Chapter 230 The Storm is Coming

Leaving the two people from the Du family behind, Luo Xuanyi walked through the second courtyard where coughing sounds continued, and keenly noticed that there was another voice inside, which seemed familiar.

It was Tian Liu's voice. Luo Xuanyi recalled it, struggling to dig Tian Liu out from the depths of her memory. However, she only slowed her pace slightly and still passed through the flower wall.

After saying hello to Ma Xinghua, who was sitting in front of a stone table in deep thought, Luo Xuanyi left the yard and walked into the alley.

The Soul-Falling Formation in the Interstellar World needed to be based on real-world scenes, and the more realistic the better. Since Luo Xuanyi was planning to use Guhu Town for her experiment, unlike her previous cursory tour, she needed to thoroughly understand the town's details to facilitate replication.

Compared to just looking at the town's layout before, Luo Xuanyi this time focused more on the homes of people living in the alleys.

Under the gray tiled eaves hung red, finger-like strings of dried food. According to what Luo Xuanyi had discussed with Tian Nong last month, these should be chili peppers.

Luo Xuanyi had to work hard to understand many of the habits of the townspeople in Guhu Town, such as why something that was theoretically meant to be eaten was hung out as a decoration.

Some of the items hung out were familiar to Luo Xuanyi, while others didn't match her knowledge. She saw a lot of wood and straw piled against the wall, covered with a thin sheet made of many long green strips.

Strolling through the alleys, Luo Xuanyi saw many townspeople rolling out wooden barrels. The barrel she was holding would be returned to the townspeople at the end of the month when the materials were handed over. The barrels they were pushing were spares. Some were already half full, after all, it was already the end of the month.

When the townspeople saw Luo Xuanyi, some were surprised and put down their work to greet them, while others were a little bewildered. Luo Xuanyi responded to each of them with a smile, occasionally taking the opportunity to ask them some questions.

"What's that?"

"Ah, that's a straw mat."

"Why is it covered like this?"

"This is made of soft water grass. It can keep out water and will be fine even if it rains. Wet firewood is hard to light."

Luo Xuanyi knew that they had to prevent moisture. She had been beaten many times for this. Boss Yi told them that they must not let these things get wet even if they died of illness due to the rain. Every time the outer sect monks of Yanzhen Pavilion predicted that rain was coming, they would race against time to get the haystacks into the room where they had not even slept.

"It's so convenient." She exclaimed sincerely.

"Because it's close to the mountain, it rains too much," the townspeople replied with a puzzled smile. "This thing was invented by Doctor Ma during his march. It has many uses. It has saved countless brothers from typhoid fever just by keeping them out of the rain."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly coughed, as if he choked because he spoke too fast. Then he continued to push the wooden barrel without caring and placed it in the corner of the door.

Luo Xuanyi paused as she was about to leave, and twirled her fingers slightly. She asked calmly, "Why are you coughing? Are you okay?"

The townsman waved his hands, his face showing no sign of illness, and said with full energy: "Hey, I just spoke too quickly. I always do that. It's okay."

"Is that so?" Luo Xuanyi said kindly, "You are also the breadwinner of the family and you are going to go hunting in the mountains, so you must take good care of yourself."

"Oh," the townsman was a little flattered. He patted his chest vigorously, making two "bang bang" sounds. "It's okay. I'm in good health! There will be no problem going up the mountain."

Luo Xuanyi said no more, turned around and walked away, stopping at the corner of a deserted alley. She opened her palm, revealing a nearly invisible strand of fine silk lying in her palm.

This strand of cotton was just coughed out by a townsperson. Except for the smaller amount, it was exactly the same as the one coughed out by the people suffering from cotton disease that Luo Xuanyi had seen before.

The townsman's innocent response to her probing question had convinced Luo Xuanyi that he had indeed been up the mountain. She knew of Chang Liang and Tian Liu, both of whom had gone up the mountain to earn money for their families. She wasn't sure about Mr. He, whom she had only heard of but not seen, so she ruled him out for now.

At present, Luo Xuanyi already knows three people suffering from the disease. They are all strong laborers from their families who have gone to the mountains and their conditions are very similar.

Luo Xuanyi knew that there was a young celestial beast in Luoyun Mountain, and it happened to be covered with flying catkins. She couldn't help but suspect that this was the price that only the townspeople could pay to go up the mountain.

The issue of the Flos Disease wasn't a pressing matter for Luo Xuanyi, but it was still something she needed to consider. Before she could refine the eight formation flags, she hoped that nothing unexpected would happen in Guhu Town. If the strong laborers continued to fall ill with the Flos Disease, the speed of gathering materials would slow, and her progress in refining the formation flags would become even slower.

But the impact on Luo Xuanyi was unclear at the moment. Anyway, it was almost the end of the month, and if the materials were too scarce by then, she would have to try other methods to gather them, or fight the young celestial beast before all eight formation flags were assembled.

This is not a good thing.

Thinking of this, Luo Xuanyi turned around. She had gradually figured out the layout of the alley and quickly walked out of it. Just as she took a few steps towards Puji Trading House, she suddenly heard a whip crack.

“Bang!”

"Make way! The grain officer's carriage!"

A line of carriages and horses surrounded a luxurious mahogany carriage running straight in the middle of the road. A servant in a round hat was riding his horse with his head held high, whipping it continuously all the way, forcing all the townspeople on the street to the sides.

Dozens of soldiers wearing full body armor and helmets followed closely behind the mahogany carriage. Their faces were not visible, and they all rode on tall horses. They were disciplined and followed the carriage into the main gate that the mayor had opened at some point.

Dozens of servants in the Li Mansion pushed the heavy door with great effort, and with a "creak", the sound of horse hooves was locked behind the door.

A dark cloud was floating in the distance, slowly approaching Guhu Town. It looked like it was going to rain again.

Second update~

Sister Yi's wonderful metaphor method, she likes to use human body metaphors, such as the viscera string (candied haws) hh

I recently adjusted the update time, finally I am no longer posting on time.