Tian Yuan War Chronicles: The Path of Artifacts to Ascension – Chapter 6

Ch 6: All Over the Mountains and Plains

“Erlang hasn’t escaped the disasters of war and bandits, right?” Hua Dalan, following behind Hua Laodie, asked Hua Kong beside him.

“No,” Hua Kong said, looking at the torches all over the mountains and plains, feeling somewhat dazed.

“Ah! It hasn’t happened for so many years! The last time was when Ermei was three years old! You weren’t even born then!” Hua Dalan sighed.

“However, I have been to the camp for avoiding disaster! Uncle Li took us there!” Hua Kong said.

“Yes! I just don’t know why they sent a large army to Duanshan City this time? And I don’t know how long we’ll have to stay in the camp?” Hua Dalan wondered.

“I haven’t heard of any major events happening! But such important matters are difficult for us to find out,” Hua Kong replied.

Along the way, the family chatted intermittently, and sometimes they encountered villagers resting by the roadside. The usually quiet mountain path suddenly became a bit crowded.

Everyone was dragging their families and carrying livestock, so their pace couldn’t be too fast. They walked and stopped like this until nearly the second half of the night before reaching the camp more than fifty miles deep into the Duanshan Mountain Range.

Families who walked faster had already found their own exclusive shacks, extinguished their lights, and gone to sleep. They were really tired from walking all this way.

Hua Kong’s family also found their own shack, but because Hua Dalan had already married and had children, the shack was obviously a bit small.

Hua Laodie, Hua Dalan, and Hua Kong had no choice but to make do outside the shack for one night, and consider other options the next day.

Because they had walked so much the night before, Hua Kong didn’t wake up from his sleep until nearly noon the next day.

“Erlang is awake? Wash up and eat something!” Hua Ermei saw that her younger brother was awake, and handed over a basin of clear water.

Hua Kong washed his face, rinsed his mouth, and devoured the cake, porridge, and pickled vegetables that his elder sister brought him, eating them all up like a whirlwind.

“Why are only you here?” Hua Kong realized that only his elder sister and himself were in front of their shack after he finished eating.

“Father went hunting in the forest. Mother is helping Elder Brother’s family build two new shacks on the open space next to the fence,” Hua Ermei explained.

“Why build two?” Hua Kong asked, puzzled.

“Mother said that Ermei and I are both grown-up children, and it’s not convenient to live with Father and Mother anymore, so she’s building two.

One for Elder Brother’s family, and one for you and me together, but you live in half, and I live in half,” Hua Ermei replied.

“Where is it? I’ll go lend a hand!” Hua Kong asked.

“It’s in the west!” Hua Ermei pointed to the west of the camp.

“Then I’ll go over!” Hua Kong got up, patted the dirt off his body, and walked towards the west.

At this time, many families had already started building new shacks, after all, although people often came to the camp, some families’ shacks were still a bit dilapidated.

Some families, like Hua Kong’s family, had children who had grown up and married wives, and some places on the fence were a bit unreliable, so everyone was busy.

Hua Kong found his Elder Brother, who was trimming the trees he had cut down, so he found a tool and helped out.

Compared to the busy but orderly camp where Hua Kong was, Duanshan City was a different scene.

Large teams of soldiers were patrolling the city fully armed, constantly beating gongs and announcing that the entire city was sealed off, and everyone had to return home and were not allowed to go out, waiting for questioning.

“Second Brother! Isn’t this too much? Wouldn’t it be enough to offer a reward? Naturally, someone who knows will come to claim the reward and report the petty thief’s movements!” the thin young man said.

“Fifth Brother is confused! How can such an important matter be rewarded? As soon as a reward is offered, someone will fabricate stories to claim the reward! Wouldn’t that confuse the public?

Don’t worry, Fifth Brother! Now it’s like catching a turtle in a jar, he can’t escape!” The young general said leisurely, looking at the soldiers all over the mountains and plains from the city gate tower.

“Open the door! Open the door! Ningyuan Army is questioning! Open the door quickly!” A team of soldiers was banging on the gate of a small courtyard somewhere in Duanshan City.

“Coming! Coming! Sirs, don’t be anxious! Sirs, don’t be anxious!” A flustered middle-aged man’s voice came from the courtyard.

“What’s your name? Answer truthfully, if what you say is not completely true! You will be killed without pardon!” The courtyard door opened, and the soldier shouted loudly.

“This humble one is Zhang Wu, what are your orders, sirs?” Hearing the soldier’s words, and seeing the team of soldiers in front of the door wearing helmets and armor, looking fierce and evil, the man was so frightened that he knelt on the ground with a thud.

“Zhang Wu? Just called Zhang Wu? Do you have a formal name? Do you have a courtesy name or nickname?” The soldier asked, while a clerk-like person behind him was recording something with a pen.

“This humble one is just called Zhang Wu! I don’t have a formal name, nor do I have a courtesy name or nickname,” the man answered tremblingly.

“What is this place called?” The soldier confirmed with the clerk behind him that the record was complete, and then continued to ask.

“This place is called Clear Water Street. There is a deep water well in that street, and people nearby come to fetch water. The well water is clear, sweet, and refreshing, so it’s called Clear Water Street,” the man answered, pointing to a certain place on the street.

“Have you ever seen this Old Beggar?” The soldier took out three portraits, each depicting the face, front figure, and back figure of a beggar.

If Hua Kong were here, he would definitely recognize the person in the portrait. Who else could it be but the Old Beggar who asked him for bones?

“Old Beggar?” The man looked at the person in the portrait, thinking.

