The night watchmen were number one Lü Shengyang, number two Xiao Hei, and number three Ghost Mosquito, a name known only to Wu You.

The remaining two can sleep peacefully.

Lu Shengyang and Xiao Hei stared at each other as they kept watch through the night.

The former was purely to guard against pursuers and other wild animal threats, while Xiao Hei and Ghost Mosquito focused most of their attention on Lü Shengyang.

If he dares to make even the slightest move that is detrimental to Wu You, he will be met with their fiercest attacks.

Lu Shengyang knew that the somewhat sinister black dog was on guard against him, but strangely, the sense of threat he felt was much stronger than the strength the dog had previously revealed.

Could it be that this dog is hiding its true strength?

Shake your head to banish this absurd idea from your mind, and refrain from speaking of strange phenomena, supernatural forces, or other supernatural beings.

But throughout the night, I still couldn't help but glance at the dog from time to time.

To be honest, this dog was the most "demonic" animal that Lü Shengyang had ever seen besides the blood dragon recorded in historical books.

...

Nothing was said that night.

Wu You got up from the extinguished fire feeling refreshed.

Last night's long chat at least gave him some basic information about the world.

The animals in this world are basically the same as those on Earth, but the variety seems to be greater; at least there are no pythons like the blood python on Earth.

Apart from the giant serpent that is called the "Blood Dragon" by the people of this world and defined by the system as a monstrous offspring, there is no real evidence of any other immortals, Buddhas, demons, or monsters.

Of course, human imagination is boundless, and various forms of religious worship are still ubiquitous.

Even practices similar to those in ancient China, such as sacrificing living children to river gods, were not uncommon.

Truly knowledgeable people scoff at this.

Some of those at the top will deliberately guide the public toward such beliefs in order to spiritually dominate them.

The most striking example is the monarchs of past dynasties.

Like in ancient China, they called themselves "Sons of Heaven" and "the people governed by the will of Heaven".

The appearance of the Blood Dragon back then must have shattered the worldviews of many people.

Despite their similar cultures and some differences in their writing systems, the characters are still pictographic and closely resemble those of Chinese characters.

In addition, there were no language barriers.

Wu You really didn't believe that this world had nothing to do with Earth.

While thinking, Wu You took out toothpaste, toothbrush and other toiletries from his backpack.

This time, Wu You discarded some useless cumbersome items and only brought some essential survival supplies.

Without those space-consuming and largely useless snacks, the backpack becomes a true treasure chest.

The funny thing is...

While washing up in a stream.

Ji Haoxuan, who was also cleaning his teeth with willow twigs and salt, once thought that Wu You had been poisoned.

He grabbed Wu You, whose mouth was still full of toothpaste foam, and ran frantically toward Lü Shengyang's location.

He kept shouting things like, "Old Master Lü, quickly use your internal energy to help the hero expel the poison."

After the whole farce was explained, the little guy blushed deeply.

But at the same time, I also developed a strong interest in toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Wu You, who was constantly coming up with novel tools, was privately identified by Lü Shengyang and Ji Haoxuan as a family that must have been a prominent "craftsman" clan before they went into seclusion.

This is probably the main reason for their reclusive lifestyle.

The chaos in China more than two hundred years ago was even greater than it was a decade or so ago.

A powerful clan skilled in ingenious techniques plays a significant role in the struggle for control of the world.

However, now that the Ji clan's bloodline is almost extinct, it would be better if Yan Fengluo were still alive. Now, Lü Shengyang no longer has the desire to assist the Ji clan in seizing the world again; he only hopes that Ji Haoxuan can grow up safely.

To continue the Ji family bloodline is to honor the late emperor's kindness to him.

Humans have an infinite capacity for automatic fill-in-the-blank reasoning. Wu You never expected that, without any explanation, they would form a coherent explanation in their minds.

But this isn't really an exaggeration, after all, Lü Shengyang and Ji Haoxuan are just two "ancient people".

They didn't have television to watch, comics to read, or online novels, and they didn't know concepts like time travel, different worlds, or dimensional spaces.

...

Bingzhou Leping City, with Tiansha River in front and Tianyun Mountain behind, is a feng shui treasure city nestled between mountains and water.

