will make it a delicious dish.

Tear off half and put it into Su Mu's bowl.

The steam rises, the aroma is fragrant, the tender chicken, and a bowl of rich chicken soup warms you up completely.

We learned from the hunters that this mountain hundreds of miles away is called Qiyang Mountain, and the nearest town is called Yinxiao Town. It got its name because the town is in a valley and the roar of tigers can be heard all year round. Some people say that it is the roar of a tiger, some say that it is just the sound of a strong wind passing through the valley, and some even say that they have seen a giant tiger four or five meters tall roaming in the mountains and forests.

"It's true there are tigers in this mountain, but I haven't seen a giant tiger four or five meters tall in the twenty or thirty years I've been hunting in Qiyang Mountain. If there are any, they're found in the deepest parts of the forest, far from human habitation. These giant creatures roam only in places rarely visited by humans. Furthermore, most of these tigers are spiritually intelligent and will avoid humans, unless this tiger is a man-eating beast."

"I haven't seen it, but the big snake has. I was chasing a deer and accidentally went deep into the Qiyang Mountain."

"It was filled with dense forest miasma. I followed the light and stumbled into it by accident."

"The snake was tens of meters long, coiled on a giant banyan tree, with a raised forehead resembling a dragon."

"I was only a hundred meters away from the giant snake. When the snake's eyes looked over at me, I felt a chill all over my body. My hands and feet were out of control. I thought I was going to die."

"And then?" Su Mu asked.

"Then, the giant snake seemed to have become spiritual. It just glanced at me and looked away, then swam into the pond under the banyan tree. It was about 15 or 16 meters long, and a bit thicker than the mouth of this basin." The hunter shuddered at the thought and pointed to the big pot of stewed pheasant.

"Then I accidentally walked out of the dense forest. When I came to my senses, I was already home. I had a high fever and it took several days to get over it. After that, I didn't feel any discomfort at all."

"You were cast under a spell by the giant snake, otherwise you might not even be able to get out of the dense forest. It was the giant snake that helped you." Su Mu said slowly.

The hunter thought for a moment and seemed to come to his senses. He slapped his thigh and said, "Now that you mention it, it's possible. The forest was so dark and dense back then, with tall trees and thick branches that obscured the sky. There was also a thin mist that obscured my vision from time to time. In such an environment, it should have been impossible for me to get out. Actually, I should be grateful for that giant snake I encountered."

"That's right, otherwise you won't be able to get out."