67: Where did this come from for me?!

The sunlight gradually became dazzling.

Lu Chuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued to climb upwards.

By now, his basket was already filled with herbs that had a unique strong aroma.

He only needed to return, carefully select them, and then precisely proportion them, and the improved marinade recipe for grilled fish would be complete.

The mission for this mountain trip was accomplished, and Lu Chuan's mood lightened considerably.

The reason he continued to climb was simply because he discovered that a little further up was the cliff from which he had fallen when being chased by a wild boar.

Although only two weeks had passed, his life had already undergone earth-shshattering changes.

It could be said that the day he fell off the cliff was the turning point in his life's destiny.

And that cliff was like a legendary immortal's blessed land, unique to his own good fortune.

Thinking this, Lu Chuan felt even more compelled to go and take a look.

With a strange feeling, Lu Chuan continuously climbed upwards.

He finally arrived at the cliff before 10 AM.

Lu Chuan stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the sunlight fall on the pines and cypresses, their branches twisted like iron, their needles dewy, reflecting diamond-like specks of light.

Their gnarled, thick roots were deeply embedded in the rock crevices, and a few tendrils hung down from the opened cracks, swaying gently with the mountain wind.

He leaned over and looked down, seeing mist rising from the bottom of the valley, curling around the cliff face like white gauze.

When the mountain wind swept past the cliff, the cliff face emitted a low hum.

Occasionally, birds flew across the sky, their wingtips brushing the mist at the cliff edge, leaving a clear trail that pierced the sky.

At this moment, a gust of mountain wind blew, making his clothes flap loudly.

Lu Chuan felt refreshed and could not help but marvel at the scenery before him.

“What beautiful natural scenery.”

In the past, he was busy rushing to the mountains to earn money, so even if he had seen similar beautiful scenery, he never had the leisure to stop.

But now, with a small accumulation of savings, looking at the same scenery, he found a different kind of charm.

One could only say that different circumstances lead to different moods when viewing things.

After a moment of reflection, Lu Chuan picked up his basket, preparing to return down the mountain.

Suddenly, his gaze fixed, and he sharply looked at a crack on one side of the cliff face.

Due to the backlighting, the crack was pitch black, and the scene inside was unclear.

But for some reason, Lu Chuan felt that something in that crack was faintly attracting him, almost making him unable to look away.

This strange experience gave Lu Chuan a sense of déjà vu.

He vaguely felt that he seemed to have experienced something similar when he was little, and he couldn't help but stop and ponder.

About three minutes later, Lu Chuan's brow twitched, and he finally remembered where this déjà vu came from.

“I remember once getting lost in the mountains when I was little. Later, I was so scared that I ran around wildly, and somehow I ended up at a cliff, hiding in a crack in the cliff face. Then I had a very peculiar dream...”

“I've forgotten what I dreamt specifically, but when I woke up, I was already at home...”

Lu Chuan murmured to himself, then looked at the crack in the cliff face, his expression incredibly complex.

“Could the crack I hid in as a child be this very one?”

He put down his basket and carefully approached.

From a distance, the crack in the cliff face was dark and unlit, making it impossible to see the scene inside.

It wasn't until he got closer that Lu Chuan was surprised to find that the crack was still incredibly dim.

Even with his phone's flashlight on, it was still difficult to illuminate clearly.

Lu Chuan stood before the crack, a hesitant expression on his face.

Before knowing what was inside the crack, he truly couldn't make up his mind to go in.

Frankly, he was already extremely satisfied with his current life and saw no need to venture in out of curiosity.

“Forget it, I'll come back to explore another time when I'm better prepared.”

Lu Chuan shook his head, finally made his decision, and was about to turn and leave.

However, just then, the sound of four hooves galloping came from behind him, accompanied by the characteristic grunts and roars of a wild boar.

As soon as he heard this sound, Lu Chuan's scalp tingled, and without thinking, he dove into the crack ahead.

Before going in, he cried out, full of grievance and anger.

“Why is it you again!”

The coarse, ugly wild boar charged forward, and seeing Lu Chuan enter the crack, it attempted to pursue him.

However, due to its overly large size, it was blocked outside the crack and immediately became furious, kicking its hooves before angrily departing...

Lu Chuan ran for a while inside the crack, still shaken, and seeing that the wild boar behind him hadn't caught up, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“That wild boar was responsible for me falling off the cliff last time. I thought it had been eaten as a snack by the Silver Beast, but I didn't expect it to be so resilient. Heaven truly has no eyes, a scourge that lasts for a thousand years.”

Lu Chuan stomped his foot several times in indignation, venting his anger.

Then he looked up and began to examine the situation inside the crack.

He had originally planned to enter the crack later, but since he didn't know if the wild boar was still outside and couldn't leave for the moment, he decided to take this opportunity to explore.

After comforting himself with a few words, Lu Chuan composed himself and cautiously moved forward.

The crack was initially very narrow, just wide enough for a person, but then it suddenly opened up.

By the time Lu Chuan reacted, the scene before him was vastly different.

He found himself, he knew not when, at another exit of the crack, and outside was still a cliff face.

However, the sky had, at some point, transformed into a peculiar landscape, half purplish-red and half silver.

And the valley below the cliff was a surface of ice crystals.

Lu Chuan looked around, and everywhere he saw were strange sights not found on Blue Star.

“Wait, where has this taken me? Is this still Blue Star?”

Lu Chuan was dumbfounded, his jaw almost hitting the ground.

After a while, he came back to his senses, looking at the crack behind him, his eyes filled with astonishment and confusion.

“Is this what they call a time-space tunnel?”

“So, that dream I had as a child wasn't actually a dream, but a peculiar experience after passing through the crack?”

Honestly, Lu Chuan's ability to accept things was quite high.

Firstly, he had a similar experience as a child.

Secondly, the existence of the system was also difficult to explain scientifically.

Given this, arriving at another mysterious realm after passing through the crack didn't seem so hard to accept... right?

With the mindset of “since I'm already here,” Lu Chuan was in no hurry to return.

He began to explore the surrounding area systematically, starting from where the crack was located.

However, out of his professional habit as a chef, he paid more attention to peculiar species that might be used as ingredients.

For example, a glowing vine growing on the cliff face, its leaves a translucent emerald green.

After careful observation, Lu Chuan gently picked an oval-shaped fruit growing beneath the vine's leaves and gently chewed it.

As the sweet juice burst forth, a refreshing sensation immediately filled his body, making Lu Chuan's eyes light up.

“This would be perfect for an iced drink in the summer, paired with slightly greasy and spicy grilled fish! I'll call you the Emerald Refreshing Fruit!”

Lu Chuan gleefully took off his jacket to hold the picked fruits.

To facilitate the storage of the fruits, he also deliberately kept the stems, roots, and leaves, as this would extend their shelf life.

He moved the full bundle of fruits to the front of the cliff crack, then continued to explore outwards with anticipation.