Qingfeng Edge had already been outside Fufeng County.
Because there was no longer a restriction on time, Wang Anfeng and the others were not in a particular hurry when returning. It took nearly five days to travel from Qingfeng Edge to the first encounter with Aping at the official post station. After resting for a night and having breakfast the next morning, they followed the path at a leisurely pace. It took only about half an hour to see that secluded village.
It had hardly changed at all from when Wang Anfeng left half a month ago.
Baili Feng looked at the low houses and the numb villagers, feeling a disgusting sense of death emanating from the village. He clicked his tongue and said,
"Is this the kid's village?"
"Heh, such a dull place, and yet it raised quite a kid with personality."
He then remembered the day when he clearly wanted to comfort the child but was instead bitten, leaving a blood mark. He couldn't help but twist his mouth into a wry smile, his gaze shifting and landing on the stele at the entrance of the village. Almost half of the stele had sunk into the yellow soil, and due to the erosion of wind and sun, the details were somewhat faded, but the first two characters were still visible.
He snickered, "Such a place, and it dares to call itself Taiping Village?"
He was naturally bold and did not appreciate the villagers' zombie-like demeanor and the suspicious, hostile looks. Not bothering to conceal his disdain, his voice was full of repugnance. Tuoba Yue, riding a brown horse behind him, had a flicker in her eyes. She watched the wary villagers, the children chasing the soil dogs, grabbing one and smashing it to the ground, eliciting whimpering sounds.
Baili Feng saw numbness in their spirits.
What she saw, however, were the normal healthy complexions of those villagers and the chubby hands of the children.
How could it not be called Taiping.
The young girl's gaze became demure and downcast.
How was it not peaceful.
Wang Anfeng laid a hand gently on Baili Feng's shoulder, shook his head to indicate he should restrain himself. The latter nodded, ceasing his chuckles, but his eyes still showed no courtesy. Those people were cautious of him, and he, Lord Baili, was not one to be trifled with.
You are rude to me, why should I be courteous to you?
If no one offends me, I will not offend anyone.
But if someone offends me.
Summon all the Vigorous Qi, and fight back!
The group headed on horseback toward the village. Following Baili Feng's temperament, if he found you disagreeable, he would have ridden his horse right in, but he could not withstand Wang Anfeng's calm gaze and eventually dismounted.
The villagers in this small village were already quite cautious of outsiders, especially with Baili Feng carrying a Mo Blade, his look defiant. Hence, they had barely taken a few steps when an old man, over sixty, blocked their path with a wooden staff, villagers brandishing their farm tools behind him for support. The elder's eyes slightly opened, his voice full of vigor as he said,
"Foreigners, go back."
"Our village is small, and we don't welcome you!"
Even though Taiping Village is remote, it still falls within the jurisdiction of Great Qin, inside Fufeng County City. Even a sinister force like Danfeng Valley would only look for loopholes in the Great Qin's law—what more for ordinary martial artists?
They would not engage in conflicts with village elders on a whim.
Thus, although he had no martial arts, his words carried a tone of certainty.
Wang Anfeng was momentarily stunned. Seeing the situation, he felt it was somewhat troublesome. He bowed with his fists and said warmly,
"Elder, we are not bad people. We only wish to find an old friend."
The elder maintained his imposing look, shaking his head, unmoved.
Wang Anfeng felt a headache coming on. Just then, Baili Feng suddenly stepped forward, crossed his arms casually, and gave a half-hearted military salute. Standing up, he smiled and asked,
"Elder, you won't allow us into the village?"
The old man's gaze met his face and said, "You foreigners, you're not honest."
"Our Taiping Village is a small place, and we can't accommodate you."
Baili Feng took a step forward and suddenly raised his voice, coldly sneering,
"I am a subject of Great Qin, this world belongs to Great Qin. Where can I not go?!"
"Elder, isn't this village under the domain of Great Qin?"
A series of interrogating voices, like a mighty river bursting its banks, were nothing but an aggressive way to dominate the argument. His thick eyebrows stood on end, and his harsh, cold shouts were terrifying in their authority. The villagers, who hadn't seen much of the world, were thrown into confusion, and their confidence quickly drained away. They stepped back and said:
"I—I never said such a thing."
"You—you're slandering me!"
Baili Feng chuckled coldly and gave a signal to the people around him. He had already led the yellow horse forward, his brows and eyes stern. The youth's questioning still echoed in everyone's ears, and no one dared to stop him. They retreated to let a path open, allowing everyone to enter the village.
On the way to Anfeng's home, the villagers' gazes towards the group were no longer just cautious. They felt like invisible arrows, making Wang Anfeng quite uncomfortable. Baili Feng, on the other hand, glared back unapologetically, and Xue Qinshuang simply ignored them, chatting and laughing softly with Tuoba Yue.
Master Fu Mo was probably the most ill at ease, as if sitting on pins and needles.
As they passed a corner, a rather plump middle-aged woman stood at the door with a basin. She didn't dare to provoke Baili Feng but, as the group passed by, she threw the contents towards them, nearly dousing Master Fu Mo from head to toe.
The unknown liquid in the basin hit the ground and gave off a foul stench. The woman cursed in a strong regional accent and dialect before fleeing back into her house, the sound of several locks clicking into place. Baili Feng felt a surge of anger, but he couldn't bring himself to strike a woman over such a matter. He could only glare hatefully before turning to Fu Mo and asking:
"Old man, are you alright?"
Fu Mo appeared to be startled, his face somewhat pale as he patted his chest and said:
His voice hitched, as if recalling something, then he said with a sigh:
"This kind of person, I've only encountered in books."
"Truly an eye-opener, an eye-opener..."
Upon hearing these words, Baili Feng snickered softly and shook his head, saying:
"That's because you've seen too little."
"The folk customs in the countryside are simple, but simplicity doesn't always mean they're good people. 'Poor lands breed crafty folk'—as unpleasant as that saying is, there's some truth to it."
"In some people's eyes, kindness is just another word for someone to bully."
"To deal with them, you have to be tough, you have to be stern."
"Great Qin is alright, but some far-off places in other nations are practically like dens of bandits."
Master Fu Mo nodded, looking quite contemplative, while Wang Anfeng suddenly remembered Master Jiang Shouyi and couldn't help but whisper, "If we could have school masters come to places like these to educate the people, perhaps that would change these..."
Master Fu Mo looked at him with some surprise. Although not the best at socializing, he was still over sixty years old and a learned master, with much more knowledge than these youths. Stroking his beard, he said:
"Your idea... there have been some who have had the same thought, like Master Jiang Shouyi before."
"But acquiring wisdom through education takes time... In a village, that time is equivalent to money and food. Missing a worker might mean a whole family can only eat half-full, making it very difficult for the poor to study."
"Therefore, many thinkers now propose to first ensure the people are wealthy, then enlightenment becomes much easier."
"But there are also those who believe that only with enlightenment can wealth be achieved. Who's right or wrong, we don't know... Many people want to change this world. Don't be fooled by the crass arguments of those scholars; their intentions are largely the same."
"They all hope to turn this world on its head, so that one day, it would be abnormal not to have an education. They'd laugh in their coffins at the thought."
With that thought, Fu Mo smiled faintly, the blank look on his face dissolving somewhat.
But feeling the idea unlikely to come true, he shook his head and cast the notion aside, saying:
"However, as Anfeng said, this village is really not a suitable place for a child to grow."
"It would be better to take that child away."
Wang Anfeng nodded in agreement, seeing Anfeng's house approaching.
PS: Thank you to 'This World's Fault·Hours' for the support... Slowly making up for it (salted fish spouting blood), three updates today.