Chapter 422: Not Allowed to Enter the Village? (3/5, Autumn Subscription)

There's such a thing?

Fang Yue furrowed his brow. Could there be something on him that attracted it?

Fang Yue took stock of everything on him, and besides the parchment, there didn't seem to be anything worth mentioning.

Could it have come for that?

【Don't talk nonsense! The great and pure Lord Parchment, despite countless previous owners, has never had a precedent of attracting the bizarre!】

Fine, the man himself has debunked it, so it has nothing to do with the parchment.

Then what was the reason?

Fang Yue was just frowning in thought when, for some unknown reason, a thought he'd once had back in Mo Cun surfaced in his mind.

At the time, Fang Yue had discussed the issue of the bizarre Spirit Root with Ni Dongmei, though it had been dismissed. But Fang Yue had indeed been bizarre-ified for a period of time. Could it be because of this that the giant 【Biguabizarre】 had prioritized attacking him and forcibly tried to devour him?

At first glance, it seemed to make some sense — humans who had been bizarre-ified tasted better?

But on closer thought, he felt this was pure fantasy.

Lord Han pondered at this moment: "Perhaps... it has something to do with the 【Bizarre Curse】 on you!"

The Bizarre Curse 【Wuyu】!

Fang Yue's heart jolted.

This Bizarre Curse was far too abnormal, far too well-behaved.

Other Bizarre Curses all had intense effects, shoving whatever they did right in your face.

But this thing — if Lord Han hadn't brought it up, and if it hadn't grown hot and burning that night when Night Rain fell, Fang Yue would have forgotten he was even carrying a Bizarre Curse.

"Xiao Ye, if it's really the Wuyu tribe's Bizarre Curse at work, then we'll have to pick up our pace. The Wuyu tribe's bizarre curses are no simple matter — no one in a small place can handle them. Only when we reach Qingsi County might there be someone who knows a thing or two."

"Mm."

Due to the attack by the 【Biguabizarre】, the group simply didn't stop, hurrying along the whole way.

From night into day.

Then from day back into night.

Along the way, everyone was silent, alert to movements around them, nerves taut.

Except for Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu, who, after the arduous feat of slowly finishing a whole big chunk of frog chicken leg, immediately logged off to rest.

Along the way, the only two horses they'd had also collapsed completely from their injuries.

The carriage reverted to human power, though thankfully the cargo had shrunk by more than half.

The only thing worth celebrating on this stretch was that there were no bizarre attacks at all — the journey was very peaceful.

After the sun set and darkness descended.

Just as everyone's eyelids were fighting each other, a new village finally appeared ahead.

It was none other than their intended destination — Dedao Village.

But after speaking with the two guards at the gate, one fat and one thin... they were actually turned away at the door.

"Sorry, our Dedao Village is not accepting any personnel from outside villages recently."

Lin Ling, whose injuries hadn't even healed yet, immediately grew anxious.

They'd encountered the 【Biguabizarre】 on the road, suffered heavy losses, and were in desperate need of supplies. Everyone was exhausted and hungry from hurrying along. They needed a safe place to rest.

Getting turned away at Dedao Village's door — how could that be acceptable!

"Have you forgotten the old agreement? Even though Gu Yue Cun has had little contact with your Dedao, we still know each other, right? Not even allowed to enter the village to rest and buy some supplies?"

Lin Ling's interrogation left the fat guard at a loss for words. He could only steel himself and say: "W-we're just following the Captain's orders. Please don't make things difficult for us, Captain Lin."

"Call your Captain out here!"

"He won't see anyone."

"What about the other captains?"

"None of them will see anyone. To be precise, they won't leave the village, won't have contact with anyone or outsiders."

Lin Ling was stunned the moment he heard that.

He remembered that when Chen Mu was still alive, he'd gone to Dedao Village, and after returning had chatted with him about the experience. But back then, Dedao Village clearly didn't have so many rules.

Seeing Lin Ling's emotions becoming unstable, Fang Yue hurried forward to smooth things over, then said:

"We won't go in. We'll just set up camp and rest at your village entrance — that should be fine, right?"

"Should... be okay?" the Guard Team member asked uncertainly, turning to the person beside him.

"... Go ahead and camp. Tomorrow when the Captain asks, we'll say no one came."

Compared to this proactively communicative fat guard, the silent thin guard beside him clearly understood the ways of the world much better.

Jing Yan's eyes rolled: "Then can we buy some supplies? We ran into a bizarre attack, our carriage was wrecked — being out here like this is really inconvenient."

The thin guard shook his head slightly: "No good. The Captain's orders specifically mentioned not trading with outsiders."

Fine, then let's just set up camp and rest first.

Fang Yue and Lin Ling exchanged a sigh.

The group had been holding their breath, pushing at full speed to get here, only to be given the cold shoulder — that was genuinely uncomfortable.

And most importantly, they hadn't gotten supplies for their key provisions.

Nothing to be done; everyone set up camp to rest.

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu happened to come online at this point.

The moment she logged in, she mysteriously winked at Fang Yue.

"Ye Ge, guess where the tail has gotten to?"

"... Extreme Ice Sect?"

"Eh?! No fun no fun! The moment Ye Ge hears me say 'tail,' he guesses what I'm about to say!"

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu stormed out, and then saw... they had actually set up camp at the village entrance.

"Ye Ge, Ye Ge, why don't we go into the village?"

"The other side won't let us."

"Then let's fight our way in!" Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu violently waved her little pink fists, and got flicked on the forehead by Fang Yue.

Fight our way in? You think we're aberrations, going to wipe out a village?

If we actually did something like that, once the Green Division investigated, how would we get by later? Like rats crossing the street, with everyone shouting to beat us?

Without much thought, after the team set up camp, aside from arranging two team members for the watch shift, everyone else rested.

Fang Yue didn't sleep, but after entering meditation, he cultivated briefly for a while.

After all, this was already at the village entrance — surely no aberration would kill its way right up to the village gate.

But even though he felt it was safe here, Fang Yue still chose to complete one minor circulation cycle of the Blazing Heart Method, then immediately withdraw, stay awake for a period of time, confirm nothing was wrong, and only then enter the meditative state again.

He kept switching between states like this, all the way until deep into the night.

After Fang Yue withdrew from the minor circulation cycle...

Fang Yue suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness well up in his heart.

However, this drowsiness came quickly and left quickly — he just shook his head slightly and was fully awake again.

Fang Yue hadn't paid it any mind, but a system notification suddenly rang out.

"System Notification: You have fallen into the 【Drug: Soul-Dispersing Powder】 state."

"System Notification: 【Drug: Soul-Dispersing Powder】 state has been removed."

Fang Yue:???

A drug? Wasn't I just too sleepy?

Fang Yue was stunned for a moment, then realized that 【Breath of Night】 had once again instantly dispelled the state.

"Shh!"

Lord Han, who should have been sleeping on the table inside the tent — clothes laid underneath as a makeshift bed — suddenly spoke.

Clearly, not only had Fang Yue not fallen for it, Lord Han wasn't susceptible to this trick either.

(End of this chapter)