Volume 8: Chapter 2 - Bizarre Village

Jian Shan shouted, “I got it. We’ll head over there now.” He turned his head to look at me. “We don’t casually accept strangers here. I’m really sorry, but I must trouble you to meet my elder.”

I smiled and replied, “It’s to be expected. However, you can see how I look. Is it alright for me to clean up first?”

“Of course you can, follow me.” After he finished speaking, he brought me to the side of the village’s spring water while holding a wooden tub.

When I started to reach into the spring water to wash my face, I was stopped by him. He explained, “Our village doesn’t allow us to directly clean up in the spring’s water.” After that, he filled a tub of water and passed it to me.

I made an awkward smile and quickly washed up. After seeing that there wasn’t anyone around, I took out a set of ordinary clothes from my spatial space.

Jian Shan obviously hadn’t seen spatial space magic spells as he asked in amazement, “Where did you get those clothes from? I didn’t see that you have a bag.”

I chuckled, “It is just a small magic spell. Please forget about that.”

Jian Shan asked, “I’ve heard of that before is that really magic? Magic should be really fun, right?” He had the heart of a young man after all. After hearing about something new, he wouldn’t be able to hold back and naturally wanted to know more about it.

I replied, “Magic actually borrow powers from nature as a way to accomplish our wishes. If you want to learn it, I can teach you next time.”

Jian Shan replied excitedly, “That’s great! So, you’re a mage?”

At this moment, I had already changed my clothes. The feeling I felt throughout my body was indescribably cool and refreshing. The ice cold spring water seemed to have washed away my fatigue away.

Jian Shan’s eyes lit up and said in high praise, “Everyone really must have garments like yours. After changing, you look much more pleasing to the eye.”

This was the first time someone gave me such comments. I bitterly smiled and replied , “Aren’t we supposed to meet the elder? Let’s go.”

As we walked, I asked, “How many elders are there in this village?”

Jian Shan replied, “There’s 5 elders. They’re the village top experts and have profound knowledge. Whenever there are major problems in the village, they’ll decide the course of action.”

Oh! I continued to ask, “How do you survive in this place? The place seems very remote.”

Jian Shan revealed a cautious expression as he looked at me. “Why are you asking me so many questions? I don’t know. You can ask the elders about that.”

At this moment, we already walked to a large wooden house at the center of the village. Jian Shan said, “Let’s go inside. This is the place where the elders discuss matters.” After that, he took the lead to walk in first.

I followed him into the wooden house where two old men were already in there. Their attire was simple and from the wrinkles on their faces, they must be at least 80 years old.

The old man on the left kindly asked, “Jian Shan, I heard that you brought back a stranger. Is that him?”

I hastily walked over and bowed before saying, “Greetings to the two elders, I had just passed by this village. I’m pleading just to be able to stay for a few days. After my body has recovered, I’ll immediately leave. I’m willing to pay more than enough money for my stay.”

The right elder’s expression hardened, “We can survive on our own. Why would we have need of money for?”

I awkwardly looked at Jian Shan. Jian Shan said, “Third grandfather, please let him stay, He doesn’t seem to be bad and he also knows magic.”

The third elder on the right replied, “You’re still young so you don’t know what  intentional malice is. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Since you’re only staying for two days, you can temporarily stay at Jian Shan’s place. However, you have to remember, if you do anything that is detrimental to the village, even though we’re people from the mountains, we won’t forgive you.” After he said that, his eyes glimmered.

That old man had such bright eyes. If Zhan Hu was here, he would definitely know that his battle spirit had already reached its peak. He is definitely at the Sword Saint level. No matter what, from the pressure he was giving me, I could also feel his powerful strength . I curiously thought, ‘Why does this village have such powerful people?

Let’s forget it. It shouldn’t matter as it doesn’t relate to me. After I rest up, I’ll leave this place. What’s the use in meddling so much about the village?”

After following Jian Shan to his home I discovered he was the only one there. I also didn’t dare to blindly ask him what happened to his parents. After eating some food that he had given to me, I found a bed that I could lay on to get some rest.

The following morning, when I walked out of the bamboo house, I noticed Jian Shan was still practicing his sword. He was emitting Golden Battle Spirit. I knew that this was God Battle Spirit  and a sign of being a Radiant Knight. I pulled on Shan Dou who was watching at the side. “Jian Shan’s martial skills are really great!”

Shan Dou arrogantly said, “Of course! Big brother Jian Shan’s martial skills are the best among the younger generations. You must know that we……” As he said that, a golden light shot over that frightened Shan Dou to the point that he swallowed his words. I immediately cast a light barrier to block the advancement of the golden light. The golden light was shot by Jian Shan. He could have retracted his power but after seeing me blocking his attack, he wanted to test my power. So, he immediately resent the power that he was retracting out again. The golden light ray collided with my light barrier.

“Hong!” I was rebounded away from the tyrannical power.

Jian Shan came over and asked, “Sorry, Big brother Zhang Gong. Are you hurt?”

I hadn’t been so useless before. I helplessly said, “I’m fine. I’m fine.” Even though I wasn’t prepared for it, Jian Shan’s power greatly surprised me. I never thought that his battle spirit was as strong as Big brother Zhan Hu’s. If we really had to fight, I would need to put in effort in doing so.

Jian Shan replied, “It’s great that you aren’t hurt. Shan Dou, you brat! You’ve got to be more careful with your words next time.”

Shan Dou was so frightened that he stuck out his tongue before running away.

Jian Shan told me, “Big brother Zhang Gong, you can tour around the village. You can go anywhere except the forbidden area by the waterfall.” After he said that, he turned to practice his sword again.

As i was standing beside the spring water, near the outskirts of the village, I felt a crushing wave of fatigue from my heart. I felt as though something wasn’t right. I shuddered as this phenomenon shouldn’t happen. This had never happened since I first learned magic as a way to train one's spiritual power. Why did I felt exhaustion? From the looks of it, it seemed that this period of experience had stimulated my body a little too much. If I continued to not pay any attention to it, even if my body recovered to its peak state, my magic power and battle spirit would decrease drastically.