Shen Changchuan was in high spirits after his significant increase in strength.
Right now, he even felt the urge for an opponent to appear so he could engage in a thrilling, all-out battle.
Shen Changchuan let his imagination run wild, envisioning scene after scene:
He would leave Dawan Village and venture deep into the vast mountain forests, searching for precious Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. He would hunt the Demon Beasts lurking in the mountains in heart-pounding battles, ultimately obtaining valuable Spirit Medicine. His Cultivation Realm would then improve at a visible rate.
That life of battling heaven and earth, of struggling against nature itself, was just like that of a protagonist from an Immortal Cultivation novel in his past life. It was an intoxicating fantasy.
However,
before Shen Changchuan's burning passion could translate into action,
a sudden downpour completely extinguished the fire in his heart.
It brought him crashing back to cold, hard reality.
This was no ordinary rain. It was a relentless, unceasing downpour.
Dark clouds had filled the sky from out of nowhere. Before Shen Changchuan even had time to react, the rain began to fall.
And then,
the downpour began, torrential and endless, and it has continued to this very day!
Looking outside,
thick, mountain-like clouds blanketed the horizon, obscuring the entire sky. Even during the day, not a single ray of sunlight could pierce through. Wind and rain mingled, shrouding the world in what looked like a white curtain.
More than half a month had passed,
and the rain still poured down ceaselessly, as if intent on submerging the entire world in an endless, perpetual deluge.
Shen Changchuan was in despair!
He had never imagined
that a rain that just kept falling, and falling, and falling without ever stopping could exist in this world!
According to the village elders,
this was the rainy season.
A rainy season that lasted for one to two months.
This made Shen Changchuan feel even more miserable.
Because even though he was inside his spacious mountain courtyard, with the large building shielding him from the endless curtain of rain pouring from the heavens,
during the rainy season,
the abundant moisture filled every space.
Everything felt damp, and the air was so thick you could wring water from it!
Though only half a month had gone by,
Shen Changchuan felt as if a year had passed. He felt like he was about to grow mold.
But that wasn't the worst part.
What was truly despairing was that,
under the constant, heavy rain, swarms of mountain leeches had emerged from every unknown corner of the mountains, spreading throughout the forest.
As far as the eye could see,
from the tallest trees to the shortest ferns, countless mountain leeches hung upside down like tentacles beneath the leaves. They swayed with each falling raindrop, constantly extending and reaching out in all directions, searching for prey.
From a distance, it was as if the lush forests and undergrowth had sprouted countless writhing tendrils, baring their fangs and claws amidst the storm.
There were so many that you could often see the inching, crawling mountain leeches even on the usual village paths...
Heaven knows how terrifying such a sight was for someone who had never witnessed anything like it!
And these mountain leeches weren't just horrifying to look at; they were horrifying in practice, too!
They hung in dense clusters under leaves and blades of grass. One end would be attached to a leaf, while the other stretched and elongated into the air, probing its surroundings.
The moment an animal passed underneath, they would spring loose, landing on it with a series of soft PITTER-PATTERS.
They would blanket the animal's body,
desperately burrowing into its skin to suck its blood!
During this process, the animal wouldn't feel any pain,
not a single sensation!
Before long, the animal's blood would be drained dry. It would collapse, a desiccated corpse, and quickly rot away in the downpour.
The sight
was enough to make one's blood run cold!
This was especially true for Shen Changchuan, who was encountering these swarming creatures for the first time in either his past life or his present one.
And so,
one day, when he idly opened his window, he saw a mountain leech dangling from the eaves. It was stretching as far as it could, probing about, looking as if it was about to launch itself at him.
Then he saw the large tree outside, and beneath its lush leaves, a forest of tiny, writhing "tendrils" that had "sprouted" there.
The hair on Shen Changchuan's neck stood straight up. An uncontrollable shiver ran down his spine, and his skin erupted in goosebumps!
The sight was so horrifying
that Shen Changchuan instantly unleashed five Fireball Techniques in a row. Despite the pouring rain, he managed to burn the entire tree outside his window to cinders!
But Shen Changchuan didn't stop there.
Suppressing the goosebumps covering his body, he circled his mountain courtyard several times, unleashing a constant barrage of Magic—Wind Blade Techniques, Fireball Techniques, and more,
and cleared out every living tree and patch of grass in the vicinity.
Only after he had annihilated every last mountain leech in the courtyard did Shen Changchuan finally breathe a small sigh of relief.
But he also knew
that this was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.
In this damp, rainy season,
those damnable things would eventually crawl back.
The only thing that could stop them
was the dry environment indoors.
