Brian Carter looked closely, not only at the painting style and craftsmanship, but also at the brows and eyes of these deities, as if he could catch a glimpse of a bygone era through them.

Perhaps in some era, when this path had not yet been abandoned and people still traveled it often, countless demons and ghosts would use the terrain to block the way and claim lives, while these deities carved in stone, empowered by the people's faith, truly and tangibly intimidated the monsters and spirits in these mountains.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind: perhaps crawling on all fours and bending low was not only due to the difficulty of carving the path, but also so that those who passed through would bow before these statues that suppressed evil spirits, maintaining a measure of respect.

The sky was growing darker and darker.

Brian Carter stopped at the highest point, sitting at the edge of the cliff, legs naturally dangling, letting the mountain wind blow, determined to spend the night here.

There was no rain today; instead, the sunset was as red as blood, with crimson clouds filling the sky.

In this era, there are many who love to travel. Many scholars and literati are passionate about natural landscapes. According to the elders at the foot of the mountain, people are often drawn by the breathtaking scenery along the hand-carved cliffs, climbing and exploring despite the danger, but very few dare to spend the night up here.

In Brian Carter's view, they truly missed out on a lot.

But what was even more beautiful was not the sunset itself, but the dreamlike colors that appeared at the horizon after the afterglow faded and the sky above had dimmed.

Not quite blue, not quite purple, not quite red, not quite pink, not quite white—gradually blending into the gentle glow of evening.

The darker the sky, the more beautiful the horizon became.

Brian Carter gazed in a daze, utterly entranced.

In this world, pure natural scenery and the arts of gods and spirits are among the few things that can truly attract him, because only these rare things make this world less dull and tedious than the other world in his heart.

“Taoist, aren’t we going down?”

“No.”

“It’s getting dark.”

“Mm.”

The mountain wind was getting a bit chilly.

Brian Carter still sat at the edge of the cliff, admiring the colors at the horizon and the silhouette of the mountains below. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he reached out to pick up the newly bought lantern, raised it in one hand, and with the other, made a distant gesture toward the horizon, pinching a bit of nothingness and infusing it into the lantern.

In an instant, the lantern lit up with a dreamlike glow, just like the one at the horizon.

Borrowing a touch of sunset glow, to dispel the chill of the long night.

Chapter 9: Buying Fish, Threading Willows, Hiring Cicada-Bearers

The mountain wind wailed, like ghosts crying in the night.

Brian Carter moved back to a safer spot.

This place was about four feet wide—or at least, according to Brian Carter's own sense, a foot in Dayan was about thirty centimeters in his previous life, so this width was about the same as a dormitory bunk bed, and the height was similar too; in any case, you couldn’t stand up.

One side was a stone wall, the other a cliff.

The lantern filled with sunset glow was placed on the ground, illuminating a small area on this path carved into the cliff, bringing a touch of warmth even to such a narrow place.

The calico cat was running left and right, sniffing here and there, occasionally walking to the edge of the cliff, poking its head out to look around, lost in thought.

It was clear that, having arrived in a strange place, it felt a bit uneasy. In the end, it seemed to decide that the person beside it was the most familiar thing here, so it furrowed its brow and looked up at Brian Carter several times, testing the waters, and finally edged closer and lay down beside Brian Carter.

Brian Carter, meanwhile, had already closed his eyes, quietly meditating.

Mountains and waters have spirits; each mountain has its own spirit, each river its own, all different and requiring careful perception.

The wailing mountain wind in his ears, the reverence of the people below, the countless famous poems left here by scholars over the centuries, every stroke carved into the cliff by people seeking peace, every person who passed by, even those who fell from here—all were part of the mountain spirit’s essence.

The mountain’s spiritual energy was carried by the wind, gathering here.

The calico cat, timid at first, huddled beside Brian Carter, but now, as if it had found something even more comfortable, snuggled even closer.

The night grew deeper, the stars and moon appeared one after another, the temperature dropped bit by bit, and the calico cat couldn’t help but move closer and closer to Brian Carter, finally pressing right up against him to sleep, feeling the warmth from his body and a refreshing comfort that seeped into its heart.

The glow in the lantern still shone.

If someone below were traveling at night and looked up, they might spot this unusual point of light between the cliffs a thousand feet above.

Around midnight, Brian Carter opened his eyes.

He raised his hand, and a wisp of spiritual energy floated above his palm. It looked like a stream of light, pale yellow with a hint of green, composed of two layers: the inner layer was a highly condensed strand of light, while the outer layer was as transparent as air, loose as smoke.

This was the result of this stage of cultivation.

Brian Carter's cultivation method was the Four Seasons Cycle, which was related to the changes of the seasons and the rotation of solar terms, so the spiritual energy he cultivated often carried seasonal attributes.

It was the exact opposite of his master’s Five Elements method: it could prolong life, but was not good at strengthening the body. Each strand of this spiritual energy had its own subtle use, but unlike, say, the Yin-Yang method, it did not inherently possess much destructive power.

And the spiritual energy of this world looked like this—