Chapter 845: Shichui Cunzi and the Returning Forest

Jier observed from the rocky hill for a while, and the group below had already bypassed this rocky hill, which was of some height.

After the group bypassed this thing, they followed a narrow dirt road where grass and trees were gradually growing and turned to Shichui Cunzi behind the rocky hill. The village was of decent size, with more than a dozen low farmer houses tightly clustered together, but a somewhat special point was that because it backed onto this prominent rocky hill, this resulted in the village having something other villages did not.

A stone wall surrounding the entire village.

This stone wall surrounding the village was a bit over a person's height, and it had been additionally heightened by more than a meter with wood, which meant that although the wall was not high, it could already ensure the safety of this village in a sparsely populated environment.

At least as far as Jier felt, ordinary wild beasts could not climb over this self-built wall of the village.

Of course, this wall of Shichui Cunzi was far from being as tall as the stone wall of Yemei Town, and its circumference was also far inferior.

Jier watched his group gradually enter the deserted village, climbed down the hill himself, mounted the Tianxuecao that was curiously wanting to eat the butterflies dancing in the flower bushes, and Jier rode over.

The group of several hundred people was piled up in a mess on the abandoned farmland outside the village, waiting for the Armed Squad in the front to check the safety inside the village.

Jier rode over, and the people took the initiative to clear a path for Knight Jier to pass through the entire group.

"Hey! Jier! What did you go up that mountain for just now?"

Passing by his own carriage, the driver Xueya Site shouted at Jier.

Jier waved his hand at him: "Nothing, that place has a higher elevation, I climbed up to check the situation around. Besides, that is not a mountain, it's too short, it can only be considered a hill with a stone head."

Xueya Site smiled: "Then did you see anything? How is the situation around?"

After a moment of silence, Jier pointed to the direction north of east of the village and said: "There is a small river in that direction, the color is very strange."

Without saying more, Jier ignored Xueya Site, who was muttering about 'a river with a strange color', and passed through the entire group to reach the entrance of Shichui Cunzi.

When he arrived here, Jier saw the pushed-open wooden gate of the village, noting that this simple gate made of thick wooden sticks mixed with rope had not been damaged during the time the villagers evacuated the village.

What does this explain? It explains that at least for this period of time, Jier and these people were the first to arrive here after the villagers left.

Jier asked, and as he guessed, when the group came over just now, the Armed Squad walking in the front saw that the village gate was tied up from the outside with rope, not closed from the inside.

"How is the situation?"

Jier asked the members of another Armed Squad guarding the village entrance, and the Squad Leader of this team immediately stepped forward and replied loudly: "Knight Jier, Priest Bataer has already taken a team in to inspect."

While speaking, a place inside the village became noisy; there were surprised shouts from Armed Squad members and the mournful cries of wild beasts. Soon, Jier saw a nest of foxes with bright fur darting out from a farmer's house in the village, fleeing in panic on the roads within the village.

"Hey, there are foxes! Get a few people who use bows, go up and help quickly, don't let them run away!"

Jier immediately shouted, though he himself had no interest in hunting these guys, even though his horse carried a hunting bow and arrows.

As soon as the words fell, the members using bows and arrows in the Armed Squad guarding the village entrance jumped out, rushed out of the crowd, and squatted down to shoot with bows. Those panicked foxes did not expect that there would be humans here; bang, bang, bang, bang, under the chaotic arrows, two more were shot dead on the ground.

The remaining ones were immediately so scared that their fluffy tails puffed up, and they dared not run outside anymore, scattering into the surrounding farmer houses.

The young people holding bows and arrows immediately stepped forward and spread out to surround several farmer houses, and only then did the Armed Civilians holding swords and blades step forward and rush in, and the leading Priest Bataer also rushed in with them. Jier saw that he had a smile on his face; clearly, hunting these foxes was also an interesting and profitable activity for the priest.

"After all, recently these have all been things that don't make people happy."

Jier shrugged, lowered his body on the horse's back, and rode into Shichui Cunzi.

