Chapter 132: The Strange Village

"I am the village head here, Zhou Congping. You all are here to hunt for soul beasts nearby, right?"

As he spoke, at the middle-aged man's signal, the villagers lowered the long spears in their hands one after another.

The forest was nearby; coming here to hunt for soul beasts was indeed a good excuse.

As the teacher, Sun Buyu stepped forward proactively, "Hello, I am the lead teacher."

"The supplies we prepared are insufficient, and this place is still a long way from Soul Beast Town, so we thought we would come to the village to ask for some food. Rest assured, we will pay."

Zhou Congping nodded with a smile and reminded them, "Everyone, our village was built only a few years ago, and there are no spare rooms in the village. After you finish eating, please hurry to Soul Beast Town as soon as possible, so as not to miss the time."

"Many thanks for your hospitality, Village Head Zhou. We will depart after a short rest."

Led by several villagers, the group arrived at a household.

Sun Buyu took out money, and the household took a meat leg out of an ice cellar to light a fire and cook.

Wu Qi had been observing the situation in the village, and in his heart, he always felt that the people in this village looked very awkward.

Seeing him lost in thought, the others assumed his expectations had fallen through and he was just being stubborn.

About an incense stick's time later, the hostess of the house brought over hot soup and walked over with a smile, "Friends, it's cold out, drink more meat soup to warm up."

Wu Qi kept his eyes fixed on the meat soup in her hands, his gaze dull, as if he were starving.

The hostess didn't pay much attention, set down the meat soup, and brought over a few bowls of white rice.

Wu Qi came back to his senses and urged, "Eat quickly, otherwise we won't reach Soul Beast Town before dark."

At the same time, his right hand touched the rice and meat soup, and he quietly tucked them into the Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch in his bosom.

Only after confirming the food was not poisoned did he tuck in with gusto.

……

An incense stick's time passed, and as soon as the meat soup was finished, Wu Qi urged everyone to hit the road.

Once outside the village perimeter, the group couldn't help but feel curious, "Captain, why are we in such a rush? Why not stay a while longer?"

Wu Qi didn't speak and walked forward for another distance until Dugu Bo joined up with the group.

"Those people are all Spirit Masters! That village head is a Soul Emperor powerhouse, and the others' strength is between Soul Elder and Soul Ancestor."

Only then did the group understand why Wu Qi left that village.

"Could it be that it was a bandit den? We haven't been targeted, have we?" Qiangu Changkong asked with a vigilant look.

Wu Qi shook his head, "If it were a bandit den, seeing us offer ourselves up, they would definitely have entertained us warmly, or even poisoned the food, rather than driving us away."

"The people in this village clearly didn't want any trouble."

"Although I haven't lived in a village, I've heard that people in villages must engage in manual labor for a living; it's impossible for their palms to be completely free of calluses."

Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wushuang had also noticed this point.

The woman who served them food had very well-maintained palms; she didn't look like a laborer at all.

"Also, there are too many young and middle-aged people in the village. If it were a normal village, the young and middle-aged would definitely go out to earn money instead of guarding the village every day."

This point is not hard to discover if you put yourself in their shoes.

Sun Buyu asked in confusion, "They are all Spirit Masters. Is it possible they were once disciples of some family, and later the family met with misfortune, so they built a village here to hide from their enemies' pursuit?"

This explanation could account for the aforementioned points.

In order to avoid enemies, the villagers would naturally not go out casually.

In this kind of self-sufficient village, if the men did more labor, the women would have it much easier.

Just having no calluses alone wasn't enough to see the problem.

Qiangu Changkong was puzzled, "Brother Wu, isn't this quite reasonable? Aren't you being too sensitive?"

Wu Qi of course knew this; he hadn't finished speaking, otherwise he wouldn't have been so dogmatic.

"I looked, and there are old people and women in the village. Moreover, that village head said the village was established only a few years ago. By the degree of decay of the tree stumps, it can be roughly judged that the village was established six years ago, and they cut down nearby trees to build the houses."

The problem was ready to emerge.

Dugu Bo said in a deep voice, "There are no children here at all!"

Wu Qi smiled and took over the conversation, "If they were hiding from enemies and came here to temporarily live in seclusion..."

"Even if the young people had no such thoughts, the old people in the village would definitely urge them to have children. You must know, once a child with innate full soul power appears, they would have hope for revenge!"

"Do you think that if you were in this situation, you could refrain from seeking revenge?"

"Knowing their own strength is insufficient, they would definitely try every possible way to cultivate descendants, rather than having no children at all."

"The people in this village do indeed behave very reasonably, but things that are deliberately performed always have flaws."

"Unless those young and middle-aged men are all 'ninja turtles,' who can guarantee they don't share a bed after marriage? Even if the men couldn't, could the women hold back?"

The group gasped.

However, this only proves the village is unreasonable; it cannot prove their motive.

Not having children could mean these people were once palace staff whose bodies were castrated in some way, or they simply didn't want children and took measures during intercourse.

In short, without a motive, these guesses are meaningless.

In Wu Qi's mind, he recalled an old tomb-raiding TV series he had watched in his previous life.

Compared with the people in that village, the motive was ready to emerge.

"This precisely proves that it is the location of the ruins!"

"Let me ask you, if you knew the existence of ruins in advance, didn't want outsiders to discover them, and wanted to swallow the treasure alone, what would you do?"

Feng Xiaotian replied, "Hide it."

"If you deliberately cover it with materials like stones, it would only arouse the curiosity of passersby!"

Huo Wu took over the conversation, "If you want to hide it and make it reasonable, then turn this place into a village and have your own people guard it twenty-four hours a day."

Huo Wushuang said, "In this way, even if someone notices something amiss, those who don't know there are ruins here won't be able to guess their motive, and thus won't pay too much attention."

Ning Rongrong said in a deep voice, "These people are too deep; they are truly cunning."

"Then we..." Sun Buyu was somewhat tempted.

Since this group of people has been waiting here for several years, they must be able to guess when the ruins will open.

Who wouldn't be tempted by treasures?

If one could obtain a treasure that boosts strength, this trip would be an absolute windfall.

Dugu Bo reminded him, "A Soul Emperor leading a bunch of Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors alone wouldn't have such guts."

"Moreover, in order to guard the ruins at all times, these people won't go out casually; where does their food come from?"

"There must be someone behind them; if we don't ferret them out, acting rashly will surely lead to heavy losses!"

Wu Qi chuckled, "The thing I lack the least is time; this trip was meant for training anyway. Old man, you've worked hard staying nearby to scout the situation these past few days, let's continue to complete our training."

Unable to go too far, they could only move about within Soul Beast Town.

Chen Ping suggested, "Why don't we form a Soul Hunting team? Helping others hunt Soul Beasts also counts as training, and if the ruins open, we can just rush over immediately."

(End of this chapter)