Amidst the bustling crowd of people going in and out, Han Li strolled through the city gateway towards the forest.

Even though this gateway was mainly used by merchants who live or have stalls in the main city, it still had some ordinary people using it, but it was rather empty when an Awakening ceremony was not being hosted in one of the three clans.

It was not used as much as the other Gateways.

Only on Awakening ceremonies do outsiders come into the city to sell their goods

Furtively looking around and not finding Shan Shan among the mix of merchants around, Han Li calmly walked across and the guard let him pass without a question.

The guard was merely here to keep the crowd at bay in case of trouble after all, and not to catch shady activities. Nevertheless, he was a cultivator who had already gone through his Evolution.

Walking further, and soon hidden by the shadows of the thick trees and foliage, Han Li glanced towards a direction and sprinted.

He was quite sure the low-level cultivator of the Raven Clan won't be snooping around here, but this was still quite a gamble, if by any chance the guy was there, he would have had to run back with his tails tucked to the city.

Nobody would dare to hurt him inside the city unless they wanted war or something.

But still, this was a calculated gamble since even if the Raven was here, he won't just directly attack and would wait for Han Li to go further from the city walls and gateway.

He would never expect that Han Li was wary of him since Han Li of today was supposed to have no idea of a potential attacker.

After a while of walking around, surrounded by trees, Han Li kept searching for a specific one.

A tree with blue moss and yellow mushrooms on it.

'Green moss, no, this isn't the one.'

'This one has blue moss but not the mushrooms.'

He counted past the trees one by one and even though he couldn't find it yet, he was sure it was somewhere around this part of the forest.

One tree after another got a no and he kept on searching. There were many trees with one of the qualities but not both.

The sun of noon shined brighter and brighter, and the lands turned hotter in turn, but inside the shadows of this melancholic and calm forest, a young boy kept walking here and there.

Luckily for him, this place had no beasts; only some harmless things like birds and squirrels.

'Blue moss and Yellow Mushroom, Blue Moss and yellow mushroom!' he muttered inside his mind as he roamed.

He had almost searched the whole plot around here with more than 70 trees by now, and even climbed atop some of the trees, but couldn't find a thing.

In his previous life, Uncle Li, the fat Pang Li was traveling these woods and had seen a tree with blue moss and yellow mushrooms; while stopping there to look at it, he had found a small treasure trove in the process.

And that only happened months from now. And at that point, Han Li had already killed the Raven Clan cultivator covertly.

It was just a small sack filled with 5000 Sacred coins, but for the current him, it would have been very useful; he could have immediately had his first Awakening with it if he used that money and followed the Demonic Lust Sutra.

And he could have a much better start than his previous life.

"What a shame..." Han Li sighed, but his red eyes didn't lose their shine, "Guess I will have to go pickpocket in the market now."

He was quite good at that. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝒘𝙚𝙗𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Then there was that other little treasure trove in one of the old aunties' bathrooms that someone left behind before death.

It must not have been found yet, so if he went there now, it could be his.

That was a bit troublesome though and it only had about 1000 coins, which was not a big amount of money in comparison to 5000 here.

Without hesitating, Han Li quickly turned around and began to leave, but just before he left, a thought crossed his mind, "He said the mushrooms AND blue moss! but the mushrooms can't grow in this cold season!"

He could still remember him bragging about it, but he had been a bit tunnel-visioned.

Feeling quite dumb, Han Li quickly went to one of those trees with only blue moss that he had avoided and immediately began digging the mud around its roots.

Uncle Li had his fat and heavy body to make the mud move accidentally once he stepped on it, but he didn't, so he dug into the mud using his bare hands and soon, he could feel the sensation of a cloth on his hands.

With his full power, Han Li pulled it out of the heavy mud.

There it was, a muddy and brown small sack. A bit eager, Han Li licked his lips and opened it. a sack full of golden pearls — Sacred Coins.

Han Li calmly covered it and put it on his back before heading back to the city.

The first step was done, now it was the time to start cultivating the Demonic Lust Sutra for real.

Yes,

It was due time he went through his first Awakening.