Chapter 243: Ten years of changes, people are different

Let’s not talk about the name of the technique for now.

After three years of hard training in martial arts, three years of studying the witch's bloodline and bones, and four years of time in the uninhabited mountains and dense forests, Gu Dan finally integrated a set of methods of blood circulation and even fighting methods that he was most satisfied with.

This is definitely the most suitable martial art in the world for his own strength. It is even better than the top-grade martial arts and is truly tailor-made for him.

For an ordinary master to create a top-grade martial art, the time required would probably be no less than ten years.

However, Gu Dan had already reached the level of a grandmaster, and he was well-read, so with his high-level perspective, the time he needed was actually less.

This was the time when the immortals returned, and Gu Dan asked himself if he had enough power to protect himself.

Unless you are unlucky enough to run into a Jindan or Yuanying level being, your life should be safe!

According to Qingpingzi's understanding of the realm of immortals, the existence of Jindan and Yuanying levels is not something that can be easily encountered in the immortal world.

If we compare the immortal path to the mortal world, then the existence of that level and status can probably be converted into that of a martial arts master in the mortal world. Most people have only heard of them and have no chance to see them.

As for the upper levels? That is nothing more than a legend.

Even though the Grand Master was very amiable and easy to talk to in front of Gu Dan, why don’t you try it with an ordinary warrior?

Gu Dan thought to himself that his luck was not that bad, and he just needed to be prepared for a disaster.

"The skills have been polished to a certain level, it's time to go back."

Gu Dan stood up from the ground.

After four years of silent cultivation in the wilderness, he still looked clean, with a spotless body, a fair face, and flawless body. Even his clothes were shining with the moonlight, like an immortal banished from the mortal world, untainted by dust.

With the steady improvement of strength, many troubles in the mortal world seem to gradually disappear into thin air without anyone noticing.

"It's time to go back and take a look. I've been gone for nearly ten years."

There are no years in the mountains, and the years pass by without notice when the cold ends.

Gu Dan also felt a little emotional.

Ten years have passed, and I wonder what changes have taken place in the world now? Xia Dynasty, Yuzhou.

It is now the twentieth year of the Xia Dynasty.

It has been exactly twenty years since the Yuan River burst its banks!

The baby born at that time may have become the father of the child at this time, which is a generation ago.

Gu Dan did not return directly to his own courtyard, but went to Yuzhou first.

When the Yuan River burst its banks, floods and mud were carried everywhere, causing unimaginable damage.

But fortunately, the war ended soon and the damage caused by the flood was not long-lasting, so people were immediately organized to carry out rescue operations.

Now, twenty years have passed, but the disaster caused by the man-made disaster has not been completely eliminated. When revisiting the place twenty years later, Gu Dan could visibly discover the changes in the landform.

In addition, a greater impact is that many fertile fields can no longer be cultivated, resulting in large tracts of vacant arable land.

These things can only wait for a longer time for their impact to slowly disappear.

But the other changes can finally make people happy.

There are a lot of pedestrians on the street. This is just an ordinary little village, but there are still many pedestrians along the way, occasionally mixed with merchants hawking their wares.

Gu Dan glanced around and didn't see anyone with a pale face.

I couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

The Xia Dynasty never gave up Yuzhou, even when it encountered a terrible man-made disaster. After Wang Mang came to power, he continued to send people, food and supplies to rescue it.

When Xun Ke grew up, he was sent to Yuzhou to serve as the governor, which demonstrated his determination.

Disasters are ruthless, but people are kind.

The reconstruction after the disaster was also done very well.

Gu Dan was wearing a green shirt and had used a disguise technique to change his appearance, covering up his overly outstanding features. He was walking among the bustling crowd, blending in with them.

After observing silently for a while, I saw an old man holding a shovel, humming a song and walking towards the village, looking very contented.

"Father-in-law."

Gu Dan took two steps forward and asked, "Excuse me, is this Akino Village?"

The old man looked at Gu Dan for a moment and saw that although he looked ordinary, he had an aura that ordinary people could not match. He stopped and said, "Qinye Village? That was the name from decades ago! Now we call this place Ping'an Town."

"Ping An Town?"

"Yes!"

