Not only Wu You, but everyone else was stunned when Gu Zheng suddenly decided to go on a long journey with Taotie.
The good days in the prefecture city had just begun for them. Everyone was shrouded in happiness. Not only had their lives improved, but their status had also risen.
In the past, no matter if it was Wu You, Mado, or Aunt Cui, they would never go out to so many people to express their goodwill, curry favor, or even flatter them. Even the top five clans in the city treated them the same. No matter who it was, they would all greet them with a smile.
This feeling of being valued and flattered was something they had never experienced before in their lives.
They also understood who had brought all of this upon them. Without Gu Zheng, they wouldn't be where they were now. Now that Gu Zheng suddenly wanted to go out with Taotie, they suddenly felt uneasy. If the two of them didn't come back, their lives would quickly return to their original state.
Even though Gu Zheng said that he would be back in half a year or a month, they still felt uneasy because Gu Zheng wouldn't be by their side.
"Don't worry about staying here. Nothing will happen."
Gu Zheng saw their worries and smiled. After the incident with Wu You, he had checked these people in the Book of Life and Death. Their lifespans were still considered sufficient. The one with the lowest lifespan was Wang San, who had a lifespan of 69 years. The one with the highest lifespan was Aunt Cui, who had a lifespan of more than 80 years.
In this era, not to mention 80 years, even 69 years old was considered old. Everyone was like this, and it was believed that this had something to do with the changes in their lives.
This was the lifespan recorded in the Book of Life and Death. The lifespan recorded in the Book of Life and Death wasn't completely unchanged. If their fates changed in the future, for example, if they succeeded in their cultivation, their lifespan would naturally increase. If they succeeded in their cultivation and achieved the position of Daluo Jinxian, jumping out of the five elements, then their names wouldn't be recorded in the Book of Life and Death.
As the saying goes, 30% is destined by the heavens, and 70% depends on oneself. Fate was not inevitable, and it could change.
Gu Zheng didn't erase them from the Book of Life and Death. Erasing them would allow them to continue living, but their mortal bodies wouldn't be able to withstand such a long time. In the end, they would only become the living dead.
"Young Master, you must come back soon!"
Wu You knew Gu Zheng the best. Once Gu Zheng made a decision, no one could stop him. Since Gu Zheng wanted to leave, they couldn't stop him, nor did they have any reason to stop him. They could only wish him well.
Mado brought out the little white dragon for Gu Zheng and sent him out of the city. Two children riding horses in the city would be too conspicuous, so he asked Mado and Wu You to send them out of the city.
The little white dragon was wearing a small two-person saddle. Gu Zheng didn't bring much, only some dry rations. He took Taotie and set off.
This trip was different from the previous ones. The first time Gu Zheng went out, he wanted to leave Aunt Cui's place and live in seclusion in the prefectural city. Because he knew that he would be punished if he didn't sign up for the sermon, he returned to Aunt Cui's place and brought Wu You with him.
The second time was when he saw through the sermon's deception. He killed the demon's subordinates and escaped. At that time, he didn't have a goal, but at least he knew where to go.
The third time was when he obtained the Immortal-Slaying Gourd and returned to Aunt Cui's place from the bazaar. That was a trip with a goal. The fourth time was when he came to the prefectural city. He also had a goal, but this time, he didn't have a goal or direction.
Before he left, Gu Zheng had asked Wu You to find out where there were iron mines nearby. Places with iron mines might have Black Iron, but it was only a possibility. There was no certainty.
Unfortunately, there were iron mines, but they weren't big. Moreover, there were more than one. There were iron mines in all directions. Gu Zheng could only choose a direction at random and check it out first.
A piece of Black Iron made Gu Zheng go through so much trouble. It made him sigh.
In the Primordial World of the future, he had plenty of things better than Black Iron, let alone a piece of Black Iron. However, Black Iron on Earth was also good stuff. Due to the lack of resources on Earth, it was more difficult to cultivate there.
Black Iron definitely existed in the Primordial World. However, the Primordial World was too big. Whether he could find it or not depended on his luck.
