Chapter 42: I don't know about the Han Dynasty, nor the Wei and Jin Dynasties
"I hope the gods will forgive me—"
The old man spoke in a long and melodious voice as he approached Wang Ergou and bowed to the ground with a terrified look on his face. The little girl beside him also bowed to the ground with a pale face.
After hearing Wang Ergou's question, the old man looked up at him, then shook his head and replied, "I don't recognize the gods, I deserve to die! Please forgive me, gods!"
Wang Ergou thought it was ridiculous: "If you don't recognize me, why do you call me a god?"
The old man was stunned: "You... aren't you a god?"
"No, I'm a disciple of the nearby Taiyin Sect, not some immortal!"
"Not a deity!?"
The old man's voice suddenly rose, and the door and window next to him made a faint creaking sound, as if many villagers were secretly observing this place.
The girl's face was now more flushed. She looked at Wang Ergou with her big round eyes and asked boldly, "If you are not a god, how did you get in?"
"An Ya'er! You have no right to speak here!"
The old man scolded the little girl anxiously, and she shrank her neck and pursed her lips, not daring to speak again. The old man stood up, and seemed to have gained some courage. He smiled and said to Wang Ergou: "Our place is a place blessed by the gods. Only gods can come here. I heard that there are wars everywhere in the outside world, and people are living in poverty. Did you survive? If you have nowhere to go, you can stay here. I think since you can come here, the gods will not blame you!"
"War? People's livelihood is in vain?"
Wang Ergou's face was almost full of question marks.
"There's no war going on outside!"
"Not at war!" The old man seemed a little surprised: "Then which god are you under?"
"Under the rule of the gods?"
Wang Ergou couldn't help but mutter in the group microphone: "No, I can understand every word this NPC said, why can't I understand it when they are connected together?"
The players who heard the "live broadcast" from the group microphone were also confused. Someone suggested: "Leader, ask him if he knows Guangcheng Sect!"
"Uncle, no, this grandpa," Wang Ergou asked, "Have you ever heard of Guangcheng Sect?"
"Guangchengzong?" When the old man heard the name, he looked sad and sighed, saying, "Isn't Guangchengzong gone? Alas, when we were under the rule of Guangchengzong, life was easy! It's not like now, when we have to offer sacrifices to the Goddess of Water every year... Oh! I spoke out of turn!"
The more Wang Ergou listened, the more outrageous it seemed. He quickly asked, "Wait a minute, why is Guangcheng Sect gone? It was fine, wasn't it? I saw Du Da and Du Er from Guangcheng Xianren Residence in Taiping Town yesterday! Who is the Goddess of Water?"
The so-called Du Da and Du Er refer to two NPCs who reside in Guangcheng Xianrenju. One is called Du Zhong and the other is called Du Heng. Both are disciples of Guangcheng Sect.
The Er Du had a very good attitude towards the players, and the prices they paid for spiritual herbs and plants, various finished talismans, and other things from the players were higher than those paid by the profiteers of the sect. However, the two NPCs had repeatedly asked curiously why the disciples of their Taiyin sect liked to use their spiritual consciousness to control the actions of the puppets instead of walking with their bodies, and liked to jump around, which made the players not know how to answer... After the old man heard the news about Guangcheng Sect, he was even more surprised: "Guangcheng Sect is still there!?"
"Yes! I'm fine!"
The old man's expression suddenly changed: "How could this be? When we entered the valley to seek refuge, the gods clearly told us that Guangcheng Sect was gone..."
Obviously, there seems to be some secret behind it.
But Wang Ergou really didn't want to continue to argue with the NPC in front of him, such as "could it be" and "as expected", this plot design was really cliché and speechless, just like an old lady's foot binding, smelly and long. He asked impatiently: "Let's not talk about whether Guangchengzong is here or not. Who is the 'Water Goddess' you are talking about?"
According to convention, this water goddess who doesn't sound like a serious deity may be the new mission boss - which kind-hearted deity requires living people as sacrifices every year?
The old man was of course aware of Wang Ergou's impatience. Seeing that he didn't know about the Goddess of Water but was able to come here, he was a little trembling: "The Goddess of Water is - Hey! Since you don't know the Goddess of Water, then, how did you get in?"
Wang Ergou had actually already guessed in his mind: "If you are talking about the demon in the pond at the entrance of the valley, we have already killed it!"
"The... demon in the pond? Kill, kill, kill!?"
The old man's hands began to tremble. His expression was first pleasantly surprised, then worried, and finally suspicious. He said, "We have never seen the true appearance of the Water Goddess. We can only hear her orders when we are close to the cold pond. And every year, she tells us in our dreams to send living people to the cold pond at the entrance of the valley as sacrifices. Otherwise... oh... did you really kill something in the cold pond?"
"If nothing unexpected happens, the pond will be clean now, with nothing in it! If you don't believe me, go out and see for yourself!" At this point, Wang Ergou suddenly remembered the dungeon and quickly added, "Maybe there will be something in the future, but it probably has nothing to do with you. We plan to stay nearby and kill our way through the dungeon every day... uh, kill the things that pop out of the pond! Hmm!"
The old man choked up and said, "Are you serious?!"
Wang Ergou skillfully raised the banner: "We are disciples of the nearby Taiyin Sect! We are also under the name of Guangcheng Sect. This time we are here specifically to exorcise demons! Once our sect has built a base here, we will definitely not miss even a single demon or monster! Don't worry!"
The old man's voice was trembling. He asked in disbelief, "Are you immortals from Guangcheng Sect? Then, was the water demon at the mouth of the valley really killed by you?"
He didn’t remember the name of the demon Wang Ergou mentioned, he just remembered it was some kind of demon—
How could it not be a demon? It would be fine if it had always been like this, but a hundred years ago, we lived under the rule of Guangcheng Sect. At that time, it was peaceful and stable, and as long as we served the spiritual fields assigned to us, the immortals never criticized us. In comparison, whether it was the Goddess of Water or the immortals who led us into seclusion in the valley, they not only forced us to take care of more spiritual fields, but also demanded human sacrifices every year...
It's not that no one doubted what the gods said, but...how could mortals disobey the gods? The villagers who had tried to escape had disappeared without a trace, so what else could they do?
The old man has lived for more than a hundred years this year, a rare longevity. The happy days under the rule of Guangcheng Sect outside the valley, which were almost forgotten in his memory, seemed to reappear before his eyes. The immortals who occasionally cured the villagers' headaches and fevers, and the life-saving pills and talisman paper that they could exchange for only some wild delicacies, were just ordinary things at that time...
His cloudy eyes seemed to be going blind, and his vision gradually blurred, but his hearing was extremely sensitive. He heard a young, energetic and vigorous voice beside his ear saying, "We are a sect under Guangcheng Sect, called Taiyin Sect. And what about immortals? We are cultivators, not immortals! But the demon in the cold pond is indeed dead, dead as hell!"
He also heard his own trembling and humble voice: "What kind of tribute does the Taiyin Sect want us to prepare?"
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