Chapter 21: Hong Ming the Itinerant Merchant

[Warm Boots Blueprint: Boots with insulation effects. You can choose the size during production. Crafting materials: Two pieces of bark (base), two logs, one magic crystal.]

'So they really are shoes.'

Liu Hen was overjoyed. Finally, he wouldn't have to wear tattered footwear anymore.

'This should complete the set now. I wonder if it will trigger a set bonus?'

He was impatient to craft a pair of warm boots, but he suddenly froze when he looked at the required materials. The crafting recipe for the warm boots required logs. All the wood he had gathered previously had already been placed into the campfire's fuel storage, and wood placed there could not be retrieved.

'Looks like I'll have to wait a few days. Oh well, inside the cave, the need for shoes isn't that urgent.'

Little Black Stone, after all, had been going barefoot the entire time.

Closing the crafting interface, Liu Hen looked at the materials required for the next upgrade of the Creation Workbench. The workbench was currently at level four; upgrading from four to five required five hundred iron ores and five magic crystals. He still had over a hundred magic crystals in stock, but only a few dozen iron ores remained.

Since he had nothing else to do, he took out his Pickaxe of All Things and went to the end of the cave to continue mining. This area wasn't a true ore vein, so the iron was mixed in with waste rock, which his pickaxe could refine. Occasionally, if he was lucky enough to hit an area dense with iron elements, he could mine a piece quickly. But when luck wasn't on his side, he wouldn't find a single piece for half a day.

Liu Hen wasn't in a hurry. Trapped in the cave with nothing to do, mining was a good way to pass the time. Because the space inside the cave was limited, he piled the excavated waste rock into a tunnel he had dug earlier to free up his inventory space. During this time, he also dug a ten-meter-long tunnel to use as a latrine. However, this "dry toilet" was mainly for urination. The digestive systems of the Wild People were so efficient that they could digest almost anything they ate, leaving almost no need for defecation. Of course, if they ate something truly indigestible, that was a different story.

Liu Hen recalled the original owner's situation and realized that even the original owner, who ate everything indiscriminately, only needed to defecate about once a month, likely because there was simply nothing left to expel. As for himself and Little Black Stone, they hadn't felt the need to defecate in these past few days either; everything they ate seemed to be completely digested. It was quite miraculous.

Time passed, and two days went by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, while they were eating, Little Black Stone suddenly asked nervously, "Master, is there anything you need help with? I want to be useful to you."

Watching him work constantly while she did nothing made her anxious. She feared losing her value and being abandoned, especially since her master showed no interest in her scrawny, bony body.

"The things I do require supernatural abilities to assist; you can't help with them," Liu Hen said. Seeing her eyes dim, he had a sudden thought: "Actually, there is one thing you can do."

"Just tell me, Master!" Little Black Stone immediately perked up.

"Exercise, and become strong!" Liu Hen said firmly. "My abilities aren't suited for combat, and I don't like fighting either. So, the task of fighting will be left to you."

"Don't worry, Master..." Little Black Stone was about to promise, but then she became anxious again. "But I don't know how to become strong, and besides..."

"Don't worry about food. Starting today, I will increase your rations. Aside from the time you spend on guard duty, you will spend all your time exercising." Liu Hen said, "Start with the basics: push-ups, horse stance, practicing punching speed, and so on. You don't know these? Don't worry, I'll teach you!"

Although he didn't know these things himself, he was at least a transmigrator—if he couldn't sing, couldn't he at least listen to others sing? He would supervise Little Black Stone with the strictest requirements. Since the girl could endure hardship, it would be a waste to just let her rely on him completely.

Originally, he hadn't wanted his companions to be too powerful, but Little Black Stone was so obedient and well-behaved. Moreover, in her mind, since he had taken her in, she belonged to him in life and in death, including her body and all other tangible and intangible assets. Under these premises, if he personally trained her and she remained dependent on him, the potential risks could be infinitely minimized.

From that day on, whenever Little Black Stone was awake, she was exercising. The girl was ruthless with herself; to grow stronger quickly, she was extremely strict, holding the horse stance until she fainted, squeezing every ounce of energy from her body. At first, Liu Hen was worried she wouldn't be able to handle it, but it was clear the resilience of the Wild People far exceeded his expectations. Especially as he kept increasing her food intake, her gaunt, skeletal body began to fill out at a visible rate. Of course, his own previously malnourished body was also becoming stronger and more robust, with no more feelings of weakness.

