Chapter 79: The Friend Who Keeps Dying

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: The Friend Who Keeps Dying

On the official road leading from Fenglin Town to Tilan Mountain, Fang Xu carried a massive wineskin on his back. Watching the coming and going Martial Artists heading into the mountains in small groups, he quietly followed them.

At the outskirts of Tilan Mountain, Fang Xu did not follow them deeper inside.

After parting ways with the crowd, he stayed in the area, hunting some low-level ferocious beasts for practice.

By noon, having hunted two ferocious beasts, Fang Xu lit a campfire. He placed a piece of Blood Food from a low-level beast on a rack over the fire to roast. He minded his own business, drinking wine and eating roasted meat on the side.

RUSTLE...

A faint sound drifted from not far away. Fang Xu glanced over and saw three Martial Artists of varying builds slowly walking up from the foot of the mountain.

"Boy, how much further is it from here to the Tilan Mountain ruins?"

The three arrived in front of Fang Xu. One of them, a middle-aged man wielding a Nine-Ring Saber and radiating surging vitality, shouted at him.

"It’s still far. You’ve only covered a third of the journey to get here," Fang Xu replied.

The middle-aged Martial Artist grew somewhat irritable upon hearing this. "A third? Damn it, I thought we were almost there.

"Boy, are you drinking the Maple Brew from Fenglin Town?" Catching a whiff of a rich wine aroma just as he finished complaining, his eyes immediately lit up as he leaned in closer.

Fang Xu swallowed the wine in his mouth and lifted the wineskin in his hand. "This?

"It’s not Maple Brew; it’s just some rough wine I brewed myself. If you don’t mind, care for a taste, my friend?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged Martial Artist’s expression shifted slightly. He secretly swallowed his saliva and was just about to step forward when his companion pulled him back.

"Fenglin Town is full of shady characters. Be careful."

Hearing the man’s words, Fang Xu simply smiled to himself. He didn’t say anything more and just tilted his head back, taking a few more gulps of wine.

Seeing Fang Xu drinking with such relish, the middle-aged Martial Artist couldn’t hold back any longer. He immediately turned to his companion. "This kid is clearly just a hunter from the town at the foot of the mountain. We’ve been rushing on our journey; we need to eat and drink our fill to keep going."

With that, ignoring his two companions, he walked straight up to Fang Xu and chuckled. "Boy, let me have a taste of your wine."

Fang Xu generously handed over the wineskin.

The middle-aged Martial Artist took it and took a few gulps—GLUG, GLUG. A hint of intoxication appeared on his face. "Good wine!"

Swallowing the liquor, he took the liberty of tearing off a large chunk of roasted meat from the campfire and devoured it ravenously.

Behind him, seeing that he seemed perfectly fine, and feeling quite thirsty themselves from the hurried journey, the other two also gathered around.

"Have a taste. This kid’s brew isn’t bad at all.

"When I get out of the ruins and strike it rich...

"Boy, you’ll have to sell me a few jugs!" the middle-aged Martial Artist boasted.

Fang Xu smiled and nodded. "Meeting by chance is fate. What’s the harm in giving you a few jugs for free?"

"Haha..." The middle-aged Martial Artist burst into laughter, clearly very satisfied with Fang Xu’s tact.

The three took turns drinking from the wineskin and eating the roasted meat from the campfire.

Meanwhile, Fang Xu secretly checked the friend list deep within his sea of consciousness.

Friend 5: Huangzhou - Zhang Debiao (15%)

Friend 6: Huangzhou - Pang Jiang (15%)

Friend 7: Huangzhou - Liang Sha (15%)

The Life Values next to all three names were at 15%. Furthermore, just in the short time they had been drinking, their Life Values had simultaneously dropped by another 3%.

Fang Xu took all of this in, remaining perfectly silent.

The wineskin was passed back and forth among the three men, who seemed to have completely forgotten the existence of Fang Xu, its owner.

When the middle-aged Martial Artist wielding the Nine-Ring Saber raised the wineskin and tilted his head back once more, he found it completely empty. Losing interest, he tossed the wineskin aside and looked at Fang Xu. "Boy, do you have any more wine?"

