Seeing Wang Yao's hesitant expression, the old man shook his head without minding.
"It's fine if you don't say anything. Our main job is to protect against demon fodder. As long as they're not demons, there's nothing to worry about. But... I advise you to report to Mr. Zuo after you go up. Otherwise, it won't be easy for an outsider to survive here," the old man kindly advised Wang Yao.
"Mr. Zuo?" Wang Yao asked.
“Yes, his house is in the thatched hut on the east side of the village center. It’s easy to find. You should hurry up and go up. I’m not very strong, so I’ll walk slowly,” the old man said.
"I... I'll help you up. It's too tiring for you to go up and down like this." Wang Yao wanted to move forward, but he was too embarrassed to leave the faltering old man beside him. After a slight hesitation, he decided to stay by the old man's side and accompany him up the mountain.
"No need, no need. What's a little hardship? We, the people of the gods, are not afraid of hardship at all. It's better than being killed by those demon bastards, right? I'm old and I don't have any skills except for knowing a few words. I'm content as long as I can help the village with some light work."
The old man waved a stack of rough papers covered in writing in his hand at Wang Yao and said with a smile.
The old man seemed quite relaxed, probably because he was used to climbing mountains. Wang Yao accompanied him as they slowly made their way up the steps. The old man urged him several times, and Wang Yao tried to help him up quite a few times. In short, neither of them listened to the other, and they just took turns going up the steps one by one.
Hearing the local people he met on the mountain path greeting the old man, Wang Yao realized that his surname was Ma, and everyone called him Old Man Ma.
Old Man Ma was quite talkative. He told Wang Yao that they were a group of refugees who originally lived at the foot of the mountain. In order to escape the demons, they moved to this remote mountain cliff. Everyone in the village, young and old, had a job. Old Man Ma's job was to record the amount of fish caught in the village every day.
The two walked and talked, which wasn't boring at all, and before they knew it, they had climbed to the top of the cliff.
The first thing that catches the eye is a small field, which surrounds a village of some size, with rows of thatched houses neatly arranged.
It was nearly noon, and smoke was rising from the roofs of many thatched houses. The sounds of roosters crowing, dogs barking, and women calling their children home for dinner filled the air.
“That’s Mr. Zuo’s house. I’ll take you there.” The old man, having caught his breath, pointed to a house that looked no different from the other thatched huts in the village and said to Wang Yao.
Mr. Zuo was an old man as thin as a withered branch. When Wang Yao and Old Man Ma entered his thatched hut, he was sitting upright on a wooden stake, holding a ceramic bowl in his hands and drinking porridge. On the ground was a small ceramic cup with some dark and rather suspicious-looking side dishes inside.
A pair of chopsticks hastily whittled from twigs rested on the ceramic cup.
Apart from the makeshift bed in the corner made of scraps, twigs, grass, and stones, there was only a hanging earthenware pot next to Mr. Zuo. A fire pit was made of stones under the pot, containing some whitish ashes and a few pieces of smoldering firewood.
"Mr. Zuo..." Old Man Ma called as he entered the house.
"Wait a minute..." Mr. Zuo turned his head from the edge of the pottery bowl, glanced at Old Man Ma and Wang Yao, and agreed, but still held the pottery bowl tightly. Wang Yao saw his head moving up and down along the pottery bowl and couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
This Mr. Zuo is truly frugal; he's licking the bottom of the bowl.
After licking the bottom of the bowl clean, Mr. Zuo held it up to his eyes to examine it closely, making sure there was no more porridge left before putting down the earthenware bowl and standing up with some difficulty.
"Mr. Zuo, this is today's catch. This...this is a newcomer from out of town. Take a look. If there's nothing wrong with him, just give him some work. Everyone here is struggling to make ends meet. We can't let him starve."
Old Man Ma handed the piece of paper covered in writing to Mr. Zuo, and then pointed to Wang Yao and said.
"Thank you, but I don't need to eat," Wang Yao said hurriedly.
"Out-of-towner? Where did you come from?" Mr. Zuo stared at Wang Yao with extremely bright eyes.
"Um... Well, I'm an immortal from the Celestial Realm. I came to the Divine Realm for a visit, and I don't know what mechanism I triggered, but I ended up here by accident. You asked me where I came from, but I really can't say."
While climbing the mountain with Old Man Ma, Wang Yao had already prepared his explanation. When Mr. Zuo asked him where he came from, he quickly answered.
"Immortals from the Celestial Realm?" Mr. Zuo frowned as he looked at Wang Yao, clearly dissatisfied with his answer. "If they are immortals, it makes sense that they don't need to eat."
"That's good, that's good. Everything is fine here, except for a bit of a food shortage. I was wondering why everyone outside is dressed like this. So they're immortals. That makes sense." Hearing Wang Yao say that he didn't need to eat, Old Man Ma breathed a sigh of relief.
"Since you've come to the realm of gods for a journey, where have you been?" Mr. Zuo didn't seem relaxed at all; he immediately asked.
"Ah... I went to the mortal realm from the immortal realm first, and that's where I went..."
This did not stump Wang Yao. He rambled on and on, first introducing the human realm, then listing the demon realm and the underworld, and finally mentioning Wuling Pass, Howling Grassland, and Gale Fortress in the divine realm.
Wang Yao recounted those strange tales and events from other worlds with ease, leaving Mr. Zuo and Old Man Ma completely bewildered.
"So it turns out that Immortal Wang was traveling through the Six Realms. The breadth of his knowledge has truly broadened Guangdou's horizons and filled him with longing!" After listening to Wang Yao's rambling for half an hour, Mr. Zuo pondered for a long time and couldn't help but sigh.
"Is the underworld really openly selling human-made artifacts? But... are there also divine artifacts and demonic artifacts for sale?" Old Man Ma's concerns were rather obscure.
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