Bai Zhi had now stayed at Yang Shining's mansion for ten days, and Wang Miaoyin still hadn't woken up.
Bai Zhi had gone to visit her and roughly discerned that she was in a state of 'Soul Deep Sleep'—her situation even more serious than its own.
Yang Shining had also administered some of the grotto-heaven's spirit medicines to Wang Miaoyin, but they seemed slow to take effect, with no signs of awakening just yet.
Bai Zhi's current plan was to wait for its own injuries to fully recover while, following Yang Shining's method of absorbing spiritual energy, shamelessly enjoying the cultivation resources provided by the Saintess, so as to raise its Vitality and draw closer to the seventh Evolution as quickly as possible.
Anyway, since spiritual energy existed within the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven, and with Yang Shining's assistance, the progress of Vitality improvement wasn't slow. At the same time, the weariness deep within its soul was gradually easing day by day.
Once it had recovered well enough, it would leave the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven and seek out meteorite fragments and creatures contaminated by them to absorb Spirit Resonance.
When the time came, it would probably leave Bai Huahua and Wang Miaoyin here temporarily.
Regarding this, there was also a faint, lingering worry in Bai Zhi's heart—namely, the fear that the more Spirit Resonance it absorbed, the more likely the eerie purple light lurking within its body would awaken again and stage another battle of assimilating its self.
In just three days, Bai Zhi's Vitality had already reached 707—and this was without having fully utilized all its free time for spiritual energy cultivation.
On this day, Bai Zhi proposed going out for another stroll, to see beyond Autumn Mountain. Its curiosity about the beautiful scenery within the grotto-heaven had truly become irrepressible.
Bai Huahua naturally clamored to go along as well. And unsurprisingly, the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox was brought too, under the noble-sounding pretense of being a bodyguard.
As for why Yang Shining wasn't accompanying them—the primary reason was that the Saintess was rather conspicuous and could easily attract unnecessary attention.
Before setting out, Yang Shining reminded:
"Oh right, Lord Bai Zhi, if you reach the barrier at the foot of the mountain, it's best not to cross through it into the plains, or it will draw the attention of the Jiuli Religion's high council."
Within the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven, ordinary humans lived on the plains, while demon beasts and Jiuli Religion followers all stayed on the mountains, generally never descending to the plains below.
A barrier was set at the mountains' foothills, both separating the plains from the mountains and preventing demon beasts from descending. Even if a powerful demon beast forcibly broke through the barrier, the Jiuli Religion's high council would sense it.
According to the Jiuli Religion's rules, even ordinary followers needed to obtain permission before crossing the barrier into the plains, so as to avoid disturbing the ordinary humans' lives.
This made Bai Zhi somewhat curious about the lives of the mortals living in the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven. Dwelling in such a picturesque grotto-heaven and blessed land, they must surely be living a Peach Blossom Spring-like life of leisurely contentment.
Bai Zhi even pondered how it might secretly slip into the plains without triggering the barrier's detection. After all, it could turn invisible—even if it walked right among the ordinary crowd, they wouldn't be able to see it.
They left the mansion, and before long, Bai Zhi's group arrived at the foot of the mountain.
"Big Sister Bai Zhi, don't go any farther. I feel awful..."
They stood before an invisible barrier wall. This barrier seemed to exert a certain suppressive effect on Bai Huahua. Even the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox meowed in distress, urging Bai Zhi not to approach the barrier any closer.
Only Bai Zhi was completely unbothered by the barrier's suppression. Of course, it could vividly sense the barrier's existence.
"Alright, we won't go forward. You two can fall back. I'll just take a look from here."
Bai Zhi's gaze, passing through the barrier, fell upon the vast plains below and a pool of silver-white reflective lake water.
The lake surface was divided by several partition walls into a number of separate pools. The water was clear and limpid. Sunlight trembled on the lake surface, with scale-like sparkles leaping and bubbles rising. From time to time, one could glimpse several large fish, their scales as resplendent as gemstones, rising to the surface.
