Three days and three nights of flying left Qin Wushuang unable to believe how much distance he had traveled. Qin Wushuang only gradually regained his consciousness when he had no idea how long he had been unconscious. As soon as he had regained his consciousness, he sat up abruptly. Next, he gave a light groan as tremendous pain struck his chest and back.
The most intense pain was that wave of burning sensation below his abdomen. The pain made him grimace.
Qin Wushuang shook his head and his eyesight gradually became clearer. As he used his hands to block the rays of lights s.h.i.+ning in from the window, he started to observe his surrounding environment.
This was a thatched hut that was not big in size, and with simple yet crude display. There was only the little bed that he lay in. Next to the little bed, there was a small table with two bamboo chairs.
These were the only furniture in the entire room. Qin Wushuang stopped to look at that bamboo chair and thought: "What is this place? This host has a rather good frame of mind. This bamboo chair was made exquisitely, he should be a refined person."
Then, he looked outside and saw a little stove lit by fire outside the corridor. On the stove, there was a pot and something clearly boiling. Dense green smoke rose from the stove.
Qin Wushuang stood up and gently tested the condition of his body. He realized that the injuries on his body was better. Only, at his Dantian area, the primordial spirit that had just formed was still in an extremely weak condition.
Qin Wushuang knew that it was due to him pus.h.i.+ng the Dantian beyond its limit. Although he had not made the calculation, before losing his consciousness, he had flown a long time.
"Bao Bao, Lone, are you guys alright?" Qin Wushuang thought silently. In the end, he refused to believe that the Wild Flame Cliff would be the end for them, the three brothers.
He also refused to believe that Bao Bao and Lone would be short-lived. After all, Bao Bao had the bloodline of the ancient spiritual monkey. With the bloodline of the divine clan, how could he be short-lived?
As he lamented, suddenly, his ear twitched as he heard bits and pieces of footsteps coming from outside the house. The footsteps did not sound slow, yet it fell upon the ground lightly. Apparently, it was a girl walking.
Qin Wushuang raised his head to look outside the door and saw a young girl dressed in green clothes walking down from the hill inclined across to him. She had a basket. From this girl"s clothing, she was a village girl. However, when he observed her temperament and her eyes, she seemed like a painting come to life. Her freshness and purity made one feel as if she was a natural fairy, with eyes as limpid as the autumn water that could hold the divine jade.
When that girl dressed in green saw Qin Wushuang, she was stunned at first. Then, two rosy patches flashed across her face. She slowed down her footsteps, walked to the side of the corridor and put down the basket at the corner.
"Young lady, is this your home?" Qin Wushuang saw that girl shyly evaded his gaze. Thus, he could not help but ask.
That young girl gave a light "yes" sound with a voice as delicate as a mosquito"s wings. She walked next to the stove and took a rag to cover her hand as she uncovered the lid of that pot. She looked at it and smelled it. Then, she put the lid back and took a fan from behind her. Next, she fanned the fire next to the stove.
During the entire process, that young girl was blus.h.i.+ng.
Qin Wushuang had an abundance of questions inside his head. However, seeing this girl"s shy expression, he could not bring himself to question her. He lifted his feet and walked outside as he wanted to breathe some fresh air.
"You…" That girl stood up and looked at Qin Wushuang with a caring face. Although her cheeks were blus.h.i.+ng, her eyes were extremely pure as the clear spring.
Qin Wushuang revealed a quizzical expression: "Young girl, what"s wrong?"
"It"s windy outside." The voice of that young girl was low and she said it somewhat stutteringly.
Qin Wushuang smiled lightly: "Don"t be scared, I will just look around."
That girl ran after him and stopped as she saw Qin Wushuang turned around to leave: "There are beasts in the valley."
Qin Wushuang saw this girl had a sincere face, especially her pure and clear eyes that did not reveal any hint of the having experienced the secular world. Clearly, she had good intention and was worried about his unhealed body.
Feeling moved, Qin Wushuang stopped his footsteps and watched from a distance while standing on the outside of the corridor. This was a deep mountain valley and this thatched house was built loosely. Behind the thatched hut, there was a babbling streamlet. Across the streamlet was a village.
This was a rather miraculous scene. Across the streamlet, farmhouses spread across the area. On this side, there was only one thatched house and gave people the feeling of someone living in isolation.
Seeing Qin Wushuang did not leave, that young girl felt rea.s.sured and walked back into the house. She took a bowl, lifted the pot from that stove and poured the prepared herbs into the bowl.
Qin Wushuang breathed it in with his nose and smelled the fragrances of herbal medicine. He could not help but turn around and saw that young girl was holding the bowl while walking towards him.
Qin Wushuang said with surprise: "Is this for me?"
That young girl nodded: "Your injuries will heal faster by drinking the medicine.
Just as Qin Wushuang was about to refuse, he checked himself, he could not bear to brush away her intentions as he noticed the sincere expression on this young girl"s face. He took it and drank it completely after blowing on it to lessen the heat.
On the side, that young girl finally revealed a smile when she saw Qin Wushuang had finished drinking the herbal medicine. Clearly, she was also happy.
"Thank you young lady, may I ask what place this is?"
Qin Wushuang saw that the high mountains surrounding the four sides of the valley nearly touched the sky. Obviously, this was not an ordinary place.
"This place is called Bowl Valley."
"Bowl Valley?" Qin Wushuang had researched the terrain of the Xuan Yuan Mound to some extent. However, those maps did not mark out this Bowl Valley.
Apparently, this Bowl Valley was not an important place. Or else, it would be impossible not to have its name appear on the map.
"Which prefecture does the Bowl Valley belonged to?" Qin Wushuang asked again.
