Chapter 476: An Uneasy Atmosphere, the Fire Basin Under the Big Tree

Jier's eyesight was multiplied by the influence of the Divine Art, and things that were previously unclear in the distance were now entirely within his view.

Hidden behind the palm-sized vine leaves in the neatly arranged green eggplant trellises were, in fact, one person after another.

There were about a dozen of these people, carefully squatting in the gaps between the trellises, relying on the cover of the green eggplants to hide. Occasionally, someone would slightly poke their head out to peer outside, but they would quickly be pulled back by the others.

"Something's wrong! Everyone pay attention, everyone pay attention, get ready for battle, we might have to fight soon! All drivers, get ready to move at any moment." Jier's loud voice spread throughout the convoy; the crowd was a bit chaotic at first, but they soon calmed down.

Everyone just hadn't expected the battle to come so suddenly, they weren't actually afraid of the so-called battle. Thus, the drivers nervously gripped the Jiansheng in one hand and slightly raised the horsewhip in the other, ready to make the carriages move at any time.

The Warriors in the carriages became excited one by one, successively putting on their weapons and equipment, picking up their Shields, pressing their hands to the hilts of their swords at their waists, or stringing their bows and preparing their quivers.

"Come on, hurry up and come." The Warriors all wore joyful expressions, impatient to meet those Defeated Soldiers who had abducted the Villagers.

Meanwhile, Weier in the carriage behind also slightly drew his Sword, holding it loosely in his hand to prepare for battle. He also moved from the top of the cargo in the carriage box to the driver's seat, sitting together with the driver of the same carriage.

Weier was even more eager to have a go with the enemy, so as to highlight his bravery and importance.

Jier's gaze never moved away from those hiding in the green eggplant fields. Through the gaps in some of the crops, he discovered that most of the hiders were wearing simple Linen Cloth clothing, rarely having Leather Clothing or leather trousers for basic defense, let alone professional Soldier Armor.

This made him wonder if those people hiding might actually be the Villagers of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi?

"But why would they hide? Could it be that, like Big Tree Cunzi, they mistook us for those Defeated Soldiers? But the convoy is still so far from the village, and they don't have my eyesight, so how could they have discovered the convoy that just arrived?"

Jier muttered to himself while riding the Tianxuecao back and forth along the side of the road. At this moment, Xueya Site, not far behind him, spoke to Jier: "Jier, has Bata'er Jiaoshi been gone for a while now? He hasn't returned yet; has something gone wrong?"

Jier was startled, only then realizing that Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had gone to Blue Dragonfly Cunzi, should indeed have returned by now. After all, it was just to report the arrival of their convoy, and the people of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi were not unfamiliar with him; he shouldn't have been gone so long just for a report.

"Something must have happened, but considering the equipment on Bata'er Jiaoshi, he himself should be fine. I just don't know why the people in the village let him in but won't let him come back out."

Jier replied to Xueya Site, feeling that it wasn't right for the convoy and him to just wait here; they should be more proactive and do something.

"Xueya Site, you watch the convoy. If any outsiders approach, regardless of whether they harbor malice or not, do not let them get close. Once they approach, fight directly, do not hold back! I see people hiding in the farmland over there, so I'm going over now to take a look and ask them about the situation."

After speaking, Jier urged his warhorse to run, galloping toward the distant green eggplant fields.

To avoid being disliked by the people of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi, he deliberately did not let the warhorse pass directly through the farmland, but instead walked along the small path on the edge of the fields; in fact, the speed was not very slow either.

While accurately controlling the Tianxuecao to walk on the field path to approach the green eggplant planting area, he kept his eyes on the actions of the people hiding at the village gate and near the green eggplants.

Someone on the village wall seemed to have discovered him, and a few people popped up. They shouted something, and then more people gathered on the wall, but he was still some distance away from the village at this time and couldn't hear what was being shouted over there at all.

He could only barely confirm through the clothing of the people on the village wall that the village's defensive force was still local Villagers, and that was fine. As long as the village was still in the hands of the Villagers, it meant that the situation was not the most serious one he had anticipated.

He was afraid that the group of Defeated Soldiers had used some special method to cleverly take over Blue Dragonfly Cunzi, north of Changmai Cunzi. If that were the case, the number of people he would need to rescue would not be as small as before.

According to the data on the population of the two villages mentioned by Bata'er Jiaoshi, the people of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi were actually twice as many as those in Changmai Cunzi.

"Fortunately, the village is still under the control of the local Villagers. But what is going on with the current situation?" Jier was a bit puzzled. It seemed that to answer his doubts, asking those farmers hiding under the green eggplants was the fastest way.

The Tianxuecao ran at a fast speed, its hooves stepping on the ground rapidly, leaving one huge hoofprint after another on the soft field path. The heavy warhorse galloped like a nimble hare, and with a light leap, it could jump directly over a horizontal road blocking the way.

