The first light of dawn broke through. Thin mist still clung to the distant mountains, while nearby, flooded fields stretched into the haze, their clear water rippling gently and reflecting the sky and clouds.
The field ridges crisscrossed like a chessboard. Newly planted rice seedlings stood in rows, dewdrops clinging to their tender green leaves, crystal clear and ready to fall.
Farmers stood barefoot in the mud, bending to plant seedlings. The spring breeze carried the scent of soil and fresh growth, mingled with the faint smell of water-the scent of all things coming to life.
"Man, I just realized this place is practically paradise. I don't even want to go back anymore."
Standing on a hillside, Yi Feng gazed at the cooking smoke curling above the village and breathed in the fresh air. For a moment, he seemed lost in thought, a note of melancholy creeping into his voice.
Back in the apartment building, there had always been something to do. They had been busy "surviving," and that constant activity had pushed many other thoughts aside.
Now, suddenly encountering human civilization again-even just a rural village-felt as though it could cleanse the soul.
"Stay here too long and you'll turn into a Madman. But the environment really is better..."
Lin Hao sighed. The Earth Will had conveyed a vague piece of information, while University Town had established a more definite time frame.
They could enter and leave this world repeatedly, but it was best not to stay longer than three months at a time.
Depending on a person's physical condition and mental state, those with weaker resistance might become irritable, sensitive, agitated, and hot-tempered after just two months. If they noticed something wrong, they should leave immediately through the next Regular Evacuation point. Usually, there would still be time.
Otherwise, once they missed their chance, their worsening emotions would spiral out of control, and they would fall apart very quickly.
"Let's go ask for directions and work out roughly where we are. We should also find out what sort of place the evacuation item is in, and preferably check whether there are any martial arts schools nearby."
Lin Hao was unquestionably the backbone of their group of four. Once he spoke, everyone nodded.
"There's an old man over there. We can ask him."
Dressed in a blue, old-fashioned outfit, Zhao Xiaowen also carried a backpack wrapped in a bedsheet. She pointed at an elderly farmer planting seedlings near a field ridge.
The farmer looked thin and frail, his skin darkened by the sun, but his slender arms had a tautness that suggested there was not an ounce of spare flesh on them.
He was the only person working the several mu of fields nearby. A bamboo basket sat on the ridge, covered with coarse cloth. It probably held his food.
"Sir, could we ask you a few questions?"
Lin Hao led the others over and called to him from the edge of the field ridge.
The old man kept his head down, planting seedlings without acknowledging them at all. They began to wonder whether he was deaf.
"We can pay a little for the directions."
After Zhao Xiaowen called softly to him, the old man visibly paused and looked up.
"What a pretty young lady."
As he spoke, he trudged over through the flooded field, his steps uneven, constantly looking them up and down.
Every one of them had soft, delicate skin. They were plainly from wealthy households.
"What would you like to ask?"
The old man lifted the coarse cloth from the bamboo basket beside the ridge, took out an earthenware bowl, and dipped it straight into the irrigation channel. He swept a reed stalk across the surface to clear away some debris, then drank it down.
"Sir, what place is this? How do we get to the nearest town?"
A tenth of a tael of silver appeared in Lin Hao's hand. It was the smallest piece he had cut from the silver jewelry. It was a little conspicuous, but not outrageously so. Without any copper coins, he had little choice for now.
The old man's eyes immediately lit up at the piece of silver, worth a hundred copper coins.
"This is Westwater Village. Follow this road straight ahead. At the fork, the left-hand road takes you toward Upper Canal Town and Wei'an County Seat. The right-hand road leads to Dam Market..."
Lin Hao turned to look in the general direction the old man indicated and considered their position.
After entering this world, he could vaguely sense a guiding pull. It pointed toward the approximate location of the evacuation item in the surrounding area.
Judging by the old man's description, it was probably inside Wei'an County Seat. The old man said it was over a hundred li away, roughly forty or fifty kilometers.
Apart from that, he felt nothing from the Regular Evacuation points that opened for seven days each month, which meant they were not currently open. Based on the dates given by survivors who had returned, another opening might be only a few days away.
If a real emergency arose, fleeing through a Regular Evacuation point to ensure their safety was another fallback option.
"Everything west of the river should be under the Grain Transport Governor's Office, right?"
Lin Hao asked as though making casual conversation.
"Of course. Everything we do around here has something to do with grain transport. A fair amount of the crops we grow gets shipped along the canal to Jinkou.
"Westwater Village falls under Upper Canal Town, and the officials from the town come to collect our taxes, but for everyday buying and selling, we still prefer Dam Market. It's no smaller than the county seat..."
A tenth of a tael of silver was enough to pay an adult man's wages for two or three days. The old man had now sat down on the field ridge, devoting his full attention to serving these young gentlemen and ladies.
As he spoke, he pointed again toward Dam Market. They could faintly make out the outline of a dam.
"That over there is the Lake-Blocking Dam for the canal. All that wetland used to be one continuous lake. They dammed the tributary for the canal, and Dam Market grew up around the dam. During grain collection season, officials from the Grain Transport Governor's Office come to oversee things. The rest of the time, the gentlemen from the Grain Transport Gang run it."
"Then are there any well-known martial arts schools nearby?"
