Niu Family Village, Head-Chopping Bandits

Niu Family Village had been built against the mountains, stretching two or three hundred zhang along both banks of a creek valley.

Amid the staggered heights, roughly a hundred households lived there.

The small courtyards came in all sorts of styles, some new, some old.

The morning sun had just risen, and cooking smoke curled upward, brimming with life.

Mountain peaks several hundred zhang high stood on either side of the village, while farmland and crops spread out before and behind it. Perhaps the two mountains blocked the sunlight, so every household dried their things on their rooftops.

There were animal bones and pelts, as well as unknown medicinal herbs.

A faint, cool minty scent filled the air.

Niu Erlang, who led the way, did not slow down as he continued deeper inside. He only stopped when they were nearly at the end of the valley, fifty or sixty zhang beyond the village.

At the foot of the mountain ahead stood an open-air quarry left behind from stone mining, with several rows of low stone houses inside. Vines sprawled everywhere, and the plaster was mottled and weathered. It looked as though the place had been around for quite some years.

Under the eaves of a wide room on one side stood an open-air stove. The walls were blackened, clearly showing signs that people had lived there not long ago.

"Brother Zhou, make do here for now. Later, I'll have some small courtyards built nearby for everyone to live in."

The crowd immediately looked at one another, unsure what to say for a moment.

Su Xinghe was also left at a loss by this move.

He had a small courtyard in the city, Treasure Notes in his robes, and a ton of silver buried somewhere in the mountains waiting for him