9 An Intellectually Physically and Spiritually Balanced Excellent Disciple... (1/2)
”Young Master, there's a village ahead of us!”
As they walked away from the fog, the suddenly appearing village shocked the errand boy who subconsciously took a few steps backwards.
Wang Lu patted him on the shoulder. ”What's wrong? Weren't you complaining about being hungry and thirsty for so long? Here's a readily available supply point for you.”
The errand boy frowned; his face had a frightened look. ”Young Master, don't you think there's something weird? Why would there be a village here?”
”After walking for a full four hours, anyone would be tired and hungry. So, of course, there would be a village here. Or do you think we deserve to starve to death?”
”But... it still seems so weird. Look! There are people in the village!”
The errand boy pointed. On the village road, an old lady carrying firewood was slowly walking towards them.
”Young, Young Master, I think that the old lady is looking at us us!?”
”So what? Is your heart beating wildly when she looked at you?”
”I, I meant that it's a living person!”
”Nonsense. If not a person, is she a 'ghost'?”
”I always thought that in this kind of place, running into a ghost is more normal than running into a person...”
”Then you should just go and say hello to that old ghost,” Wang Lu sighed, ”If you're scared, just follow me. There's probably going to be lots of stories in this village. Let's not rush things.”
---
The village hidden behind the fog was not as mysterious or as terrifying as the errand boy had imagined. After talking with a few of the villagers, the two had discovered that the name of the village was ”Peach Blossom Village”. The villagers had been living in seclusion for over a thousand years, not concerning themselves with the matters of the outside world. The resources in the mountain were abundant, and they had lived a prosperous, easy and comfortable life for the past thousand years.
The villagers of the Peach Blossom Village were all very hospitable. When Wang Lu and Wang Zhong had arrived at noon, the Village Head had even held a banquet at his residence to entertain the master and his servant, and half of the village came. The scene was loud and noisy. Wang Lu and the little pageboy ate to their heart's content, and gleefully drank the sweet wine made from the mountain spring water and wild fruits. Their fatigue from the Cloud Wave Map had been completely swept away.
At the banquet, apart from eating and drinking, there was also plenty of talking and laughter. Like Wang Lu had expected, it was a golden opportunity for information gathering. But the strange thing was that the Peach Blossom Village was extremely disconnected from the outside world. Let alone the ”Nine Regions”, they did not even know that they were residing inside the Spirit Sword Mountain. To these villagers, the mountains and waters around them were the entire world.
Even more bizarre was that the villagers did not appear to be curious by the sudden appearance of the two outsiders. Although they were very hospitable, they showed no interest with the outside world at all.
”What? There are Immortals outside? Riding on flying swords would be so cool! Here, this is the Yellow Fish; it's our village's specialty. Have a taste...”
”Emperor? What's an Emperor? Is he bigger than the Village Head? What, if we see him, we have to kneel down in front of him? And if we're not careful, we can lose our heads? What a barbaric village! Here, try some of my wife's steam buns...”
That pretty much summed up Wang Lu's experiences in trying to talk to the villager's about the outside world. He had no way of changing the topic while talking with them. The villagers mindsets were incorrigibly obstinate.
At night, the two of them stayed at the home of the Village Head. The Village Head graciously let them stay in a guest room in the backyard. The quality of the room was even better than the best room at the Ru Family Inn. However, this was ignored by the pair of master and servant as their minds were somewhat distracted.
The errand boy was restless, thinking, ”Why would there be such a banquet on the Immortal Path?” In the stories he had heard, people had to experience untold hardships before they could succeed. If they had such a merry time on the way to the Misty Peak, weren't those two Brothers from the Carefree Peak a bit too pitiful?
As for Wang Lu, he was quite puzzled with the villagers' responses during the day.
From an adventurer's perspective, if the Immortal Path was an adventure, then the Spirit Creek Town would undoubtedly be the ”Beginner's Village”. The Golden Bridge and the fog would be the first adventure, and then the Peach Blossom Village would be the important turning point. After which, it would be the beginning of the main plot, similar to the main city of those adventuring stories. However, the villager's lack of interest in the outside world clearly put an end to any quest possibilities.
At the dinner banquet, Wang Lu had a conversation with most of the people in the village, but there was no sign of that quest appearing.
”Argh, why is it that this adventure's progression seemed to have slowed down?!”
Wang Lu lied awake for the entire night. Early the next morning, when Wang Lu was brushing his teeth at the stream, things have finally turned for the better.
”As they say, it's a small world after all, eh?”
Seeing the person that came out of the woods, Wang Lu nearly swallowed the water he was rinsing his mouth with.
”Little Hai!?”
Hai Yunfan's smile immediately became somewhat awkward. ”Little Hai... alright, Little Hai it is. Brother Wang Lu, I would have never thought that I would run into you again here.”
Wang Lu dropped his toothbrush with a face filled with confusion. ”I never thought that I would meet you here either. I thought that this is just a mini 'instance', but you actually appeared here. Does this mean we have unknowingly formed a party?”
--
Meanwhile, the Elders on the Misty Peak were going crazy.
”Where, where did this Peach Blossom Village come from!?”
”... Master, even if you ask me, I wouldn't be able to answer you.”
The disciple wearing black and white, after being scolded by the furious and red-eyed Misty Peak Elder, was under enormous pressure.He almost had to pull out his Spirit Sword and offer it as a sacrifice to prevent himself from being crushed by his master's might.
Before, when the Sect Leader Martial Uncle's anger leaked out, he had obliterated the Cloud Array. Now, Liu Xian's anger, which caused his Primordial Spirit Energy to leak out, made the Misty Peak's entire Seeking Sword hall continuously tremble, and it also made the sea of clouds around it to roll around as if there were invisible hands tearing them apart... Within a hundred of meters of Liu Xian, anyone who was not yet at the Xudan Stage was not even able to stand.
”Senior Martial Brother, calm down.”
Elder Zhou Ming shook his head and patted Liu Xian's shoulder. A wave of cold and clear sword aura flowed into Liu Xian who was instantly awoken from his rage. ”Sorry, I lost myself for a bit there.”