Chapter 157: The Mysterious Stranger

Old Fu quietly slipped out of the house and went outside.

At that moment, in his own room, Zhang Pu once again secretly summoned his spiritual awareness to scout. Though still not entirely proficient and falling somewhat short in terms of mastery, his nascent divine sense stretched out in a hazy, unfocused manner, just barely managing to catch a vague trace of something!

Old Fu has gone out! That was his very first thought.

He had long suspected that Old Fu was up to something shady, and tonight he had finally caught him in the act.

Zhang Pu got up from his bed.

He, too, quietly slipped out of his room.

By this time, Old Fu had already moved some distance away from their dwelling.

On such a dark and windy night, Old Fu made his way to another hillside without even bringing a flashlight.

Waiting for him there on the slope was a mysterious figure, completely shrouded from head to toe in a heavy cloak.

"Ah! You have arrived!"

Old Fu was already very old, yet his attitude toward this mysterious figure was as deferential as if the stranger were his own grandfather.

This was because he had long known that this mysterious person was no ordinary human being.

Moreover, the voice the mysterious figure used to speak to him did not sound human either. Although the stranger spoke in the human language that Old Fu understood, Old Fu could not shake the feeling that it did not belong to the mortal world, as if it drifted up from some nether realm of wandering ghosts.

Advanced in age and plagued by a deep-seated fear of death, Old Fu was terrified of anything associated with the Grim Reaper.

Though on the surface he addressed this entity as a deity, in his heart he was deeply worried that they were actually ghosts or spirits of the dead.

Yet he felt utterly helpless, believing he had no escape once he was entangled with such entities.

Beings of this superhuman caliber were capable of transforming into human form to interact with him.

Old Fu had no idea how these creatures would ultimately arrange his fate, but for the moment, he was helpless and unable to escape their clutches!

The mysterious figure said to Old Fu, "That child... you said he intends to stay on this mountain for a while?"

Old Fu answered honestly, "Yes, I believe so."

Just at that moment, a strange and eerie light suddenly emanated from the mysterious figure.

"Something has come up unexpectedly. We'll speak tomorrow—"

Before the mysterious figure could finish his sentence, his figure abruptly vanished into the darkness.

Old Fu was left bewildered. He had no idea what had just happened.

The mysterious person had arrived upon the commission of some deity, yet it all ended in an anticlimax, tapering off like a tiger's head with a snake's tail.

Old Fu had fully expected some major action to take place, but instead, it felt as though the entity had "deserted in the face of battle."

However, Old Fu was completely oblivious to the fact that Zhang Pu had been tailing him.

Nor did Zhang Pu want Old Fu to know that he had followed him out.

Still, Zhang Pu had indeed caught a glimpse of the mysterious figure just moments before.

Yet, before Zhang Pu could examine him closely, the entity had suddenly vanished.

By the time Old Fu returned to the house, Zhang Pu had already slipped back ahead of him, entering his own room and lying down on his bed.

This mountain really was far from peaceful! It felt as though every kind of strange phenomenon was converging here.

Zhang Pu found it all truly astonishing.

The masked intruder from the very first night had already been an unexpected anomaly. Zhang Pu could tell that Old Fu had seemingly never encountered any masked men prior to that incident.

Why had the masked men only appeared after his arrival?

Or perhaps it had all started around the time his parents went missing.

Right, after that, it seemed one event after another had come tumbling down: first, an arranged marriage he had never known about, followed by the fiancée's family sending someone to directly call off the engagement. And that fiancée came from an immensely influential background, hailing from the provincial capital—a place high above that could utterly crush both Qingshan Township and Green Stone Village.

And as if that wasn't enough, tonight had provided a live-action broadcast of something almost akin to his own kind. For instance, he himself was a cultivator of immortality, a status that completely transcended mortal significance.

For now, Zhang Pu ignored whatever Old Fu was secretly prying into outside.

His mind was currently consumed with thoughts of the mysterious figure he had encountered while tracking Old Fu earlier.

Why did he feel a strange sense of familiarity with that kind of entity?

Yet, without a doubt, Zhang Pu knew for certain that the mysterious figure was definitely not an immortal cultivator.

Another practitioner of the demonic or demonic-beast paths? It seemed this leased mountain forest was about to become truly lively.

Zhang Pu planned to notify the people from the township and the village tomorrow; that original plan remained unchanged.

He would take out the money from the Tri-Hall Meeting first, and it seemed Liu Yingde and the others would arrive the day after tomorrow.

That way, the funds brought by Liu Yingde wouldn't need to be handed over to the township, but that money still had to be spent, and it could be put to use right away for developing the second sea-of-flowers cabin.

Zhang Pu only briefly entertained the blueprint for the second sea-of-flowers cabin before returning his thoughts to the mysterious entity.

A growing suspicion took root in his mind: the sudden disappearance of the mysterious figure might actually be connected to him.

Zhang Pu reasoned that while Old Fu was incapable of sensing him as he quietly tailed him out of the house, the mysterious figure might have been able to vaguely perceive his presence, given that the stranger had also transcended ordinary humanity.

Right, the mysterious figure practiced the arts of demons or monsters, but what specific path did he follow?

Zhang Pu delved deeper into his contemplation.

He eventually categorized the stranger's cultivation within the dark or necromancy systems.

Having once reached the lofty realm of undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation in the immortal cultivation world, Zhang Pu was well aware that the cultivation of all things between heaven and earth—including humans, demons, monsters, immortals, and even beasts such as demonic beasts and spirit beasts—ultimately led to the same destination regardless of the path initially taken.

To summarize it earnestly, all cultivation boils down to a few fundamental systems, as the most primitive and primordial elements of heaven and earth consist precisely of these: wind, fire, earth, light, water, wood, darkness, and necromancy.

Though various cultivation methods differed, they all shared the same origin!

Finally, Zhang Pu thought to himself: If the opponent belonged to the category of undead creatures, that would be simply wonderful for him! He was ready at any moment to greet it with his spiritual seed mass cultivation!

It was close to dawn before Zhang Pu finally drifted off to sleep.

In truth, someone like Zhang Pu would never lower his guard completely, even when fast asleep. He employed a trace of vigilant awareness from the immortal cultivation world; the moment any unusual disturbance approached his door, he would be instantly aware of it even in his dreams.

The remainder of the night passed without incident until dawn.

The next day, although he understood that elderly people naturally required less sleep, Zhang Pu could still clearly sense the profound exhaustion of an old man who had stayed up late the night before.

Ordinarily, Zhang Pu would have felt sympathy for Old Fu's advanced age and lack of rest, and might have delayed notifying the people from the township and village to let him recuperate. But—because Old Fu was harboring dark secrets, Zhang Pu saw an opportunity to continue unearthing the mysteries hidden behind the old man.

Zhang Pu made phone calls and sent WeChat messages to both the township and the village. Both parties reacted with dreamlike disbelief.

The village chief even told him not to start such wild jokes.

Zhang Pu couldn't be bothered to argue with them—good advice is never repeated twice, and whether these people chose to come or not was entirely up to them! He had firmly made up his mind to spend the entire winter vacation residing on this mountain.

As for Old Fu, Zhang Pu knew the old man intended to live out the rest of his days and die right here.