The old man nodded, stuck the shovel directly into the ground, leaned half of his body on it, and became talkative. "Just a few decades ago, there was a flood! Many people were swept away, and people from villages within a dozen miles were gone. What's the point of having so many villages? The officials thought it was not a big deal. There were only a few people in a village, so they couldn't do it, so they reorganized us."

Hearing the other party's strong local accent, Gu Dan nodded gently and said, "I see."

It is common for folk villages to change their names, but most of them have reasons and are not difficult to understand.

"I see you don't look like an ordinary person. Have you become successful outside and come back?"

The old man looked at Gu Dan in a familiar manner. Although Gu Dan's disguise skills were excellent and the other party could not find any flaws on his face, his fair skin naturally distinguished him from the farmer who worked hard in the fields. It was obvious at first glance that he was definitely not a farmer.

"That's about the same."

Gu Dan thought about it, nodded and smiled.

"Come on, let's go to my house and rest for a while. If you want to find someone, I'm afraid it's not easy to find them."

The old man said in a very familiar manner.

"Then I'd rather obey you than be disrespectful."

There is nothing wrong with taking care of the worries.

"Don't act so pretentiously. Speak properly. I haven't been to school, so I don't understand what you are saying."

The father-in-law waved his hands repeatedly.

"Ha ha."

Gu Dan laughed, "Thank you for your help."

After spending a long time with familiar people, it is probably the so-called "internal people among us", and you may even pick up some habits without realizing it.

Following the father-in-law's footsteps, I came to a house that looked quite well-off. I heard the father-in-law yelling in a loud voice: "Old woman, guests are coming. Give us some white noodles!"

“Hey.”

The woman walked out of the room, glanced at Gu Dan, and didn't ask any more questions. She simply said, "Yes."

The father-in-law casually put the shovel under the eaves, walked to a water tank in the yard, opened the lid, and took out a watermelon.

"Oh, that's very polite."

Gu Dan was also moved by this enthusiasm and quickly spoke.

"Why are you being so polite to me? Since you came to my village, maybe our two families were of the same generation decades ago."

The father-in-law cut the watermelon with a knife and found two small stools, "Come and eat."

Seeing this, Gu Dan was no longer polite and took the red melon flesh from his hand. He took a bite and the juice overflowed. It was sweet with a hint of coolness, making people feel comfortable in the summer.

After working in the fields for a long day, the old man, covered in sweat, ate a piece of watermelon in just a few bites. He casually wiped the remaining watermelon juice from his mouth with his hand and said with emotion: "Life is different now. I didn't eat such delicious food decades ago!"

"Oh? Where did this thing come from?"

Gu Dan asked with some curiosity.

"The caravan got it from abroad."

Of course, the father-in-law couldn't remember clearly, but when he mentioned the caravan, he immediately sighed: "Life is easy these days. No one wants to do farm work. They just want to follow the merchants all day. There are so many people. You know what, they really got some good things. These watermelons are all from outside, and there are other miscellaneous things, but they are too expensive, so I can't bear to buy them. This thing is cheap and delicious, and you can grow it at home. It's a good thing!"

Of course, there is more than just the Xia Dynasty in this world, and there are more than just Daqi, Dayong, Daqing, Dai Viet and other countries.

In fact, no one has yet given an accurate number of how big this world is.

But for the vast majority of these people who may not even leave the homeland where they were born a few times in their entire lives, all those things are far away. They don’t even need to remember their names. As long as it is not their own country, it is generally called a foreign country or overseas.

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As the Xia Dynasty became more prosperous, it did not just trade with the four countries. More enterprising people had already begun to travel to more distant countries, bringing with them things that they did not have at home.

The strength of a country must be multifaceted, and it can be seen from just one aspect.

There are huge differences between the Xia Dynasty and Dayue. It is definitely not just a change of name or royal family.

“Is life getting better?”

Gu Dan asked.

“Much better!”

The old man nodded repeatedly, stared at Gu Dan's face, and said, "Looking at you, you don't look that old, do you? I'm almost fifty! Decades ago, I never thought I could live like this."

As he spoke, his face was filled with sorrow.

Gu Dan also looked at the old man's face with a puzzled look.