And in the non-reflective areas, one could even see the lakebed paved with white cobblestones and glittering golden sand.
Gazing a bit farther, Bai Zhi saw on the opposite shore of the lake men and women, young and old, dressed in simple, classical clothing, washing clothes by the lake, playing, and strolling. Clearly, those were the ordinary humans living in the plains region.
According to Yang Shining, to ensure sufficient spiritual energy, the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven had no modern infrastructure whatsoever. The people living here naturally had no such things as phones or televisions.
But... these people's clothing was way too vintage too, all in styles and fashions from decades ago... Bai Zhi felt a twinge of novelty.
If those young people in the Federation who loved living as recluses knew there was such an otherworldly paradise within the Jiuli Grotto-Heaven, a place to escape worldly vexations, they'd probably pack up and move overnight, trying every possible way to get in.
With a thought, Bai Zhi's psychic power transformed into an invisible tendril and shot straight ahead, extending rapidly. In the span of a mere breath, it had crossed a kilometer's distance, "seeing" rows of neatly arranged houses and low cottages with wisps of cooking smoke curling up. The low houses were built of concrete and ceramic tiles, with a simple, unadorned style, somewhat reminiscent of rural architecture from decades ago.
It also saw sparse human figures—young men and women walking together in pairs along the paths, children filing out of a large building resembling a schoolhouse.
At this moment, a faint pain in its soul followed. Bai Zhi hurriedly withdrew its psychic power.
Ever since the Talent 'Mysterious Sanctuary' had awakened to 20%, Bai Zhi could focus its psychic perception range in a single direction and detect things up to a kilometer away at most.
But unfortunately, for now, Bai Zhi couldn't sustain its use and could only take a shallow "look."
A question surfaced in its mind:
How come so many young people are willing to stay here too?
This was odd.
In the current state of the Federation, very few young people were willing to stay and develop in rural villages—they basically all flocked to towns and urban districts. Because few young people could withstand the temptations of the outside novel world. Over time, only the old, young, sick, and disabled remained in the villages.
Yet this plain village had way too many young people. And every single one of them wore expressions of leisure and ease, showing not a trace of life's hardships or the anxiety of worldly ambitions.
They'd all "lain flat"?!
"Big Sister Bai Zhi, are we leaving or not~!" Bai Huahua urged with a trembling voice.
"Meow!"
Bai Zhi was just about to leave when its gaze was abruptly fixed in place.
It saw three people dressed in vintage, finely tailored martial attire leading a youth, rounding the lakeside and approaching the mountain.
Bai Zhi's gaze focused, and relevant information surfaced before its eyes.
Those three's Vitality... something was off.
To be precise, all three exceeded 10.
Clearly they were no ordinary people. Then the three could only be from the Jiuli Religion. Judging by their attire, they should all be 'Spirit Officer'-level individuals capable of commanding Gu and demon beasts.
Only that youth had Vitality at the baseline of a normal human.
"Let's go."
But Bai Zhi's group didn't actually leave. Instead, they hid behind a vertical boulder, switching to a more concealed, higher vantage point to observe the four figures approaching.
"Big Sister Bai Zhi, what are we doing?" Bai Huahua asked, confused.
"You'll see." Bai Zhi said flatly.
Bai Huahua seemed to suddenly realize something: "Is it because the food up on the mountain is too plain, so Big Sister wants to use human meat to change up the flavor?"
Bai Zhi said speechlessly: "If I wanted to eat meat, why would I go far when I have you and Nine-Tails the fox right here?"
Nine-Tails seemed to sense something, abruptly shivering coldly, and silently put a few more steps of distance between itself and the demon spider.
Contrarily, Bai Huahua's eyes lit up at these words. Rolling around excitedly, it said: "Please, Big Sister, you must eat me~!"
"..."
Protecting wild animals is everyone's duty. I'm not going to just randomly eat you...
Bai Zhi didn't want to engage with the silly snake and kept its attention on the humans.
At this moment, Bai Zhi still didn't know that, after the incident with the three male spiders, Bai Huahua had vaguely begun to understand something...