Dry Water Village.

Yun Qingluo and her group arrived at a village.

Wuming glanced at the dark sky, then turned to Yun Qingluo inside the carriage and said, "Madam, it looks like it's going to rain soon. Shall we stay in this village for the night?"

Yun Qingluo, with a cold expression, lifted the curtain, revealing a stunning face that showed a hint of doubt upon seeing the words "Kushui Village".

Her red lips parted slightly, and she murmured, "Dry Water Village?"

Yunying climbed out of the carriage, her tone surprised, "This name sounds bad. How could the people in this village have such a name? It's really strange."

Yun Qingluo glanced at the sky, which was about to rain, and nodded slightly to Wuming. "Do not disturb the villagers. Your identity must not be revealed."

Wuming nodded slightly and drove the carriage toward the village entrance.

The carriage drove into the village, which was unusually quiet.

As far as the eye can see, every household has mud walls and thatched roofs; there isn't a single brick or tile house to be found in the entire village.

"This village is so dilapidated, so run-down. Strange, why isn't there a single person here?" Wuming was wondering when he heard footsteps behind him.

Wuming could tell from the footsteps that the person did not know martial arts. He turned around and saw that it was indeed an old man with no martial arts skills.

However, the old man's lips were downturned, his eyes were listless, and his face was full of depression with nowhere to vent.

"Uh, cough cough, who are you, and what are you doing in our village?" The old man slowly walked up to Wuming, blocking the carriage's path, leaning on his cane.

The nameless man cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, sir. We are on our way to visit relatives and are passing through. We would like to rest here for the night. Is that convenient for us?"

The old man raised his head and carefully examined Wuming and the two elegantly dressed women beside him who were carrying swords.

Then he turned his gaze to the carriage, but unfortunately the carriage door was tightly closed, and he could not see what was inside.

The old man bent over and coughed a few times, then said calmly, "I am the village chief of this village. If you walk forward, there is an empty courtyard. My wife cleans it regularly, so it is quite clean. You can rest there for the night and leave early tomorrow morning."

"So you're the village chief. My apologies. Is anyone living in that courtyard?" Wuming asked politely.

The village chief sighed, "That used to be where my youngest son and his wife lived. But they left the village and the yard has been left unused ever since."

Wuming raised an eyebrow. "Gone? Heading to the capital for the imperial examinations?"

The village chief chuckled self-deprecatingly, "If only my son were as clever as you say, young master. But the village is poor, and the young couple couldn't stand it, so they left to seek other ways to make money."

"Alas, as you can see, our village is called Dry Water Village. The village suffers from water shortage all year round, and many people have died because of it," the village chief said sadly.

Yun Qingluo listened to the conversation outside, lifted the curtain, and looked around the village.

The ground was dry and cracked, the walls had large fissures, and the thatch on the roof was as dry as withered wild grass in winter.

It's only September, how could things have turned out like this?

The nameless man outside continued to ask, "Since survival has become a problem, why not leave here and go somewhere else to survive?"

The old man said with a mournful face, “You’ve seen it as you’ve come here. There isn’t a single village within a hundred miles. Young people can leave, but children, the elderly, the sick, and women with poor health can’t leave at all. There’s nothing we can do. Heaven won’t let you live. You should leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning to avoid being tainted by our bad luck.”

Wuming frowned, unsure of what to say for a moment.

Moreover, strangely enough, when they were standing outside the village, it looked like it was going to rain, but once they entered the village, the sky was only overcast and didn't look like it was going to rain at all.

That's really weird.

The sound of the village chief and the nameless man talking could be heard from time to time. After a while, the carriage finally arrived at the courtyard that the village chief had mentioned.

The village chief glanced at the carriage one last time before leaving, but still found nothing. He sighed and staggered away.

The carriage door was only opened after the village chief had walked away.

Yunying instructed the two goddess guards, "Clean the room and start a fire."

Yun Qingluo said calmly, "It's too dry here, so keep the fire small."

Yun Qingluo was helped down from the carriage by Yun Ying. After entering the courtyard, she smelled a strange, faint scent. The scent was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

The area is arid year-round. She had only learned about this type of terrain in textbooks. It is located in the central Sahara Desert in Africa, where it has not rained for several years in a row. The sunshine is too strong and the air is terribly dry, which is why it is called a desert within a desert.

But this isn't a desert, and there's no strong sunlight, so why is there still no water?

As Yun Qingluo pondered, Wuming parked the carriage, walked over, and muttered to himself, "It's really strange. There are dark clouds outside the village, and it's drizzling, but here there's not a drop of rain, and there's not even a hint of dampness in the air."

Yun Qingluo turned her head to look outside the gate, but unfortunately, the view of the village entrance was blocked by the thatched huts in the distance. She could only turn back to Wuming and ask, "You said it's raining outside the village?"

Wuming nodded. "Just a few steps outside the courtyard, there are a few greenhouses. I parked the carriage in one of those greenhouses. When I came out, I saw the view outside the village. It was indeed raining."

"This is really strange. This is the first time I've ever seen something like this," Yunying said with interest.

She had lived in the Valley of Divine Healers since birth, and later went to the Divine Guard Camp to train the Divine Guards. She only knew about things outside the camp through hearsay, so she was naturally interested in such a magical weather phenomenon.

Yun Qingluo recalled a familiar scene.

I went out with friends from the orphanage again. On the way home, we came across a bridge. It was pouring rain on one side of the bridge, while the other side was sunny and dry.

Although it wasn't sunny in the village, the situation was indeed similar: it rained outside but not inside.

The saying "sunrise in the east and rain in the west" is, in meteorological terms, a localized phenomenon. It may be that the meteorological system in the village did not meet the conditions for rainfall, and the raindrops evaporated before reaching the surface of the atmosphere.

There are three conditions for precipitation...

However, this weather phenomenon mostly occurs in summer, such as summer sun showers.

Now that autumn has arrived, this phenomenon is indeed quite rare.

"However, if it rains outside the village, why are the villagers still dying from lack of water?" Yunying asked, helping Yun Qingluo into the house.

Yun Qingluo said calmly, "Perhaps the rainwater outside the village is not drinkable at all, and besides, this phenomenon is probably very rare."

Wuming glanced at Yun Qingluo and was slightly surprised to see her indifferent expression. This person didn't seem to find this strange phenomenon strange at all.

Has she seen her before?

That's impossible.