The size of the Cold Crow is relatively large, although it doesn’t seem like much compared to the entire Demon Mountain.

However, the Tengu wouldn’t be so reckless and careless to allow a ship with such astonishing energy and spell reactions, virtually an airborne fortress, to directly enter their mountain’s airspace. Moreover, compared to the Ghost Race, the Tengu society is quite exclusionary.

As a result, even with Yakumo Zi as a guarantor, entering the vicinity of Demon Mountain was relatively smooth, but they still couldn’t directly enter the mountain.

Gu Mo naturally had no objections to this, having come prepared when piloting such a large ship. After all, if he put himself in their shoes, he probably wouldn’t want to be sitting at home and see a magic starship looming over his house.

Even if the other party had no hostile intent, it’s inevitable to feel uneasy and annoyed, a feeling that is hard to avoid...

So, he straightforwardly followed Yakumo Zi’s suggestion, steering the magic ship into a deep ravine near Demon Mountain for anchorage, temporarily sitting on the river as a ship-based headquarters.

This ravine doesn’t have a name, originally a large canyon at the foot of Demon Mountain. Its terrain is quite complex, appearing both long and winding, but accommodating a double-masted schooner less than a hundred meters long is more than enough.

The ravine apparently formed from early volcanic activity of Demon Mountain, with its walls formed from solidified volcanic lava creating a hexagonal rocky terrain, resembling a tortoise shell. These hexagonal stones, in later eras, would be called "Basalt".

The canyon environment is relatively good—

Surrounded by trees with abundant foliage and vibrant vegetation, the scenery of Demon Mountain with its rolling peaks can be seen in the distance, with dense smoke quietly rising towards the sky from its summit.

This is volcanic smoke, from a sacred peak once as tall as Mount Fuji, and like Mount Fuji, it was a volcano... but it won’t erupt anymore, so even with volcanic smoke rising slowly, there is no sign of panic or tension among the demons of the mountain.

It seems they have become quite accustomed to this.

"The smoke from the mountain is indeed volcanic smoke, but it is also the Undying Smoke, emitted by the Divine Spirit Stone Long Princess residing atop the mountain, not a sign of an impending volcanic eruption, so they have nothing to worry about..."

Yakumo Zi sat by the table’s edge, gently biting the straw in her drink, and explained as she looked up at the rolling peaks of Demon Mountain in the distance: "Ishikawa is the older sister of Princess Kikuya, in charge of eternal life... that is, the Undying Princess."

"So, this Ishikawa is the Immortal God?"

Gu Mo nodded thoughtfully, also watching the gentle smoke rising from the crater.

"Of course, that’s how it’s said, but through all these years, no one has met Ishikawa, even though the ghosts and tengu have lived on the mountain for ages... the legend says that Sakuya compared the heights of two mountains and smashed the Eight Peaks Mountain—"

The monster maiden’s eyes shifted as she looked at the young man opposite, smiling as she spoke.

"It is said that the Divine Spirit left Mount Fuji because she couldn’t stand her sister Sakuya’s character, relocating to the smashed Eight Peaks Mountain... it’s merely rumored, I don’t know the truth of it, and even the ghosts haven’t seen the Divine Spirit on the mountain."

"It should be true, I can feel the divinity of the mountain, but she seems to have no intention of coming out to meet anyone, as if she’s trying to slowly repair and restore this Spirit Mountain." Shinki sat on the other side of the table, holding a drink with a pout interjecting.

This was on the deck at the prow, where Gu Mo had set up a large parasol, under which he placed a table.

The three sat around the table, under the blazing sun, oddly feeling like they were at a scenic spot or seated outside a dessert shop.

Of course, only Gu Mo had this sense of déjà vu, while the other two had no such associations, merely feeling it was leisurely and pleasant.

"Seems like no one’s coming..."

Lightly tapping the table, Gu Mo frowned, looking around.

The environment of this canyon is nice, with beautiful scenery, the only issue being the lack of people, as they had been there for half a day already and no one had come to inquire... wasn’t it meant to create a spectacular initial impact and open this market in one go?

Come to think of it, is this development not quite right?

"Although there’s a lot of frequent interaction between many non-human entities here, it hasn’t formed... well, like the stable marketplace you imagine. Many people are merely passing through, or entering and exiting, for instance, ground demons wanting to enter the Underworld from here, Underworld demons wanting to come to the surface..."

Facing Gu Mo’s somewhat puzzled gaze, the blonde monster maiden began explaining.

"They’re not going up the mountain to join the Ghost Race’s never-ending bacchanals, or directly heading from here to the Underworld for unknown purposes... they weren’t coming with the thought of bartering, so naturally, no one pays attention to it."