"Yes, of course there are. Dam Market has three major martial arts schools. Master Wu of the Wu Family Martial Arts School has the finest reputation for chivalry. He passed the Martial Examination and followed the general on the western campaign. Now he's retired and returned home. He builds bridges, repairs roads, and helps his neighbors. The rent on his land is lower, too, and sometimes he even forgives overdue payments when people fall on hard times. A truly good-hearted man..."
With a tenth of a tael of silver as payment for directions, the old man seemed determined to pour out everything he knew. He talked for well over an hour and drank several large bowls of water before Lin Hao noticed he was starting to repeat himself.
He had more or less told them everything he knew. Lin Hao handed over the silver, then rose and left with the others.
"The quest item should be in the county seat, but there's no rush to travel several dozen kilometers. Let's check out Dam Market first."
Dam Market was only ten li away, roughly four kilometers. More importantly, entering a county seat generally required a travel permit, while a place like Dam Market did not!
"According to the broadcasts, several places have recently suffered from warfare. We'll pick one and pose as a family who gathered up their valuables and fled here."
With the information shared by University Town, they could make suitable arrangements.
Refugees fleeing famine were difficult to avoid in any era, and when refugees wanted to settle elsewhere,
the process was relatively easier. After all, entering the household register meant paying taxes. As long as they had no serious problems and could find someone to vouch for them, it was fairly manageable.
But stranded far from home without the protection of their clan, they might suffer bullying and exclusion. Many refugees actually chose to become "unregistered households" under powerful local families.
"The Grain Transport Governor's Office has enormous authority. The Transport Commissioner himself is a first-rank official with a ministerial title, and his martial arts have reached the aura grandmaster realm. He was the top graduate of the imperial military examination, a supreme expert second only to the four great grandmasters."
University Town's introduction to Great Qi had provided only a general outline, yet even that outline had devoted considerable attention to the Grain Transport Governor's Office.
This world had a traditional martial arts lineage with the stages of Bright Force, hidden force, transforming force, Embrace the Elixir, aura, and Seeing the Divine.
These traditional martial arts did not involve internal energy or true qi. They were more like an enhanced version of Chinese martial arts. Even a great grandmaster at the Seeing the Divine stage could not withstand being surrounded and attacked by an army.
And people died when they were killed. Innate strength, surprise attacks, and mob attacks frequently allowed the weaker side to defeat the stronger.
Gifted prospects born with extraordinary strength, or experts particularly skilled at killing and combat, often fought opponents above their own level.
Countless experts had also been hacked to death by groups of attackers. Lime powder, fishing nets, and powerful bows were all effective tools for surrounding and killing them.
Cultivation stages were only a reference, not an absolute measure.
Anyone who could coordinate the strength of their entire body and enter the overt force stage qualified as a martial practitioner. They were exempt from corvée labor and taxes on ten mu of land, but could be conscripted for paid service in matters such as apprehending notorious local bandits.
Even in the capital, martial practitioners could find work guarding residences. In a county seat, they could become constables or join an escort agency, enjoying status no lower than an ordinary scholar's.
Those who mastered hidden force could be called martial masters. Even in the army, they could become junior officers. Anyone who achieved that level before thirty had a strong chance of passing the Martial Examination.
The best among them could even become a Martial Presented Scholar!
Experts at the transforming force stage were already masters. Most top graduates of the imperial military examinations had been transforming force prodigies under thirty.
Even transforming force masters over thirty could usually hold military posts at the rank of commandant or higher.
Those at the Embrace the Elixir stage could already seal in their own blood and vital energy, slowing their aging. They were generally called Embrace the Elixir masters or half-step grandmasters.
If transforming force masters failed to achieve Embrace the Elixir, their blood and vital energy would gradually decline after fifty, potentially causing their abilities to deteriorate rapidly. That was why the Martial Examination had an age limit.
But once they succeeded in achieving Embrace the Elixir, they could greatly slow that decline. Even in their seventies or eighties, they would still be in their prime, brimming with vitality.
Among Embrace the Elixir experts, those blessed with exceptional physiques, or those who steadily built up their blood and vital energy through painstaking practice, could generate an aura and become grandmasters.
Above them stood great grandmasters, whose bodies allowed no vital energy to leak away and who had achieved Seeing the Divine, Indestructible. Their bodies became golden and did not decay after death. According to some legends University Town had gathered, great grandmasters could supposedly attain the miraculous state of "sensing danger and avoiding it without seeing or hearing it." But these realms were too far removed from them; their knowledge of the later stages came only from folk legends.
Great Qi currently had four great grandmasters: the General of Awe-inspiring Might, a veteran of four reigns who commanded all the empire's troops; the chief palace steward, who had served five emperors; the Celestial Master of the Way of the Celestial Masters, who devoted himself to rebellion; and the holy monk who stood at the head of the Buddhist Order.
The Buddhist Order and the Way of the Celestial Masters here were translated names for religions that resembled, but were not quite the same as, their counterparts. One emphasized following the natural way, the other reincarnation, though they were broadly similar.
The Transport Commissioner was a top grandmaster second only to those four.
As for the head of the Wu Family Martial Arts School whom the old farmer had praised, he was probably at least a martial master. That would be more than sufficient for beginning martial arts training.
Most importantly...
"According to University Town's information, these long-established martial arts schools are the most likely places to have equipment with skills. Old implements used for years can easily acquire [Beginner] or even [Proficient] skills for the school's corresponding training methods... I hope University Town hasn't already bought up everything from the schools here..."
Before you continue