The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 897 - 493: Guilt
The Immortal came to the Great Snow Mountain in search of something. He had occasionally heard that Atalia was known for producing Snow Babies, especially on the Northwest Snow Ridge, where they were most abundant and aged the best. Thus, he came here to try his luck. His status in his sect wasn’t high, but the sect had issued a high bounty for Snow Babies, which greatly tempted him.
The Cultivator delved into the northwest inland of Atalia and finally discovered the settlement area of the Pu Clan Tribe. Although his cultivation might not have been outstanding, he was very meticulous. He immediately noticed the strangeness of a mortal tribe being able to live deep within the Snow Mountain range, so he stopped to investigate and also took the opportunity to ask the locals to act as his guide, helping him catch some Snow Babies to take back.
This year, Pu, only nine years old, was perceptive despite his young age. He knew that in a tribe where life remained unchanged, only the sudden arrival of the Cultivator could act as a variable to improve his life, and he had already had enough of hardship and living under others’ roofs. So, even before the adults could speak, he volunteered to lead the Cultivator up the mountain to catch the Snow Babies. The village adults objected, and even the Cultivator found him too young and weak, trying to hire someone else, never expecting Pu to sneer: "In this Pu Clan Tribe, who else can be like me, unafraid of summer heat or winter cold, traversing the snow mountain as if it were flat ground?" What he said was true. The Clan Leader had taken him to the town outside the mountains to have his fortune told, and the conclusion was that Pu’s birth chart was so strong that he rarely got sick.
The Pu people’s temperament was quite straightforward. When asked by him, they couldn’t answer. The Cultivator now realized that the young child before him had some capabilities.
In fact, he had indeed seen the rare herb, Snow Baby, on the snow mountain. It’s just that, being young and with short legs and weak strength, he couldn’t catch them. But mindful of using it to exchange for money in the future, he had observed their habits very carefully over some time, gaining a good understanding of their lifestyles. Now, taking the Cultivator up the mountain, with just half a month’s effort, he used the knowledge he had gathered to help the Cultivator capture three Snow Babies, one of which was over five hundred years old. It’s a rare treasure that was hard to find, even for a thousand gold.
The Cultivator naturally rewarded him heavily. How could mere worldly gold and silver catch his eye? That night, while making a fire and drinking in the mountains, Pu tasted the fine wine brewed by the Cultivator. Typically, the best he could sip was from the liquor of the wealthy families, sneaked from the small kitchen when no one was around. What an excellent wine it was!
Despite his strong constitution, he was nevertheless a nine-year-old child, and with just two cups of strong liquor down his throat, his tongue became too large for him, nearly forgetting even his own parents’ surname. However, the one thing he remembered most clearly afterward was that in his drunkenness, he shared the great secret of the Fire Bird with the Cultivator, all simply because he remarked that Wuzhier Mountain was the tribe’s Divine Mountain, to which the Cultivator scoffed: "A snow mountain without a Mountain God, how could it be a Divine Mountain?"
Upon waking up the next morning, the campfire had long died out, and if not for his unique constitution, he would have frozen to death on the ground. The Cultivator was gone, and Pu found beside him two gold bars and five large silver ingots.
This was a generous reward from the Immortal. Without much thought, he carefully stored the gold and silver, choosing not to return to the Pu Clan Tribe. Instead, he set off towards the county town outside the mountain. Having experienced the world’s fickleness, he knew that going back alone, those rogues whose business he had snatched away might very well surround him to seize the hard-earned gold and silver.
He didn’t know how many hardships he endured before he made it out, discovering that the world outside the mountains was entirely different, where money could buy anything. Relying on his sharp sixth sense, he started as a small apprentice in a trading house, with the Cultivator’s gold and silver as a backing, slowly building wealth through trading furs. The Pu Clan Tribe had always excelled in hunting. Over the years, he had seen countless hides, truly making the phrase "never eaten pork but seen pigs run" come to life, and he managed this line of work with ease.
Twenty years later, he finally returned home in glory, with a beautiful wife and children, residing in the best house in the Pu Clan Tribe, trading the finest furs, eating the best food, and drinking the best wine, raising the fattest sheep in the pen, avenging those who had once bullied him. By now, who would dare to bully someone who had once been a small beggar and a tenant farmer’s son? 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Back then, he felt there was nothing more joyful than this in life. But the longer he stayed in the Pu Clan Tribe, the more uneasy he felt deep inside. It wasn’t until the tribe began to experience those ominous disturbances that he realized he shouldn’t have clutched onto that false hope—whatever the Fire Bird that flew in his dreams was, its treasure was probably stolen by the Cultivator back then, which was why the Divine Mountain started to grow angry.