Fang Xu smiled wryly. "No more. I just came into the mountains to hunt and brought some wine to quench my thirst. I didn’t expect you all to have such massive capacities..."

The middle-aged Martial Artist scanned the area around Fang Xu. Aside from two dead ferocious beasts, there really didn’t seem to be any more wine. He stood up resentfully, let out a loud BURP, and said, "Let’s go!"

The other two stood up. One of them seemed to think Fang Xu’s roasted meat was quite good; ignoring the heat, he reached out and tore off a large chunk.

The other man looked at the remaining roasted meat, paused for a moment, and then simply took the whole thing!

"Hey, leave some for me!"

Fang Xu shouted from behind, but the three men ahead didn’t even look back.

Watching their figures gradually disappear into the dense forest, the corners of Fang Xu’s lips curled up slightly.

He noted, "Seven down, only three more to go."

Slowly standing up, he jumped into a nearby tree. He retrieved another wineskin full of liquor from the branches, then cut a large chunk of meat from the ferocious beast carcass behind him and began to roast it.

The strong aroma of wine mixed with the faint scent of roasting meat drifted through the dense forest, and it wasn’t long before another five-person squad was attracted to the spot.

The attitude of these five was even worse than the previous three. After tasting Fang Xu’s fine wine, they outright robbed him of both the meat and the alcohol, and even came close to killing him.

Watching the retreating backs of the five men, Fang Xu’s consciousness entered the depths of his sea of consciousness. Seeing three new friends gradually appear on the panel, a smile graced his face. "Goal achieved. Time to head home!"

Now that his friend list was full, he immediately extinguished the campfire completely, then dragged the corpses of the two ferocious beasts back to Fenglin Town.

Late at night, as Fang Xu was cultivating, a virtual light screen suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Your friend Zhang Debiao has died. As a friend, you may randomly inherit one of Zhang Debiao’s three inheritances.]

Before Fang Xu could clearly see what Zhang Debiao’s three inheritances were, two more light screens popped up.

[Your friend Liang Sha has died. As a friend, you may randomly inherit one of Liang Sha’s three inheritances.]

[Your friend Pang Jiang has died. As a friend, you may randomly inherit one of Pang Jiang’s three inheritances.]

Excellent. The three of them had indeed died together.

Fang Xu had originally thought that with their Life Values at 15%, it would take a few days before they died. He hadn’t expected those three guys to be so unlucky; they had died before even a single day had passed.

Not even wanting to look closely at what the three inheritances specifically entailed, Fang Xu directly clicked to inherit all of them!

What he needed right now was the Spirit Attribute to improve his comprehension, though other attributes were fine too.

The people on his friend list had died off in waves, yet he hadn’t seen the Spirit Attribute or Agility Attribute a single time. Because of this, he had come up with his daytime strategy.

By setting up along the path where Martial Artists entered the mountains, he could ensure his friend list remained constantly full.

This way, the moment a friend died, regardless of anything else, he would inherit their legacy first.

Following the deaths of the three men, Fang Xu glanced at the Life Values next to the names of Mu Xuan’s group of three and Li Xun.

He thought, "These four guys sure are tenacious. They still aren’t dead, hogging four of my friend slots, and I can’t delete them even if I want to."

The inheritances from Zhang Debiao and the other two were finalized: one was 45 points of Life Attribute, another was 50 points of Strength Attribute, and the last was a property within Qinghe County Town. However, this last inheritance came with a high risk.

The system prompted that Zhang Debiao still had an old father whose Martial Dao cultivation had reached the Seventh Realm of a Martial Master. Thus, this property inheritance could only be abandoned.

Ignoring their inheritances for now, Fang Xu continued his cultivation.

As dawn approached, the virtual panel popped up again; the other three people on his friend list had also died.

Their inheritances similarly lacked the Spirit Attribute and Agility Attribute that Fang Xu wanted.

Putting the matter aside, Fang Xu got out of bed. Looking at the six newly opened friend slots, he immediately grabbed three wineskins, left Zhiyuan Hall, and headed towards the mountain.