A day later, Gu Zheng arrived at a small town. The town wasn't big. There were only about three hundred households. Most of them were blacksmiths. There was an open-air iron mine here. Many people in the village were forging iron.
Many tools in the prefectural city came from here.
However, the waist saber wasn't. The waist saber was bought by the prefectural city and made by themselves. They didn't entrust the creation of the waist saber to anyone.
There were quite a lot of ironware here. However, the quality of the iron was very ordinary. It was basically pig iron. A few of them were even inferior to ordinary pig iron.
The quality of the iron was ordinary. Gu Zheng looked at it for a while and didn't look carefully. He got off his horse and asked. Unfortunately, the people here didn't know what Black Iron was. They had never seen it before.
To them, pig iron was everything. The best pig iron here wasn't even at the level of wrought iron.
As for the ore, it was all this kind of iron ore. There wasn't the kind of black iron ore that Gu Zheng had mentioned. It was still shiny.
Without Black Iron, Gu Zheng didn't stay here. He went to another place. For seven consecutive days, he went to a few iron producing places around the prefectural city. However, he didn't find any usable Black Iron.
Gu Zheng didn't think much of it. However, Taotie was clearly disappointed.
He had tried several times to step into the air and fly without using tools. Unfortunately, his current immortal power wasn't enough to support him for a long time. He could do it for a short time, but he couldn't reach the state of flying high in the sky.
"Don't worry. There will definitely be some. We're looking!"
Gu Zheng comforted Taotie. He had no choice but to make a turtle shell and use a divination technique that he wasn't familiar with to make a divination.
Divination was indeed popular in the early days of the Primordial Age. It gradually faded after Apotheosis. After Apotheosis, many people concealed or disguised themselves in order to prevent others from divining them. It wasn't like before Apotheosis. If you wanted to know someone's origin or even where they were, you could just divine it directly.
After becoming a god, there were people who learned divination, but there weren't that many. Everyone paid more attention to cultivation. Other than those big shots, very few people deliberately learned divination. Divination sounded simple, but it was especially complicated and consumed a lot of mental energy.
On the other hand, after hearing such rumors, divination became popular among the people, but most of them were Jianghu liars.
Gu Zheng knew a little at first, but he didn't study it in detail. Now, there was no place to learn it. He could only try it with his half-baked skills. Gu Zheng's first divination pointed him to a place, the East.
The East, there was no distance or time. It was the East, which made Gu Zheng puzzled.
The East was too far. Gu Zheng didn't even know which continent he was in now. If he kept going east, who knew where he could go? Even if he was now in the Dongsheng Divine Continent, if he kept going east, it would be a very, very long distance before he could reach the Endless Sea. He had promised Wu You that he would be back in half a year at most.
"The East, we can only try it first."
Although he didn't know why, he had a direction anyway. It was much better than trying to find it by himself. Taking Taotie, the two rode together and headed east. They didn't have a destination. They just kept going east.
This trip lasted for a month.
During this month, they came across many places with people, but there wasn't even iron ore, let alone black iron. They also came across some barren mountains, but Gu Zheng didn't have an Artifact Spirit, so he couldn't explore. If he had to rely on himself, he wouldn't be able to find any black iron buried underground.
"My divination skills are not good enough. It's really harmful!"
After another month, Gu Zheng couldn't help but sigh. They couldn't keep going forward. If they kept going, they wouldn't be able to return in half a year. The two of them didn't have any burdens, and Taotie was anxious. Their speed was not slow. Now, they were almost ten thousand miles away from the prefecture city. The people here didn't know where the prefecture city was.
However, they knew another big city called Wen City. It was very far away, and Gu Zheng didn't have time to go there. Moreover, Wen City wasn't in the East.
"Taotie, let's go back first. I'll bring you to find it next time, okay?"
After deciding to go back, Gu Zheng whispered to Taotie when they were eating. Taotie seemed reluctant, but finally nodded.
These two months weren't in vain. Gu Zheng didn't have as much time to cultivate as before, but his cultivation had improved. He had reached the seventh level of the third level. It didn't seem to be slower than cultivating at home.
This made Gu Zheng a little puzzled. Could it be that Gokusen's Celestial Art had to be cultivated outside to be faster? Or rather, it had to be cultivated outside to be faster.
