Just as Chu Xingrui was secretly worrying about the safety of Li Fufeng and his companion, these two were squatting side by side in a courtyard, one feeding chickens and geese, looking quite skilled.
But the next moment, with a “peck,” a giant white goose, three times the size of a normal white goose, began flapping its wings and flying low in the courtyard – about one centimeter off the ground. It relentlessly chased after the person who had been feeding it carelessly and always trying to secretly pluck feathers from its body. Every feather seemed to be flashing with killing intent.
The exponential increase in size also brought an exponential boost to the fighting power of the giant white goose. For a moment, the entire courtyard seemed to be stirred up by a small sandstorm, with dust flying everywhere. Liu Ningshuang, who was being chased by the giant white goose, skillfully ran towards Li Fufeng, who was feeding the chickens, not forgetting to look back. “I just ruffled your feathers a bit, don’t be so petty!”
Provoked by this, the ferocious giant white goose charged even more fiercely, its long beak pecking more aggressively with a series of “peck peck peck” attacks, all of which were narrowly avoided by Liu Ningshuang’s agile movements.
Liu Ningshuang skillfully led the giant white goose around the courtyard for about ten laps until the goose was too tired to run anymore and could only glare at her with fierce eyes. She then slowly slowed down her pace and expertly plucked a handful of fluffy feathers from the exhausted goose lying on the ground. “See, isn’t it better to be obedient like this?”
She muttered, looking quite pleased with herself, standing next to the dejected giant white goose, the contrast especially stark.
Li Fufeng shook his head with an amused smile. After finishing feeding the chickens, he stood up. “Why do you provoke it for no reason? Geese are very fierce, you know.”
“I was just curious,” Liu Ningshuang raised both hands and gestured, “Such a big goose, isn’t it rare? I’ve never seen a goose like this before. Oh, and these chickens…”
“No, no, no, don’t set your sights on the chickens now.” Seeing Liu Ningshuang’s gaze fall on the bright red-feathered chickens, Li Fufeng quickly stepped forward to block them, “If you keep messing around, I’m afraid these chickens will be worn out before I can fatten them up…” As he said this, he suddenly became alert and silently turned his gaze towards the area behind Liu Ningshuang, “In these few days, hasn’t this giant white goose lost quite a bit of weight?”
Liu Ningshuang’s gaze followed Li Fufeng’s to the exhausted giant white goose on the ground. After observing for a moment, she immediately looked away guiltily. She coughed twice and looked up. “Well, how can normal post-meal exercise be called messing around? It’s not losing weight, it’s muscle toning and nutrition…”“…Just like how stealing books isn’t called theft, I get it,” Li Fufeng quipped skillfully. “If I hadn’t seen you come in here with me, I would have thought I brought Professor Yin here. Perhaps this strange otherworld has suddenly awakened your bloodline’s Yin-style perspective? Is this what being cousins means?”
“?” Hearing him mention Yin Xubai, the childhood trauma that had overshadowed her for years suddenly resurfaced in her memory. Liu Ningshuang’s mood immediately soured, and she instantly lost interest in teasing the chickens and geese.
She rolled her eyes. “I was just too bored, okay? We can’t go back to Blue Star, and it’s not time to enter the city yet, so I was just finding something to pass the time. Sigh, I hope our families won’t be too heartbroken when the news of our disappearance gets back to them.”
As she spoke, Liu Ningshuang let out a heavy sigh. The excitement from chasing the goose earlier was gone, revealing her true emotions.
“I don’t know if the time flow between the two sides is 1:1. We’ve been in this strange otherworld for five days now. We’ve probably been listed as missing persons on Blue Star by now…”
“It shouldn’t be that fast. It’s only been five days. The Special Case Investigation Team won’t confirm our deaths so quickly and notify our families,” Li Fufeng was also somewhat worried, but he quickly composed himself and said seriously, “That’s why we need to get out of here as soon as possible, and return to Blue Star before our deaths are confirmed and the news reaches our families. It would be even better if we could bring back information about this world and news about the missing persons… Whether it’s for returning or finding the missing persons, we need to quickly make contact with the upper echelons of this world.”
“—This upcoming trip to the city for the market is our chance.”
Liu Ningshuang was originally of strong character, but this experience had been too bizarre. Anyone would feel lost when even the possibility of returning home was uncertain. After venting her emotions momentarily, she quickly regained her composure. Taking a deep breath, she stood up. “You’re right, we need to find a way back as soon as possible.”
She thought of the scene they faced when they suddenly arrived in this world a few days ago, and a smile appeared on her face again. “Actually, we’re already quite lucky. We didn’t end up in some dangerous and terrifying world, being hunted by completely unreasonable natives. Instead, we met people with similar cultures who are willing to help us…”
“Yes…” Li Fufeng nodded in agreement.
Their thoughts seemed to drift back to their first day in this world—
An ancient mansion in a style from hundreds of years ago, a suddenly appearing girl in red, and shadows flashing like ghosts… These elements combined were like a classic ghost movie.
And Liu Ningshuang, who wasn’t afraid of anything except ghosts, was undoubtedly stunned at first sight.
Even Li Fufeng, who was friends with Adam, was quite shocked—not because of the girl’s entrance, but by her first words.
“—You’ve been wandering outside the village for almost three hours, are you playing hide and seek?”
