211: The Second Settlement

The Second Settlement

"I knew it," Nanlan Qianxue grinned in triumph. "Nice to meet you then, Inscription Master Lu Tianzi! So apart from me, who else knows about this matter?"

"No one else, other than my master… perhaps?" Lu Tianzi answered frankly.

Among those who knew of his secret, the entire Ivory Rock City had been purged.

As for his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, even though he knew of Lu Tianzi's dual cultivation systems, when Lu Tianzi thought back to it, Xihuang Yuanfeng had never asked him if he was a human or a demon.

So did his master know?

He probably did.

After all, with his cultivation level, he should have some methods at his disposal to determine such a thing. Otherwise, he would probably have asked… right?

Wait a minute, his master did ask him!

Lu Tianzi suddenly recalled the scene when he first met his master.

But at that time, all that his master was interested in was whether Lu Tianzi cultivated the Spiritual Essence or Slaughter Essence system, so as to determine if he was worth teaching.

Did his master just not care about his identity?

The more he thought about his unreliable master, the more Lu Tianzi felt that that could indeed be the case!

"Perhaps?" Nanlan Qianxue eyed him suspiciously. "I guess at least the master part of your story is true then. Is your master a human too?"

"No, he is a demon." Lu Tianzi shook his head.

"I guess I am not the only one who is willing to accept a human as an acquaintance then!" Nanlan Qianxue laughed. "So what are we going to do now, Inscription Master Lu Tianzi?"

"Enough with that. Just call me Tianzi like you usually do," Lu Tianzi put on his shirt after rinsing his wounds with the river water.

"Then you should just call me Qianxue as well," Nanlan Qianxue shrugged. "Well then, Inscription Master Tianzi. Do you still want to check out the human village?"

"Mm," Lu Tianzi nodded, not bothering to hide his thoughts from Nanlan Qianxue anymore. "To be honest, I am truly quite interested in this village."

A human settlement apart from Ivory Rock City… just what would it be like?

"Do you want me to wait for you here then?" Nanlan Qianxue asked.

"Why don't you come with me?" Lu Tianzi suggested instead. "That Ye guy did mention that there are not many people from the village who can handle wild beasts, so perhaps there aren't many martial artists. If the situation allows for it, you might even be able to enter the village as well."

Nanlan Qianxue hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

She understood that Lu Tianzi was probably worried to leave her here alone. If she were to refuse, Lu Tianzi might just give up on visiting the village altogether.

After all, even though they had shaken off their pursuers, there might still be wild beasts in the area that could pose a threat. In this situation, Lu Tianzi would never choose to leave Nanlan Qianxue alone in the wilds, just like how Nanlan Qianxue would not do the same.

Having made their decision, the duo rested for a while more before heading towards the village.

On the way, Lu Tianzi did not forget to stretch out his perception to its maximum range.

This was a necessary safety precaution.

If they were to come across any human martial artists who were at the Origin Core realm or above, they would have no choice but to give up on the plan immediately!

Thankfully, they did not come across any of such powerful existences on their way, and it did not take long before the village came into sight.

After all, it was a distance that Ye and his son Rui were able to travel comfortably, and they were both regular people who did not practice martial arts. To martial artists like Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue, it was an extremely short journey.

"How is it?" Nanlan Qianxue asked as they watched the village from up in the trees.

"It is smaller than I imagined," Lu Tianzi rubbed his chin in contemplation.

Indeed, this was a relatively small village. From their current position, Lu Tianzi was actually able to cover the entire village with his perception.

The village was defended by a 2 metres tall wooden fencing, fitted with two sturdy gates at each end. There were around a hundred houses within, all of them well constructed and uniformly designed, as though they had all been built by the same person.

There were even an area that had been sorted out for farming and rearing livestock.

Its location was quite cleverly chosen as well.

Apart from the river that they had come from, there was another stream nearer to the village, providing the villagers with a ready supply of fresh water. At the same time, it was not so near that the village would be troubled by the beasts that visit the stream.

But the most important factor to Lu Tianzi was that there were very few martial artists, to the point that it was almost pathetic.

Lu Tianzi counted ten at the Essence Building realm, with only two of them having hit the Peak Essence Building realm.

Apart from these ten, the rest either did not practice martial arts, or simply had not attained any success with their practice.

"This is worse than I thought…" Lu Tianzi shook his head in disappointment.

He had hoped that the human settlement would have some martial arts heritage that he could learn from, so as to further expand his knowledge of the Spiritual Essence cultivation system. But from the looks of it now, chances were slim.

"Are there a lot of experts in there?" Nanlan Qianxue asked upon seeing the unhappy look on Lu Tianzi's face.

"More like the opposite. Come on along, you should be fine as long as you don't reveal your tail," Lu Tianzi leapt down from the tree, and Nanlan Qianxue swiftly followed.

To prevent wild beasts from entering, the gates were shut at all times. However, there were always people stationed on an elevated platform as lookouts.

The two old sentries had been playing chess on the platform. But when they saw Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue approach, they quickly got to their feet and watched them closely.

"Are my eyes failing me? I don't remember them from the village."