He is almost fifty years old, but already looks old and has wrinkles all over his body. Fortunately, he is still in good health and can still work in the fields.

Gu Dan's real age is already over fifty years old, even older than the "father-in-law" in front of him.

"You've come at a great time!"

The old man slapped his thigh, spitting everywhere, "Back then, I couldn't even have a decent meal. Not to mention food, the wild vegetables were all scraped clean, and the tree barks were all stripped! It's nothing like now, where we can eat white flour every three days and taste meat once a month!"

Although he was clearly talking about unhappy memories, my father-in-law's face was full of relief and pride, as if he was talking about something great.

Gu Dan may not have much understanding of the changes in the mortal world.

Because he himself has already left that level.

Or maybe he was lucky and didn't suffer too much from beginning to end.

But as long as you walk among the people, you will always see it.

Unlike before when I stayed in the small courtyard and even if I didn’t go out, I would see all kinds of man-made disasters, life in the mortal world is indeed getting better.

Even though this improvement is far from enough for Gu Dan, who has seen the real prosperity of the world, for ordinary people who have become accustomed to suffering and disasters, the current world is what they have been longing for.

"Are you happy then?"

Gu Dan asked a rather classic question.

"Happiness? I am happy if I have food and drink."

The old man was straightforward. "Young man, you haven't told me who you came to see. You must have met me. This Ping'an Town has people from all over the country, and some have moved here from other places. It's not easy to ask others."

"I'm looking for an old woman, but of course she's probably gone."

Gu Dan thought for a moment and said, "She was called Aunt Cheng, her husband was called Dingcheng, and her child was called Sheng'er. When the White Lotus sect spread cholera in Yuzhou, their whole family fled to the mountains. Except for her, they were all poisoned to death by the mushroom soup. Only she was reluctant to drink the soup, and she survived.

Then there was a flood and we lost contact, so I remembered this incident and came back to take a look.”

In order to make things clear, Gu Dan explained the whole process in detail.

What happened to Aunt Cheng seemed unique even in a world once filled with suffering. If we use this clue to look for it, we should be able to find it.

However, it has been twenty years since then. Even if Aunt Cheng had lived a peaceful life, she would probably have passed away by now.

Gu Dan came here just to talk about the past and give himself an explanation.

The tragedies I have witnessed must come to an end.

He sincerely hopes that even those who have not experienced it personally can feel the hope in this peaceful and prosperous era.

“Aunt Cheng?!”

Sure enough, after Gu Dan explained it in such detail, the father-in-law raised his eyebrows and his voice rose seven or eight degrees.

It was obvious that he must know this person.

"That's right."

Gu Dan nodded repeatedly and asked cautiously, "How did she become?"

The old man put the melon down, his eyebrows drooped, but he said calmly: "Dead."

“.”

Gu Dan didn't say anything.

Twenty years have passed. Considering Aunt Cheng's age, even if she had lived a peaceful life, it would have been difficult for her to survive until now. He naturally couldn't hope to see the real person, but judging from his father-in-law's expression, he was afraid that this was not something to be comforted by.

"During the flood, many of us fled to the mountains, including Aunt Cheng. The water was so strong that Aunt Cheng insisted on going down the mountain to go home. Could she survive if she went down? It took several people to stop her. She also grabbed and bit people, so we had to tie her to a tree in the end."

The old man lowered his head, his voice gradually became low, and unpleasant memories came to his mind. "Later, the water finally receded, and the village was buried by mud and sand. We couldn't go back. Fortunately, soldiers came to build houses, repair roads, and distribute food. Aunt Cheng went crazy again, throwing stones at those soldiers . It was our own people who were in charge at the time, so they sent people to watch her and give her food. The next day, when no one was watching, Aunt Cheng jumped into the river by herself."

Plain and ordinary.

A mad peasant woman, even death is like this.

Gu Dan didn't speak for a long time.

The old man also lost interest in the conversation and cursed, "What a damn day of fighting!"

Fortunately, this atmosphere did not last long.

"Let's eat!"

In the kitchen, the old woman shouted with full energy, pulling the two men back.

"Let's go, let's eat, good days are coming!"

The father-in-law patted Gu Dan's shoulder, actually trying to comfort him.

(End of this chapter)