Chapter 2: The Black Cat

Song Dashan chatted with the man for a while longer before they parted ways.

It was the busy farming season, with plenty of work in the fields, and the man needed to hurry back to tend to them.

Song Dashan, too, had to return to his fieldwork after finishing his offering.

Incense in hand, he stepped inside Xuanqing Temple.

There, he found someone already making an offering.

It was a young girl who had just come of age, dressed in a plain blue hemp robe, her face etched with sorrow.

Song Dashan was mildly puzzled. "Xiuxiu, why are you the one making the offering? Where are Mingzi and Uncle Gen?"

Song Xiuxiu turned at the sound of his voice. Recognizing Song Dashan, she replied with undisguised melancholy.

"Oh, it's you, Brother Shan. My father and brother went into the mountains to hunt yesterday and haven't come back yet. Mother has trouble walking, so I came to make the offering instead."

Song Dashan was taken aback. "Didn't Mingzi and Uncle Gen just go hunting yesterday? They went again today?"

Song Xiuxiu let out a sigh. "Brother Shan, they didn't go again today — they went into the mountains yesterday and still haven't returned."

Song Dashan shot her a startled glance, then turned to look at the deep, sprawling forest behind the village.

The small hill behind the village was frequented by people gathering firewood and the like — it was generally safe enough.

But as far as he knew, Song Xiuxiu's father and brother usually ventured further back, to Wolf's Head Mountain, when they went hunting.

And he could clearly see that Wolf's Head Mountain was now shrouded in thick fog.

Song Dashan's bushy brows furrowed. "Wolf's Head Mountain is covered in heavy fog, and when the fog rolls in there's a chance of Miasma too. Mingzi and Uncle Gen have been gone a full day and night without coming out — isn't that dangerous?"

And on Wolf's Head Mountain… there were wolf tracks.

Two grown men in peak condition with hunting experience wouldn't face too much danger.

But after a full day and night in the mountains, could they still be in peak condition?

If they were unlucky enough to run into wild wolves on top of everything else, they might never walk out of Wolf's Head Mountain again.

Song Xiuxiu's eyes had grown slightly red. "I just hope Father and Brother can come home safely today."

Song Dashan had ventured into Wolf's Head Mountain himself before, and he held little hope. Frowning, he said, "Let me go talk to the Village Chief. We can gather some able-bodied men and head into the mountains to see if we can find Mingzi and Uncle Gen."

Song Xiuxiu shook her head. "Brother Shan, I already spoke to the Village Chief. He won't allow anyone to enter the mountains right now — at least not until the fog clears."

Song Dashan opened his mouth, then found he had nothing to say.

He understood the Village Chief's concern — the fear of losing more people in the attempt.

Song Xiuxiu said no more. With reddened eyes, she knelt before Song Xuanqing's stone idol.

"Lord Xuanqing, please watch over us. Please let my brother and father come home safely."

"Incense Value +4.5."

Song Xuanqing listened to the System's notification, stroking his chin in thought.

He felt that his chance to complete the beginner's quest and unlock the System had arrived.

The wishes for a good harvest and the like were beyond his power to fulfill — but finding a person or two? That should be manageable, shouldn't it?

Although Song Xuanqing's essence was rooted in the idol, he was capable of leaving it.

The range of his movement, however, was unclear.

As long as he could enter Wolf's Head Mountain, finding two people and leading them out shouldn't be a problem.

As for a little thick fog and some Miasma?

The Feral God, Song Xuanqing, didn't give it a second thought.

Once Song Xiuxiu and Song Dashan had both finished their offerings and left, Song Xuanqing stepped out of Xuanqing Temple.

The brilliant sunlight fell upon Song Xuanqing's form — yet cast not a single shadow.

He drifted through the air, observing Song Family Village as he flew toward the mountains behind it.

Since arriving in this world, this was the first time he had ever left Xuanqing Temple and seen the land with his own eyes.

Song Family Village was sparsely populated — twenty to thirty households in total, amounting to perhaps a hundred people.

