Chapter 57: Villages

The way down was steep. Large red rocks cut into uneven stairs, the ground was rough and hard. There was barely any vegetation up here but down at the base, I could see grey grasses with mixes of green in them.

We descended down and as the rocks' shadows draped us with mild blackening, we saw huts of various sizes scattered at both sides of this deep dry ravine.

They were mostly circular and had conical grey roofs, made of those long grasses. One old man came out of the hut and he suddenly had an expression of joy cover up his face.

"Hey hey, look! Another group of merchants."

"Hoho, this one seems larger!"

"Such a big beast!"

Such voices registered in our ears as we set foot on the alluvial soil. There was no water here but it wouldn't get hot, I guessed. The rocks up ahead masked the harsh sunlight. I did expect this place to be cold when the night comes.

It was already dark by the time we got down. Hardly anyone lit a lantern, though I did spot a few lying around.

"Get down from the craoca, Feng Yi," I said as I patted the beast. It made a tired noise. I had it smell the taming medicine earlier.

Feng Yi hopped down and pulled the bags. We had everything sorted out by now. It seemed that while in a hurry, we'd brought some unnecessary things from the auction. We managed to sell some of those to Hanai company.

Ling'er came beside me and her shoulders touched mine. Something that was normal after all this time. Chunu was already feeling sleepy. Yesterday's training had left her with little time to take a nap.

Hu Shuo came to us. I squinted my eyes and saw a large bamboo case in his hands. Was it yellow...? I couldn't quite make it out at the moment. There was only a dim red light remaining in the sky.

"A hundred and twenty Enei needles are inside this." He shook the bamboo case. I heard a sound like that of children's toys. It was sharp.

I took the case from his hands and was about to take out five gold kins from my pouch when Du Qingsan said, "No need to pay, mister Fan. You saved us earlier. We should be paying you instead."

Quite a few agreed with him. There was this immediate change in attitude of these people that I noticed.

They did consider me as their benefactor but kept a distance, as if I was someone over their status. I'd told them to call me as just "brother Fan" and here Du Qingshan switched to "mister" instead. I laughed and thanked them.

'If they want me to have it for free, who am I to refuse?'

"Let's go, there are around 10 small villages in this canyon. The guest here is another merchant group, we'll go to the next village," said the chief.

And so we walked. I made our mount carry the bags again. There was no hurry. The merchants chatted on the way. Most of their conversations were about food and sleep. Some guards were also talking about me or what what I did earlier.

"Master Zuifan, do you have any mysterious powers?" She took my arms and very casually latched onto my body.

"Cut that off Feng Yi, I'm not telling you. Move faster, you're slowing me down."

Of course, she wanted to know. That was quite good but I could tell when she was acting. In a small voice, I told her I had a magical plant with me that demonic beasts hated. That ought to satisfy her and she'd stop this fake coquettish behaviour.

"Feng Yi, how steady are your hands?" I suddenly asked.

"I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"Give me your hand... no the right one. Yes, now hold this." I gave her the bamboo case. It was thick and she could only wrap her palm halfway around it. She seemed confused as I held her wrist.

'Hmm, she can do it,' I thought and took the bamboo from her. I planned to have her open my acupunctures tommorow morning.

"Here we are." The chief stopped.

"Haha, Du Gering. I knew you'd come." An old man came to meet. He seemed to know the chief.

"I've missed you, my friend." They exchanged a light hug.

There were a lot more villagers here. The huts looked the same though.

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"Baru! Wapung! Hanai merchants are here. Take them to QuangQing." The old man called and two young men came over. I didn't know what this QuangQing was. Maybe an inn? Was there such a large building that could accommodate this many of us?

"Something feels suspicious."

"It's just you, Lingling."

This was Chunu and Ling'er talking to each other, a rare moment. My sister spoke with Feng Yi but she tended to avoid Ling'er. I didn't know why. I did not think too much about it.

We went ahead. First, we went to a stable where they tied the horses and the camels. However, our beast craoca couldn't fit inside.

"What do we do with it, brother Hu?" Chunu asked Hu Shuo. I found myself shocked. Just a week ago, she had been absolutely disgusted at the sight of him.

"We can leave it here. Would it be okay, brother Fan?" suggested Hu Shuo. Yeah, something wasn't right. I pondered for a minute. Leaving the beast here seemed... like our only option. No rope could restrain it. It wouldn't feel cold with its thick hide. Though, we would have to feed it.

"How much meat do we have left?" I asked him. I was regretting not killing one of those vipers now.

"Don't worry, mister. We can feed your beast. Camels and horses don't eat meat and we have a bit left over."

It was settled then. There were stable boys here, they'd see if something went wrong. This beast could go head to head with a peak body tempering pracitioner. There was no need to worry about someone stealing it.

I'd already let it smell the medicine, so it would stay tame for the night and wouldn't run off.

Leaving the stable, the young men led us to a fairly big house. As expected, it was an inn. Though there was no signboard outside. The house was actually empty but the rooms were kept clean.

"We'll bring the foods in a while. How long will you be-"

"We'll leave the day after tommorow." Du Aini cut off one of the young man speaking.

She was shorter but had a cold disposition. She was like those tough miliatary generals, and one would be mistaken if they thought of her as 'just some woman' based on her figure.

QuangQing inn only had ten rooms which were very small. Even with two people on each, 6 still had nowhere to sleep. The chief, Du Gering put this matter over to the the old man from earlier.

"Hahaha, no worries no worries. If anyone wants to, they can come to my house."

There were many villagers gathered around us as well and seeing their leader willing to give such hospitality, they also offered shelter for us travellers.

"It comes with a cost though..."

'Of course of course.' I rolled my eyes. For a second, I thought he was a good man. Still, I liked dealing with this type of person who stated his demands first.

Uh yeah, me and Feng Yi were going to his house. Chunu and Ling'er had already occupied a room for themselves. Actually, I'd also reserved one but I gave that to Hu Shuo.

The area inside was a bit small for me. Why would I settle to compromise when someone was offering me a room in his house?

The other 2 merchants, their small son and one guard went with the villagers.

"What's the name of this village?" Feng Yi asked the old man. She had a sack with her in which she put her night clothes. Everything else was with my sister and Ling'er.

"Funny you didn't ask my name first. This is Soft Waters village, but should be called scarce waters village instead. Hahaha..."

The old man had average features. His forehead was wide with three distinct lines running over it. He had a bony body and wore loose clothes just like us.

Feng Yi asked a few questions while I silently listened. She hadn't gone outside Pinchu town in her whole life so it was a new experience for her.

"Is this the house?" I muttered. Unexpected it was, this structure built upon the rocky wall. I could clearly see the full design due to the light coming from inside. Xiong Oulan's house was different than others'.

"Amazing, right? Hahaha, welcome to my humble cave, youngsters," he said, spreading his hands.

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