Entering the residence, Old Man An looked at Li Qing in his thin clothes and let out a heavy sigh. "Master Li, are you practicing martial arts?"
Li Qing, full of vigor, nodded. "Just practicing some fist-and-foot techniques to build up a bit more strength. That way, forging iron will be easier too."
In this world, being able to master a trade was still very important. That was why both Yan San and Old Man An respected him so much.
In today's Obsidian City, where nine out of ten homes stood empty, there were hardly any blacksmiths who knew how to forge. Blacksmiths with skills as decent as Li Qing's were even rarer.
Old Man An took a look at the pile of finished sickles beside the courtyard, and a trace of sorrow flashed through his eyes.
"Alas, this old man used to see quite a few martial artists. Now they're rarely seen. Nothing grows in the fields, so it's hard to make anything of martial arts." Old Man An shook his head and continued, "Master Li, if you have anything you want to ask, just speak up. This old man has no particular strengths, except that I've lived a long time and seen more than most. I should be able to answer quite a few of your questions."
Li Qing's heart stirred slightly at those words. That meant there had been many martial artists when Old Man An was young. In other words, food must not have been so scarce in that era?
Sure enough, the Eternal Night World had not truly been dark forever. Otherwise, it could never have developed human civilization to this extent.
In the past—or at least several decades ago—there must have been a sun!
This was also the question Li Qing cared about most at present.
"Old Man An, according to what you said, crops used to grow in the fields?" Li Qing asked tentatively.
Old Man An was briefly stunned. Then, seeing Li Qing's youthful face, he gave a bitter smile. "That's right. Several decades ago, there was still a sun in the sky. Master Li, you're still young, so you probably don't know what the sun is, do you?"
"It was a massive orb that gave off light. It was far brighter than that red moon overhead. You couldn't look at it directly, or your eyes would be dazzled!"
"Back then, there was a sun in the sky. It was warm, and grain would grow in the fields. It tasted much better than Black Rye Mushrooms."
Once the subject came up, Old Man An became exceptionally talkative. In one breath, he explained a great deal to Li Qing about what the era when the sun still existed had been like.
Then one day, the sun never rose again. This world fell into eternal darkness, and cold and hunger became the main notes of this place from then on.
Too much time had passed. The days when the sun rose had already become legend, spoken of only by elderly people like Old Man An.
Those born afterward all treated such words as myths. Since they had never seen the sun with their own eyes, they did not believe such an era had truly existed.
"Little Master Li, you're a poor soul too. Heh, living in this world where neither sun nor daylight can be seen, only able to eat Black Rye Mushrooms—everyone is a poor soul!" Old Man An's eyes showed longing and yearning for those bygone days.
Li Qing said nothing more about it, nor did he express any doubt.
He asked, "Then where did the sun go? Why did it disappear?"
Old Man An had not expected Li Qing to ask where the sun had gone instead of doubting whether it had ever existed. This surprised him somewhat.
After all, whenever his granddaughter heard him talk about this, she would roll her eyes, not believing a word of it.
Old Man An spoke in a reminiscing tone. "Don't know. Nobody knows. Back then, some people said we had angered the gods, so they took away the sun to punish us."
At that time, some people also took the opportunity to spread all kinds of doctrines, using this to gather followers, amass wealth, and bring disaster upon entire regions.
But as the sky remained dim for longer and longer, the religious sects that had sprung up in the chaos also died away one after another. Fewer and fewer people survived into this era.
One could imagine that if Black Rye Mushrooms had not been discovered as food, the entire Eternal Night World might have fallen into desolation, and one could look in every direction without finding a single person.
Before long, Li Qing asked the third question. "With families like the Yan family committing evil in their domain, does no one come to deal with them?"
He wanted to know whether this world—or at least the region where he lived—still had anything like an imperial court or government offices.
Yet Old Man An's answer did not come as much of a surprise.
"When the government offices still existed, there were people to keep them in check. Now that the government offices are gone, the Yan family calls the shots in Obsidian City."
Li Qing's eyes quickly narrowed. Since there were no government offices, how could the Yan family have used Black Rye Mushrooms to obtain the ultimate arts of those martial halls? It was simply too unreasonable!
Put another way, if he were one of those martial hall members with formidable strength and he was about to starve to death, his first choice would definitely be to rob the Yan family's granaries, not trade his martial arts manuals for food.
As the saying went: while the neighbor hoards grain, I hoard guns; the neighbor is my granary!
For the Yan family to protect such an enormous granary was itself rather unreasonable.
Looking at it this way, either the Yan family had raised powerful thugs of their own, or they had formidable backing behind them.
No matter how likely either possibility was, the Yan family was not someone he could easily offend at present. It was better to maintain this relationship as much as possible and avoid letting them set their sights on him.
Li Qing's thoughts flickered as swiftly as flames in a furnace. He set up the damaged iron pot and heated it over the forge.
This degree of damage was very easy to repair. It would not even take him much time; a few casual hammer blows would fix it.
While repairing the iron pot, Li Qing asked the final question he cared deeply about. "Are there other cities near Obsidian City?"
Old Man An answered without thinking, "Of course there are. Keep going west out of the city gate, and there's Giant Rock City. It's much bigger than Obsidian City. To the south, there's also Black Soil City. Most of the coal we burn is transported from there."
"But Little Master Li, you must never think of leaving the city alone for a long journey. The road is far too dangerous. A single person can easily meet with disaster!"
Listening to Old Man An's warning, Li Qing picked up his hammer and swiftly finished repairing the iron pot.
"All right, I have nothing else to ask. Old Man An, take the pot back." Li Qing handed the still-warm iron pot to Old Man An.
Old Man An's face was full of gratitude. "Little Master Li, thank you so much!"
He did not keep him any longer. After sending Old Man An away, Li Qing shut the courtyard gate tightly.
After today's conversation with Old Man An, his understanding and knowledge of this world had deepened considerably. He could more or less sketch out an impression of it in his mind.
"The sun vanished because the gods were angered?" Li Qing murmured softly, then shook his head.
Whether in his previous life or this one, he had always been a firm atheist.
He believed that living beings with unimaginably powerful individual strength could exist, but he clearly did not quite believe talk of gods taking away the sun in a fit of rage.
After inwardly mocking the idea, Li Qing returned to his comfortable room, preparing to get a good night's sleep.
After practicing martial arts, he valued his sleep even more. Fortunately, after crossing into the Eternal Night World, he had ample time to do so.