The houses of the farmers in the village were built quite closely, which resulted in the fact that although the population was about the same as other villages, the area of Shichui Cunzi was actually not large. After all, to build a stone wall surrounding the entire village, even if the building materials were right next to the village, this was an extremely energy-consuming and wealth-consuming project for the farmers in the village.

Therefore, the village was built as small as possible, and the yards that every household should have had, as far as Jier could see, the farmer families in Shichui Cunzi did not have. All they had were a few fruit trees planted next to the houses.

Riding on the horse and waiting for a while, the foxes that had darted into the farmer houses were hunted and killed, and one by one the Armed Civilians carried the big tails of the foxes, laughing excitedly without stopping.

"Ha, this is an activity that only the lord masters are qualified to play, hehe."

"Look at how good the fur of this guy is; peeling it to make a hat or clothes or a skirt would definitely be beautiful."

"It's just that I don't know who this nest of foxes belongs to? Is it Lord Jier's, or our group's?"

The members of the Armed Squad gathered together one after another, putting the foxes shot dead by bows and arrows and the foxes killed by swords and blades together. While some people were skillfully peeling the skin, everyone was discussing it heatedly.

"Giving it to Lord Jier, I think it's nothing, but if it counts as the group's, I hope it can be distributed according to everyone's contributions along the way. If my wife could have a fox scarf, she would definitely be crazy with joy."

An Armed Civilian who had married a wife and was both in the group said.

A young Hunter nearby pleaded: "Can you distribute one to me? I am pursuing a girl in the group. If I can give her a piece of fox fur, I believe she will fall in love with me."

Jier found what they were saying interesting, and seeing Priest Bataer walking over holding an Amber Metal Long Staff, he stepped forward and asked: "How is the inspection inside the village? Does this Shichui Cunzi have traces of Flesh Demon having been here?"

Priest Bataer said with a smile on his face: "Great Farm God bless, every farmer's house has been checked. Apart from this nest of foxes that entered the village, there are only some small snakes and spiders. Just use a torch to drive them away and it will be fine. You can let the group come in to rest."

However, speaking of this, the priest scratched his head and said with some hesitation: "But this village is not big, and the area inside the wall is even smaller. I worry that it is still not enough for all the farmer houses to accommodate people."

"And here." He reached out and pointed around: "The place is really too small. Warrior Jier, what about the rest of the people?"

Jier waved his hand: "After all, this village has a ready-made wall, it would be a pity not to use it. Let all the people in the group enter the village to rest. First, let the injured and the women live in the farmer houses, and the others will just make do and set up camp anywhere in the village."

After arranging it, the priest took Jier's arrangements and passed them down.

Subsequently, the Armed Squad at the village entrance cleared the gate, and while shouting Jier's arrangements to the people pouring into the village, they guarded the village gate on the spot.

There were two small houses inside the village gate, which saved them the work of setting up camp. Everyone took turns resting and squeezing in; the two guard houses were barely enough for the Armed Squad of more than twenty people to use.

Jier did not care how the entire group of more than eight hundred people squeezed into the village of no more than three hundred people, nor did he care about the distribution of the fox fur that made the Armed Civilians envious and jealous. He rode the Tianxuecao around the village, and then dismounted to visit a farmer's house.

To be honest, this Shichui Cunzi looked okay from the outside?

But once inside the farmer's house, the crude side of this village was exposed.

The volume and height of the farmer's house were not small, and it looked like it only had one floor, but in fact, after going in and looking, it was discovered that the house with a large area was divided into at least three floors inside.

Rough logs and wooden boards were spliced into floors and pillar walls, and the bottom floor was divided into several places.

Jier took a rough look; the empty first floor should have been used as a Grain Warehouse and a chicken coop or livestock shed, and there was also a place to put handy farm tools. Climbing up the rough and even slanted wooden stairs to the second floor, this was where the farmer family lived normally.

Considering the need for sturdiness and warmth, there were very few windows in the house. Even though it was afternoon, the lighting in the room was still insufficient, and Jier had to pull out a piece of the hunting blade, letting the white light emitted by the blade provide extra lighting.

