Chapter 42 (Part 1)

The matter of the heavenly fire gave Song Yuanxi a new understanding of Song family’s secret land.

Before this, he had always felt that the secret land was a place with especially dense spiritual qi, no threat from demonic beasts, and perfectly suited to a peaceful retirement. Only now did he realize that there was far more to the secret land than met the eye!

Since the Samoyed could casually discover a clump of heavenly fire, did that mean that if he launched a carpet search of the secret land, he might also stumble across some unexpected joy?

“I’m so stupid. I actually had no expectations for it just because the surroundings were calm and peaceful. A secret land capable of becoming the Song family’s supreme treasure—how could it possibly not have good things in it!”

“Maybe there’s another clump of heavenly fire waiting for me. Even if it isn’t heavenly fire, it might be some other treasure.”

Song Yuanxi’s heart immediately filled with anticipation toward this secret land that nurtured natural treasures. Then he thought of what had happened earlier, crouched down, hugged the dog’s head, and looked at it with burning eyes.

“Baby! Whether your dad gets rich overnight all depends on you!”

The way Song Yuanxi looked at his cub now was not like he was looking at a dog at all, but at a treasure-seeking rat.

The Samoyed could not understand the deep meaning in its daddy’s eyes, but the most direct and intense human emotion was transmitted straight to it.

Daddy likes me. He likes me very, very much. So happy.

The Samoyed let out an “awoo,” and its fluffy head burrowed hard into his arms. “Daddy, hug.”

Song Yuanxi supported the dog with both hands and directly placed it on his shoulders. He even thoughtfully set the dog’s two paws on top of his head.

“Let’s go. From today onward, we’re starting a ten-year tour of the secret land!”

“Awoo, awoo awoo!”

One man and one dog packed their luggage and set off on a new journey.

In the first year, Song Yuanxi was full of expectation. He felt that he ought to be a son of destiny, and with the keen-nosed Samoyed in hand, wouldn’t treasures come as soon as he reached for them?

In the second year, Song Yuanxi’s mentality returned to normal. He accepted that he was only an ordinary person and changed from carrying the Samoyed on his back to leading it by the leash, but in his heart, he was still dreaming of getting rich.

In the third year, Song Yuanxi gradually grew numb. He also concluded that he might really not have much fortune on him. The Samoyed, too, was allowed to roam freely. As long as it did not get lost, it could do whatever it wanted. He no longer thought of sudden riches; any small gain would be enough to make all these thousand-plus days of walking worthwhile.

In the fifth year…

Song Yuanxi’s mentality was worn flat, and he had even gone a little mad. He focused on one small goal: to let my footprints cover every corner of the secret land!

From the very first day he set out, Song Yuanxi had the habit of keeping records, attempting to draw a detailed map of the secret land. Three years later, this task had already become routine, and had even become his main objective.

One day in the seventh year, Song Yuanxi stopped and looked at the lush green grass before him, a little dazed.

He stared at the little stream not far away, his expression uncertain. “Little White, don’t you think this place is… a little familiar?”

The Samoyed turned its head out of boredom. After a few slow breaths, its eyes suddenly lit up. It rushed frantically toward the stream, so excited that it started running wild in a way Song Yuanxi had not seen in years.

By the time he reached the stream, the Samoyed had already jumped into the water with its whole body. Most of its body was submerged, and its dog head was plunged directly underwater, where it kept nosing around.

Strings of bubbles rose from the water from time to time, mixed with the dog’s whimpers. After only a few dozen breaths, the Samoyed abruptly lifted its head, a golden bone held in its mouth.

Song Yuanxi suddenly understood. Wasn’t this the place where, when they had left the little thatched hut back then, he had thrown the dog’s toy into the water while the dog was not paying attention?

To verify his thought, Song Yuanxi immediately ran southeast. Sure enough, twenty li away, he saw a thatched hut.

The pond not far outside the hut was still there, but the water inside had completely dried up. The lotus roots planted there had long since vanished, probably carried off and eaten by some spirit beasts.

As for the reclining chair beside the pond, it had become tattered and rotten. There were even many droppings from unknown creatures on it, and mottled moss-like growths had appeared.

“I walked in a circle and came back again?”

This realization shocked Song Yuanxi greatly. He immediately took out the map he had drawn, spread it flat on the ground, and used a talisman brush to mark back and forth. After repeated calculations, he obtained the rough outline of the secret land.

“Chirp, chirp!”

At some point, the Samoyed had run over. When it saw the outline of the map, it immediately cried out excitedly, “It’s Little Yellow! Little yellow chicken!”

