Chapter 14: Lost

Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Bu Gong raised his head slightly, looking at the mountain range called Tiancang, and his heart was inexplicably shaken; he saw that the foothills stretched endlessly, with undulating peaks, like a dragon soaring into the sky, giving people a sense of grandeur and heaviness from afar.
Although the Tiancang Mountains are like this as a whole, some sections of this mountain range give people a feeling of a sharp sword being unsheathed; because some of the mountain sections pierce the sky, it can be said that the rocks are coming out of the sky.
Bu Gong suppressed the slight ripple in his heart, took a deep breath, and then followed the rough map given by Blind Zhang to find the way; the mountain road was indeed difficult to walk on. If it were the previous Bu Gong, he would probably be exhausted in less than an hour.
Some of the mountain paths here are steep and dangerous, some are muddy and difficult to walk on, and some are winding and winding. For an ordinary person, such a mountain road is indeed difficult to walk on; this also explains why all the people who come to this mountain to chop wood and dig medicinal herbs are young and middle-aged, and no older people come here.
After climbing for a whole morning, Bu Gong was about to reach the middle area of ​​the front half of the mountain range. At this time, he was carefully leaning against a mountain wall, and there was only a small path under his feet that was barely wide enough for one person to pass through. What he was facing was an endless abyss. He could only see his hands tightly pressed against the mountain wall, and his feet moving slowly.
If anyone walking on this path accidentally slips, he will definitely be smashed to pieces; Bu Gong had reached the middle stage of the first level of body shaping, but even so, beads of sweat were oozing from his forehead.
“I wonder how Grandpa Zhang discovered this path back then?” Bu Gong thought to himself. He was feeling apprehensive as he walked along this steep path. Although Bu Gong had already begun cultivation, he was only at the middle stage of the first level of the Body Shaping Realm, a person who had just begun cultivation. He couldn’t fly through the air like those disciples who had been in the immortal sect for a long time, riding on flying swords.
The endless abyss in front of them was enough to make their legs go weak just by looking at it; this road was also a bit remote, and even if the young people in the town came to the Tiancang Mountains, they would not take this road; they had no cultivation at all, they were just young and strong, and if they walked on this road, they would probably fall directly down if their bodies were not well coordinated.
After about half an hour, Bu Gong took a big step and crossed the end of the path. He came to a slightly flatter and higher hillside, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. His previously tense body slowly relaxed. Then he turned his head and looked at the path he had just walked, feeling a little scared.
“The mountain road is already like this now, I wonder if the next section will be the same?” Bu Gong muttered to himself after taking a short rest; then he raised his eyes and looked up at the hillside, only to see dense woods and protruding rocks in front. Even if it was not as dangerous as the previous path, it was not much better.
…
“Is it the small hill in front?” At this time, Bu Gong was standing on a big rock, looking at a small hill about a hundred meters in radius a hundred meters away. There were few trees on it, but there were many kinds of flowers, plants, birds and insects. Bu Gong took a first look at it and his heart moved slightly. He felt a little weird, but he couldn’t tell what the feeling was.
“We’re finally here. Let me rest for a while and then go over to take a look. I hope those immortal fruits are still there.” Bu Gong thought secretly in his heart, then sat down on the big rock and began to regulate his breathing.
It was already afternoon, and half a day had passed before Bu Gong arrived at his destination; but he was lucky and only took the wrong road once along the way.
After all, after so many years, the road that Blind Zhang had in his mind was a bit vague, so he relied on his memory to draw a rough map of the place and asked Bu Gong to find it himself according to this rough map.
Originally, Blind Zhang didn’t hold out much hope that Bu Gong could find that place; after so many years, the road had been washed away by rain and trampled by monsters, and it was probably a little unclear.
So at that time, he just drew a rough route map according to his vague memory and gave it to Bu Gong; “Even if he can’t find it, it can be regarded as an experience for Bu Gong.” This was the original plan in Blind Zhang’s mind.
He even secretly hoped that Bu Gong wouldn’t find that place; because in his heart, he always had a faint sense of fear towards that place. Although he didn’t know why this feeling came from, every time he thought of the small hill he had visited that year, a throbbing feeling would unconsciously rise in his heart.
Half an hour later, Bu Gong recovered to his peak condition; he stood up and swooped down from the big rock. “It’s time to go look for it,” Bu Gong said in a low voice, looking at the small hill in front of him with a slight expectation in his eyes.
Bu Gong moved quickly and arrived at the edge of the hill in a blink of an eye. He looked at the hill and saw that the whole hill was round, and a very standard round shape. It faced north and leaned to the south, and was slightly shady. Then Bu Gong took a deep breath, and a hint of joy appeared in the depths of his eyes.
Because when he inhaled just now, he could clearly feel that the immortal energy here was much richer than other places; this also meant that there were definitely spiritual fruits here, so Bu Gong seemed a little excited.
