Immortal Path Space

Having wandered around the outskirts of Misty Cloud Mountain for several days, Wang Hong encountered various medicinal herbs and transplanted one or two into the space. He casually also brought a raspberry into the space, which happened to be his favorite.

Wang Hong would enter the space to stroll around whenever he had free time, examining this and touching that. He measured how much taller things had grown today, but unfortunately, there was no need to weed, loosen the soil, or water in the space, leaving him with nothing to do.

The wheat and rice planted had matured in just five days, with each grain-laden ear hanging low.

However, harvesting this half-acre land proved challenging for Wang Hong. In the space, he existed as a virtual form, and all actions were controlled by his thoughts. To pick up an item, he had to concentrate his thoughts on it; otherwise, the item would pass through his body.

While it was uneventful doing things inside, when he started, it seemed fun. Directly manipulating the sickle to dance in the air, after harvesting just over ten plants, he felt mentally exhausted, as if he had been tormented for several days.

He collapsed in the space, slept for a few hours with his head down, and only then did he recover. Subsequently, he diligently used a handheld sickle to harvest, taking a break every thirty plants.

By the time he finished harvesting everything, he had to sleep again in the outside world to recover.

"Hmm! Why has it grown again? Do I not need to sow again?" Wang Hong was stunned at the sight before him. The wheat and rice he had cut yesterday had sprouted again from the roots and grown more than five inches tall.

"I was planning to dig them up and replant, but it seems unnecessary."

In the following days, life became stress-free, and he lived quite leisurely.

Harvesting rice and wheat every five days, occasionally wandering up the mountain, the space gained a Purple Mushroom and several other medicinal herbs. Occasionally, he took his younger brother to forage for wild vegetables, and his younger brother finally got to enjoy chicken legs.

...

The Qingyun Mountains, the third-largest mountain range in the Chu State, twisted and turned for hundreds of miles, teeming with wild beasts. It was rumored to be home to mythical creatures, although no one had seen them; perhaps those who did had not lived to tell the tale. Misty Cloud Mountain, where Wang Hong resided, was a branch of Qingyun Mountains, named for its perennial mist and clouds.

In traditional Chinese cosmology, south is associated with mountains and north with water. Qingyang County was located south of the Qingyun Mountains, hence its name.

At this moment, Qingyang City was bustling. Wang Hong had arrived two days earlier, and the two brothers were noticeably different from a few months ago. Wang Hong's previously thin and weak body had gained some flesh, his face had a healthy flush, and he had grown taller.

Wang Hong was currently nervous, glancing around with wide eyes, avoiding eye contact with others. If someone stared at him, unaware of the truth, they might think he had done something wrong, or perhaps he was a thief scouting for an opportunity to commit a crime.

In reality, Wang Hong was just feeling uneasy because he was carrying a substantial sum of money. Over thirty taels of silver, to be exact. He had never seen such a fortune in his life.

Previously, he had taken eight ten-year-old ginseng plants from the space, sold them separately to eight pharmacies, and earned thirty-two taels of silver. Given the prying eyes around, he hadn't dared to put them in the space.

The earliest ginseng in the space had reached ten years, and many new ginseng seedlings had sprouted from the unharvested seeds. Every time Wang Hong looked at this precious medicinal material, he would get excited and somersault in the air.

Compared to ginseng, the value of the rice and wheat in the half-acre was relatively lower, but Wang Hong couldn't bear to remove them.

These rice and wheat were undergoing mutation, with a one-day extension in the growth period. The plants became taller, the grains were twice the size of regular rice and wheat, and the taste was better, giving a feeling of inexhaustible energy after consumption. Wang Hong decided to keep them for now.

Back at the inn, he closed the doors and windows, took out the silver from his bosom, and placed it on the table. His younger brother gathered around, their eyes gleaming. They weighed the silver ingot and even bit one.

"Brother! Where did we get so much silver? Did you steal it?"

"Pah! Your brother has always been upright, honest, respectful to the elderly, and kind to the young. I never engage in thieving activities." Wang Hong patted his small chest loudly. Then, he mysteriously approached his younger brother's ear and said, "Only the two of us know about this. Don't tell anyone. Actually, I found dozens of old mountain ginseng in the mountains last time, and I sold a few today."

"Remember, it must be kept a secret!"

His younger brother nodded solemnly, promising, "Anyone who leaks this will be a little dog!"

“You were already a little dog, Si Gou Zi,” Wang Hong thought, realizing how easy it was to tease the young.

Qingyang Academy was not within the city but situated in a valley outside the city, surrounded on three sides by mountains, with only one entrance and exit.

At this moment, the entrance was jam-packed, with a sea of people making it impossible for Wang Hong and his brother to even show their heads. They could only move slowly with the flow of the crowd.

Squeezed in the crowd, a mix of sweat, body odor, foot odor, scallion scent, and barbecue smell assaulted the nostrils.

To make things worse, a big guy nearby clutched his stomach, his face turning purple as he tried to control the pressure. He was about to have diarrhea.

People around him, fearing an accident, desperately squeezed away. Unaware bystanders were inadvertently pushed toward the guy with stomach issues.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

"Don't step on me!"

"Don't step on me!"

"..."

Suddenly, distant wails echoed, but in a queue of tens of thousands, it was not something a few individuals could stop.

"Ah ah ah ah!"

The screams grew weaker,

and a sense of panic spread through the crowd. If it spiraled out of control, stampedes could occur, leading to unimaginable consequences.

"Calm down!"

"Calm down!"

...

A voice as powerful as a bell echoed from a high platform at the entrance, reaching several miles and drowning out all the noise. Everyone was momentarily awestruck by this sound.

"Dad! Is this also martial arts?" a young teenager asked his father.

"Of course, this is a skill called Lion Roar, mainly used in battle formations to intimidate the enemy. Just imagine, if two armies face each other, and dozens or hundreds of people simultaneously roar, followed by a volley of arrows, hehehe!"

"Of course, even if an ordinary martial artist practices this Lion Roar, it won't have this kind of power. This person is a master at the innate stage, a former general in the military, and now the chief instructor at the martial arts academy."

"What? We have such a skilled person in our Qingyang County?"

"Ah! It's just that he's injured; otherwise, he wouldn't come to our remote village."

Wang Hong finally moved to the entrance with the crowd. He saw a vigorous young man at the entrance, waving a red flag and shouting, "All students of the Martial Arts Academy, come this way."

In another direction, a scholarly-looking young man was shouting, "All students of the Humanities Academy, come this way."

Wang Hong followed the crowd to a massive field where there was a platform in the middle, with about a dozen people seated on it. In front of the platform were several tables in a row, each with a person sitting behind it and a bamboo pole standing next to them. Those entering formed queues in front of the tables, and the two brothers joined in.

When Wang Hong reached the front, he understood that each person had to receive a sandbag. Standing in front of the bamboo pole, if you were taller than the pole, you received a fifty-kilogram sandbag; otherwise, you got a thirty-kilogram one. Wang Hong, unfortunately, was slightly taller than the bamboo pole and ended up with a fifty-kilogram sandbag, while his younger brother got a thirty-kilogram one.

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