After using the earth escape technique to descend the mountain, Shi Qian quickly stopped.

He carefully rolled up the cloth to prevent it from being blown away by the wind and wrapping him up like a dumpling. The cloth was nearly four times his size, a dangerous item for someone like him. However, for Mama Mouse, the cloth was a bit small. Where it came from remained a mystery, though it seemed like it had once belonged to a human cultivator.

After tidying the cloth, Shi Qian tucked it securely into the fur on his chest and neck, storing it in the small storage necklace hidden beneath his fur. The storage necklace was tiny on the outside, no bigger than half a grain of rice, likely custom-made by Mama Mouse for him. Shi Qian felt lucky to have something so well-fitted.

Due to its small size, the storage necklace didn’t have much capacity—only one cubic meter of space. Inside were the essentials for his journey: several local nuts from Wuye Mountain, two plump pigeons prepared by his elder brothers, and dozens of bottles of precious pills, rare and valuable for spirit beasts. Mama Mouse had dug them up earlier that morning, and Shi Qian suspected they were like the old candies grandmas hoard during hard times—some probably expired.

Meanwhile, back on Wuye Mountain…

Mama Mouse was fuming at the male Mouse, hammering his chest with her fists, producing a dull thudding sound.

“Squeak squeak!”
“Why are you always in such a hurry?”

“Squeak squeak squeak!”
“We’re Rat! king!”

“Squeak squeak squeak…”
“Forget it, talking to you is pointless.”

With the wisdom befitting a Great Rat King, Mama Mouse decided not to argue with the young and inexperienced Male Mouse any further, and they resumed their playful wrestling.

---

Far away on another mountain…

In an unknown cave, Hei Mao slowly woke up after being knocked out by his mother.

“Squeak? Squeak?”
“Brother? Mom? Are you there?”

“Squeak squeak squeak?!”
“Where am I?!”

The only response was his own echo. The cave was filled with unfamiliar smells, and there was no trace of his mother or brother’s scent. Hei Mao started to panic.

He rushed to the cave entrance, pushed aside the covering, and froze at the unfamiliar landscape outside. This wasn’t Wuye Mountain.

Standing on his hind legs and clutching his aching head, Hei Mao let out a mournful cry, “Squeeeeeak!”

After venting his frustration, Hei Mao began piecing together the events leading to this moment. He remembered being hit on the head twice—once painfully, when he thought he saw his mother, and then again, which knocked him out cold. But why would his mother knock him out and throw him away?

It finally dawned on him: his mother had been planning to kick him and his brother out of the house all along!

No wonder his brother had been so uncharacteristically kind to him the day before…

Thinking that his brother was probably being thrown out too, Hei Mao couldn’t help but worry.

Determined to grow stronger so he could protect his little brother, Hei Mao went to fight another beast, devouring it whole.

Their mother couldn’t be trusted. Only Hei Mao could be his weak brother’s strongest protector.

---

Shi Qian had no idea that his elder brother considered him weak. But ten days later, he was painfully aware of the word “weak”—thanks to a life-threatening situation.

“Heh heh heh, little heart, what are you looking for? That’s my treasure! You’d better behave and help me find it.”

A cold, bony hand patted Shi Qian’s round chinchilla head, sending shivers down his spine.

In his heart, Shi Qian cursed, Treasure? What treasure? To hell with it!

It had been an unlucky day.

After tiring from running with his earth escape technique, Shi Qian had planned to hunt for food as usual. But then he caught the scent of a treasure, and curiosity got the better of him. As he approached, hoping to find it, he fell into the hands of a demonic cultivator.

In this world of cultivation, the levels of power were divided into stages: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and beyond. The one threatening Shi Qian now was at least a Golden Core stage cultivator, far beyond his early Foundation Establishment level.

He couldn’t fight, and he couldn’t flee.

Luckily, being a Treasure-Hunting mouse—a rare and valuable spiritual beast—meant he had some value to this cultivator, at least enough to avoid becoming a snack. For now, he was a useful tool.

As the demonic cultivator’s cold hand stroked his neck again, Shi Qian made a pitiful squeak and pointed his tiny pink paw in the direction of the treasure he sensed.

Seeing Shi Qian’s indication, the demonic cultivator, Xue Hai, spoke in his grating, crow-like voice, “You sure that’s the right direction? Don’t mess this up.”

His bony hand pressed down harder on Shi Qian’s head, as if to emphasize the threat.

Shi Qian nodded vigorously. “Squeak!”

Satisfied, Xue Hai removed his hand, activated his spritual energy, and used a technique to swiftly approach the mountain cloaked in faint spiritual energy.

As they neared the mountain, Xue Hai’s sixth sense as a cultivator confirmed the presence of something extraordinary hidden within.

Excited, he stepped forward, only to be greeted by a shower of poison needles aimed straight at him.