There was nothing Shen Changchuan could do about it.
After all, he was just a tiny ant in the vast Immortal Cultivation Realm, with no power to change the weather.
The best he could do was clear the area immediately surrounding his courtyard.
But even so,
an intense thought took root in Shen Changchuan's mind, and his eyes turned bloodshot.
'When this rain finally ends, I'm going to chop down the trees!'
'I'm going to set the whole mountain on fire!'
This terrifying environment,
he didn't want to experience it for a second longer.
There were far too many trees and bushes around the village,
and he never wanted to see them swarming all over the trees again.
The environment around Dawan Village
had to be changed, and drastically!
...
「Meanwhile, halfway along their journey, in a cave somewhere in the mountain forest.」
A group of five lavishly dressed young people had also been stopped in their tracks by the rain, which had now been falling for over half a month. They had been forced to take shelter in this cave.
They were now gathered around a bonfire, complaining loudly.
"Damn it all, this shithole is no place for a person to live!"
"Twenty-five days! It's been raining for twenty-five whole days! And there's still no sign of it clearing up! Plus, those swarming things on the trees outside are just disgusting! If I have to stay here any longer, I'll go crazy, if I don't start growing mold first!"
"You've got some nerve! We agreed you were on watch yesterday to keep those disgusting things from getting in. But when I woke up from meditation, I had two damn leeches sucking on my arm! Is that how you do your job?!"
"Shen Rongguang, that's bullshit! How do you know you didn't bring them in yourself when you went outside to take a crap?"
"Shen Zhifei, you...!"
"Alright, that's enough."
Just as a fight was about to break out,
a steady voice echoed through the cave, cutting off their argument.
The speaker was Shen Zhongshan, who sat at the center of the group by the fire. He was tall and powerfully built, exuding an air of security.
He was also the leader of their party.
Shen Zhongshan said calmly,
"Traveling is out of the question. It's boring, I know, but we have to stay put."
"The trees and grass outside are crawling with those disgusting things right now. The moment you walk under a tree, they come raining down on you."
"We may be Cultivators and can use a Spiritual Light Shield to keep them off, but our Magical Power isn't infinite. If we run out of Magical Power before we find shelter, well... you can imagine the outcome."
As his words fell,
everyone couldn't help but shudder.
They imagined their Magical Power exhausted, no shelter in sight, their bodies covered in blood-sucking mountain leeches until they were nothing but dried-up husks.
They shivered, and not from the cold.
The image was too terrifying!
"Just bear with it for a while. Doesn't all this rain prove this place is rich in moisture? It's highly likely a Spirit Medicine of that caliber is growing here."
"As long as we get that item and complete the mission, knowing that person's character, he won't forget what we've done."
Shen Zhongshan added in a steady, reassuring voice.
His words did much to calm everyone's minds.
'That's right.'
'If they could complete the mission and find that thing, someone with his character would certainly not treat them poorly.'
'If they could get on his good side, their futures would be secured.'
For a moment,
the atmosphere grew much more peaceful.
"Brother Shan is right."
"Compared to the reward for success, this bit of hardship is tolerable."
"But Brother Shan, this ordeal has really taken its toll. Once the rain stops and we reach our destination, how about we find a good place to rest before setting out again?"
"After all, it won't be safe to venture deep into the mountains if we're not in top condition."
Shen Rongguang suggested from the side.
At his words, the others all turned to look at their leader, Shen Zhongshan, their eyes full of hope.
The question in their eyes was obvious.
"Fine."
"Xiaoguang, take out the map. See if any Shen Family territory is near our destination. If there is, we'll stay there. We can mobilize some mortals to search the mountains for us, which will narrow down our search area."
Shen Zhongshan nodded in agreement.
Indeed,
the rain had been torture for everyone.
They had been stuck in the cave for over half a month, so they really did need to find a decent place to rest once they neared their destination.
"Brother Shan, there's a place nearby called Dawan Village. It's Shen Family territory."
"Who's the Cultivator garrisoned there?"
"Some lucky kid at the Qi Introduction Third Layer named Shen Changchuan."
Shen Rongguang replied casually, glancing at the map.
The Shen Family Patriarch, Shen Fuxing, had over fifty children in total, which was considered a small number for the family's main branch.
Consequently, aside from important descendants or those with great power, no one paid much attention to the other, less remarkable offspring.
Shen Rongguang clearly had no idea who Shen Changchuan was.
But when Shen Zhongshan heard the name, his brow furrowed and he spoke.
"Let me see the map."
Shen Rongguang didn't understand why,
but he handed the map over anyway.