"Don't worry, your eyes might be bad, but it hasn't gotten to that point yet. They definitely don't belong to the village."

"Holy shit, humans from the wilds?"

"Not necessarily, they might be demons!"

By now, Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue had arrived before the wooden gate.

"Who are you? State your purpose here!" one of the old men shouted.

"We are here by invitation of a man named Ye," Lu Tianzi answered calmly.

"Ye? He invited them?"

"Ye actually met people from outside of the village without letting us know?"

"But since Ye invited them, there shouldn't be a problem with letting them in, right?"

"No, let's find Ye to ascertain the matter first!"

Ye and Rui had returned earlier, and it did not take long before they were brought to the gate. They were surprised when they saw Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue, and Ye quickly told the two old sentries about how he had indeed invited the duo, thereby corroborating Lu Tianzi's side of the story.

"You came after all!" Ye laughed in a welcoming manner as Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue were let in through the gate.

"We decided that it might be better to take a rest here. Of course, that is if we are welcomed," Lu Tianzi smiled before turning to look towards the old sentries who were still staring at him and Nanlan Qianxue.

"Haha, don't worry about them," Ye hurriedly dragged them away from the gate. "They are not wary of you, just curious. After all, we have not had visitors in a long time. Come on, let me first bring you to the chief."0

It did not take long before they were brought to a wooden house that looked just like all the others.

Seemingly already aware of the matter, the village chief was standing outside the house, waiting patiently for their arrival.

The village chief was a fit looking middle-aged man. Just like Ye, he had long hair that was tied neatly into a ponytail. However, his hair had already started to grey near the temples. Unlike Ye, however, the village chief was properly dressed, wearing a loose shirt and long pants.

"Chief!" Ye waved casually towards the village chief. "We have visitors from the outside!"

"So I have heard," the village chief nodded calmly before turning his attention to Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue. "Welcome to Xian Village. I am the Chief of this village, and I wish that you have a good stay here. I suppose that you have a few questions for me, just like I have for you. Shall we have a short chat in the house?"

"Sure," Lu Tianzi agreed immediately, and followed the village chief in.

"Wait," the village chief stopped Ye when he was about to follow them in. "Ye, why don't you bring Rui back home first? I will let you know when we are done."

"Eh?" Ye was surprised, but he knew better than to insist. "Okay then. Rui, let's go."

Lu Tianzi did not think much about it. He understood that the village chief probably wanted to talk about matters that Ye could be unaware of, and that was only natural.

After all, a nice way to describe Ye would be too hospitable. But if described in a more untactful manner, someone like him who invited random strangers back to the village was essentially just a clueless person, especially when demons looked just like humans.

If unlucky enough, such actions might even result in a catastrophe for the village.

Thus, it was understandable even if the village chief was unwilling to include him in this conversation.

The interior of the house was nothing special. But perhaps because he was the village chief, there were many chairs in the main hall of the house, making it optimal to receive guests.

Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue took their seats facing the village chief, silently waiting for the village chief to speak first.

"Well then, may I know where are our honoured guests from?" the village chief asked with a kind smile.

"I am not sure if you know this, but there is a human city very far north of here," Lu Tianzi replied.

Hearing this, the village chief narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "A human city?"

"That's right," Lu Tianzi was unfazed as he continued. "It stands at the edge of a cliff, and has tall city walls that keep out beasts and demons."

"That sounds like a nice and safe place. Why would you leave the city then? Where are you headed?" the village chief continued with his questioning.

"To discover new lands," Lu Tianzi let out a bitter smile. "That, as well as to locate and inform humans out there about the existence of Ivory Rock City. Unfortunately, with your numbers, it will not be easy to escort you back to the city. Then again, it does not seem like you would be willing to leave your village in the first place."

This time, Lu Tianzi was not faking his smile.

What he described was exactly what he would have been doing as a Holy Guardian if he had not been betrayed by Hu Yuanbo back then.

Of course, if that was the case, he probably would never have made it all the way here to Xian Village either.

The village chief continued to shoot questions at Lu Tianzi, which the latter handled perfectly with his lies. Even Nanlan Qianxue was confused at times, not knowing if Lu Tianzi was speaking the truth or if it was just another of his lies.

Lu Tianzi's face was simply too composed throughout.

So this was how he did it…

She could not help but think back on how Lu Tianzi had managed to hide his own identity from the entire Scarlet Moon Kingdom, even becoming the top ranker of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet which was witnessed by the Scarlet Moon Overlord.

After a while, the village chief seemed to have finally let down his guard.

"Please pardon me if I appeared to be rude, but I had to do so in order to ensure the safety of the village," the village chief apologised. "I hope you have a good rest here while recovering from your injuries. The village might be slightly noisy over the next few days, so I hope you won't mind."

"Oh? Is there something happening?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"You might not know this since you are from far away, but this area is governed by the God of Pestilence," the village chief explained. "The monthly offering day to the God of Pestilence is coming up soon, so everyone is busy preparing for it. Please don't let it bother you."

"God of Pestilence?" Lu Tianzi almost raised an eyebrow in scepticism.

What the hell is that?

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