“Who dares attack Xue Hai?!” he bellowed, summoning his magical weapon. To him, this ambush was proof that something valuable must indeed be hidden here.

But just as a grin spread across his face, an unseen weapon struck his temple, and his soul was instantly shattered.

Shi Qian, still cradled in Xue Hai’s hand, watched in horror as the demonic cultivator’s body collapsed, a trickle of blood oozing from his forehead.

Paralyzed with fear, Shi Qian curled into a ball, motionless.

Sensing another powerful presence nearby, Shi Qian prayed silently, Please don’t see me, please don’t see me…

Unfortunately, the new arrival spotted him immediately. After rummaging through Xue Hai’s belongings, they effortlessly picked Shi Qian up by his fluffy tail.

Shi Qian heard the feminine voice of his captor.

“Little thing, hiding won’t help. Point me to the treasure.”

L-l-little?
If my mother and brothers were here, you wouldn’t dare lay a finger on me!

Shi Qian wanted to puff up, to grow into a giant chinchilla and pummel these demonic cultivators. But he couldn’t. Instead, he had to be the smart one.

With a twitch of his ears, Shi Qian performed a difficult maneuver, lifting his head in a show of obedience. When he looked up, he saw a face covered in writhing, poisonous creatures beneath the skin.

And, strangely enough, this was a man.

Despite his once-handsome features, the grotesque movements beneath his skin made him utterly terrifying. Coupled with the eerie female voice, it sent chills down Shi Qian’s spine.

Yet again, he was facing a Golden Core demonic cultivator, someone far beyond his abilities.

Resigned, Shi Qian closed his eyes and began sniffing, ready to find the treasure.

The scent of the treasure, however, came from a completely opposite direction, and it seemed quite far away.

Shi Qian sniffed three times carefully, feeling somewhat bewildered as he pointed toward the opposite direction out of the mountains.

The demon cultivator frowned, also finding it strange.

Before ambushing Shi Qian, he had clearly sensed that the treasure was inside the mountain. Why had the direction changed?

Seeing the demon cultivator’s displeased expression, and the poisonous creature beneath his face writhing menacingly, Shi Qian felt a bad premonition. He quickly raised his front paw and angrily pointed at the fallen demon cultivator, squeaking loudly: “Squeak, squeak!”

His expression radiated anger, as he put on the best performance of his life.

The demon cultivator, noticing Shi Qian’s behavior, glanced into the depths of the forest, then took out a glowing compass-like artifact, powering it with a mid-grade spirit stone.

The compass needle spun rapidly before settling in the direction Shi Qian had pointed.

Seeing this, the demon cultivator shot a sinister grin at the treasure-hunting mouse. “So, you’re trying to trick me now, huh? Clearly, you’re not an innocent little creature.”

After completing his navigational task, Shi Qian, exhausted from playing along, flopped back down, ignoring the demon cultivator.

The demon cultivator grabbed Shi Qian, concealed their aura, and stealthily headed off, moving with far more caution than the fallen demon cultivator.

As they left, Shi Qian’s gaze fell upon the body of the demon cultivator who had captured him earlier.

Who would have thought that this demon cultivator, who had been so excited about finding treasure just moments ago, would end up dead?

As a former average office worker, Shi Qian had never understood why cultivators in the cultivation realm fought so fiercely to ascend or grow stronger. Wouldn’t it be more peaceful to live like a lazy fish, especially when they could live so long?

But now he understood. What these cultivators pursued wasn’t just ascension or power but a different kind of freedom and peace.

Here, killing was legal.

Shi Qian’s contemplation lasted only a moment since the person who had just died wasn’t exactly a good person. With all the dark aura around him, and calling himself “Xue Hai (Sea of Blood),” it was obvious he was no saint.

His thoughts shifted back to the more immediate concerns. The new demon cultivator had a mysterious treasure-finding compass.

Fortunately, the direction the compass pointed aligned with where Shi Qian had sensed the treasure. If it hadn’t, things might have gone very badly for him.

But one thing still puzzled Shi Qian: Why had the treasure changed locations? Even if new treasures had emerged, the original one should still be there. How could the treasure in the mountains suddenly lose its scent?

Was it possible that a new treasure had appeared, and someone had already claimed the old one, hiding its aura?

Shi Qian couldn’t figure it out and had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right. But he had no freedom to investigate—after all, he was just a poor little chinchilla being dragged along.

Cultivators traveled using spells, and along the way, Shi Qian noticed they seemed to have crossed a small town, hearing faint human voices and the sounds of vendors calling out. They even passed by a woodcutter, who, upon seeing them, thought he had encountered a ghost due to the demon cultivator’s speed.

By dusk, they arrived near the place where Shi Qian had detected the scent of the new treasure.

