System: Infinite Evolution into Qilin Bloodline

Zhang Hao and his six companions, along with Meng Qianzi and her three mountain spirit subordinates, made a total of ten people. After passing through the crack and entering the fourth layer of mountain space, the crack still hadn't healed.

Wu Tianzhen, Fatty, and the others were fine; they didn't understand what this meant.

Meng Qianzi and her subordinates were different. As mountain spirits, they truly understood what it meant for a crack in a mountain to remain unhealed for a long time.

The cracks that appeared after Meng Qianzi split open the mountain were not only small, but also lasted for a very short time, at most a dozen seconds.

Once a crack appears, you must pass through it immediately, otherwise the crack will heal, preventing you from getting in.

In contrast, Zhang Hao's dissection revealed a crack that was not only wide but also lasted for an exceptionally long time.

After he successfully split the mountain, everyone was in shock and did not immediately pass through the crack; at least four or five minutes passed during this period.

Comparing the two, Zhang Hao's strength is at least ten times that of Meng Qianzi.

How could they not be shocked that an ordinary person was ten times stronger than the Mountain Demon King?

The group stared at Zhang Hao with expressions of utter disbelief, finding it hard to comprehend why he was so powerful.

Yi Sa patted Meng Qianzi on the shoulder and said, "You'll get used to it. Zhang Hao is much stronger than you see now."

"what?"

Meng Qianzi wondered if there was something wrong with her ears. Zhang Hao's current strength was already so great, yet Yi Sa said that he was actually even stronger.

Originally, as a mountain spirit queen who was not yet twenty years old, she had enough reason to be proud, but now she is nothing compared to Zhang Hao.

If all the previous Mountain Ghost Kings hadn't been women, Zhang Hao, with his current strength, would definitely be hailed as the new Mountain Ghost King by others.

"Click, click..."

The sound of the crack healing brought Meng Qianzi and her subordinates back to their senses, who were in a state of extreme shock.

Meng Qianzi looked at the center of the space inside the mountain stone. Just like inside the third mountain, a bronze chain hung down from above, and at the end of the chain was something like a fishing net woven from vines.

"Miss Meng, do you recognize what it is?"

The Ninefold Mountain is like a treasure vault for mountain spirits; they should know something about the things on each level, which is why Zhang Hao asked.

"Knots are used for recording events. The knots between the vines are used to record events. There should be secrets about us mountain spirits on them."

"Knotting ropes to record events—wasn't that a tool used by ancient people to record important events before the development of writing? Miss Meng, are you saying that your mountain spirits have a history of more than ten thousand years?"

Wu Tianzhen was quite knowledgeable about this, and she immediately perked up when she heard about using knotted ropes for record-keeping.

"You could say that there's another way to describe us mountain spirits: we're as old as the mountains themselves, and we mountain spirits have existed as long as there are mountains."

Zhang Hao didn't know much about the Mountain Spirit, but he did know one thing: the Mountain Spirit was similar to the Water Demon, both of which gained special abilities after the consciousness of another person entered their body.

Unlike water demons, mountain spirits can retain their consciousness and do not suffer from the side effect of their bodies dying after about thirty years, which is common with water demons.

How the mountain spirit managed to do that remains a mystery.

If we could learn more about the mountain spirit, perhaps we could find a way to kill the god.

"Naive, can you decipher the meaning of the knot?"

"Uncle, I've only ever heard of knotted ropes for recording things, but as for breaking them, there's absolutely no way I can do it."

Wu Tianzhen looked helpless.

Zhang Hao nodded. Wu Tianzhen was only a teenager after all. It was already remarkable that she could master so many ancient characters. It was normal that she didn't know how to untie the knots.

“I can untie knots. You may not know that we mountain spirits learn these things from a young age.”

Meng Qianzi's words surprised Zhang Hao. They, the mountain spirits, had been learning about knot-tying for record-keeping since childhood. Was it all for today's preparation?

What exactly is recorded on this ancient artifact that made the mountain spirit value it so much?

"Miss Meng, how about this?"

During the conversation, Yi Sa had already gone over and taken off all the knots, spreading them out in front of everyone for observation.

"can."

Meng Qianzi responded and began to study the knots on the ground.

"When the ancestor of the Mountain Spirit was traveling in the Kunlun Mountains, he accidentally learned of a way to achieve immortality. As long as one preserves one's consciousness and memories, one can simply replace one's body with a new one when the body is about to die."

However, this method has significant side effects; it won't be long before the person loses their mind and turns into a bloodthirsty monster.

Our ancestors wanted to live forever but didn't want to become monsters, so they began searching for a way to break this curse.

He accidentally obtained a mirage pearl and discovered that it could suppress this side effect while also granting him a special ability: to cut through mountains and enter the interior of rocks.

She cut open Kunlun Mountain to enter the Ninefold Mountain and obtained the Mountain Gallbladder. After she took the Mountain Gallbladder, an unforgettable scene unfolded.

The rocks were instantly eroded by something unknown, turning them all pitch black.

The ancestor knew he had caused trouble and wanted to put the rocks back, but it was no use.

She had no choice but to flee with the mountain gall. During her escape, she discovered that the thing was far more terrifying than she had imagined. In just a few days, it eroded the entire Kunlun Mountains and continued to spread outwards from the underground dragon veins.

She carried the mountain gall and fled all the way to Yunmeng Mountain before escaping the area corrupted by that thing.

After that, she settled in Yunmeng Mountain in western Hunan to find a way to control that thing and make amends for her mistake.

Later, a group of people appeared and built a massive bronze gate on the dragon vein to stop the thing from spreading further.

Meng Qianzi stopped here after solving the problem.

"The later ones are harder to crack than the earlier ones; I need some time."

"Ah."

Zhang Hao responded and then fell into deep thought.

So many events were recorded in just a dozen or so knots.

It seems he guessed correctly. The Mountain Spirit mutated after someone else's consciousness entered its body, but thanks to the Mirage Pearl, it retained its consciousness and suppressed the side effects.

To his surprise, the ancestor of the mountain spirit actually knew about the Zhang family's construction of the bronze gate to obstruct the growth of the gods.

Furthermore, the gods actually started their expansion from Kunlun Mountain, and were unintentionally released by the ancestor of the mountain spirits.

The mountain gall could suppress the spread of the gods before, but it became ineffective later, because it must have missed a crucial point.

Once we obtain the mountain gall, we can surely devise a way to restore its effectiveness.

By then, there should be a way to completely kill the god and eliminate the hidden dangers facing the Zhang and Wu families.

"So that's it!"

Just then, Meng Qianzi suddenly exclaimed.

Her scream brought Zhang Hao back to his senses: "What's wrong?"

"I know why the gentian root stopped working!"