Somewhere in the Land of Water, there is a valley shrouded in mist. In the past, this place was rarely visited by people and was a place where poisonous insects and ferocious beasts roamed.
But recently, after the Feudal Lord of Water suddenly announced that the Yuki Clan, which had been wiped out years ago due to a rebellion, was framed, declared Yuki innocent, and withdrew the original arrest warrant for the descendants of Yuki, a group of people suddenly arrived here.
To the villagers who originally lived near the valley, these people, though pale and exhausted, had bright eyes and seemed unlike ordinary people. After resting in the village for one night, they all entered the valley the next day.
Contrary to the villagers' expectations of total annihilation, the villagers soon discovered that they had neighbors, as these people had actually built a village in the valley and settled down.
Of course, this is a good thing. Although this valley is very dangerous, it also contains abundant resources. Wild animals, insects, and vegetation are all valuable items outside. In the past, only the best hunters dared to venture deep into the valley to collect and hunt. Now, the villagers can exchange their goods for resources from the valley with these people.
As time went by, the villagers still didn't know the identities of these people, but one thing was clear: these people were probably ninjas in distress!
However, such groups are now practically everywhere in the Land of Water, so the villagers don't find them particularly strange. Moreover, ordinary people aren't that interested in the ninja world. Although they were slightly surprised when they discovered this fact, that was about it.
Thus, an extremely harmonious scene unfolded between the two sides. Every morning, the villagers would carry various daily necessities to the valley entrance, while the "trapped ninjas" in the valley would also carry what the villagers needed, exchanging goods with them. Over time, a market actually formed here, because even people from other villages learned of this and came to exchange goods with these people.
Qingtian, a young man from the village, prepared a large amount of food as usual and went to the market at the mouth of the valley to find what he needed to exchange.
Entering the market, although it was early morning, a considerable number of people had already gathered. Thanks to the group of people who could not bear it, the village was now much richer. Not only could they freely exchange resources from the valley, but traders who came from afar would also rest and eat and drink in the village, allowing the villagers to make a good fortune.
"Ah, I found it!"
He was lucky today; he hadn't even walked the entire street before he saw what he needed.
This is a red, snake-head-shaped dwarf grass. It's a highly sought-after herb in the outside world, and even the villagers here know how to roughly process it. Not to mention, the Qingtian family are the village's pharmacists. Although he's still just a boy, under his father's tutelage, he's already quite familiar with herbs.
In the ninja world, even treating injuries is done using Ninjutsu, which is hard to imagine. Aren't Ninjutsu for fighting? How can it be used to treat injuries? Surely medicine is still necessary...
Good morning, sir.
He walked up to the stall and asked the people sitting there,
"How can we exchange these snakehead grasses? Will grain work?"
"Can."
The stall owner, a man who looked to be about thirty years old, nodded and said calmly,
How much do you need?
"I want them all."
Qingtian said happily, and stepped aside to let the man see the several bags of grain on the trailer behind him.
"Is this enough food? If not, I can go back to the village and get some more."
"It's a bit less, but since you're from the village, let's make the exchange."
Qingtian would come to the market every now and then to collect herbs. This man recognized him. In fact, when they first arrived here after escaping their former enemies, many of them were injured, and it was Qingtian's family who helped heal them.
medical-nin? Ha... There used to be some, but now, forget medical-nin, even Ice Release, a bloodline limit of clans, is rarely known how to cultivate. Although some young people have awakened their bloodlines, those of the older generation, being from the former Yuki clan, simply don't have the methods to train them...
A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes. The man stood up and placed all the snakehead grass into Qingtian's trailer. However, when he was about to unload the grain as well, Qingtian stopped him.
"Anyway, it's still quite a distance from here to the valley entrance, I'll take it there for you in a tow truck."
The boy gave a simple, honest smile, which made the man pause for a moment before slowly nodding.
"Okay, thank you."
"You're welcome. We're neighbors; we should help each other out."
Qingtian chuckled, and before the man could reply, he had already lifted the trailer and headed towards the valley entrance.
"Neighbors...?"
The man watched the boy's cheerful figure leave with a somewhat wistful expression, but his heart was filled with bitterness.
I wonder, if those clansmen from back then hadn't died, would they still have felt that they were truly more noble than these ordinary people if they had witnessed this scene...?
At least for the current members of their clan, without these ordinary people, these "noble" descendants of the Yuki Clan would probably only be able to explain this to the Death God long ago.
Silently, the man followed Qingtian towards the entrance of the valley. Their shadows stretched long in the morning sun. Amidst the boy's resounding mountain song, the man's figure appeared somewhat desolate. Moreover, the distance between the two figures seemed not so far, but rather very close...
Then, they arrived.
"I'm sorry, sir, I can only take you this far. I can't go any further."
Qingtian looked at the man with embarrassment, as if he felt bad for not being able to continue helping.
"Ah... no... um, child, thank you."
The man seemed to be thinking about something, but ultimately didn't; he simply patted Qingtian on the shoulder.
Qingtian could never understand the man's feelings. In the young Qingtian's mind, the world was simple: work hard, help the neighbors he could, pursue the girl he liked, carry on the family line, and be filial to his elderly parents. That was all.
However, just as he was thinking about something, he suddenly saw a group of people appearing on the road in the distance.
"Hey? Look, uncle, this is the first time I've ever seen so many people traveling together."
He pointed in surprise, unaware that the man's expression had become incredibly tense and serious the moment he saw those figures.
"Child, don't take anything else, just go home!"
He quickly lifted the bags of grain from Qingtian's trailer, urging Qingtian to hurry up.
"Go on, don't look back. If they ask you anything, just answer truthfully, don't hesitate!"
"Uncle?"
Qingtian looked at the man with a completely bewildered expression.
"They sound like some kind of bad people?"
"Don't worry about this, hurry back to the market... no, hurry back to the village!"