After listening to Man Gu's imagination, a picture involuntarily emerged in Lu Yang's mind:
Under the night sky, in the pitch-black silence, a lonely forest was illuminated only by the flickering fire, its crackling sound further emphasizing the quietness of the forest.
A goat, its belly cut open, its organs removed, smeared with strange herbs, stood over the fire, dancing a nonsensical dance, as if it were an offering to some evil deity.
This image was indeed bizarre, surpassing the current human race's appreciation for art.
"What a great idea, worthy of the barbarians, their way of thinking is very similar to their ancestors!" The Immortal Maiden excitedly said, slapping her thigh. She vaguely saw a familiar figure in Man Gu.
"You're right, although the barbarians are all brawn and no brains, they do have a lot of ideas when it comes to food!"
"The main thing is that the barbarians are very proactive and creative. Of course, I'm not trying to take credit, but I did contribute a little bit." The Immortal Maiden made a small gesture with her thumb and index finger.
Lu Yang felt that the Immortal Maiden, as the enlightening teacher of the ancient barbarians, was being too modest.
"Maiden, do you know any spells to control corpses?"
The Immortal Maiden thought for a moment: "Does playing dead count? This is a spell that the dragon and phoenix clans are eager to learn. I conservatively estimate that it can be used until the Tribulation Crossing stage."
"…No, it doesn't."
"Then I don't know."
Lu Yang thought of another question: "Maiden, have you ever used the playing dead spell after becoming an immortal?"
He thought that the playing dead spell should have been used by the Immortal Maiden when she was weak. After becoming an immortal, didn't she claim to be the first of the five ancient immortals? She shouldn't need it.
"I have used it."
"Huh? You still play dead after becoming an immortal?"
Speaking of this topic, the Immortal Maiden blushed a bit, and laughed awkwardly.
"You know I can't save money, I spend it lavishly, and I quickly ran out of spirit stones, becoming poor."
"I was too embarrassed to ask my followers for spirit stones, after all, I am their faith."
"What to do when I ran out of money? I quickly thought of a solution."
"I used the playing dead spell, pretending to be dead. The Heavenly Immortals would come to mourn me and give me spirit stones, so I would have money again."
"I've used this trick several times, and it works quite well."
Lu Yang: "……"
There were so many things wrong with this, he didn't even know where to start.
"Also, can Man Gu's ancient barbarian bloodline be temporarily sealed? We were lucky this time, attracting only Golden Elixir stage beasts. Next time we might not be so lucky. If we attract an Elemental Infant stage beast, it would be disastrous."
Lu Yang was worried. If they encountered an Elemental Infant stage beast, his Huang Doudou Fist might not be able to hold up, and the four of them would have to use the directional teleportation talisman to return to the Demon Suppression Station.
"Don't worry, Man Gu doesn't need to temporarily seal his bloodline. Didn't you notice at the end of the battle just now? Man Gu can already suppress the Armored Beast with his bloodline."
"This means that Man Gu's ancient barbarian bloodline can suppress beasts of the Golden Elixir stage and below. Golden Elixir stage beasts would run away at the sight of Man Gu, and Elemental Infant stage beasts would not be affected by Man Gu's ancient barbarian bloodline."
"However, if Man Gu advances to the Golden Elixir stage, that's another story."
The Immortal Maiden's analysis was spot on. In terms of professionalism, she never dropped the ball, after all, she was the one who created the ancient barbarians.
Lu Yang breathed a sigh of relief, putting one worry to rest. Otherwise, they would have to be on their toes in the forest for the next few months.
"Do you want to grow your hair? I have a way." The Immortal Maiden said with a grin.
"What's the method?"
"I have a set of Ginger Fist Technique. Once you learn it, you can grow a head of shiny black hair!"
To be honest, Lu Yang was tempted, but considering the unreliability of the Immortal Maiden, and the name of this fist technique, it seemed problematic.
"Forget it, my hair will grow back in about ten days to half a month."
The normal hair growth rate wouldn't be this fast. Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou stimulated their scalps with spiritual energy every night to increase the growth rate of their hair, and the effect was significant.
In reality, the four of them were eating freshly roasted lion meat, with Man Gu gnawing on the lion's head.
"The meat of a Golden Elixir stage lion is indeed tender and juicy."
"Lu Yang's True Fire technique is also good. Usually, this kind of barbecue would be charred on the outside and raw on the inside, but under Lu Yang's precise control, the True Fire simultaneously burns the skin and the meat inside, keeping the doneness consistent. This is something I can't do." Meng Jingzhou analyzed. In terms of using True Fire, he was not as good as Lu Yang.
He hadn't mastered even one type of True Fire, so he definitely couldn't compare to Lu Yang.The single dog spiritual root inherently possesses a kind of true fire, known as the Pure Yang True Fire, which can restrain all ghosts and spirits. After reaching the Golden Elixir stage, one can automatically master it.
This was an incredibly heaven-defying talent, but in comparison to Lu Yang, it didn't seem that impressive.
The four of them had their fill and were ready to rest.
"I'll take the first half of the night with Tao Yaoye, and Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu will take the second half. How does that sound?"
"Sounds good."
Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had experience spending the night in the dense forest, so they had to split up for the night watch.
If Tao Yaoye and Man Gu were left together and something unexpected happened, like a beast or human attack, they might not be able to react in time.
In the dense forest, the dangers were not only from beasts but also from humans.
When Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou spent the night in the forest with the Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain, they had encountered a human attack.
Fortunately, the attackers were not very skilled, and Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou quickly took them down.
As the night watch began, Lu Yang saw Tao Yaoye immediately open her spiritual sense to probe the surroundings and reminded her, "Don't keep your spiritual sense open all the time. If you use it like this, it will quickly deplete."
"The night is still long, how long can you maintain it like this?"
Not to mention Tao Yaoye, even Lu Yang, whose spiritual sense was comparable to the Golden Elixir stage, wouldn't dare to use it like this.
"So, what should I do?" Tao Yaoye obediently withdrew her spiritual sense.
"Use your eyes to see, your ears to listen, and engage your five senses to observe your surroundings."
"You might not be used to it at first, but try a few times. With your talent, you'll easily learn this method."
"Once you've learned it, it will be very useful in battle."
"Don't overly rely on your spiritual sense, as it's easy to fall into the opponent's trap." This was a lesson taught to Lu Yang by the Immortal Fairy, and now Lu Yang was passing it on to Tao Yaoye.
Tao Yaoye nodded, and following Lu Yang's instructions, she focused on observing the surroundings.
Neither of them spoke again, just sitting quietly.
When it was time for the second half of the night, they switched shifts. Tao Yaoye jumped onto a tree, lay flat, and fell asleep in a very relaxed posture.
Seeing this, Lu Yang couldn't help but recall their first mission as skin-changing ghosts, when they stayed at the Shang family's house. Tao Yaoye had complained that the Shang family's bed was not as comfortable as the ones in the Seek Tao Sect, and she couldn't sleep.
"It's not just me who's growing."