What's remarkable is that it wasn't significantly affected during the period of great chaos in the world.

Of course, this is also because this place is the back garden of the Liu family, a great family with a thousand-year history.

Today, the city gate welcomed three visitors from afar and a large, lean-looking black dog.

At this point, Wu You was no longer wearing a windbreaker, but had changed into a set of coarse linen clothes that Lü Shengyang had somehow gotten his hands on along the way.

Lu Shengyang and Ji Haoxuan not only changed into similar clothes, but also disguised their appearances.

Tens of thousands of people enter and leave Leping City every day, yet Wu You and his two companions did not attract the slightest attention from the city gate guards.

After paying a three-copper-coin entrance fee, we entered the city.

Finally, I saw the original appearance of the ancient city.

Wu You looked left and right, very curious about everything.

The buildings are generally not tall, and the houses along the streets are usually two-story brick and wood structures, but the city planning is well-organized.

It wasn't dirty or messy at all, unlike what Wu You had imagined.

The streets were bustling with people performing, running shops, setting up stalls, and strolling around, as well as peddlers carrying their wares and calling out their wares.

On streets wide enough for four carriages to travel side by side, people occasionally pass by, either leading horses or slowly driving their carriages.

Although the sounds were noisy, the place was full of vitality and ancient charm.

After wandering around the city for a while, the three of them arrived at a five-story restaurant.

This grand restaurant, named "Wangchunlou," is already considered one of the few high-rise buildings in the city.

However, there weren't many customers dining in the building.

Upon seeing the three enter the restaurant for a meal, the waiter was incredibly enthusiastic despite their coarse linen clothes.

"Come, come, gentlemen, please come in. Would you like to sit in the main hall or a private room? Uh, this dog..."

The usually enthusiastic waiter was startled by the black dog; it looked extremely fierce.

"It's in the lobby, the dogs don't bite," Lü Shengyang replied.

If you're going to pretend to be an ordinary person, you should act like one. Dressing like this but asking for a private room will only arouse suspicion.

The waiter hesitated for a moment, but still led them to the dining table.

The dishes were extremely simple, not nearly as delicious as Wu You had imagined.

Although he couldn't read the words very well, he found it boring to listen to Ji Haoxuan reciting names to him one by one.

These dishes mostly consisted of boiled vegetables and steamed meat, which greatly disappointed Wu You.

Because there weren't many customers, the dishes were served very quickly.

Fortunately, the ingredients were of good quality, so it wasn't too bad.

Wu You's current understanding of the system task is that it allows him to support himself in this world, but he feels that something is missing and wants to ask others for their opinions.

"Grandpa Luo, what conditions do you think are necessary for a person to gain a foothold in an unfamiliar place?"

They had already decided on pseudonyms before they arrived. Wu You naturally remained Wu You, while the other two changed their names to Luo Guanzhong and Su Shi, as Wu You had suggested.

Lu Shengyang then imagined the purpose of Wu You's words and thought that the Wu family might be preparing to leave their secluded environment and move to the outside world.

"If you want to gain a foothold in a foreign land, then you naturally need a place to settle down and make a living."

"To have a place to live means to have a place to live; to establish oneself means to have a stable source of income."

Wu You nodded; these were things that any ordinary person would think of.

"Old Lu continued," he said.

"Having the above two points is not enough. If it were an ordinary family, it would be fine, but Young Master Wu's family must also be extraordinary, so they need to have a certain ability to protect themselves."

"When it comes to self-preservation, one is information and intelligence, and the other is power and force."

Lu Shengyang's "information from his eyes and ears" made Wu You suddenly realize the truth.

This suggests that the system might be trying to give him some influence here, which could very well be related to the news about the aberrant entity.

Let's broaden our thinking.

Why did I come to the Eastern Realm? Why was I suddenly given a mission to establish a foothold? What is the information about the suddenly appearing aberrant creature? Is there any connection between the real Earth and this? Is the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain space related to this? Are there three other realms within the Four Realms?

Damn, so many questions, my head is spinning.

Lu Shengyang saw Wu You lost in thought for a long time once again, and sighed.