Chapter 164: Road Sign

Ah, this...

Doesn't that mean that our current situation is an anomaly?

Fang Yue and Niu Niu exchanged a glance.

"Could it be that some anomaly has set its sights on our escort team?"

"An anomaly? Set its sights on us? Give it a rest. I'm just a doctor running errands—how could I possibly attract the attention of an anomaly?"

After a pause, An Shenyi glared with an unfriendly expression at Niu Niu, who was standing there in a dazed, foolish manner.

"Besides, if we're being honest, all we ran into was a Heavy Ghost Flower."

"Although it's a bit surprising for a Heavy Ghost Flower to show up on a village road, it's not impossible."

"This kind of ghost flower moves around on its own—it doesn't stay rooted in one place—so it can pop up anywhere."

"If our people had been more careful, hadn't stepped on it, or hadn't startled it, we could have completely avoided this crisis."

"But there are so many anomalies in the wild, and their types are countless—truly impossible to guard against every one. So I don't blame the people in the team either."

"Let's set aside the Heavy Ghost Flower for now and call that the escort team's fault, but the Sheep Hollow Ghost was absolutely an undeserved disaster."

"That guy—yes, that guy right there—left the team on his own and ran off, which drew the Sheep Hollow Ghost. Otherwise, we'd only have needed to watch out for the Heavy Ghost Flower."

Niu Niu shrank his neck, not daring to speak.

"Looking at it that way... we can only say we had pretty bad luck..."

Even so, Fang Yue still felt that the density of anomalies near Gu Yue Cun was a bit too high.

As the few chatted up to this point, the escort team up ahead had already spotted the four people catching up from behind—they had kept someone watching the rear the whole time, waiting for Fang Yue and the others to catch up and rejoin.

"Deputy Captain Ye!"

"An Shenyi!"

"And the Blood Hunter! That's great! They're safe!"

Cheers rose up from the escort team, but no one paid any attention to Niu Niu.

"Ye Ge!"

"Ye Ge!"

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu and Wei Ba were the first to step out from the team to greet the four, followed closely by the three Deputy Captains.

Fang Yue briefly recounted what had happened, then had the team pick up speed and continue on their way.

Niu Niu said something to Fang Yue, then really did lie down on a horse's back and go to sleep. Fang Yue had someone toss him onto a cart, taking up one of the rest slots.

At this moment the night was growing thicker, and Human Soul torches had been lit at both the front and back of the team, while a large torch was also lit in the middle.

That big Human Soul torch was like the thick, tall pole used to raise a great banner in ancient battles—thick and long—held by a Deputy Captain, burning Human Soul and lighting up everything around it.

The large torch's flame burned even fiercer, so naturally it consumed more Lifespan. Fortunately, it could be reimbursed back at the Guard Station, so it could be burned without worry.

Of course, that was for those Native NPCs with plenty of Lifespan. If it were Fang Yue doing the burning, even with reimbursement, it would pain him to death.

As time went on, the team advanced quickly.

Fang Yue's mood also grew tense.

Counting the time, it was almost the moment when the great crisis prophesied on the sheepskin scroll was supposed to arrive, but still not the slightest shadow of Man Shui Cun could be seen ahead.

Could it be that the team was moving too slowly, causing the sheepskin scroll's prophecy to be voided?

Fang Yue wanted to take out the sheepskin scroll and check again, but quickly restrained the impulse.

There shouldn't be any deviation. After I killed the Sheep Hollow Ghost, I rushed to the escort team without stopping and had them pick up speed again to travel at full pace.

In theory, there shouldn't have been any pause in between.

But why is Man Shui Cun still...

"Huh?!"

Fang Yue was frowning, his face full of worry, deep in thought, when An Shenyi suddenly brightened and let out a surprised "huh."

"What is it?" Fang Yue asked, puzzled.

"We're almost at Man Shui Cun!"

An Shenyi pointed at the village road ahead, brightly illuminated by the Human Soul torches.

There, the village road split into two forks—counting the road they had come in on, it formed a three-way junction.

Apart from the cobblestones on the village road they were currently walking on, which looked relatively new and bright-white, the cobblestones on the other two forked village roads had a subtle difference in color from the ones underfoot—they looked tinged with a bluish-black, as if older.

"Compared to your Gu Yue Cun, Man Shui Cun is a somewhat more popular village. After all, your Gu Yue Cun's geographical position, among the villages of our Lianhe Village, is on the more remote side. Whether it's merchant caravans or those wandering travelers, unless they have some special need, none of them would specifically go to your Gu Yue Cun."

"But Man Shui Cun is different. Its location is relatively advantageous, and its foot traffic is livelier. Every now and then, you can see outsiders from outside Man Shui Cun flowing into the village, stimulating Man Shui Cun's economy, so Man Shui Cun has a lot more fat to be picked than your Gu Yue Cun."

"You can tell that from the cobblestones on the ground—they're more worn down, which means more people have walked this road, used and trampled on it more frequently."

"To tell the truth, if Lord Han hadn't come to Mo Cun to find me personally, and the price hadn't been high enough, I really wouldn't necessarily have been willing to go to Gu Yue Cun to save people."

An Shenyi didn't hold back much when speaking—saying whatever came to mind.

The people around also showed more or less pleased expressions.

To accommodate Fang Yue, this "newcomer," Lin Ling had placed many experienced veteran team members throughout the group.

Each of them, to a greater or lesser degree, had plenty of experience traveling outside, and they knew that if you left the village and followed the village road in this direction, you had to pass through this fork.

And once you reached this fork, it meant Man Shui Cun was no longer far away... no, it should be said it was already very close.

"Head this way, a bit further, and that's Man Shui Cun! We can finally get a proper rest soon!"

An Shenyi looked a little excited.

The life-and-death crises out in the wild that day had left him utterly exhausted.

Now that they could finally rest properly, he was naturally happy.

"Then let's hurry on our way. The sooner we arrive, the sooner we can rest."

Fang Yue was also happy. Judging by this, perhaps because their team had picked up speed, they had avoided the great crisis and could safely enter Man Shui Cun!

This is entirely possible, because the prophecy on the parchment always surfaces the text of future events based on the circumstances of the moment.

If any change occurs within it, the future changes along with it, so naturally it cannot be taken as gospel.

Fang Yue looked around — at the three-way fork there wasn't even a single road sign, and only after Divine Doctor An's directions did he learn that the path on the right led to Man Shui Cun.

"Then where does the other road go? And why not put up a sign? Locals like us are fine, but if outsiders saw this three-way fork they'd probably be baffled."

"Who says there's no sign?"

Divine Doctor An took a torch from one of the team members beside him and shone it around the side of the fork.

There, there was a low, grey boulder. Divine Doctor An wiped the moss off it with his hand, revealing a few characters carved into it: 【Man Shui Cun】, 【Hei Qing Shan】, 【Gu Yue Cun】, each with its direction marked.

Just 1 chapter today…

5 chapters tomorrow, then I'll try to keep up a steady 5 chapters a day.

If the state is good I'll burst out 10 chapters, or… is there a Sect Leader?

(End of this chapter)