It was an ordinary mountain range, with hardly any spiritual energy, yet the peaks were extraordinarily towering and majestic, reaching high into the clouds.

As they entered the mountain pass, Shi Qian could faintly hear the sound of thunder.

As they ventured further in, the source of the thunderous sound became clear—it was a grand waterfall.

The water cascaded from the very top of the mountain, which seemed to connect with the glowing clouds above, like a river descending from the heavens. The water crashed down from steep cliffs, causing thunderous sounds.

Shi Qian, held in the demon cultivator’s hand, looked up at this magnificent scene.

But what was even more astonishing was that the waterfall in the middle had slowly split open, with dense spiritual energy pouring out, filling the surroundings with vitality and greenery.

The spiritual energy was so concentrated that it formed mist, blurring the incredible fissure in the center of the waterfall.

Shi Qian breathed a sigh of relief. With such an extraordinary scene, there had to be treasure inside.

His treasure-finding senses weren’t malfunctioning after all.

As a treasure-hunting mouse, it would be strange if he couldn’t locate treasure. That earlier issue must have been a fluke.

It wasn’t just that Shi Qian was overly cautious; it was because the rules of the cultivation realm were brutal. Many spirit beasts were considered enemies by human cultivators. While some were kept as useful spiritual pets, many were slaughtered for materials or medicines to aid cultivation.

Until Shi Qian grew strong enough, his treasure-hunting ability was his greatest asset.

For instance, if the demon cultivator found out he was useless, he might not even know how he would die.

Shi Qian had no desire to experience being eaten.

For the demon cultivator, this discovery was a massive stroke of luck.

In such an unremarkable place, to find such a treasure trove… Even the spiritual energy leaking out was proof of this place’s significance!

The demon cultivator quickly made preparations, cautiously probing the fissure in the waterfall before flying in.

Shi Qian was stuffed inside the cultivator’s clothes, as living spirit creatures like him couldn’t be stored in a normal spatial pouch. Without an expensive specialized spirit beast bag, he had to be carried around.

This gave Shi Qian a perfect vantage point to observe the treasure hunt.

Behind the waterfall’s curtain was a spacious cave.

The ceiling was adorned with various stalactites formed from condensed spiritual energy, making the cave glow with a shimmering brilliance.

In front of them lay a dark stone pathway, leading into a deep, shadowy unknown.

The demon cultivator sealed the crack in the waterfall, preventing anyone outside from noticing the hidden treasure, then released two puppets. Grabbing Shi Qian by the neck, he asked, “Is the treasure further inside? Are there any dangers?”

Once inside the cave, Shi Qian’s senses were overwhelmed by the scent of treasure. The strongest scent led deeper into the stone path.

But as for whether there were any dangers, Shi Qian couldn’t say.

He pointed his little paw toward the dark path and then curled up, signaling that he wanted to crawl back into the demon cultivator’s clothes.

Danger or not, he planned to hide first.

“Cowardly like a mouse,” the demon cultivator sneered.

Shi Qian: “?”

“Squeak.”

Yes, cowardly like a mouse.

Even the poisonous creatures on the demon cultivator’s face paused upon hearing the squeak.

Though cowardly, it was true that Shi Qian was, after all, a mouse.

The demon cultivator seemed to be annoyed, shoving Shi Qian back into his robes and using other small animals drawn by the spiritual energy to test the path ahead.

Shi Qian stopped watching the treasure hunt and instead started thinking about something else. He couldn’t shake the image of the demon cultivator’s lifeless face. So tragic.

Then Shi Qian thought back over everything that had happened and realized something ridiculous.

His curiosity about treasure led him to the demon cultivator (Xue Hai).

Then, he helped the demon cultivator find treasure, which led to the demon cultivator’s death.

Now, this new demon cultivator was about to embark on a treasure hunt.

If this demon cultivator also ended up dead, would Shi Qian still be considered a normal treasure-hunting mouse? Or would he be a… death-seeking mouse?

Shi Qian felt a little numb, as if his mouse life was doomed.

The system, 1958, was dormant and couldn’t help even if contacted. Shi Qian was already aware of the system’s imaginative nature, having received plenty of reminders from his department about uncontrollable details in this new world.

On second thought, Shi Qian realized his ability could work to his advantage now.

If the demon cultivator didn’t die, how would he escape?

If his theory was correct, all he needed to do was get away before the demon cultivator met his end.

And if he was wrong, and his treasure-hunting ability was still functioning as normal, he could just continue to play the role of the timid mouse and stay hidden.

The Great Learning says, “Make progress every day, and renew yourself daily.” As long as he kept staying out of trouble, Shi Qian believed he would survive to see another day.

With this in mind, Shi Qian stayed alert to the scent of treasure. Every little detail he picked up could be useful later on.

For instance, how strong a scent meant a valuable treasure… or perhaps… how big of a disaster it might lead to.