The Vanishing Sun

Stepping into the residence, Old Man An looked at Li Qing, who was dressed in thin clothes, and let out a heavy sigh. "Master Li, are you practicing martial arts?"

Radiant and energetic, Li Qing nodded. He spoke, "Just practicing some fist and footwork to build up a bit more strength, so I can swing the hammer more easily."

In this world, being able to master a craft was still very important, which was also the reason why both Yan San and Old Man An respected him so much.

In Obsidian City, where nine out of ten houses stood empty, there were hardly any blacksmiths left who could forge, and those like Li Qing, whose skill was quite decent, were even rarer.

Old Man An took a look at the pile of finished harvesting knives by the side of the courtyard, a trace of sorrow flashing in his eyes.

"Ah, in the old days, I saw quite a few martial artists myself, but now they're rare. The land can't grow grain, so it's hard to make anything of yourself practicing." Old Man An shook his head and continued, "Master Li, if you have any questions, just ask. This old man has no other virtues, but I've lived long and seen a bit more. I should be able to answer quite a few of your questions."

Li Qing's heart stirred slightly at this. He meant that when Old Man An was young, there were many martial artists, which meant that in that era, there probably wasn't a shortage of grain?

Sure enough, the Eternal Night World wasn't truly eternal darkness. Otherwise, it couldn't have developed human civilization to this extent.

Before, or at least a few decades ago, there must have been a sun!

This was also the question Li Qing was most concerned about right now.

"Old Man An, from what you're saying, the land used to be able to grow grain?" Li Qing asked tentatively.

Old Man An was a little stunned for a moment, then looked at Li Qing's youthful face and gave a wry smile. "Yes, about a few decades ago, there was still a sun in the sky. Master Li, you're still young, I suppose you don't know what the sun is, do you?"

"It was a huge sun, it gave off light, much brighter than that red moon overhead. You couldn't look directly at it, or your eyes would go blind!"

"Back then, the sun was in the sky, it was very warm, and the land grew grain, much tastier than these Black Rye Mushrooms."

It had to be said, once he started talking about this, Old Man An became very talkative, quickly giving Li Qing quite a bit of information about what the era with the sun was like.

Then one day, the sun never rose again. This world was forever plunged into darkness, and from then on, cold and hunger became the main themes here.

Because so much time had passed, the days when the sun rose had become legends told by old people like Old Man An.

People born later listened to such words as myths, because they had never seen the sun with their own eyes, so they didn't believe such an era had ever truly existed.

"Little Master Li, you're also a poor soul, heh. Living in this sunless world now, with only Black Rye Mushrooms to eat, everyone's a poor soul!" Old Man An's eyes showed a trace of longing and yearning for those bygone days.

To this, Li Qing didn't say much, nor did he express any doubt.

He asked, "So where did the sun go? Why did it disappear?"

Old Man An hadn't expected Li Qing to not first doubt whether the sun had ever existed, but instead ask where it went. This surprised him a little.

You see, his granddaughter would roll her eyes every time she heard him talk about this, not believing a word of it.

Old Man An spoke in a reminiscent tone, "Don't know. Nobody knows. Some people said back then that we had angered the gods, so they took away the sun to punish us."

At that time, some people also took the opportunity to preach various doctrines, using this to gather followers and amass wealth, causing trouble in the region.

But as the sky grew darker for longer and longer, these opportunistic cults also withered away one by one. Fewer and fewer people could survive in this era.

It could be imagined that if Black Rye Mushrooms hadn't been discovered as a food source, the entire Eternal Night World might have fallen into desolation, with not a single person to be seen wherever you looked.

Soon, Li Qing asked a third question: "With the Yan family running rampant and doing evil, isn't there anyone to stop them?"

He wanted to know if there was any existence like a court or government in this world, or in the region he was in.

However, Old Man An's answer didn't surprise him.

"When the government was still around, there were people to handle it. Now that the government is gone, Obsidian City is under the Yan family's rule."

Li Qing's eyes quickly narrowed. Since there was no government, it was far too unreasonable for the Yan family to be able to trade Black Rye Mushrooms for the ultimate techniques of the former martial arts schools!

In other words, if he were one of those powerful martial artists from the schools, on the verge of starving to death, his first choice would definitely be to rob the Yan family's granaries, not to trade his martial arts manuals.

As the saying goes, when your neighbor hoards grain, you hoard guns; your neighbor is your granary!

The fact that the Yan family could hold onto such a large granary was itself unreasonable.

This suggested that either the Yan family kept powerful enforcers of their own, or they had a powerful backer behind them.

No matter which possibility it was, for now, the Yan family was not someone he could afford to offend lightly. So, he should try to maintain this relationship and not let them set their sights on him.

Li Qing's thoughts jumped as nimbly as the furnace fire. He set up the damaged iron pot and placed it on the stove to heat up.

Repairing damage of this degree was very simple. For him, it wouldn't even take much time; a couple of hammer strikes would fix it.

While repairing the iron pot, Li Qing asked one last question he was very concerned about: "Are there other cities near Obsidian City?"

Old Man An answered without thinking, "Of course there are. Go out the west city gate and keep walking, there's Giant Rock City, much bigger than Obsidian City. To the south, there's Black Soil City. Most of the coal we burn is shipped from there."

"But Little Master Li, don't you ever think about leaving the city alone for a long journey. The road is far too dangerous. It's easy to meet with misfortune on your own!"

Hearing Old Man An's warning, Li Qing picked up his hammer and quickly finished repairing the iron pot.

"Alright, I don't have any more questions. Old Man An, you can 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. He said, "Little Master Li, thank you so much!"

Without keeping him any longer, after sending Old Man An off, Li Qing closed the courtyard gate tightly.

From his conversation with Old Man An today, he had deepened his understanding and knowledge of this world, and he could roughly sketch an impression of it in his mind.

"The sun disappeared because the gods were angered?" Li Qing muttered softly to himself, then shook his head.

Whether in his past life or this one, he was a staunch atheist.

He believed in the existence of life forms with extremely powerful individual might, but he was still quite skeptical of the idea of a god who, in a fit of anger, took away the sun.

With a silent, self-deprecating laugh, Li Qing returned to his comfortable room, ready to get a good night's sleep.

After starting martial arts training, he valued his sleep even more. Fortunately, traveling to the Eternal Night World gave him ample time to do so.