Peng Yue Mountain’s midsection boasted a platform.
Spanning nearly three hundred meters east to west and over a hundred meters north to south, it was larger than two football fields.
A straight cliff face, five or six meters high, bordered the platform’s north side.
The southern boundary blended into the mountainside with a slight curve.
Seven stone stairways extended from the boundary in various directions down the slope, passing through terraced fields and covering the entirety of South Mountain, all the way to the foot of Peng Yue Mountain.
Chen Mu stepped upon the two-meter-wide stone stairs and approached the platform’s entrance.
A two-meter-tall boulder sat beside the steps.
The south-facing side had been neatly flattened, etched with three bold characters—”Cold Moon Market.”
Due to the rush of construction, the Cold Moon Market was somewhat imperfect.
The earthen ground was still uneven in places.
The wooden houses within the market still emitted the fresh scent of chopped lumber and grass.
On the exterior walls of some houses, one could still see branches and leaves that remained lush and green.
Chen Mu followed a path straight to the Hundred Herbs Pavilion and handed a list of medicinal ingredients to the attendant.
The attendant, a man in his thirties dressed in simple grey, greeted him with a smile, but after perusing Chen Mu’s list, his face fell into a look of distress.
“Sir, I’m very sorry. Other materials might be manageable, but we don’t have Purple Leaf Fragrance or Snakegrass Whiskers.”
“How long until you have stock?” Chen Mu frowned slightly.
“If we can’t trade with the outside world anytime soon, we’ll only have them after the Medicinal Field harvest.”
“For these two ingredients, you’ll have to wait at least six months.”
Chen Mu, not ready to give up, said, “Don’t you have any inventory? I’m willing to pay a little extra.”
“I’d love to earn your money, but…” The grey-clad attendant offered a bitter smile and spread his hands helplessly. Your journey continues with empire
Chen Mu’s expression soured, without those two herbs, he couldn’t make the Calming Pills.
“Sir, would you like the rest of the materials?” the attendant asked softly.
“Wrap them up,” Chen Mu sighed.
The Lower Courtyard had moved hastily, and Peng Yue Mountain’s resources were scarce; what was available now might be gone in a few days.
It wasn’t long before the grey-clad attendant handed Chen Mu a large parcel.
“Sir, that will be four White Jade Coins in total.”
The price has gone up?
Chen Mu opened his mouth as if to protest, but in the end, he paid without complaint.
In times of scarcity, it was only natural for prices to rise.
Before leaving, the attendant suggested, “You might want to have a look on the east side. There are many people setting up stalls there.”
“You might find the two ingredients.”
Chen Mu thanked him with a bow and left with his parcel.
…
In the southeast corner at the foot of Peng Yue Mountain, in the Yiyou District.
Chen Mu arranged his things and sat on a rocking chair on the east side of the corridor.
“Looks like the trade for Calming Pills can’t be done.”
He’d also visited the east side stalls at the Cold Moon Market, but unfortunately, he didn’t find the needed ingredients.
The list he gave to the Hundred Herbs Pavilion was only part of the recipe.
In reality, there weren’t two missing ingredients, but five.
“Substitutes are hard to come by as well.”
To replace so many components, the Calming Pills wouldn’t be Calming Pills anymore.
“Yellow Bud Rice has just been planted; the harvest won’t be until ten months later.”
“Though there’s a monthly salary of two White Jade Coins, that only covers food.”
“Without being able to make Calming Pills, it means having no source of income!”
Maintaining his progress in the Illusion Breaking Technique required nearly three White Jade Coins every day.
Ninety coins a month!
And now with his income cut off…
Chen Mu couldn’t help but sigh.
Difficult!
He racked his brain but couldn’t come up with any good source of earnings.
“Do I have to join a hunting party and venture into the mountains to kill Exotic Beasts?” Chen Mu instinctively shook his head.
His exposed strength was only at the Shell Soul Stage.
With such capability, how much money would he get from joining a hunting party?
Moreover, the mountain forest was unpredictable, Exotic Beasts varied widely, ordinary ones were manageable, but if he encountered the poisonous kind, or something even more bizarre, that would be genuinely dangerous.
After a while, Chen Mu sighed again.
He looked at a small pile of assorted items inside his Five Ghosts Bag with a deep frown.