At this time, Bu Gong didn’t know that under the small hill in front of him, there was a pair of sinister, cruel and ferocious eyes, closely watching his every move.
I saw that under the small hill, in a dark and green but spacious underground space, there was a huge black palace sitting strangely.
On each of the four bronze doors surrounding it, there is a palm-sized dark yellow talisman, which has a slight aura and looks a bit ancient; the blood-red runes on the talisman are crooked, and people feel dizzy at first glance.
The pair of cold eyes that were staring at Bu Gong just now came from the depths of this dark palace; “Hehehe…hehehe…After waiting for so many years, I finally waited for a despicable creature who is worth my while. I can finally leave this damn ghost place, hehehe…” A strange and creepy laugh came out slowly from this black palace.
But Bu Gong was unaware of this. He was still wandering around the edge of the hill, looking for the so-called Xianyuan Fruit.
After a moment, Bu Gong was seen squatting on the edge of a small hill, a low-lying depression, his eyes fixed on a strange little tree about half a meter high at the bottom of the pit.
This small tree was about as thick as a baby’s arm, and the whole tree was straight; there were no so-called side branches or stems on it, only round green leaves growing directly on the trunk.
However, the trunk at the top of this small tree is unusually divided into two; and at the top of each separated branch, there is a dazzling fruit the size of a fist with a slightly purple hue. It seems that the surface of the fruit is surrounded by a layer of light purple air, which is very beautiful.
“According to Grandpa Zhang’s description, these two light purple fruits should be the so-called ‘Xianyuan Fruits’!” Bu Gong stared at the two purple fruits, but couldn’t help muttering involuntarily; and from his slightly fluctuating eyes, it can be seen that Bu Gong was extremely happy at this moment.
He himself had not expected that he would be able to find the Xianyuan Fruit so easily this time; but just when Bu Gong was about to pick it, he suddenly felt that someone was staring at him from behind; this made him shudder and a slight chill came from his back.
Bu Gong forced himself to suppress the fear in his heart, slowly stood up, turned his head and looked behind him; as a result, apart from the still isolated small hill, there was no one else, not even a bird or animal.
“Maybe it’s an illusion.” Bu Gong shook his head slightly, then squatted down and put away the two Xianyuan fruits; he now also has a storage ring, which is the ring that Blind Zhang got in the Xianyang Sect when he was young. Bu Gong now also masters its usage.
After putting away the two immortal fruits, Bu Gong jumped out of the pit and clapped his hands; “There should be more than just these two spiritual fruits here, let me look for them somewhere else first,” Bu Gong thought to himself; because when he just arrived here, he slightly sensed that the immortal energy in this place was a little richer than other places, so there should be other spiritual fruits there.
Bu Gong walked around the edge of the hill and didn’t find any other spiritual objects, so he looked up at the hill. Every time he looked at the hill, he felt an inexplicable throbbing in his heart, but he couldn’t figure out why this feeling came from.
After a brief hesitation, Bu Gong slowly walked up the hill. At this time, the pair of sinister eyes below the hill were filled with excitement as he watched Bu Gong walk up the hill step by step.
“Hehehe… This lowly creature is barely okay, far better than the blind guy from twenty years ago; however, that guy didn’t dare to enter my palace, causing me to fail in the end. But twenty years later, a better one was sent to me, hehehe… God has been kind to me…” A slightly harsh and strange laugh was faintly heard from the palace at the foot of the hill.
Bu Gong, however, was completely unaware of this. Although the sound came from the bottom of the hill, Bu Gong could not hear it because he had already lost his way on the hill. Yes, he was really lost.
If someone stood far away, they would find that although Bu Gong was walking up the hill at this time, from a distance, he was actually circling in an area within tens of meters; and in that open space, the flowers and plants were slightly sparser than in other places, but in the center there stood a huge stone that was one person tall.
There were also several half-meter-sized boulders placed in a disorderly manner around it; when Chuchu Gong saw this place, he did not think much about it. After all, he had just started practicing and did not know many things. So when he saw that there were few flowers and plants here, he planned to take a rest here and then go to other places on the hill to have a look.
As a result, when he finished regulating his breathing and planned to leave the open space and go somewhere else, he found that no matter how he walked, he would eventually return to the same place; Bu Gong tried to walk several times, but in the end, he always returned to the same place.
At this time, he was looking at the huge stone tablet in front of him, which was as tall as a person. There were some random strokes on it. He didn’t recognize it, and he would feel dizzy if he looked at it too much, so he didn’t pay too much attention to it. The surrounding areas were still the huge rocks he had seen before. “Hey, I’m going in the right direction, but why can’t I leave this place?” Bu Gong murmured in a low voice, a little confused.
Since he began to understand the world, he had never encountered such a situation. In his understanding, such a situation was simply impossible; because the road only gets farther and farther or closer as you walk, it is impossible to still be in the same place after walking for a long time.