Hunter Gao's home consisted of three rooms: the main room, the bedroom, and the kitchen.
Zhang Yuan had been working for Hunter Gao for over three years, and the places he was most familiar with were the main room and the kitchen.
Hunter Gao never allowed him to enter his bedroom alone.
Zhang Yuan had always suspected that he was hiding some sort of secret, but there had never been any clues.
Now he could do as he pleased!
However, Zhang Yuan carefully searched the room, knocking on the walls and floor with a firewood knife, overturning boxes and the bed.
All he found was a wooden box containing silver coins.
A silver note with a face value of ten taels, three to four taels of fragmented silver, and a few hundred copper plates, that was all he gained!
Zhang Yuan felt a bit frustrated, so he searched Hunter Gao's corpse again.
There was nothing of value.
Forget it!
In disappointment, Zhang Yuan reassembled the parts of the corpse as a sacrifice.
Under the power of the Divine Nest, the corpse, severed into three parts, quickly decayed.
"Huh?"
Zhang Yuan suddenly noticed something amiss.
A large patch of skin on Hunter Gao's chest was completely unaffected!
When the sacrifice ended, a piece of human skin, half a foot square, lay prominently atop the remnants of the corpse.
Zhang Yuan bent down and picked it up.
This piece of human skin was tough, with nothing unusual on the front.
But when he flipped it over, there was a map engraved on the back!
A treasure map?
Zhang Yuan's eyes lit up.
The map engraved on the human skin was detailed, with annotated text.
It was clearly depicting Qianfeng Mountain!
Zhang Yuan found himself lost in thought.
He recalled that Hunter Gao had settled in Chen Family Village five years ago.
At that time, Zhang Yuan had just started awakening memories of his past life.
Hunter Gao was also an outsider, with no relatives in the village, living in isolation.
Now thinking back, he came from military origins, saying he retired due to injuries, yet he didn't return to his hometown.
It was obvious that he was after the treasure in Qianfeng Mountain!
The problem was that the depths of the mountain were bizarre, and Hunter Gao, with his injured leg, could only hold the treasure map and lament.
Perhaps in recent years he had nearly depleted his savings, which is why he accepted Landlord Chen's invitation.
To be the instructor for the young men of the Chen Family.
He even tried to offer Zhang Yuan as a gift to please his newly adopted disciple.
And ended up paying the price.
Is it fate, or destiny?
All those plans, just to benefit others!
Woof woof!
The barking of Da Hu outside brought Zhang Yuan back to his senses.
He quickly tucked the treasure map into his bosom, picked up the firewood knife, and went out to investigate.
The night was deep, the storm not yet over.
Zhang Yuan calmed the agitated Da Hu, then brought a large pile of dry wood from the kitchen and threw it into the bedroom.
Next, he fetched an oil can and poured it throughout the room.
Finally, he set it on fire!
Hunter Gao's room had too many traces of battle, with blood splattered everywhere.
So for safety, it was best to burn it all clean.
Watching the flames engulf the bedroom.
Zhang Yuan patted the big yellow dog's head, saying, "Da Hu, you are free now."
He actually liked this Mountain Guard Dog very much, as he had raised it himself and had quite the affection for it.
But taking Da Hu home was clearly inappropriate right now.
With that, Zhang Yuan turned and left, quickly disappearing into the stormy night.
Da Hu chased him to the edge of the yard, then stopped to look back at the house blazing with fire.
The Mountain Guard Dog wagged its tail, a low whimper emerging from its throat.
Zhang Yuan hurried in the pouring rain, returning to his room without alerting anyone.
He changed his already wet clothes.
Then he took out a box hidden under the bed and put the silver notes and coins he found tonight inside.
Initially, Zhang Yuan intended to store the treasure map in there as well.
But on second thought, it seemed unwise.
This item had a mysterious origin, and if accidentally discovered, it would undoubtedly bring deadly trouble!
Remembering the method used by Hunter Gao, he took a cloth and wiped the human skin treasure map clean.
He tried sticking it onto his chest.
Much to Zhang Yuan's surprise, without using any glue, the treasure map adhered tightly to his chest, without the slightest discomfort.
It was as if it was part of Zhang Yuan's body.
Even more astonishingly, after a moment, the surface of the human skin treasure map began to change color, merging with the surrounding skin.
No trace could be seen!
Surprised, Zhang Yuan scratched it off with effort.
Once he stuck it back, it returned to its original state.
This was indeed a treasure!
Zhang Yuan had never even heard of such a miraculous thing, let alone seen it.
If he hadn't sacrificed Hunter Gao's corpse, he would never have obtained this strange human skin treasure map.
This world was obviously more extraordinary than Zhang Yuan had imagined!
However, even with the treasure map, Zhang Yuan, like Hunter Gao, did not dare to venture deep into Qianfeng Mountain to seek the treasure.
He was merely a freshly initiated martial artist, lacking the ability to tackle the supernatural in the mountains.
Being unharmed by the crow wasn't fortunate by accident.
Zhang Yuan dared not gamble with his luck again!
So the treasure map could only remain hidden on his person for the time being.
By now it was late, and the storm outside was gradually subsiding.
But Zhang Yuan didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy.
He opened the Divine Nest panel.
It turned out that sacrificing Hunter Gao's corpse had only earned him 1.5 points of Source Material!
Much lower than that Nurse Sun.
Hunter Gao's strength was undoubtedly stronger than Nurse Sun's.
Was it because of his disability, or being cut into three pieces?
Zhang Yuan couldn't know for sure at the moment, leaving it for future investigation.
He pondered briefly and invested all the Source Material into his second Host—the Jade Mantis!
Currently, the Evolution Level of his first Host, the Black Giant Ant, was stuck at 18%, with all previously invested Source Material exhausted.
But the Level 2 Black Giant Ant's fourfold strength increase was more than sufficient for a newly become Martial Artist like Zhang Yuan.
In fact, it was his limit.
Therefore, upgrading the Jade Mantis made more sense.
What saddened Zhang Yuan was that he hadn't found any fist or saber techniques secret manuals at Hunter Gao's place.
Hunter Gao had strong martial arts skills, but never taught Zhang Yuan a single move!
The next day, Zhang Yuan was awakened from his dreams by the sound of a copper gong outside.
The gong rang, and disaster was near.
The village had struck it once before, and the appearance of bizarre events had once caused panic among the villagers.
Unexpectedly, in just a few days, trouble arose again!
Zhang Yuan, knowing full well what was happening, leisurely got up and dressed.
Then he went out and joined the other villagers, heading to Hunter Gao's home at the edge of Chen Family Village.
Hunter Gao's house was now only a pile of charred ruins, surrounded by many people.
Among them were several young men from Landlord Chen's family, as well as Steward Zhang and the household servants.
They all looked grim!