On the open farmland where there was only the sound of the wind, the sound of the galloping warhorse was so obvious. By the time Jier was five hundred meters away from those hiding, they had already discovered Jier approaching them.

Quite a few people were so scared that they stood up directly from the green eggplant trellises, exposing themselves.

But clearly, Jier's appearance and approach made them completely forget about hiding, as well as their complaints with each other. Many people subconsciously turned and ran, regardless of other companions who hadn't reacted, or the green eggplant trellises that had been painstakingly built in the field.

The timid ones turned and ran, while the slow-reacting ones were still stunned on the spot. It wasn't until Jier had approached by several dozen meters in the time of two breaths that they finally reacted and fled in succession.

Jier found it a bit strange; they were clearly wearing ordinary farmer's clothing, so why did they run when they saw him?

He wasn't a bad person!

But the more Jier chased, the faster they ran.

Some people ran directly toward Blue Dragonfly Cunzi, while a small number of people did not run directly toward the village, but instead ran toward a rare large tree in the field not far away.

Jier ignored those running toward the village and chased after the Villagers moving toward the large tree in the field.

Those on two legs were naturally much slower than those on four. Before those people could reach the large tree, Jier had already rushed to the bottom of the tree first along the path between the fields.

He first scanned the area around this large tree; there was nothing peculiar about it, just a simple resting place where people could shade themselves. Around the tree roots, some rough wooden chairs were placed, and there was even a stone fire basin.

"Hey! I'm not a bad person! Are you Villagers of Blue Dragonfly Cunzi?"

Jier turned his head to look at the few Villagers dozens of meters away and asked them loudly.

"Bah! Are we that stupid to believe what you say!" one person cursed.

The others saw Jier guarding the large tree; they didn't know whether to approach or not. Clearly, if they ran away at this distance, they would be caught up by Jier on horseback in two steps, and then he could easily knock them down by striking their backs.

So, the few people who understood the situation at this time pulled out Daggers from their waists one after another and slowly approached Jier.

They also understood that they probably couldn't beat this fully armed young man, but compared to being abducted and suffering unknown torture, they would rather fight to the death.

"Hey, hey, hey, answer me, are you really Villagers from the village? And what are you doing? You don't think you can take me down with those few pieces of scrap metal, do you? Hahaha, this is the most ridiculous thing I've heard and seen today."

Jier was naturally not afraid of the defensive Daggers in their hands, but with just a glance, he could understand that they were not weapons from the army. Ordinary people's defensive Daggers were mostly used for cutting Bread, far from being used for fighting. The blade was too short, the strength was not enough, and if it was too brittle, it was easy to break upon hitting a hard object; if it was too soft, it was easy to bend like a dog's tongue.

Most importantly, ordinary people's defensive Daggers were not sharp enough; cutting a piece of cooked, sinewy meat was a bit difficult, let alone using them to kill or injure people.

But clearly, these few people also realized how big the gap was between the two sides. Just looking at the Long Spear and bow and arrows on the weapon rack on Jier's horse, and the Sword hanging at his waist, they knew this was a skilled Warrior, not to mention that the opponent was riding on an armored horse and was also wearing a set of Hard Cowhide Armor that protected his whole body.

Even if Jier wasn't a Knight, with his equipment, dealing with ordinary people without long weapons, he could manage one against fifty.

But these people just took a determined look at the village not far behind them, and then rushed up one by one.

Jier was startled; he didn't want the Tianxuecao to be frightened and kick some local with a hoof, that would be troublesome. So Jier hurriedly pulled the Jiansheng, letting the Tianxuecao dodge the people approaching.

The Tianxuecao understood its master's intention very well, moving its four hooves and nimbly moving its body a few steps to the side, dodging the approach of these people.

"Hey, listen carefully, I am a good person, a Warrior of the Agricultural God sent by Bata'er Jiaoshi to help him rescue the Villagers of Changmai Cunzi who were abducted! I'm not a bad person, hey, hey, hey, why aren't you listening to me? Eh? So that stone fire basin can be moved, and there's a hole underneath?"

As Jier was speaking, he discovered that the few people who had 'forced' him back, seeing him clear the path, felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They rushed to the stone fire basin used for heating under the large tree, and two people directly hugged the thing, using all their might to move the heavy stone fire basin away as quickly as possible, revealing a deep, dark, narrow passage underneath that could only accommodate one person.

One person on the side saw the hope of survival appear and didn't care about their companions at all, diving in headfirst. A cry of pain came from inside, as if they had been injured, but clearly, that person had successfully escaped for the time being.

When the others saw this person being so desperate, they didn't care about anything else either, crowding to get in. If they could get in first, they would have a hope of living. Otherwise, those left behind might be captured by these shameless Defeated Soldiers full of lies and suffer unknown torture.

When Jier saw them trying to run, it was impossible for him to just watch them escape one by one. He looked left and right, confirmed that no one else was hiding around, then jumped off his horse and strode toward the crowded people.