“Have you seen him?” The soldier questioned sternly.

“Ah! I’ve seen him! I’ve seen him! I saw him on the street in front of the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion! He was asking a young man selling venison for bones! I happened to be passing by at the time, so I took a few glances!

It should be him! Wearing dirty, tattered clothes! His accent isn’t local either!” The man shouted excitedly.

“Where is the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion?” The soldier’s eyes lit up, and he was also a little excited.

“It’s on North Main Street!” The man replied.

“Asking for bones?” The soldier was puzzled.

“Yes! He didn’t seem to give any money! That young man looked very unhappy!” The man explained.

“Didn’t give money? No transaction?” The soldier was puzzled.

“No! He took the bones and left! He didn’t give the young man anything!” The man said affirmatively.

“Do you know that young man who sells venison? Do you remember what he looks like?” The soldier pulled the clerk to his side.

“I don’t know him! I don’t know him! I don’t remember what he looks like either! It’s been several months! I don’t usually go to the north of the city! But you can ask the Shopkeeper and Shop Assistant of the Drunken Fragrance Pavilion! They should have seen him!”

The man replied.

“Okay! Who else is in the house! Come out!” The soldier’s voice softened a little.

“Sirs! I have an old Mother, Wife, and Daughter at home! But they don’t usually go out much. They definitely haven’t seen this beggar!” The man said somewhat fearfully.

“Stop talking nonsense! Call them all to the front to answer!” The soldier shouted loudly.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” The man ran back into the house in a puff of smoke, and led out three people.

The soldier asked the man’s questions three more times, and sent his soldiers to turn the small courtyard upside down before stopping.

“You answered very well! This is one hundred large cash, given to you by Commander Lin of our Ningyuan Army!” The soldier took a string of copper coins from his subordinate behind him and handed it over.

“This~~” The man was a little scared and didn’t reach out to take it.

“What’s wrong? Do you want me to offer it with both hands?” The soldier teased.

“No need! No need! Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!” The man mustered up his courage to take the money, and kowtowed on the ground like he was pounding garlic to thank him. His family also kowtowed to thank him.

“Go back! Without orders, you are not allowed to go out! Let’s go!” The soldier shouted loudly, leading a team of soldiers towards the next courtyard door, and started knocking on the door.

In the past few days, as the number of city residents visited continued to increase, the Old Beggar’s whereabouts gradually became clear.

Although this kind of city-wide search had some progress, it still made some of the people in the city lose patience.

They secretly went out with a fluke mentality, but the city was full of patrolling soldiers, and they were caught and beaten with boards before they had gone too far. After being beaten, they were thrown into prison, and as soon as the news spread, no one dared to act rashly again.

The chaos in Duanshan City was also being staged in the nearby villages. The soldiers found that most of the villages had been completely evacuated.

The news reached the young general, but he didn’t care. He only told the soldiers to maintain the blockade and patrols, and to focus on investigating the residents of Duanshan City first.

The chaos in Duanshan City had already spread to Hua Kong’s camp. Of course, no one knew what had happened. The villagers who were sent out to inquire about the news couldn’t get close to any wider roads at all.

The soldiers all over the mountains and plains had already made the villagers in the camp very worried. Everyone had already begun to discuss whether to enter the deeper mountains and forests to build a camp.

Hua Laodie and a group of old people had already gathered together to discuss countermeasures. Strong laborers like Hua Dalan had been sent out to contact the camps in other villages, and everyone was exploring the depths of the forest together to find a suitable place to build a camp.

And half-grown boys like Hua Kong were idle. The camp was already relatively deep in the Duanshan Mountain Range, and there were already more large wild animals, so the adults didn’t allow them to run around.

The picture books they had brought had been flipped through countless times, and they didn’t want to look at them anymore. Even the Taoist Health Preservation Method books exchanged from the Old Beggar had been read several times.

When he was really bored, he would even read some books of sages to a few of his friends, but of course they didn’t want to listen and all ran back to their own shacks to hide and sleep.

“Erlang is bored?” The Second Elder Sister next door asked, hearing Hua Kong’s bored sigh. They were only separated by a “wall” made of grass and branches.

“Yes!” Hua Kong replied sullenly.

“Didn’t Erlang bring some writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones? You can write some calligraphy!” The Second Elder Sister suggested.

“Alright!” Hua Kong pondered for a moment and replied. He didn’t want to write, but what the Second Elder Sister said was also true, he had to find something to do.

During this period of time, he had read the book called “Tian Yuan Qi Guiding Qi Method” Taoist Health Preservation Method, and felt that this small book was quite extraordinary. This Health Preservation Method should have some tricks.

Thinking of this, Hua Kong flipped out the “Tian Yuan Qi Guiding Qi Method” from the bamboo basket, stroking the cover of this small book, Hua Kong suddenly felt something different.

When he first started, because it was dirtied by the Old Beggar, Hua Kong didn’t pay attention to this small book.

After wiping it clean with a wet cloth yesterday, he felt that something was wrong. This paper would not be damaged by water immersion, of course, that was all, he thought it was just relatively thick and waterproof paper.

Oiled paper umbrellas are also waterproof, but now when he looked at it, the surface of the book seemed to have a luster flowing, and he initially thought that the paper was oiled and more reflective.

When he took it to the sunlight, it was not like this at all. The light seemed to flow out from the inside of the book. Hua Kong was a little surprised now, and quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed.

Seeing that there was no one around, he quickly entered his shack, pulled the simple small door shut, and tied it with a rope.