Song Yuanxi looked at the map he had casually drawn, then at the total area marked on it. Ten million square kilometers—this… wasn’t this equal to the total land area of Huaguo?

Then he looked at this map chicken again. In the northeast corner, it raised its head, tall and broad, like a chicken head. In the southwest and northwest, round arcs spread and tilted upward, like a chicken tail. At the bottom, there were also two chicken claws…

“Wait! There’s only one chicken claw?”

Song Yuanxi stared at the map in front of him. A strange feeling rose in his heart. A powerful premonition told him that after walking the entire map of the secret land, there might be a great harvest. And right now, the map showed it very clearly: he should go look for the remaining chicken claw.

That was a place he had not yet set foot in, and it was very likely the hidden part of the secret land.

“Little White, we’ve walked for seven or eight years anyway. Another two years won’t make much difference, right?”

The Samoyed raised its head at the sound and mumbled around the golden bone in its mouth, “Go… go for a bit… chirp chirp… run…”

“Fine. Then we’ll rest for a while. Once I determine the possible direction of the hidden part of the map, we’ll set out again.”

After seven years, they returned once more to the thatched hut. Song Yuanxi looked at the ruined, lonely house, and before he knew it, his mentality had changed.

When he first built this house, it was purely because he wanted to start a retirement farming mode, and he had indeed spent several happy years here.

But during these years of wandering everywhere in the secret land, although he had not found any treasures, after seeing countless vast landscapes, his state of mind was utterly different.

If he compared himself to a salted fish, then he was also a salted fish that occasionally turned over to bask the other side in the sun. When the mood struck, he would even sprinkle a little more salt on himself in the hope that he could be marinated more thoroughly.

“This is absolutely not lying flat. I’m doing this to become a better salted fish. You have to know, a salted fish marinated to perfection also sells for quite a high price.”

While mocking himself, he studied the map. Half a month later, Song Yuanxi drew out two areas in the southeast corner of the map. Because he was not certain whether he had been there before, he decided to set out immediately and investigate as soon as possible.

The first thing they passed through was a large forest. The moment they entered, the Samoyed grew excited. With a whoosh, it shot out and disappeared.

“Little White!”

Song Yuanxi’s expression was normal. He only quickened his pace slightly and shouted.

When the Samoyed heard the shout, it suddenly braked hard and stopped. But because it was anxious, its entire fluffy body spun madly in place. “Awoo, awoo awoo!”

Its whimper was utterly plaintive.

Song Yuanxi walked over unhurriedly. Seeing the dog standing still in place, he was very satisfied. Seven years of dog training had been rather effective after all. At the very least, it would no longer run off to the ends of the earth at the slightest disagreement.

He took out a whole dried red deer leg from his storage bangle, held the other end of the deer leg, and fed the dog while walking.

“Little White, you finally know how to listen. Look, what a happy life an obedient dog has. You get extra meals every day.”

The moment he finished speaking, the weight in his hand disappeared. Song Yuanxi turned his head and saw the Samoyed’s mouth open a full one hundred and eighty degrees as it bit down on the red deer leg and devoured it in a storm.

Although the dog was only fifty jin, its appetite was enormous. Sometimes, he even suspected that his contracted beast Dàfeng might be mixed with Taotie genes. Its stomach was practically a bottomless pit.

“Woof, woof! Daddy, so hungry. Little White hungry.”

The fluffy dog head circled around his feet, and its two front paws pawed at Song Yuanxi’s Daoist robe. Because it wanted too badly to perform well, it used too much strength with its paws. With a rip, a corner of the Daoist robe was torn.

Song Yuanxi: “…”

I just praised you twice, and you immediately show your true form?

“Wuwu… Little White didn’t mean it. Robe soft, claws pointy.”

This definitely was not its fault. The robe was too weak!

The snow-white dog tilted its head, its face full of innocence. Its watery eyes looked straight at him like that, and Song Yuanxi could not even bring himself to curse at it.

Dàfeng in Samoyed form was simply too unfair!

“Here, it’s all yours. Five red deer legs prepared for you first thing this morning. I said they were snacks, and I never go back on my word.”

“Daddy is the best. Super love.”

The Samoyed cheered and ran toward the four red deer legs that had suddenly appeared.

Song Yuanxi turned around and continued on his way without slowing down. As for his little cub, it would catch up on its own after eating.

One man and one dog passed through the forest far faster than they had seven years ago. When they reached the unknown area Song Yuanxi had marked out on the map in advance, he was once again surprised.

Before his eyes was a cliff face. This cliff face was quite familiar. Back then, that clump of heavenly fire had been dealt with by the Samoyed here in one bite.