Just as Jier approached them, three more people squeezed into this narrow emergency escape passage that could only accommodate one person. At this time, only two young men remained outside, having struggled to move the stone fire basin. It was a pity that the two of them had used all their strength to open the escape passage just now, but they themselves were squeezed to the back due to exhaustion.

Just as these two were pushing and shoving each other, competing for the last hope of escape, Jier grabbed their arms, one in each hand, easily lifted them up, and threw them aside.

Then, he used one foot to push hard, and the stone fire basin, which only two young men could move, was easily pushed back to its original place by him, sealing the small escape passage again.

"How could this be..."

"It's over, we're finished..."

Seeing this situation, the two knew they were completely finished. Then, the two exchanged a glance; the companions who had just been jostling and pushing each other now drew their personal defensive Daggers in unison, gripped them backhanded, and prepared to slit their own throats.

"Hey! Don't!" Jier hurriedly stepped forward, gripped the blades of their Daggers with both hands, and no matter how hard the two struggled, they could not move the Daggers even a fraction of an inch. Clearly unable to commit suicide, they could only let Jier handle them.

The palms of the Gauntlets on Jier's Hard Cowhide Armor were also protected by hardened cowhide, so it was possible to forcibly grip the not-sharp-enough Daggers. With a burst of strength, he snatched the Daggers from their hands and, with a flick of his wrist, nailed both Daggers high into the trunk of a large tree behind him. The entire blades were embedded in the tree trunk, and being more than a person's height off the ground, they simply could not be retrieved.

With a disdainful pout, Jier shook his hands, then reached out to pull the two youths who were sitting on the ground back up, only then saying to them: "Relax, I'll repeat it again: I am not a bad person. You might have misunderstood; I am not one of those Defeated Soldiers who attacked Changmai Cunzi. On the contrary, I am a warrior of the Agricultural God Church specifically invited by Bata'er Jiaoshi to deal with that group of Defeated Soldiers!"

The two youths, politely pulled to their feet by Jier, were still dazed at this moment. They had just tried to commit suicide but failed, and then they had been politely pulled to their feet by this 'evil' Defeated Soldier. The two, who were waiting to be beaten and insulted by the other party, only now heard Jier's words in their entirety.

"Are you lying to us?"

"You want to give us hope, and then tell us you were lying to us, just to give us even deeper torment, right?"

The two spoke one after another, their faces full of skeptical expressions.

Jier was starting to lose his composure. What was wrong with the people of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi? Where was the trust between people? In other places, he didn't need to repeat his identity and purpose several times to be accepted by the local people and establish basic trust.

Yet, the people of Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, no matter how many times he stated his purpose, still believed he was a bad person, and that any goodwill he showed was just a part of tormenting them.

"What do you need me to do to believe that I am not a bad person?" Jier exhaled and asked speechlessly.

The two still did not believe a word Jier said: "You are clearly one of those scoundrel soldiers who are wicked to the core. Don't think about making us believe you are good people. You've tried every trick in the book these past few days, isn't it just to get into our village!"

"I'm telling you, it's impossible! As long as everyone completely refuses to believe any of your tricks, you have absolutely no way to take us. Our Cunzi has plenty of grain; we will just hold out and wear you down, and even if we starve you all to death, you won't be able to enter our Cunzi!"

The two young men were also desperate, constantly saying that they would not surrender and that the Cunzi would not be taken by the Defeated Soldiers.

Jier understood immediately that in the time between the Changmai Cunzi Villagers being abducted and Bata'er Jiaoshi receiving guidance from the Agricultural God to find him, and their journey here, Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, which was closest to Changmai Cunzi, must have been subjected to the Defeated Soldiers' attempts at deception and harassment.

Ultimately, it was because the Defeated Soldiers lacked sufficient strength and found it difficult to take a Cunzi with a population of nearly a thousand, with grain, water, and a perimeter wall.

They must have used various methods before, relying on deception, sneak attacks, and the like, to cause some losses to Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, and it was even possible that some of the population had been abducted. That was why the Villagers here were so resistant, preferring to commit suicide after being captured rather than let themselves fall into the hands of the Defeated Soldiers.

Jier had a mind to tease them, a small revenge for their stubborn refusal to believe his actions and attitude.

So, Jier pointed to the stone fire pit nearby and said to the two with a mocking tone: "What are you talking about? Can't get into the Cunzi? How is that possible? With this secret passage that likely leads into the Cunzi, tonight all of us can rush into the Cunzi in one go, vowing to take you all at once!"

Unexpectedly, it would have been better if Jier hadn't said that. Once he said this, the two young men from the Cunzi exchanged a glance, realized something, and shouted to Jier in unison: "It seems you really aren't one of those bad soldiers! Are you really the reinforcements found by Bata'er Jiaoshi?"

This time, it was Jier who was confused. What was wrong with what he just said? How come when he tried to reason with them, these people didn't believe him, but when he pretended to be a Defeated Soldier, they instead thought he wasn't really a bad person?

He couldn't figure it out.

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? (End of this chapter)