This result was a little inconceivable, but it wasn't impossible.
Gokusen's Celestial Art was created by Gokusen himself. At that time, Gokusen was constantly going out, traveling in the Untainted Land, and then tasting all kinds of delicious food. When Gu Zheng was cultivating before, he also often went out. At that time, he didn't feel it.
This time, in order to improve his cultivation as soon as possible, he had the opportunity to stop and cultivate every day. However, now it seemed that the speed of cultivating at home was indeed not as fast as when he was outside. When he was escaping, his speed wasn't slow. However, during the quiet period in the prefecture city, his speed became very slow.
He didn't know the specific reason, but it was always a good thing to be able to speed up his cultivation. If he still slowed down after going back, he might have to go out more often in the future.
When he went back, his cultivation speed would be faster. This trip wasn't a fruitless one.
"Monster, the monster is coming. Run!"
On the second day of their return, Gu Zheng and Taotie rested in a small village. The two children riding horses always made people feel strange. Every time, Gu Zheng would say that the adults were behind and they ran first to dispel their suspicions.
It was troublesome without an agent following them.
"Monster?"
Gu Zheng and Taotie stood up together. This village was even smaller. There were less than a hundred families. Now, they were all running out. They didn't know where to go, so they scattered in all directions.
They ran again, but Gu Zheng pulled Taotie and ran in the opposite direction of them.
If there was really a monster, a powerful one, they couldn't run away. They weren't afraid of a weak one, so they might as well go and take a look.
After arriving at the village, Gu Zheng discovered that a tornado was blowing on a mountain behind the village. Yes, it was a tornado. There was no demonic aura, just pure wind.
Seeing this scene, Gu Zheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. However, people in the early days of the Great Desolation Era had little knowledge and didn't understand that this was a normal natural phenomenon. They thought that a monster had come.
There was no monster, just wind. Although this tornado was big, it wouldn't last long. Sure enough, after 15 minutes, the tornado became much smaller and finally disappeared.
Unfortunately, the villagers had already run away. Gu Zheng wanted to explain, but he couldn't. Even if he explained, these people wouldn't listen. After all, they had seen a real tornado.
Gu Zheng looked at the surrounding terrain and shook his head inwardly. There were mountains here and it wasn't considered flat ground. The possibility of a tornado appearing in such a place was indeed very low. He didn't know why they were so unlucky to encounter one.
"Taotie, did the monster leave?"
Taotie suddenly asked. Not to mention others, even Taotie thought that it was a monster. He still couldn't distinguish what demonic aura was.
"That's not a monster, it's the wind!" Gu Zheng explained.
"Wind?"
Taotie was puzzled. Obviously, he didn't believe it. Gu Zheng was helpless. Taotie was harder to coax than before. He had always been a curious baby. He wanted to figure out everything.
"Let's go, I'll take you up to see!"
He couldn't explain it clearly, so he could only bring him over. The tornado was on the mountain, so it wasn't close. However, to the two of them, this distance was nothing. Little White Dragon stayed outside the village and the two of them ran quickly.
After the tornado, the mountain was in a mess. Many leaves had been swept away and the gravel on the ground had also been blown away. However, it was very smooth.
"This is the power of the wind, the power of nature. Observe carefully, there is no demonic aura here, right? There is no immortal energy fluctuation, right?"
Gu Zheng explained to him. Then, he used his immortal energy to create a small tornado for him to compare the difference between this tornado and the natural tornado just now.
Taotie seemed to understand, but he also knew that the tornado just now was indeed different from Gu Zheng's.
"Alright, let's go back!"
After Gu Zheng finished explaining, he was about to bring him back, but Taotie didn't move. Instead, he stared straight ahead. Gu Zheng followed his gaze and saw a cave.
The cave was very normal. Many of the caves were inhabited by wild beasts and it was very smelly inside.
There was nothing unusual about the cave. There was no demonic aura emitted from it, but there was no stench either. It was probably an empty cave.
"Taotie, what's wrong with you?"
"I want to take a look!"