He had always thought that the ten-thousand-zhang cliff was the end, and that the heavenly fire had nowhere to flee, so it had been eaten. But according to the inference from the map he had previously drawn, there ought to be space behind the cliff.

“Could this cliff face just be a trick of the eye?”

After the heavenly fire had been swallowed back then, Song Yuanxi’s mood had been low. He had quickly taken the Samoyed back, and had not had the slightest interest in checking what was going on with the cliff.

Now, when he thought that treasures might be hidden behind the cliff, while he had turned a blind eye to them, and if not for returning here seven years later…

The moment Song Yuanxi thought of that subtle feeling of nearly having obtained something, his heart filled with frustration.

And the truth was just as he expected. There was indeed something strange behind the cliff face. However, it was not an illusion, but rather a certain area with a soft depression.

This depression was not conspicuous. It even looked exactly the same as the surrounding hard stone wall. If the Samoyed had not been romping around and bumping into things everywhere, Song Yuanxi would not have noticed it so soon.

“Little White, wait!”

Seeing that the dog had stepped one foot into it, Song Yuanxi hurriedly shouted for it to stop.

He dragged the Samoyed back, then rummaged through his storage bangle for a long time. He took out Immortal-Tracking Trace and sprinkled it on the dog. Finally, he plastered the dog with invisibility talismans and Concealment Talismans before he stopped.

“All right. This should temporarily protect you. With Immortal-Tracking Trace on you, even if you run a little far, I won’t be afraid I can’t find you.”

Song Yuanxi had already achieved great success in qi refining. He directly circulated his cultivation method to adjust his own aura, then stepped into the depression in the cliff face together with the Samoyed and entered the unknown area.

Contrary to what he had imagined, there was no long, dark passage inside. From the instant he entered, Song Yuanxi had been walking inside a stone wall the entire time. The only difference was that these stone walls were very soft, a little like… a marsh form?

And as they went deeper, the stone wall form surrounding him grew softer and softer. After who knew how long, the solidified stone wall gradually distorted and began to take on a liquid shape.

Walking inside it felt as if he had fallen into a tunnel filled with cement slurry. The resistance and pressure gradually increased, and his walking speed slowed as well.

Even more disgusting was that these liquid stone walls could flow. They surged wantonly toward his five senses, as if determined to swallow and drown him alive.

“Little White, are you all right?”

Because he could not open his mouth, Song Yuanxi could only communicate with the Samoyed in his sea of consciousness. He and the dog had already separated by some distance.

However, the Samoyed’s voice was still cheerful. “Okay. Daddy, faster. Run! Run run run!”

Song Yuanxi: “…”

I can barely lift my foot, and you’re telling me to run?

Listening to the Samoyed’s voice, Song Yuanxi could even imagine the back of his cub charging forward through the liquid stone walls in a carefree, dashing run. As for him, every step was difficult. Every movement he made was like a… maggot wriggling and crawling through mud.

“Little White, wait for me. I can’t walk anymore.”

“Daddy, run faster.”

“Baby, wait for your dad. These old arms and old legs really can’t do it.”

“Daddy, so big! So big!”

“What thing? What’s so big? Little White? Little White…”

But the response vanished. If not for the sensation of the contract seal still being there, Song Yuanxi would have almost thought his cub had encountered danger.

After an unknown amount of time, an excited burst of barking suddenly rang out in his sea of consciousness. “Woof, woof! Woof woof woof!”

Immediately after that came cries of “Chirp, chirp! Chirp chirp!”

Then it became even more exaggerated. “Chirp, chirp! Chirp woof! Woof chirp chirp!” In short, it was a pot of utter chaos.

The noise gave Song Yuanxi a headache. He had no choice but to temporarily cut off the connection between them. After countless falls, climbs, falls again, climbs again… and after the hardship of constantly clambering upward…

At last, he emerged from the “black swamp” and was greeted by—

Flames! Light! Rushing! To the sky!

There was no brightness, no flowers, no peach-blossom paradise like he had imagined. There was only a sea of fire so scorching that it could burn a person to death.

It was truly a sea of fire. From the instant he climbed out, Song Yuanxi was instantly wrapped and invaded by great flames. The scalding high temperature made him leap ten zhang into the air on the spot. In his daze, he saw an exit somewhere within the sea of fire.

He rushed in that direction without caring about anything, howling as he ran. By the time he ran out of the sea of fire, the Daoist robe on his body had already been burned completely clean. Even his inner clothes had almost been burned away. He had nearly met this world with absolute honesty.

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