6: Dead Mountain Town, Alien Monster

Chapter 6: Dead Mountain Town, Mutated Monsters

Stepping into the dimensional node, space twisted.

The next second, I was already in a strange and eerie town, enveloped in a layer of ghostly green light.

A slightly eerie female voice came from beside my ear:

"Welcome to the Mysterious Abyss Elementary Outpost [Dead Mountain Town]. The town is a safe zone. You can withdraw to Dead Mountain Town at any time for resupply. Stepping out of Dead Mountain Town will begin your adventure."

The female voice was eerie and mechanical, devoid of emotion, not like a real person's voice.

It was more like a "System" message broadcast.

"Dead Mountain Town?"

Curiously, I looked around. The eerie and dilapidated houses were orderly, and many adventurers came and went, as if they had long been accustomed to it all.

Trying to feel it with my Mental Energy, I could faintly sense the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from [Dead Mountain Town].

"A bronze scroll three-star Domain Scroll, with extremely high spiritual fluctuations."

Yes, the entire Dead Mountain Town outpost was essentially a Domain Scroll.

At each dimensional node, such an outpost was established to serve as a temporary base and resupply point for adventurers.

This Mysterious Abyss area, as a "novice copy," with such a Domain Scroll guarding it, was enough to ensure the safety of adventurers.

Most of the adventurers in the town were Rank two or three novice Spirit Masters, with students making up the majority.

After a simple walk around, I encountered no less than three university freshman training teams.

The freshmen who entered Dead Mountain Town were noticeably much more subdued, each acting as if they had entered a haunted house, nervous and occasionally screaming in fright at the eerie furnishings and sights within Dead Mountain Town.

"Ah ~ a ghost!"

"But I always feel like something is following us."

"Can you stop making such a fuss? It's just an oddly shaped gatehouse, isn't it?"

"But then again, why is that gatehouse constantly bleeding, and why are there two zongzi hanging as lanterns?"

"This is just the art style of a mysterious Domain Scroll; you'll get used to it."

"Wuwuwu, Mom ~ I want to go home!"

"What are you crying about? Now you're scared? Weren't you all very arrogant before coming here?"

The Teacher Liang secretly smirked, enjoying themselves; this was exactly the effect they wanted.

Wu Xian admired the various eerie and terrifying backdrops in Dead Mountain Town along the way, without the slightest fear, instead critiquing them internally.

"There are quite a few horror elements, but they're too clichéd, too low-level, and lack novelty."

"The atmosphere rendering and lighting layout aren't very well done either."

"This can actually be a bronze scroll three-star?"

At most, it's on the level of those horror-themed escape rooms from his previous life.

Alone, he strode out of Dead Mountain Town's Domain light curtain.

The scene before him suddenly changed, and as far as the eye could see, it was dark, desolate, and devoid of life.

He silently summoned the God of Wealth and searched for prey along the rugged and grotesque terrain.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, he didn't encounter a single strange monster.

"They all say that the monsters of the Mysterious Abyss are elusive, but they can't be that elusive, can they?" Wu Xian secretly wondered, "Or is it that there aren't many strange monsters left near Dead Mountain Town, and I need to explore deeper?"

But after continuing to explore for more than an hour, he still couldn't see any strange monsters.

However, he unintentionally caught a few whiffs of "wealth." Following the scent of wealth, he successfully picked up two Materials full of Yin Qi, and a fleshy tumor plant growing on unknown bones.

Judging from the increase in the God of Wealth's wealth Qi, these Materials all seemed to be quite valuable.

He definitely made his money back.

But to spend money on a copy and not even encounter a monster, what kind of situation was this?

"Hmm?"

His gaze fell on the God of Wealth, and Wu Xian suddenly realized something, immediately recalling the God of Wealth into a scroll.

After a brief calm, the surroundings indeed began to feel wrong.

Gusts of cold wind and a chilling sensation down his spine came over him, as if countless eyes were already secretly watching him.