The second floor of the farmer's house was still narrow and cramped. In front of the stone wall on the side against the wall was a specially made fire pit, and an exquisite stone stove made Jier feel it was very interesting.

Besides that, the most spacious place on the entire second floor of the house was this small area where the stairs came up.

Other large areas were divided into small, dark, and gloomy rooms by rough wooden boards. Just by looking, Jier understood that this one farmer house was inhabited by an entire farmer family of considerable size.

One house was one family, old and young, men and women all living together. During the day, the young or middle-aged farmers and farm wives would carry farm tools, carrying food and water jars, and go to the farmland outside the village to work.

And the old people in the family would take care of the children who were too young, or make thread or tools by themselves with simple tools.

Don't even think about cloth; after all, even the production of Linen Cloth requires a whole set of tools.

However, if one were to say that the people here were poor, that was not the case. After all, the volume and area of this house were not small, and it was designed quite exquisitely. Even if the materials were all obtained from around the village, it was not easy to build such a house.

Not to mention Jier's curious inspection at this moment, he discovered that the house should have originally contained a lot of furniture, but now this furniture had disappeared without a trace; clearly, when the farmers left the village, they had taken it all with them.

Jier shook his head. He immediately thought of the situation in Yemei Town and knew that although the people from nearby villages who had gone there to take refuge had gained possible safety, they were also passively controlled by the people in the town, who were plundering the wealth they had accumulated over the years on a massive scale.

Perhaps as time passed, this method of "plundering" would not only sweep away all the visible wealth of the surrounding farmers, but later would also take away the farmers' houses and farmland as well.

By then, for the sake of a single mouthful of food, these people would have nothing left but themselves.

If it weren't for the Saint Hors Kingdom banning the slave trade, Jier was certain that the people in Yemei Town would definitely have made the farmers sell even themselves, working the land for them for generations to come.

Thinking of this, Jier shook his head, feeling that his decision to refuse the Baron Heir's request to deal with the Flesh Demon early might have been a mistake.

After all, with every passing day, the people outside the town would be stripped of one more day of wealth and resources.

Unless they didn't want their lives anymore, they would have to take the initiative to fight the Flesh Demon that parasitized humans, or flee back to their own villages.

"Sigh, it's all a mess, every place is a mess. It's all the war's fault!"

Jier cursed, climbing the simple wooden stairs to the third floor of the house.

The situation on the third floor was a bit better, but the space here was smaller and could not house more people. Jier looked carefully and felt that each farmer family, the family member with the most decision-making power, should be living here.

However, compared to the floor below, it really wasn't much better.

Walking out of the dark and cramped farmer's house, Jier came outside and stepped aside, letting the people carrying their luggage and supplies enter the house he had just finished inspecting.

"Why didn't they put in more effort back then to find a way to build this village a bit bigger?"

Jier muttered to himself, then laughed at himself, knowing this was all nonsense. No one was a fool; there was naturally a reason for the village to be done this way. The lack of manpower, the scarcity of tools, or the fact that those who wanted to expand after the village was built would likely have faced internal obstruction.

After checking the local houses, Jier climbed onto the wall of Shichui Cunzi and walked around the entire village a few times along the wall.

While attentively inspecting the condition of the wall, he directed the other few Armed Squads of the team to find places to pitch their tents along the wall in other directions of the village.

The carriages carrying the Mao Mao stopped by the road at the village entrance. Curious Mao Mao had long since yawned, jumped off the carriages, and with wide eyes, leaped and climbed onto the roofs of the farmers' houses inside the village.

They flicked their long tails, stepping on the roofs thatched with bundles of Wheat Straw, looking curious.

Every human village made them feel novel, and they used the internal language of the long-haired lynx Beast to discuss the various pros and cons of human settlements, as well as the future development direction of the Mao Mao tribes still deep in the mountains.

They dared not live on the plains like humans, not only because there were fewer wild animals on the plains than deep in the mountains, but also because, even though humans mostly treated them kindly, once they really settled on the plains...

The humans' attitude would be very different.

Brutally, cruelly so.

The Mao Mao knew exactly how intense and cruel the fighting between humans was.

It was no easier than the battles their own Mao Mao tribes fought over hunting grounds and safe water sources.