“It looks like I’ll have to weigh the dreams of my fellow practitioners!”
…
He set two little paper figures to squat on the rooftop as sentinels.
Chen Mu found a wooden barrel and poured a pile of things into it.
Using Five Ghosts Black Smoke, he cleaned the mud and bloodstains, then put on deerskin gloves before he dared to start taking inventory.
As the stack of White Jade Coins on the low table grew higher, Chen Mu’s tightly knit brows slowly relaxed.
“Three hundred and forty-seven pieces!”
“Even if I had no income at all, this would be enough for me to cultivate in peace for four months.”
“And there are also these two Mustard Seed Talismans.”
Chen Mu happily took out the small wooden cabinets from within the Mustard Seed Talismans to continue inventorying.
It took quite a while before he managed to categorize and organize the pile of items.
Chen Mu looked over his total gains with satisfaction.
“Various medicinal herbs and minerals.”
“Several volumes of Secret Technique Booklets.”
“Over ten pieces of weapons like swords and hidden blades.”
“Most importantly, these six hundred and twenty-seven White Jade Coins.”
He originally had one hundred and twenty-six White Jade Coins on his person.
His wealth instantly rose to seven hundred and fifty-three.
“Extra meal!”
“I must have an extra meal!”
“Haha…”
…
In the evening, under the wooden corridor.
The Fire Cloud Gourd spat out blue flames from time to time.
Grilling unknown Exotic Beast Meat Slices to be crispy on the outside and tender inside, combined with a secret grilled meat seasoning, the aroma was enticing.
It wasn’t long before three dishes and one soup were arranged on the square table.
Aside from the secret grilled meat, there was also a plate of pork with garlic sauce, a bowl of cold mixed wild vegetables, a meatball soup, and a small wooden bucket of Yellow Bud Rice.
Chen Mu sipped some sweet and sour hawthorn tea to cut the greasiness, then stuffed a slice of grilled meat into his mouth.
“Delicious!”
…
After dinner, a puff of black smoke appeared outside the wooden corridor.
The food scraps dropped from the smoke and landed right into a barrel outside of the corridor.
The square table that was earlier a mess was now spotlessly clean.
Chen Mu sat in the rocking chair and waved his hand, the tableware vanished, and then reappeared on its own in the wall cabinet.
“It’s a pity I can’t go to the Ling Boat.”
I haven’t seen the pretty Exotic girls for a long time. I miss them…
“Forget it, forget it, watching girls isn’t as good as leveling up.”
Chen Mu rubbed his hands together, pulled up the grey wall, and checked his experience.
“Tsk tsk, another limit, haha…”
Gazing at the Void Cloak Technique entry, Chen Mu couldn’t hold back his beaming smile.
It had been over two months since he arrived at Peng Yue Mountain.
Every day he was ordered to chop wood and clear mountainsides. With people all around, he could only practice the Void Cloak Technique.
He stood up, glanced at the wooden houses not far away, and noticed that no one was paying any attention.
Five Ghosts Black Smoke swirled around him, concealing his figure.
Chen Mu’s thoughts moved, and mana poured out from his brow.
“Divine Steps Thousand Miles!”
A Repulsion Force quickly enveloped his whole body.
Chen Mu shot forward like a projectile.
In the blink of an eye, he darted into the dense forest at the foot of the mountain.
The forest was full of towering ancient trees, over ten meters tall.
Hovering one meter above the ground, Chen Mu was like a nimble swallow, sprinting, stopping suddenly, turning, making consecutive turns; he shuttled through the complex forest like lightning.
The sound of the wind whistling by his ears was all he could hear, and he was going so fast that his skin was flapping.
If he wasn’t afraid of being discovered, he would certainly have let out a loud howl!
…
Two quarters of an hour later.
Chen Mu was drifting through the air in an arc when suddenly he felt emptiness under his feet.
The power covering his body disappeared, and he uncontrollably flew out straight.
He crashed into a small tree, thick enough for one person to embrace, snapping it in half with a crack.
“Ptooey!”
Chen Mu spat out the bits of grass from his mouth and climbed up from the bush with a disgruntled expression.
“Just this tiny bit of mana, it’s not nearly durable enough for play!”