In this cave where day and night were indistinguishable, time seemed to blur. To save fuel, the campfire was put away during sleep, as that was the only way to extinguish it other than destroying it. Once the campfire was retrieved and set up again, it needed to be re-lit. The method was simple—it only took a thought; no tools like lighters were needed.

On the fourth day of being trapped in the cave, Liu Hen dug an exit for a safety tunnel three hundred meters away. Perhaps because the magic tide had passed, many monsters had been left behind, and there were many wandering in the vicinity. Those monsters had likely been attracted by the light of the campfire earlier, and with no living creatures nearby, they continued to roam around, unwilling to leave. He wasn't in a hurry; he used the "Free Build" ability to seal this exit, then continued to mine materials and dig escape tunnels.

Another five days passed in the blink of an eye. By then, nine days had passed since they were trapped.

On this day, Liu Hen dug through the mountainside five hundred meters away from his defensive works, opening another exit. To his surprise, as soon as the exit was cleared, he saw a figure leading a horse walking toward him. Because it was early night, visibility was decent, and the two were only seven or eight meters apart. The moment he saw the other person, the person saw him too.

Suddenly, the two stared at each other in silence.

"The legendary Underground Human race?" the man leading the horse asked, sounding suspicious and uncertain.

*What the hell is an Underground Human race?* He had never heard of such a thing.

Liu Hen remained guarded and asked calmly, "You don't look like a local, friend."

There were no such creatures as horses locally—perhaps there had been once, but they had all been turned into food. And the camp people didn't need to go out, so they had no use for horses.

The man regained his composure and said politely, "I am Hong Ming—'Hong' for booming, 'Ming' for bright. I am a night-mist traveling merchant. Greetings, friend of the Underground Human race. I am just passing through; I hope I haven't disturbed you."

It seemed this guy really took him for an Underground Human.

"So you are the merchant Hong Ming. I am Liu Hen." Liu Hen did not confirm he was an Underground Human, but he didn't deny it either. He asked curiously, "Did you come from very far away? What kind of goods are you carrying?"

He was very interested in the goods of a true traveler of the Night Mist world. Of course, he didn't dare to be careless, because anyone who dared to truly walk in the Night Mist world couldn't be weak. He even suspected that this man was also—or rather, truly was—a supernatural user. Because when the man saw him emerge from underground, he wasn't panicked at all, clearly having something to rely on.

Hong Ming immediately took a bundle off the horse's back and opened it in front of Liu Hen. It was filled with glowing items—stones, wood, and grass. Liu Hen didn't recognize any of them, but they didn't seem simple.

"These are the treasures of the Night Mist world. They can assist a supernatural user's cultivation or be used to craft weapons for them," Hong Ming said. "However, I don't accept magic crystals or any other treasures. I only want Extreme Yang Branches. If there are no Extreme Yang Branches, Extreme Yang Grass will do."

Extreme Yang Branches? Extreme Yang Grass? What were those? Liu Hen searched the original owner's memories but found no relevant information.

Seeing the blank look in Liu Hen's eyes, Hong Ming immediately knew it was a lost cause. However, he wasn't disappointed, as this wasn't the first time. He packed up his bundle and asked, "May I ask if there are any other human settlements nearby?"

Liu Hen poked his head out, carefully identified the direction, and pointed toward the Red Snail Camp: "There is a camp over there, about five kilometers away. I answered your question, so how about you answer one of mine?"

"That's fair. Please ask," Hong Ming nodded.

Liu Hen asked, "What kind of race are the Underground Humans?" He didn't ask if the race actually existed; if the other party answered his question, then the question itself would provide the answer.

"Are you asking for my opinion on the Underground Humans?" Hong Ming smiled. Perhaps because he had already accepted Liu Hen as an Underground Human, he spoke very politely: "Outsiders think the Underground Humans hid underground because they were cowardly and feared death. But in my opinion, this branch of humanity is the bravest, because the dangers underground are no less than those on the surface. In fact, the dangers underground are even more sinister and impossible to guard against."

After saying this, he led his horse and walked toward the Red Snail Camp, leaving his back exposed to Liu Hen, not afraid at all that this "Underground Human" would launch a sneak attack.

'Dangers underground? And they are even more sinister and impossible to guard against?'

Watching the merchant disappear into the night mist, Liu Hen felt uneasy. 'It seems I can't just dig randomly in the future, especially not too deep.'

Suppressing this thought, he quickly scanned his surroundings. Since there were no clusters of monsters here, he decided to gather some wood first, as the campfire's fuel was running low. Soon, he spotted a short, twisted tree five meters away from the exit. He quickly widened the opening and climbed out onto the surface with light steps.

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