After arranging everything regarding the defense, Jier came to the center of the village.

It was similar to other villages; even though the land within the village walls was tight, Shichui Cunzi still left a small open space in the center. The ground was paved with stone from the nearby rocky hills, which was rare.

Jier's tent and carriage were placed here.

If there were no special requirements, Jier's tent and carriage would basically be placed in the center of the camp every time they set up, and when spending the night in a village, they naturally had to be placed in the center as well.

On one hand, this was to facilitate Jier in supporting any direction if the camp was attacked; on the other hand, it was also to make it convenient for the people in the team, who camped in different environments every day, to know, see, and be able to find Jier at any time.

When they encountered bullying or difficulties, although Jier mostly didn't have any good solutions either, who told him to be the leader and manager of this team? Although Bata'er Jiaoshi also had the power to lead and manage the team, besides having to focus his energy on the religious people in the team, the Priest also had to take care of the injured people.

Along the way, the team constantly encountered various Bandits, and many of the injuries were not something that Bata'er Jiaoshi, a Nongshen Pastor, could treat alone, even though he possessed Divine Power that seemed very magical to ordinary people. In the end, Bata'er Jiaoshi himself could only pray to heal minor injuries; for more serious wounds, he could only try his best to ensure the wounded did not die.

At this time, the severely wounded could only rely on being kept alive by the Priest and pray for their body's own self-healing ability.

Fortunately, although Bata'er Jiaoshi could not heal severed limbs or serious wounds, he could at least ensure that the wounded who were still alive at the time did not have their conditions worsen. With the nutritious and filling food eaten daily in the team, many severely wounded people had been gradually healing themselves over these days.

It was just that severed fingers and palms had become missing limbs, places cut by knives had left terrible scars, and some people had their skulls cut open by Bandits; they hadn't injured their brains, but they would have to go through life with a missing piece of their head.

Others had their teeth knocked out and would have to eat carefully from now on, and that would be for the rest of their lives.

Unless they could become wealthy in the future, or because of their Faith in the Agricultural God, go to a larger city to participate in the grand ceremonies of the Agricultural God Church, they might have the good luck to grow back the limbs they lost after being injured.

Returning to the carriage, Jier silently packed some supplies used in the wild environment on his carriage.

Xueya Site saw this and asked curiously: "I know you, Jier, won't leave these people behind, but I'm still a bit curious. Jier, looking at you, you intend to leave the team? What are you going to do?"

While packing his personal luggage, Jier replied: "I just saw it from the top of the rocky hills; a river in that direction of the village looks a bit special."

"Special? So?"

Jier looked helpless: "So I want to take a look along the river, especially upstream. My intuition tells me that there must be something different there. Now that I say this, don't you also feel curious and want to go take a look?"

Before Xueya Site could say anything, Bata'er Jiaoshi walked over, and he interrupted with a serious face: "That is not a good idea. I have to pass through Shichui Cunzi at least once every year, so I know what you will find if you go up along that river."

When he said this, Jier and Xueya Site both looked over. Only then did Jier remember that although Bata'er Jiaoshi was from Borisfa City, because he was the Cunzi Priest of Changmai Cunzi, he could be considered half a person from Sasi County, especially from the Nanbu of Sasi County.

"What is there?"

Jier pretended to ask with a curious face.

"Huitou Forest! Everyone nearby knows that if you walk upstream along a small river that cannot be drunk from outside Shichui Cunzi, you will eventually be led to a place called Huitou Forest. Legend has it that everyone who steps into the forest out of curiosity or to look for someone can never return."

"Then where did they go?" Xueya Site asked with a surprised face.

"No one knows. No one knows where these people ended up after stepping into the forest!"

Bata'er Jiaoshi said with a serious face.

Jier almost couldn't keep his expression straight, because he knew from the Great Bird God that behind this so-called 【Huitou Forest】, deep in the mountains, there was a valley of considerable size where people lived.

Presumably, those who stepped into the forest eventually lived there.

It's just that I don't know why those who enter would rather build a village than leave? Could it be that the forest can only be entered and not left?