Away in the wasteland.
The blue-robed man, hiding behind the low earthen slope, let out a long sigh of relief after confirming that the boy couldn't see him from this angle. He then pulled out the Eerie-hide map from his pocket again, preparing to take a detour to the "Rivernorth Marketplace."
As he had devised the route, he was supposed to head east from this station.
But...
The wasteland was flat enough to make for a clear and unobstructed view. He felt that, as a mysterious expert, walking such a long distance right in front of the two of them would somewhat degrade him.
An expert should vanish in the blink of an eye with a swish of his sleeve after doing a good deed, as if he had never shown up.
"I really..."
He couldn't help but give his own childish thoughts an amused shake of his head. After a while, the slight smile on his lips faded. Something despotic and irritable flickered in his eyes as he turned to look in the direction of the Rivernorth Chen Clan's Station 37, murmuring,
"Why was there no one back then lending me a hand like today..."
"Perhaps... there would never have been this Rivernorth Old Demon as he is today."
...
After confirming that the blue-clad man had left, Chen Fan hurried to the haystack behind the hut. From within, he retrieved the "Level 1 Animal Trap" and the Eerie Creature that had been caught in it the previous night.
The Animal Trap could be reused multiple times, but the downside was that it could only serve its purpose once per night.
This Eerie Creature looked a lot like a small monkey.
The monkey's mouth took up nearly two-thirds of its face, with densely packed teeth that looked utterly terrifying.
Every Eerie Creature contained in it an Eerie Stone---the most important currency in this world.
"Young master, this Eerie Creature is called a 'Monkey Head Ghost.' It's a common low-level Eerie Creature, typically at levels 1–3, relatively less dangerous, and it excels in speed. The Eerie Stone is located at the back of its head."
"..."
Chen Fan turned toward Crippled Monkey with slight surprise. "How do you know that?"
He had no such memory in his mind. How could Crippled Monkey, who was just a servant in the Chen Clan, know this?
"When I was assigned to you, Young Master, all of us servants had undergone three years of training. This included private school lessons, which covered a lot of knowledge about Eerie Creatures."
"I see..."
Chen Fan looked thoughtfully at the map in his hand. He had a vague memory of this. In fact, there were also private lessons for the core members of the Clan. However, the previous Chen Fan had been too devastated to attend such places.
"I remember now. Back then, the Clan gave you an Eerie Stone to absorb and become a cultivator, didn't they?"
"Yes."
Crippled Monkey's voice grew quieter. "After the training ended, all the servants were given an Eerie Stone. A few lucky ones became special cultivators and were personally taken away by the Clan head."
"Since then, I've never received another Eerie Stone. My physical condition is no different from before."
"Though a cultivator, I don't have the aura of one at all."
Chen Fan nodded without saying anything more. He had also recalled that although he had been somewhat targeted within the Clan, it wasn't too blatant until he turned sixteen. That was when he absorbed an Eerie Stone but failed to awaken as any kind of special cultivator. Even the Clan head, who had once held hope for him, had given up on him.
After that, his status plummeted.
Soon—
Crippled Monkey rolled up his sleeves, pulled out a small knife from his pocket, cut open the Eerie Creature's corpse, and retrieved an Eerie Stone covered in blood. After wiping it clean on his hemp clothes, he handed it to Chen Fan.
By now.
Including the two Eerie Stones in the "Eerie Fire," he had a total of three Eerie Stones.
...
"..."
Chen Fan brought a chair out from inside the hut and sat beside the Eerie Fire, contemplating his next plan to earn Eerie Stones. He didn't need to employ an architect at the Rivernorth Marketplace to build structures for him—he could create these basic buildings himself.
However, he needed enough Eerie Stones.
There was a shortcut for him to obtain Eerie Stones.
Wholesale production of "Eerie Fire."
This structure was widely used in this world, with a large market. Many "architects" made "Eerie Fire" especially to sell at the market, priced at around 60 Eerie Stones.
The cost was about 50 Eerie Stones.
Almost every architect knew how to make this structure, and the markup wasn't too high.
But—
His cost was only 3 Eerie Stones. Even if he sold it for 50 Eerie Stones, he could quickly amass a fortune.
However...
It would be too conspicuous, and it would disrupt many people's livelihoods. Moreover, it was a long journey to the "Rivernorth Marketplace"; he couldn't travel that far for now.
He had to focus on the "Animal Trap" for the time being.
The Animal Trap could only catch one Eerie Creature per night, but that was mainly because it was a single-target trap. If it could be retrieved, then reset immediately after catching an Eerie Creature, it could continue working.
Once the Perpetual Night descended, he certainly wouldn't venture into the darkness to reset the Animal Trap.
But he didn't need to go in himself.
It only required a small hemp rope to pull the Animal Trap from the darkness into the safe zone, where it could be reset.
"Crippled Monkey."
Chen Fan looked up at Crippled Monkey. "Do you know how to weave hemp rope from dried grass?"
"I do."
"You're a genius."
He couldn't help but exclaim, "Your task today is to weave a few hemp ropes from the dried grass behind the hut. They don't have to be too long, just three or four meters will suffice. I'm going out to gather information. After you finish, catch up on sleep during the day. We have something to do tonight."
"Understood."
Crippled Monkey agreed in response, asking no questions.
...
After assigning the task to Crippled Monkey, Chen Fan retrieved a few dried pancakes from inside the hut, quickly washing them down with water from a copper pot. Once he had filled his stomach, he left the station, holding the Eerie-hide map, and headed toward the nearest Eerie Fire.
He intended to see how the other stations were faring.
The challenges he currently faced weren't just a shortage of Eerie Stones but also insufficient food and water, among other issues.
This Eerie-hide map was rather useful. Not only did it display the real-time status of nearby Eerie Fires, but it also showed the holder's location as a green dot on the map, ensuring he wouldn't get lost. The red Eerie Fire on the map, which was different in color from the others, marked his own station.
Crossing a small earthen mound, he continued westward.
After about thirty minutes, he saw the closest Eerie Fire station.
He lay flat on the cracked wasteland, carefully observing.
"It's probably a Level 2 Eerie Fire..."
"Otherwise, the safe area couldn't accommodate so many huts. Seven huts in total—two large ones and five small ones."
"But there's no defensive wall."
"And there's a small cultivated farmland."
"Four people in total."
He murmured to himself as he observed. The four people all seemed to be residents of this station, with no travelers in sight. It was just as the blue-robed man had said—this station indeed seemed to be in better condition than theirs.
With the same overnight fee of one Eerie Stone, his station had no competitive advantage.