Chapter 412: Why Did It Fail Again?

Approaching this place slowly from afar, Shen Yu was also carefully observing it.

It was called a mountain village, but the scale of this village was not small; figures were bustling about inside, and at a rough glance, there were probably one or two thousand people.

Looking from the outside, the men were farming and the women were weaving, all in harmony, a scene of idyllic pastoral life.

No matter how one looked at it, it seemed like a paradise, a peaceful and tranquil life that made one feel relaxed just by watching.

But if one looked closely, one would discover that these villagers and farmers seemed to possess immense strength in every move they made, as if every one of them were a strongman.

Shen Yu saw a man over fifty years old lift a massive millstone with one hand, and out of boredom, he even tossed it into the air.

This millstone was tossed a bit too high and came crashing toward a child of about thirteen or fourteen nearby, which was also what made his expression change drastically.

Shen Yu had originally prepared to step in to save the person, but who would have thought that the thirteen or fourteen-year-old child caught the millstone with one hand.

The people nearby were not surprised by this either; they scolded him with a laugh and then left, clearly already accustomed to it.

It was just that although these people had great strength, there was no method to their movements, showing they had no martial arts training.

Yet every one of them could carry a cauldron; with just a little training on the battlefield, they would be first-class fierce generals. Relying solely on this strength, ordinary experts would definitely be no match for them.

If it were just one or two people, it could be called a natural gift, but for an entire village of people to be like this, it was truly shocking.

If some bandits were bored and took a fancy to this place wanting to rob it, they would definitely be beaten until they shat themselves.

But what made Shen Yu feel strange and puzzled was that, clearly these people seemed to have immense strength, which should logically mean their Qi and blood were surging.

Yet they looked sickly, making one feel as if they lacked a bit of vitality.

The Bead in his hand clearly pointed here, but after arriving, he was instead unable to determine the exact location, as it only pointed inside the village. What was this supposed to mean? Was he expected to search for it himself?

Putting away the Bead, Shen Yu walked slowly into the village and ran head-on into a farm woman carrying a sack.

This sack did not look light, but in the farm woman's hand, it was as light as nothing, and she carried it with ease.

When she saw Shen Yu, the farm woman was stunned for a moment. She had seen everyone in the village; having watched them grow up from childhood to adulthood, how could she not know them? The person in front of her was definitely not from their village.

For a moment, the farm woman stood there, stunned, not knowing how to respond.

However, Shen Yu reacted in time and immediately asked like a lost scholar, "Ma'am, may I ask where this is?"

"Oh, this is Taoxiang Village. Young man, are you from the outside? It has been many years since any outsiders came here. How did you arrive at our place?"

Looking Shen Yu up and down with curiosity, she noted that this place was surrounded by mountains on all sides, all of which were steep cliffs. Their village was hidden among the towering mountains, having had no contact with the outside world for a long time.

It was truly because the path in and out of here was too steep; it was not easy for outsiders to come in, and it was not easy for them to go out. To go out, one had to climb over several mountains and face who knew how many poisonous snakes and fierce beasts.

Therefore, it was difficult for outsiders to come in on a daily basis, let alone find their place.

At this moment, seeing Shen Yu's sudden appearance, they were naturally extremely surprised, and at the same time, they could not help but watch with curiosity.

When Shen Yu stopped, many people in the village carefully poked their heads out to look, pointing and gesturing, making for a lively scene.

Shen Yu also greeted everyone generously, while taking out some things he had stored in his space—pretending they were hidden on his person—to distribute to the crowd.

He had just checked; these people were all ordinary folks with simple minds and no bad intentions.

In these people's memories, there was no information about Mu Zishan; they only remembered that their ancestors had lived here for over a hundred years, with very little contact with the outside world.

Moreover, they were no different from ordinary people before, living a life of men farming and women weaving every day; although it was very hard and somewhat inconvenient, they could not buy many things they wanted.

But here, there were no exorbitant taxes or levies, no mountain bandits or robbers, so they lived in peace and contentment.

As for why their strength had increased, calculating the time, it was exactly after the initial Spiritual Qi Surge.

At first, they could not adapt to the surging strength and damaged many things, and each of them thought something was wrong with them. As time passed, they slowly got used to it.

It was just that the outside world was also experiencing the Spiritual Qi Surge, and the concentration of Spirit Qi was no worse than here, yet people outside were not as abnormal as to have such immense strength.

Therefore, there must be a problem here that he did not know about, only these problems were unknown even to the villagers themselves.

At the same time, someone else hurriedly ran back into the village and dragged over an old man of about fifty or sixty.

"Village Chief, look, it's him! He's from the outside!"

"From the outside?" Looking at Shen Yu, who was standing there smiling and greeting people, the old Village Chief frowned tightly.

These farm women could not see any problems, but he was different. When he was young, he had relied on a burst of hot blood to climb over layers of mountains and break into the outside World, so he could be considered to have some experience.

As for the scholar in front of him, the clothes on his body were not something an ordinary person could afford to wear; at the very least, his family background would not be too bad.

Furthermore, from head to toe, let alone being tattered, there was not even a wrinkle on his clothes. One had to know that entering and leaving their place was not easy; it required climbing over mountains and ridges.

Even the most excellent hunter familiar with mountain paths would inevitably end up in a disheveled state if they wanted to come here.

Yet the person in front of him did not look disheveled at all, and he was not even red-faced or out of breath. How could this make one feel at ease?

They had gotten used to the changes in their village over such a long time, but that did not mean it was normal. Just because people outside had not discovered it before did not mean they would not discover it now.

At this time, such an expert had suddenly come from the outside. He believed that the man had already discovered the abnormality, yet he had not shown anything, which always made one feel that he had ulterior motives.

"Young man, this is our Village Chief!"

In a short time, Shen Yu had already become familiar with the villagers here. When the old Village Chief arrived, these villagers immediately enthusiastically introduced him.

"Old Village Chief, I have accidentally stumbled into this place. Sorry for the intrusion!"

"No matter, no matter, it has been a long time since any outsiders came to our village!" Seeing this, the old Village Chief also immediately stepped forward to greet Shen Yu enthusiastically and led him inside.

While ordering the villagers nearby to kill chickens and fish to entertain him warmly, he chatted with Shen Yu, wanting to probe for some news from him.

"Young man, are you from the outside? I wonder who the current County Magistrate of Muyang County is, and who is the Prefect of Shunjiang Prefecture?"

While speaking, the old Village Chief sighed, "Speaking of which, when I was traveling outside back then, I even met the County Magistrate of Muyang County and the Prefect of Shunjiang Prefecture. I even helped them out and left behind some favors."

"So many years have passed; I suppose they must have been promoted long ago. I don't know what official positions they hold now, or if they still remember me, their old friend."

"Oh, is that so? In that case, the old Village Chief can be considered well-informed, knowing so many high officials!"

Upon first contact, Shen Yu had already figured out the bottom line of this old Village Chief; the things in his memory were different from what he said himself.

When he was young, he yearned for the outside World and tried every possible way to go out. Compared to the other villagers, this old Village Chief could indeed be called well-informed.

However, if being drafted to repair river embankments counted as helping the County Magistrate and the Prefect, then he really had not lied.

It had to be said that this old Village Chief's ability to use someone else's influence to build his own prestige was really not bad.

Perhaps in his heart, the County Magistrate and the Prefect were already incredible big shots, and whoever came had to give them some face. Not to mention that so many years had passed, the officials of that year might have been promoted long ago.

In any case, ordinary people never get to see them, let alone ask them for verification. For things that cannot be verified, isn't it all just a matter of making it up yourself?

Even the simple folk in the countryside have learned how to play people.