"..." Wu Xian was dumbfounded.

It turned out that the God of Wealth's "status" was too high, scaring the little ghosts away.

The next second, his legs were tightly entangled by hair sprouting from the ground, and various discomforts began to appear all over his body, as if an invisible force was strangling his neck, making breathing difficult.

Looking down, a disfigured ghostly face appeared, tearing open his own chest and abdomen.

Wu Xian was instantly stunned and subconsciously re-summoned the God of Wealth.

"Aow—!"

With a roar from the black tiger, all discomfort instantly vanished.

The God of Wealth's majestic eyes swept around, and the steel whip in his hand crackled with thunder.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, ghostly wails filled the surroundings, and plumes of green smoke were blasted out by the thunder. Streaks of invisible power flowed into the God of Wealth's body, transforming into "experience points" for the God of Wealth to raise his painting spirit Rank.

Wu Xian collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief. After confirming that his body was fine, he realized that everything just now had been an illusion.

Even so, he still broke out in a cold sweat.

After calming down, looking at the clusters of Yin soul Origin and the mutilated bodies of strange monsters around him, he instantly became excited.

He quickly put the spoils into his bag, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hiss ~ the damage is a bit severe," Wu Xian felt a slight pang of heartache looking at the severely damaged strange monster corpses, "Please, old man, hold back a little. These are all good money~!"

And while collecting the spoils, the God of Wealth's "wealth Qi" was also increasing.

After killing monsters, he not only gained experience and Materials but also extra wealth Qi, which was a unique additional income for him.

Three birds with one stone, how wonderful.

After he was done, he put away the God of Wealth again. The previous fear had long been drowned out by the temptation of wealth.

It didn't matter if he peed his pants; as long as he made money, and he could also train his courage.

Moreover, this method of using himself as bait was quite efficient.

Unfortunately, the strange monsters nearby seemed to have learned their lesson, and after waiting for a long time, there was no movement.

Helpless, he could only change locations and continue "fishing."

The "new leeks" indeed took the bait easily, and were zapped to death in large numbers by the God of Wealth.

In this way, wave after wave, he harvested a large amount of Mysterious Abyss Materials.

The God of Wealth also unknowingly advanced to two-star. While his aura significantly strengthened, the wealth Qi around him also became increasingly dense.

[Xuantan Zhenjun - Zhao Gongming]

Type: original (Gold embroidered edge)

Rank: Blood-colored Life Axis

painting spirit: ★★

Spirituality: 14

Innate Talents: Attract Wealth and Treasure, Wealth Qi Protection, Control Thunder and Electricity

"It's true that going to a copy makes money fast~!"

Of course, other Spirit Masters certainly didn't have it as easy as he did; they were all living on the edge, earning money with their lives.

Although the income was considerable, it couldn't offset the even greater cost of purchasing scrolls... In Dead Mountain Town, within a dilapidated mansion.

A woman in her early twenties, with slightly eerie attire and makeup, opened her eyes in surprise.

"Eh, why is there suddenly so much refining income?"

As the maintainer of [Dead Mountain Town], Xue Lingling was full of doubts.

Just now, [Dead Mountain Town] suddenly received a large amount of refining income, indicating that someone was hunting a large number of strange monsters, and doing so in a short period of time.

Since taking over [Dead Mountain Town] half a year ago, this was the first time she had encountered such a situation.

"Could it be that something happened, causing the Teacher Liang of those training teams to take action?"

"Interesting. It seems there's a master among the Teacher Liang this year!"

One must know that the strange monsters of the Mysterious Abyss were very difficult to deal with; to be able to hunt strange monsters on such a large scale in a short time was no ordinary feat.

She immediately raised her hand and threw out a scroll.

The scroll unfurled in the air, and amidst the pervasive Yin Qi, it transformed into a red wooden coffin covered with talismans and carved with peculiar patterns.