That young girl seemed at loss for she did not know what Qin Wushuang meant.
Seeing her expression, Qin Wushuang could not help but feel somewhat disappointed. It seemed that this Bowl Valley was too small to be of interest to the officials to add to the statistics.
This way, this should be a hidden utopia outside the mainland.
Seeing Qin Wushuang"s somewhat disappointed expression, that young girl felt more or less apologetic. Yet, there was nothing she could do. She could only take Qin Wushuang"s empty bowl as she headed to the streamlet to wash it clean.
Qin Wushuang knew that since that young girl had lived here permanently, she was completely ignorant of the outside world. As he watched her incessantly pure gaze, the purity caused him to love it dearly.
Qin Wushuang was too embarra.s.sed to keep asking questions so as to avoid =letting her feel ashamed about being unable to answer.
He could only stand to the side according to the situation and watch that young girl tidy the place from inside-out. There was only a total of three rooms in this thatched house. One room was where Qin Wushuang had stayed, and the other room had a giant herbal closet displayed.
The door of the last remaining room had been slightly covered, it should be the room of this young girl.
As for the kitchen and firewood room, those were those simple and easy shacks built in the corridor.
Seeing the situation before him, Qin Wushuang felt muddled inside. Such a simple and crude life inside a Forbidden Spiritual Zone such as the Xuan Yuan Mound.
For your information, to those in the human countries, the Xuan Yuan Mound was a place filled with killing and war. Unexpectedly, there was this small quiet place hidden away inside this valley.
Seeing the movements from this young girl, clearly she was not a martial artist. However, this young girl was rather skillful. In a few moments, she had put together a table of dishes.
The food were simple as there were only four plates. However, under the magical transformation from this young girl"s cooking skills, these simple dishes had extraordinary fragrance and color that ignited his appet.i.te.
"Time to eat." That girl hesitated as she tried to address him, yet she did not know what to call him.
Qin Wushuang nodded with kindness: "My surname is Qin."
"Yes, Senior Brother Qin, let"s eat." That young girl took two bowls of rice and two pairs of chopsticks. Next, she placed one of the chopsticks and the bowl of rice to Qin Wushuang"s side.
After Qin Wushuang had sat down, that girl also sat down.
"Young lady, just us eating? Where is your family?" Qin Wushuang could not help but ask.
"I only had a grandfather, and he already pa.s.sed away!"
"Oh…" Qin Wushuang gave a light sigh ashe did not know what to say. Thus, he could only eat his rice in silence. He had to admit that the cooking of this young girl had stirred Qin Wushuang"s appet.i.te greatly.
After eating four bowls of rice, Qin Wushuang finally felt that his hunger had been sated. When he saw that young girl watching him put down the bowl and the chopsticks with a smile, he gave a mocking smile to himself: "Your cooking is great, and made me ate two extra bowls without noticing."
That young girl gave a light smile: "There is plenty of rice."
Yet, Qin Wushuang didn"t know that the villagers in the mountain could eat seven or eight bowls of rice of this size.
After he had finished eating, Qin Wushuang realized that he had to do something rather than just stand on the side as an onlooker. Instantly, he started to clean up the bowls and chopsticks.
That girl immediately said: "Senior Brother Qin, I will do this."
Qin Wushuang smiled embarra.s.singly and looked around. Then, he took the initiative and said: "Then I will chop the woods."
"Senior Brother Qin, there is enough wood, just rest."
Qin Wushuang did not know whether to laugh or cry: "Girl, at least let me do something. Or else I would feel that I am a useless person that only knows how to eat and not do any work."
While he was talking, a voice across the streamlet called in high pitch: "Doctor Shui, Doctor Shui, hurry and come look, the wife of Senior Mo"s home has fallen again…"
Hearing the shout, that young girl seemed slightly surprised as she immediately put down the utensils in his hand. She walked to that herbal room, took a bamboo made herbal suitcase and said to Qin Wushuang: "Senior Brother Qin, rest here, I will go take a look."
"Young girl, you are a doctor?"
"The medical expertise was pa.s.sed down from my grandfather." As that young girl spoke, she rushed away in a hurry.
However, this was the high tide season. The water of that streamlet was already overflowing onto the bamboo bridge. It forced that girl to be extremely careful when crossing the bridge. She extended her hands to the two sides and walked to the other side step by step. Seeing the scene before him, Qin Wushuang felt that he was watching an acrobat from his previous world walking on the tightrope.
Feeling moved inwardly, Qin Wushuang walked over swiftly and lifted the arm of that young girl lightly. Then, he pivoted on the water with his feet and dropped to the other side.
Dumbstruck, that girl watched Qin Wushuang in amazement.
"I will accompany you to see them." Qin Wushuang said with sincerity.
After some thought, this young girl gave a light "yes" as an answer. She moved her mouth almost as if she wanted to ask something. Yet, in the end, she did not utter the question.
This village consisted of a few hundred households with a population less than three thousand people. From their clothing, they should be ordinary villagers that made the best use of local resources.
The one that was sick was an robust woman more than thirty years old. Currently, she was lying on the wooden board with a pale face and appeared breathless. She seemed as she could stop breathing at any moment.
When they saw that young girl, everyone looked as if they had seen their savior as they said: "Doctor Shui, please take a look."
That young girl walked over and put her hand on the woman"s pulse. However, she frowned slightly. After a moment, that young girl asked: "Sister-in-law, did you go to that Tortoise King Mountain?"
When she mentioned about the Tortoise King Mountain, all the color on the villagers face changed abruptly as if they had seen a ghost. Their expression seemed full of fear.