Malenia galloped past Wangchuan City and the villages outside it, heading straight for Wangxiang Temple.
She could see the temple, the waterfall, and the lake.
Below the waterfall stood a waterwheel, and irrigation channels in the lake supplied the residents with water for farming and daily use.
It looked like a place where people lived in harmony with nature.
Humans were part of nature too, and needed natural resources to survive.
That would never change, no matter the era.
Someone was fishing by the lake. Hearing hoofbeats behind him, he turned and saw Malenia.
Malenia saw the fisherman too.
He was an old man with white hair and a white beard, cloudy yellow eyes, and a face covered in wrinkles.
One glance told her he was extremely old.
The fisherman looked up at Malenia and felt he had encountered a celestial being.
Of course he did.
Here was a red-haired woman taller than an adult man from the Land of Reeds.
From her face to her figure, she was the very picture of a beautiful, mature woman.
The fisherman knelt involuntarily, feeling it was the most appropriate thing to do.
It came from his heart. Nobody forced him; he simply knelt in worship.
He believed he had seen something supremely sacred, and that one more look would leave him blind.
His decision was wise.
Had he kept staring, it was entirely possible that Scarlet Rot would have eaten away his eyes.
"What happened here?" Malenia asked.
"Disease. A lot of people have caught a strange illness," the fisherman said with his head lowered. "And a lot of people have gone missing."
"Then why are you all right?" Malenia looked down at him.
"I took medicine. At Wangxiang Temple over there, the monks buy medicinal herbs," the fisherman said. "But lately,