After Taotie finished answering, he broke free from Gu Zheng and walked towards the cave. Gu Zheng could only follow and walk with him.
The cave was empty and there was nothing inside. However, it was quite deep. Taotie kept moving forward while Gu Zheng followed closely behind him, all the way to the depths of the cave.
There was something here, but it was a haystack. There seemed to be someone's hair on the haystack. Gu Zheng only needed a glance to understand what kind of place this was.
It was probably some young man in the village who was unwilling to be lonely and made a gentle nest. This haystack could be imagined what they were used for.
Taotie walked to the side of the mountain wall and gently touched it. Soon, he raised his hand and slashed at the mountain wall.
Gu Zheng wanted to stop it, but it was too late. Taotie was already at the Qi Transformation Realm, so its strength was much greater than his. With this palm strike, the entire cave shook. The mountain wall was directly split open, revealing a tunnel inside.
This passage was obviously man-made. This time, it was Gu Zheng's turn to widen his eyes.
He didn't even know there was a passage here. How did Taotie know? Could it be that his cultivation was higher than his? But that shouldn't be the case. From the looks of it, he seemed to know outside the cave. This was even stranger.
Even if his cultivation was higher than his, it was impossible for him to know there was a passage there.
After opening the passage, Taotie wanted to walk down, but Gu Zheng pulled him back. Taotie looked back at Gu Zheng and shook his head gently, insisting on going down.
Although he didn't say anything, Gu Zheng could see his determination. He could only take out the Book of Life and Death and the Brush of Reincarnation and carefully walk in front of Taotie.
They didn't know what was there, which meant that there might be many hidden dangers. The Book of Life and Death was a Connate Cardinal Treasure and had a certain defensive ability. Unfortunately, it wasn't the Earth Book. The Earth Book had the strongest defensive ability. With the Earth Book, he wasn't afraid of entering such a dangerous place.
Of course, Gu Zheng was only thinking about it. It was already a great fortune to be able to obtain one of the Three Books of Heaven, Earth, and Man. He couldn't be so greedy as to think about other things.
After opening the stone wall, there was a long flight of stairs. They walked for more than ten minutes before reaching the bottom. At the bottom was an empty stone pavilion. There was an everlasting lamp beside it, but it was already extinguished.
Gu Zheng ignited the fire source. Both of them had good eyesight and could see everything in the stone pavilion clearly.
The stone pavilion was more than three hundred square meters. It wasn't considered big or small. In the middle was a stone platform with a black object stuck on it. It looked like a knife.
There were some things around the stone pavilion. There were jade bottles, jade boxes, and some other things.
Gluttony didn't even look at the things around it. It walked to the center and reached out to touch the knife in the middle.
"Wait!"
Gu Zheng hurriedly called out to him. This saber was completely black, and it wasn't small. Looking at it, it was even taller than them. Most importantly, this saber was currently in a sealed state. Even Gu Zheng couldn't tell what kind of saber it was.
"I feel like it's summoning me."
Gluttony raised its head and said to Gu Zheng, summoning. Gu Zheng was stunned. This knife could actually summon Gluttony.
A weapon that could summon others was definitely not an ordinary item. It had to be at least a supreme-grade immortal weapon, like the Gokusen Token or the Chaos Pagoda. Moreover, it had to be a supreme-grade immortal weapon with a weapon spirit to be able to do this.
A supreme-grade immortal weapon with a weapon spirit was summoning Gluttony. What was it trying to do?
"Wait a minute. Let me take a look!"
Gu Zheng didn't dare to be careless. He wasn't afraid of a single weapon without a master, but what if there was a master? This was a supreme-grade immortal weapon. To be able to own such a weapon, it must be a powerful character.
After placing the Immortal Slaying Gourd, Gu Zheng walked to the knife and carefully examined it.
The knife was indeed sealed. No one knew who sealed it or how it was sealed. However, the seal wasn't strong. It could be unlocked in an instant. Even an ordinary person could unlock it as long as they pulled the ring.
This made Gu Zheng even more puzzled. If that was the case, this knife should have been able to lure the villagers to come and pull the ring to give him freedom. However, it didn't. It waited until they arrived before summoning Gluttony.
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