Euphrates Poplar Village
Not long after, he quietly left and headed into the distant mountains and forests.
The short, stout cultivator who had previously confronted him opened his eyes, glanced in the direction he had left, and then whispered to the tall, thin cultivator beside him, with a hint of doubt:
Why did he leave?
The tall, thin monk also sensed the former king's departure, but he did not open his eyes, only softly replying to the short, stout monk:
"Who cares? If we don't go into the cave, we'll just be dead if we run into the Alliance Army. With his meager cultivation, without the Grand Preceptor and us, he's nothing but a piece of livestock to be slaughtered. Let him go."
--
Upon entering the city within the territory of Huanyou Nation, Lin Xiao and Fang Tuantuan immediately felt the heat of war.
The city they arrived at, Xinyang County, was said to be plagued by disease. Most of the city walls had collapsed, and there were especially many broken walls and ruins on both sides of the streets.
The able-bodied men are working hard to move bricks and carry timber, build walls and lay tiles, and rebuild their homes.
Many elderly and infirm people were gathered in a large shed in the city, where women were cooking in front of a row of simple earthen stoves.
Only children were chasing and playing around the greenhouse.
Half a month has passed since the war ended completely. The children are forgetful and have long forgotten how they used to hide in their parents' arms and cry their hearts out because they were so scared of the war.
A person and a cat walked through this war-torn city, unnoticed by anyone.
Seeing a woman carrying two large baskets of food pass by him, Lin Xiao called out to her, bowed politely, and asked:
"Auntie, excuse me, could you tell me which way to Euphrates Poplar Village?"
The woman turned her head, and her eyes lit up.
What a handsome young man!
So she immediately smiled broadly at Lin Xiao, unloaded the burden from her shoulders, pointed south and said:
"Young man, you've come to the right person. My family home isn't far from Euphrates Poplar Village. Look, just walk south this way until you reach the outskirts of the town, then follow the narrowest and worst road to the end."
Lin Xiao glanced in the direction she pointed, then smiled sweetly:
"Thank you, Auntie!"
Then he took Tuantuan and headed south.
The woman was still enthusiastically calling out from behind:
"When you encounter a fork in the road, choose the smaller, dirtier path! Remember that!"
"Okay! Thank you, Auntie--"
The boy's voice faded away in the wind.
After leaving the city, Lin Xiao picked up Tuantuan and carried her in his arms, then quickly headed towards Euphrates Poplar Village.
This village is the place that Qin Jianghe mentioned might be affected by the plague.
After following the aunt's instructions and taking the worst path at every fork in the road, he finally saw a glimpse of human habitation in the desolate wilderness about half an hour later.
The closer Lin Xiao got, the more he felt there was something wrong here.
The fur on Fang Tuantuan's body stood on end in his arms.
"Meow..."
"You felt it too, didn't you?"
The further Lin Xiao walked, the more familiar he felt with the place.
Just like when he first entered those Execution Stone mines!
But it's only similar.
This aura wasn't as domineering as the Execution Stone Mine.
Moreover, it doesn't indiscriminately and recklessly absorb the surrounding Spiritual Qi.
There was no unusual sign of large areas withering, decaying, or losing vitality in the surrounding environment.
This aura seems to differ from that of the Execution Stone.
Furthermore, although this aura lingered all around, its source could not be discerned at all.
They were still some distance from the village entrance when they saw a middle-aged man carrying a medicine box walking quickly towards them, shaking his head and sighing.
Several villagers who had just been shaken off turned back to the village with dejected expressions.
Then they heard the middle-aged man walking towards them mutter to himself:
"What kind of weird symptoms are these? They actually tricked me into coming to see a doctor! Humph!"
Although they were far apart and the person's voice was very soft, Lin Xiao could hear it clearly if he wanted to.
His mind raced, and he stepped forward, carrying Fang Tuantuan, and asked:
"Excuse me, sir, is this Euphrates Poplar Village ahead?"
The middle-aged man was startled by Lin Xiao's sudden appearance. He looked around and saw that Lin Xiao was dressed neatly and elegantly, but without any adults accompanying him. He waved his hand at him and said:
"What are you doing in this godforsaken place, young man? This Euphrates Poplar Village is no good place at all; I think it's an ominous place! You'd better leave quickly! Don't bring bad luck upon yourself."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao feigned a puzzled expression and asked:
"To be honest, I have some distant relatives here, but our family business is not doing well. A fortune teller told us to take better care of our relatives, so I came to visit them. I wonder why you said that earlier?"
Hearing him say that, the middle-aged man looked up and sized him up, then grabbed his sleeve and pulled him outside, saying as they walked:
"Young man, you should go back now! You can't go to Euphrates Poplar Village anymore! Your distant relatives—I'm not cursing them, but they're probably going to be gone soon too. This village probably won't last much longer!"
Why is that?
"Oh dear! So many old people in that village have become ghosts! Look at this," he said, gesturing to the medicine box on his shoulder.
"I'm the doctor in this village. To put it bluntly, people from Ten-Li come to me for serious illnesses."
"At first, I heard that many people in Euphrates Poplar Village were sick. Since the autumn winds have been blowing recently, I thought it was just a cold. Two young men from the village have been coming to ask me to come every few days. I happened to be free these past two days, so I came along."
At this point, he shook his head in annoyance:
"Who would have thought it was tainted by evil Evil Qi!"
"You didn't see what those old people looked like! Oh my, they were practically unrecognizable! Their eyes were practically popping out of their sockets!"
"It seems that the Euphrates Poplar Village has been affected by the recent fighting, and all sorts of evil spirits have come here!"
Dragging and pulling him along, Lin Xiao walked a short distance with him.
At a fork in the road, he said goodbye.
"Thank you for your advice, uncle. I'll head home now."
"Sigh, let's go back."
The doctor waved his hand dismissively and hurriedly left.
Lin Xiao pretended to leave and walked for a while before concealing his presence and leading Tuantuan back to the entrance of Euphrates Poplar Village.
From the village entrance, the small village appears peaceful and serene.
The surrounding vegetation, though not lush, was still growing well.
Just looking at them, the plants and trees seemed to subtly exude a sense of withering.
The sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking, common in ordinary villages, are completely absent outside of Euphrates Poplar Village.
Instead, Lin Xiao could occasionally hear some weary sighs.
He didn't go directly into the village, but instead circled around its perimeter first.
This village is small, with only about twenty households.
After looking around, Lin Xiao didn't find anything unusual.
No trace of the Execution Stone was found, but the aura resembling that of the Execution Stone lingered around them.
So he couldn't care less about anything else; human lives were the priority, and the most urgent task was to get everyone in the village out of this area shrouded in eerie energy.