Xue Lingling leaped up, stepping on the coffin lid, and flew out of Dead Mountain Town... Meanwhile, on the other side, Wu Xian, with a full harvest, was already on his way back to Dead Mountain Town.

The strange monsters nearby were noticeably much fewer. Even without the God of Wealth present, few strange monsters dared to approach him.

"It's as if I'm the strange monster?" This made Wu Xian dumbfounded.

The journey was uneventful.

However, this "uneventfulness" only applied to him; other adventurers were still in dire straits.

From a distance, he saw a man and a woman struggling painfully in a mechanical ruin.

The two were back to back, frantically attacking the air.

The male student among them was holding a mechanical flamethrower, wildly spraying, "Ah ah ah... burn you all! Burn you all!"

A small water element sprite floated in front of the female student, attacking aimlessly under her command.

"Wuwuwu, don't come over ~ don't come over, my parents are Rank seven Spirit Masters!"

"Why isn't Teacher Liang here yet?"

Wu Xian passed by, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Um... what are you afraid of?"

"A ghost—!"

The next second, the raging flames from the flamethrower surged towards him.

Wu Xian's face darkened, and he quickly summoned the God of Wealth to stand in front of him. Dense wealth Qi circulated, easily resisting the scorching flames.

"Are you f*cking blind?" Wu Xian swore in exasperation.

Perhaps due to the appearance of the God of Wealth, the two frantic individuals quickly calmed down, looking around nervously, "Is... is it gone?"

"Wuwuwu, I'm not playing anymore, I'm not playing, I want to go home!"

The female student was clearly on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"Thanks, buddy," the male student sighed in relief, "This place is too f*cking creepy. A bunch of weird bugs, frantically jumping all over us."

"Weird bugs?" Wu Xian was puzzled.

"You can't see them?" As soon as the male student finished speaking, his face instantly turned pale, and he trembled as he pointed behind Wu Xian, "You, you, you..."

Only then did Wu Xian see tentacles monsters, formed from machinery and flesh, appearing menacingly behind him.

At the same time, a bolt of thunder struck out of thin air.

Boom!

The terrifying mechanical tentacle monster twitched and fell to the ground on the spot, churning as if trying to burrow into the ground, but was unfortunately struck again by a bolt of thunder.

Wu Xian turned back in surprise, only then realizing that a half-dead strange monster was clinging to his back, like an octopus without a body, all tentacles, pieced together from flesh and mechanical fragments.

"Mutated Monster?" Wu Xian's eyes lit up slightly.

A so-called Mutated Monster refers to an interdimensional monster that has undergone twisted mutation due to the influence of other interdimensional powers.

For example, this strange monster in front of him, mutated and infected by mechanical power, can be simply understood as a stitched-up monster.

The stitched tentacle monster struggled in its death throes, trying to attack Wu Xian, but was pressed to the ground by a claw from the black tiger beneath the God of Wealth, completely kicking the bucket.

As he collected the stitched monster's corpse, a large amount of wealth Qi visibly condensed on the God of Wealth.

"Good stuff!"

They all said Mutated Monsters were more valuable, and it was indeed true.

Looking at the man and woman beside him, they were already dumbfounded, and it took them a long time to recover.

"So strong!" the female student murmured in shock.

"You're amazing, buddy, which university's freshman are you?"

Wu Xian ignored them and calmly walked away with the God of Wealth.

Leaving behind the two who were still shaken and unable to calm down for a long time.

Soon after, a giant blue Dragon landed nearby. It was none other than the Teacher Liang they had met in the dimensional plaza earlier.

"Did you two send out a distress signal?" Teacher Liang looked around in confusion, "What's going on?"

The two looked as if they had seen their savior, "Teacher Liang, you're finally here, wuwuwu."

"The danger?" Teacher Liang asked in a deep voice, "Did you resolve it yourselves?"

"We just met a buddy, he seems to be a freshman from another training team..." The two described the astonishing scene they had just witnessed, one after another.