A gentle breeze brushed across the city wall.
Neither side spoke.
Chen Ye stood motionless, facing several guards armed with spears.
Though they had not attacked immediately, their faint but persistent wariness kept him from relaxing even slightly.
He dared not make any rash moves.
Chen Ye knew that, given these guards' cultivation, even three heads and six arms would not save him if they swarmed him at once.
He silently surveyed his surroundings, every nerve taut, secretly preparing to leave this world.
If anything unexpected happened, he would leave immediately.
After a while, the crowd parted to form a passage.
A man who looked like their commander approached.
He was tall and rugged-faced, with a curved saber at his waist, and dressed a little more respectably than the others.
He stopped before Chen Ye, looked him up and down with scrutiny and curiosity, then asked him several questions.
It was an entirely new language. Chen Ye heard the words but could not understand a thing.
Yet the man's tone held no malice. Chen Ye offered a gesture of goodwill, crossing his hands in imitation of the people of this world, and said as calmly as he could, "My name is Chen Ye. I was passing through and mean no harm. May I ask where this is, and who you gentlemen are?"
The commander's brows furrowed slightly after hearing him. Clearly, he could not understand Chen Ye either.
He turned and exchanged a few quiet words with the guards beside him, his tone carrying some puzzlement.
They all shook their heads, indicating that they did not understand either.
Both sides stood on the wall, unable to understand each other, and the situation grew somewhat awkward.
Yet for that very reason, the tension between them inexplicably eased.
Seeing that they could