I can push my cultivation progress to the end

“Huh? It can even speak human language?”

Li Hai looked at him with surprise, “Then tell me yourself, what exactly are you?”

“Master, I… I… am human!”

The ghost-person stammered, “I am human, truly human, not a monster!”

As he spoke, he hurriedly lifted the messy, green hair covering his head, revealing a withered and pale face.

This face was filled with sorrow and hardship, as if the owner of the face had exhausted all his strength just to stay alive.

Li Hai's attention, however, was more focused on the green fur hat that had been completely removed from the ghost-person's hand.

Looking at the rows of stitches inside the fur hat, which were rough but clearly handmade, Li Hai said thoughtfully:

“The green hair on your head is fake, so the green hair all over your body… it can't all be fake, can it?”

“Master… you’re right, right.”

The ghost-person kneeling on the ground stammered as he spoke, quickly stripping off the damp, thick green fur suit, transforming into a gaunt man wearing only ragged clothes.

Judging by his appearance, this person was indeed human, and a pale and emaciated one at that. You couldn't say he was completely helpless, but it was estimated that anyone who had practiced a couple of moves could beat him to death.

Out of curiosity about the origins of this ghost-person race, Li Hai asked again: “What is your name?”

Hearing the question, the ghost-person honestly replied: “This humble one… is named Zheng Dashan.”

“Very well, Zheng Dashan, in this stream…”

Li Hai shifted his gaze to the turbid stream and said lightly, “You're not the only one here, are you?”

The ghost-person Zheng Dashan shuddered: “There, there, there are also my family members.”

“Then take me to see them.”

Li Hai said calmly, “I'm very curious, how can a group of living people be hidden in a turbid stream full of sand and stones.”

Through his ghost-seeking and aura-observing techniques, he could clearly feel several ghost-person auras, neither human nor ghost, slowly emerging from the depths of the stream.

“This, this…” Zheng Dashan clearly didn't want to satisfy Li Hai's curiosity.

“Don't worry.” Li Hai's tone softened, “I'm not a bad person. If you're in any trouble, perhaps I can help.”

As he spoke, he took out shiny silver coins from his pocket and shook them, enticing him with benefits.

It was only after personally entering the water that he realized that the stream was not as turbulent as it appeared on the surface. In fact, any child who was a good swimmer could swim in it for a long time.

However, they didn't swim for too long. After swimming downwards for more than ten zhang to reach the bottom of the stream, Li Hai followed Zheng Dashan into a dark and gloomy hole at the edge of the stream bed.

Entering this lightless hole and swimming downwards diagonally for another ten zhang, reaching a body of water that was noticeably clearer, Zheng Dashan began to float upwards, and Li Hai closely followed behind.

“This Zheng Dashan's breath-holding ability is quite strong.”

Looking at the figure in front of him, moving upwards quickly like a fish, Li Hai thought to himself, “It should be the effect of that so-called 'Survival in Adversity' skill.”

After floating upwards for about twenty zhang, the two emerged from a dark pool inside an unknown cave.

“This is a good place.”

Looking up at the warm light shining down from above, and the large, gentle rocky slopes all around, Li Hai couldn't help but smile, “Zheng Dashan, you're quite lucky to have found such a place. Tell me, what kind of enemies could drive you to this point?”

In fact, after climbing out of the deep pool, he immediately saw four ghost-people hiding in the dim environment a hundred zhang away, not even daring to breathe loudly.

It was a woman, and three children.

Although the three children were also pale, their vitality was relatively good, indicating that they hadn't been starving too much recently.

But the woman was much worse. Although it could be seen that her features should have been quite good, she looked withered and gaunt, just like Zheng Dashan, due to her weak vitality and possibly because she hadn't seen the light for a long time.

In short, these people, plus Zheng Dashan, were clearly a family of five, and the only reason for this family of five to live in such a hidden place was to escape from enemies.

“Master, I, we…”

Zheng Dashan knelt down with a thud, “Our… our family, originally from Zhou Family Fortress, Ox… Oxhorn Town…”

As he recounted, Li Hai gradually learned that Zheng Dashan, his wife, and their three children ran a small inn in Oxhorn Town.

It was the lowest-end type of inn, with only a communal bed and clear noodle soup, and no so-called rooms or meat dishes.

Usually, only poor merchants traveling on the road and wheat harvesters passing through would stay there for a night, and anyone with a little money wouldn't go there.

Therefore, Zheng Dashan's family had only managed to make ends meet for many years, far from being wealthy.

Even so, their family had deep affection for each other and lived in harmony, and life was still quite good.

But one night three years ago, a captain from the Zhou Family's local militia, drunk, stumbled into Zheng's inn with two or three cronies and saw Zheng Dashan's wife, who was still very beautiful at the time.

Stimulated by the alcohol and egged on by his friends, the militia captain became aroused and wanted to assault the poor woman on the spot.

Zheng Dashan stepped forward to stop him, but was beaten to the ground by the group.

Then, as the man was about to commit the evil deed, Zheng Dashan rushed over with a knife and stabbed him.

Due to the severity of his injuries, the militia captain quickly fled the inn, supported by his friends.

But before leaving, the captain left a harsh threat:

“From now on, I will make your family live in turmoil!”

These words frightened Zheng Dashan's family so much that they abandoned their inn and fled Oxhorn Town overnight.

Even afraid of being ambushed, they didn't dare to take the main roads, taking small paths and escaping into this deep mountain for a day and a night.

Since then, Zheng Dashan's family of five had settled down, hiding for a full three years.

“That's not right.”

Li Hai, sitting cross-legged on the ground by the deep pool, said to Zheng Dashan, “You left out some things.”

“This…” Zheng Dashan hesitated, “This humble one… has said everything I should say.”

“No, you haven't.”

Li Hai said slowly, “You didn't say how your family found this hidden cave, nor did you say how you knew there was a stream leading to this cave. I think… someone outside your family must have helped.”

“It was Uncle helped…”

A hundred zhang away, one of Zheng Dashan's children had just muttered half a sentence when his mother quickly covered his mouth.

But it was too late, Li Hai clearly heard the half sentence.

“Your child said it was Uncle who helped.”

He looked at Zheng Dashan, “Uncle… that would be your brother-in-law, but didn't you just say that your family has no other relatives?”

“Alas ~”

Zheng Dashan sighed helplessly, “This humble one will tell the truth now. Master, please don't blame me. It was indeed my brother-in-law who helped us, not a blood brother-in-law, but one that my wife recognized in these mountains.”

“These mountains are dark and pitch black, and there are hardly any living people.”

Li Hai looked strange, “Where did you recognize a relative?”

“Uh, my brother-in-law, he…”

Zheng Dashan stammered, “He is actually… is a… ghost.”