According to Lao Hu, he woke up that night.
After waking up, Lao Hu found that Xu Lang and the other two were gone, even the human bear was gone. He called out a few times but received no response, complaining that they weren't considerate enough to wake him up before leaving.
Then Lao Hu noticed a place with flickering lights. He didn't expect anyone to live in such a place and thought Xu Lang and the others had already gone there.
So Lao Hu went there alone. It was hard to tell directions in the forest at night, he could only rely on the North Star to determine that the brightly lit place was Niuxin Mountain.
While walking, Lao Hu felt something strange. He arrived at a huge cave. He thought the lights were not far away, but they turned out to be deep inside the cave.
Upon closer thought, Lao Hu realized that he was dizzy from hunger and had probably seen things wrong.
Lao Hu walked for a long time in the cave, passing through the dark, gloomy, and long cave entrance and reaching a huge mountain belly, where he saw several young girls dressed in fur.
The girls' clothes were old-fashioned, not like the modern ones.
Just as Lao Hu was lost in thought, he realized that one of the girls was Tian Xiaomeng. Upon questioning, he learned that she had gotten lost in the Lama Valley and was rescued by the girls.
There was also a shadow puppet play there. The two immediately decided to eat something and watch the shadow puppet play before going back.
The food looked very delicate but tasted like wax. Lao Hu ate a few bites and stopped. Then an elderly woman in luxurious clothes appeared. She seemed to be the owner of the place.
After greeting her, the shadow puppet play began.
Later, Lao Hu noticed that the old woman ate in a strange way. While lost in thought, he accidentally knocked over a teacup. With the crash of the teacup, the old woman's head suddenly fell to the ground.
Her head separated from her body, but the old woman seemed oblivious, still chewing on her food. The maids quickly picked up her head and put it back on.
At this point, Lao Hu's heart sank, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He finally realized he had encountered a ghost, and quickly pulled Tian Xiaomeng and ran.
As they ran out, the cave began to shake and slowly closed.
When they ran out, they looked back and saw only a crack left in the mountain wall, through which they could still see the light inside. A few seconds later, it completely merged, and the mountain wall left no trace whatsoever.
Until dawn, Lao Hu pulled Tian Xiaomeng to the river at the foot of the mountain. Before he fainted, he seemed to see Xu Lang and the others.
Then everything went black.
He woke up three days later, which is now.
Xu Lang was shocked when he heard this. This supernatural power was the first he had encountered in a real sense, not counting his own transmigration and practice of the Qing Yuan Sword Art.
Xu Lang always believed that all of Lao Hu's experiences were not illusions, at least not simply illusions. He seemed to be bewitched by some mysterious force.
Otherwise, according to normal human logic, Lao Hu wouldn't have made such illogical judgments.
Strangely, Xu Lang didn't feel anything special from Lao Hu, completely different from Tian Xiaomeng.
Suppressing his doubts, Xu Lang told Lao Hu about what happened afterward, and how he found him, Fatso went to a town tens of miles away to find a doctor, and took care of him for three days and three nights.
Later, Lao Hu asked Yanzi's father, who said that what Lao Hu encountered was probably a "Ghost Market." The Ghost Market was also known as "Ghost Play." There was a legend in the mountains that many folk artists were buried with the Empress Dowager when she died.
Strangely, it was said that some people had encountered the same thing as Lao Hu, and had also seen the shadow puppet play in the mountains.
At this moment, even Lao Hu couldn't be sure if he had really been inside Niuxin Mountain.
Saying it was all an illusion, but Lao Hu did rescue Tian Xiaomeng. At least he found Tian Xiaomeng and appeared by the river with her, saying it was all real, but it was too bizarre.
Without thinking too much about these things, Xu Lang temporarily gave up the idea of exploring the Nine Dragons Jade Lotus. Mainly because he felt he was too weak. If he had learned even a basic spell, he would have dared to go and explore.
Unfortunately, Xu Lang had no idea if he could survive the same situation as Lao Hu.
On the contrary, Xu Lang was a little curious about Tian Xiaomeng. So far, she was still unconscious and didn't seem to have any consciousness. She was like a living corpse without a soul, or a vegetative person.
Tian Xiaomeng's family had been notified, and before they arrived, Xu Lang even wanted to examine her thoroughly from head to toe.
But upon second thought, Xu Lang gave up the idea. It was completely pointless and would do more harm than good.
First, Tian Xiaomeng was being taken care of by Yanzi and Wang Juan. Even though Xu Lang was only eleven years old, he was still a man. If something happened and spread, it would be bad for both him and Tian Xiaomeng.
Second, spreading supernatural rumors could be a big or small problem in this era. It was simply asking for trouble.
Third, what would Tian Xiaomeng's family think?
As for the idea of secretly checking, Xu Lang didn't have it at all.
Not being discovered wouldn't benefit him, and once discovered, it would only bring trouble. It was useless, and he couldn't do it. Moreover, with his current shallow cultivation, even if he discovered something, he wouldn't be able to solve it.
Most importantly, the weak Xu Lang didn't want to get involved with mysterious forces. Who knew what was wrong with Tian Xiaomeng? Failing to save someone and dragging himself in was completely unnecessary.
At least for the current Xu Lang, he couldn't afford to be reckless.
He wouldn't do things that wouldn't benefit him, wouldn't do things that he wasn't sure about, and definitely wouldn't do things that were beyond his capabilities.
After analyzing the pros and cons, this was Xu Lang's decision. It wasn't cowardice, but reason.
A few days later, Tian Xiaomeng was taken away by her family for treatment. As for what happened afterward, that could be discussed later. Perhaps he could inquire about it.
Time passed day by day, and Xu Lang returned to his routine life. He needed to accumulate mana to improve his cultivation, and first he had to endure loneliness.
Lao Hu and Fatso worked every day. Their initial excitement and novelty were gone, replaced by day-to-day life. They occasionally came over to mooch a meal, their lives were ordinary and boring.
Life without pressure was good. All he had to think about was what he wanted to eat, and that was enough.
Xu Lang could endure loneliness, but Lao Hu and Fatso couldn't.
The snow came early in the mountains this year, and the cold wave came, making the weather cold all of a sudden.
It was about to be a snowy season, and everyone hadn't had time to stock up on winter food. In previous years, people in the mountains would start hunting and making cured meat and other foods for winter storage in autumn.
According to the old village head, this year's weather was unusual, a once-in-a-decade event.
It started to snow heavily in the middle of autumn, followed by a northwest wind. Many hunters were in a panic and hurriedly went into the mountains to "catch up on winter hunting." Simply put, they were hunting, racing against time to store as much food as possible.
If they waited any longer, the "White Hair Wind" that only came in winter would arrive, and then there wouldn't be any prey to hunt. By then, there was even a risk of starvation.
Xu Lang was fine. He had always lived alone, and the remaining food from his hunting was mostly cured meat, which was enough to last him through winter. He could even occasionally share some prey with others.
It has to be said that Xu Lang's hunting skills were getting better and better, and Xiong Da was becoming increasingly powerful.
During this large-scale operation, Lao Hu and Fatso immediately became restless and clamored to go hunt the human bear, as a way of avenging the previous encounter.
But Xu Lang knew that the old village head would never let those two participate in the hunt.