Mud-brick and thatched-roof cottages were scattered in a pleasingly irregular arrangement. The villagers were dressed almost entirely in coarse hemp cloth; some of the poorer families wore garments so often washed they had faded to white, patched over and over again.

Children ran and played in groups of three and five among the hills and fields, men labored under the blazing sun with sweat pouring down their backs, and women busied themselves with the household inside and out.

It was the very picture of an ordinary, simple country village.

Song Xuanqing gave Song Family Village a sweeping glance, then entered the hills behind it.

By this point, he was feeling a flutter of eager anticipation.

His Domain may have been limited to Song Family Village, but the range he could move through was not confined to the village itself.

Song Xuanqing was in no hurry to enter Wolf's Head Mountain. He first wandered around the smaller hill for a while.

As a Feral God, Song Xuanqing's speed was naturally beyond any mortal's — he covered the entire hill in less than fifteen minutes.

Unfortunately, he found no trace of Song Xiuxiu's father and brother.

It seemed they were indeed trapped on Wolf's Head Mountain.

Song Xuanqing looked toward the fog-shrouded Wolf's Head Mountain and flew toward it.

A few breaths later, however, Song Xuanqing came to a halt before Wolf's Head Mountain, his expression grim.

He couldn't enter Wolf's Head Mountain.

No — to be precise, he couldn't leave the smaller hill beneath his feet.

This seemed to be the very edge of his range of movement.

Song Xuanqing had an instinct: if he forced his way into Wolf's Head Mountain, he would become extremely weak and likely lose most of his ability to act.

Even if he retreated back into the idol, he would remain in that weakened state for some time.

He was already a Weakling of a Feral God — what if, while he was weakened, the same person who smashed the Three-Eyed Lady's idol came to smash his?

Song Xuanqing stood before Wolf's Head Mountain, grinding his teeth as he stared at the towering, fog-drenched peak before him.

He took a few deep breaths, then, very much in tune with his own feelings, turned around and headed back.

Xiuxiu, little sis, it's not that this god doesn't want to help you — it's that this god simply cannot enter Wolf's Head Mountain!

Oh well. Head back to the idol first, then think of another way.

Song Xuanqing's abilities were truly limited at the moment.

Back at the shrine, Song Xuanqing listened to the wishes of the villagers who came to make offerings, while simultaneously racking his brain for any other method to bring Song Xiuxiu's father and brother out of the deep mountains.

He also kept an eye out for any other villager wishes he might be able to fulfill right away.

Unfortunately, by the time afternoon had deepened into evening, with the sky growing dim, all the villagers who intended to make offerings had already done so.

Song Xuanqing had still not found a more suitable target for completing his beginner's quest.

And he still couldn't enter Wolf's Head Mountain, let alone bring out Song Xiuxiu's father and brother.

Just as he was brooding over this, Song Xuanqing suddenly heard a faint rustling sound coming from a corner of the temple.

Hmm? What was that?

At this hour, all the villagers had long since finished their offerings. Even those who hadn't managed to come earlier would not make offerings after the afternoon had passed.

Thinking of the Three-Eyed Lady's idol in the neighboring village that had been destroyed, Song Xuanqing cautiously suppressed his presence and looked toward the corner from which the sound had come.

There, in the deepest corner of the temple, he spotted a hole in the wall — about the size of a child's fist — that opened to the outside.

A sleek, lithe black cat was squeezing its way through the opening.

The cat was jet black from head to tail without a single impurity, save for its luminous green eyes; its fur was glossy and smooth.

But what truly caught his attention was the faint Demonic Aura emanating from the black cat.

Clearly, this was a demon cat that had only recently become a Demon Beast.

The black cat had no idea Song Xuanqing was watching it.

After squeezing inside, the cat first gave the interior of the temple a cursory scan. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, it then peered furtively toward the temple entrance.

Seeing that not only was no one coming to make offerings, but there wasn't even a villager passing by outside, the black cat relaxed.

Then, with a light leap, it jumped up onto the offering table.

And there, right before Song Xuanqing's eyes, it began to help itself to Song Xuanqing's offerings.

Song Xuanqing: ???