Even though the speaker was smiling sweetly, sincerely, and curiously, hearing this almost made Li Fufeng break out in a cold sweat.
Their reconnaissance, which they thought had been well-hidden and undetected, had been observed from beginning to end. Perhaps even the moment they suddenly appeared in this world hadn’t escaped notice. Thinking of this, how could they not be terrified?
As the girl in red appeared and spoke, a group of villagers seemed to appear at her summons, suddenly surrounding the two in the courtyard.
At that time, they both thought they were done for.
Fortunately, these people didn’t seem to have any ill intentions towards them, or rather, the girl who called herself “Qing Fei” had no ill intentions, and she seemed to hold a high position in the hearts of the other villagers. At least, they were all willing to listen to her ideas.
—And so the two of them temporarily stayed.
“Qing Fei” had probably been staying in the village and rarely saw outsiders or had companions of equal status, so she was particularly enthusiastic and curious about these two newcomers, Li Fufeng and Liu Ningshuang.
The two soon learned that the courtyard house they had chosen wasn’t Qing Fei’s home. This young girl lived alone in the center of the village, but she had discovered the two outsiders lingering outside the village through some unknown means and appeared before them out of curiosity.
Unexpectedly, her unique entrance almost made Liu Ningshuang mistake her for a wandering ghost in the ancient mansion.
After Qing Fei accepted the two, the villagers seemed to automatically treat them as the girl’s guests and arranged for them to stay in this courtyard where the girl lived alone. All they had to do these few days was feed the chickens and geese in the yard, which in a sense, was also taking care of their own food.
Apart from this, their freedom didn’t seem to be restricted. If they wished, they could leave the village at any time.
But the two didn’t act rashly.
Their “stumble” with Qing Fei made them realize that this world wasn’t as simple as they thought, but had supernatural powers. On the contrary, they had made the mistake of empiricism, thinking it was just like Yao Country from hundreds of years ago.
The two spent a few days establishing relationships with the villagers, gathering a lot of information by helping with chores, and learning about the world from Qing Fei. Gradually, they pieced together a simple intelligence report in their minds.
This world was indeed not as simple as they had initially thought. Although the customs were similar to those of ancient Yao Country from hundreds of years ago, there existed supernatural powers that ancient Yao Country didn’t have – namely, the martial arts.
The martial arts of this world were not like the fighting techniques Liu Ningshuang had learned before, but a power that involved drawing spiritual energy from the earth into the body, forming an internal circulation through practice, continuously strengthening the physical body, and then applying martial techniques.
According to information they gathered from the village children, legendary martial arts masters could easily split mountains and cross rivers on a single reed.
Although there were no martial arts masters in this village called Shicun Village, there were legends of various great masters, which the children here had heard countless times since childhood.
Initially, the two didn’t quite believe the children’s stories, thinking they must be greatly exaggerated – this wasn’t just martial arts, it was almost like immortal cultivation.
But when they saw villagers who reportedly hadn’t even begun to learn martial arts effortlessly wielding swords weighing dozens of pounds in the village’s martial arts field, while others didn’t find it strange at all, they finally realized that all the stories were true.
They immediately became interested in this world’s martial arts and curious about these masters who could supposedly fly through the air. It was as if some childhood fantasies had come true before their eyes.
This information wasn’t a secret, and the two soon learned that this world wasn’t divided into countries, but consisted of twelve cities and numerous villages of various sizes. The true martial arts masters mostly lived in the cities, developing their families and accepting disciples. The villages outside the cities were mostly inhabited by ordinary people with little to no martial arts skills, and it was rare for a martial artist to choose to settle outside the cities.
If they wanted to gain a deeper understanding of this world, or even learn these special martial arts powers, they would have to enter the city.
Now, thinking back to the ghost-like shadow of the young girl Qing Fei, they understood. This girl wasn’t a ghost, she just had martial arts skills. As for her level of strength, without comparison to others, the two couldn’t be sure of her standing in this world.
They guessed it probably wasn’t very high. After all, her age was a factor, and even if she was a prodigy, it would still take time to increase her strength… This was a world of martial arts practice, not a xianxia novel where there were monsters hundreds of years old pretending to be young. Even though these so-called martial arts, in their eyes, had already reached a level comparable to immortal cultivation.
Knowing this, the two were eager to enter the city. After inquiries, they learned that Shicun Village would go to the city once every half month, mainly to sell grain and game, and to buy necessary living supplies and the monthly “Martial Arts Gazette” – a comprehensive periodical that included martial arts, life, entertainment, and other news, popular in all twelve cities and almost the only way for people in this world to learn about news from various places.
This news immediately caught their attention.
If they could persuade the group going to the city to take them along, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost or violating certain taboos due to lack of common sense. More importantly, they wondered if this world had something similar to the travel permits that existed in ancient Yao Country, which might be necessary for entering the city smoothly. If the management in this aspect was very strict, it might be difficult for them to find a way in.
Later, they confirmed that travel permits were indeed necessary. However, the management in this aspect wasn’t very strict in this world, and every village could settle outsiders and issue household permits on their own.
This was undoubtedly the only chance for the two.
They set their sights on the special Qing Fei.
“Tomorrow is when the villagers prepare to enter the city. I hope our plan can successfully persuade her…”
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/HGaByvmVuw
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter