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Chapter 633 Leaving Homeland
"Absolutely! The whole town was terrified when we got back." The innkeeper sighed. "I wasn't very old then, just a teenager, still a kid, so they didn't take me with them, and I didn't get to see what happened."

Judging from how those people acted after they returned, things definitely got a bit serious.

Later, the Taoist priest said that his Taoist skills were too short to suppress the evil spirits, and that he needed to go back and ask his master how to resolve the matter.

He returned a few days later with some talismans for us to boil in water and share with the people in town. He also said he would set up a protective array around our town to ensure our safety.

He said his master told him that there was a spirit in that mountain valley that didn't like being disturbed while cultivating. If someone disturbed it rashly, they would suffer and even lose their life.

However, as long as the people in our town don't disturb that so-called earth spirit that's cultivating, and with the array set up outside our town, we can live in peace.

So from that time on, our town would boil talisman water every month and share it with everyone, and no one would go to that mountain valley anymore.

No, let alone that ravine, even in that direction, people in our town avoid going there if they can. Nobody wants to be inexplicably possessed by evil spirits again.

More than twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye. I'm quite old now. Some of the younger people in our town weren't even born when those things happened. They don't really believe it either. They're just told by their elders not to go to the mountain valley, and they don't come over to drink the talisman water.

However, some of the older residents in the town, who experienced those things back then, have maintained this habit all these years.

Anyway, over the years, we've really kept to ourselves and the local spirits in that mountain valley, and nothing's happened. Everyone just believes the talisman water is effective, so we still regularly go to the Taoist temple to get talismans to boil in water and drink.

As he spoke, he sighed and waved his hand: "I think those people are still quite frightened by what happened back then. It's been more than 20 years, and they still come to me every month without fail to ask me to help them boil talisman water for everyone to drink. This shows that this matter is still not over in their hearts."

I'm genuinely worried that if you mention any evil spirits, it might trigger something in them, causing them to jump around and frighten our guests.

As Zhu Yu listened to the innkeeper recount the events of that year, he secretly calculated the years in his mind. When the innkeeper finished speaking, he nodded to show his understanding, and then asked, "Innkeeper, your ancestors have lived here for generations, and even one or two generations before that, did they never offend that earth spirit? But just over twenty years ago, did that earth spirit start to complain that you were interfering with their cultivation?"

“What ancestors and ancestors are there?” Before the innkeeper could speak, a woman dressed in a narrow-sleeved coarse cloth dress walked out from behind, wiping her hands with her apron as she walked, her voice loud and crisp.

She was about the same age as the innkeeper, and her hair was simply tied in a bun at the back of her head and wrapped with a cloth.

This person must be the innkeeper's wife, and also the cook who prepared the dishes for them just now.

"My lady, please keep your voice down..." The innkeeper was more cautious than his wife, and hurriedly waved his hand. He didn't stop her from coming out from the back to chat with the guests, but he was simply afraid of causing trouble. He pulled his wife to sit on a bench. "There are still two tables over there that haven't left!" The landlady glanced at the two tables and waved her hand dismissively. "Those two groups are probably drunk and slurring their words by now. Don't worry about them."

Then she said to Lu Qing and Zhu Yu, "Young masters, you may not know this, but we don't have the concept of ancestor generation here!"

The longest-living person in our town has only been here for a little over twenty years.

Only the young women in their early twenties and under in town were born here; the rest of us migrated here from all directions.

Therefore, going further back in time, we know absolutely nothing about any other local spirits or immortals.

“This area looks rather desolate. If you’ve lived here for over twenty years, does that mean that during the time of the evil spirits… you only settled here not long ago?”

"Since that's the case, and this place isn't exactly a prosperous area, and there are no evil spirits around, why don't you just move elsewhere?" Zhu Yu asked with a curious expression.

The proprietress sized her up, then looked at Lu Qing and the talismans and runes beside him: "You gentlemen have come to Lan Di from outside, haven't you?"

“Indeed, my brother and I have traveled far and wide and heard about the beautiful scenery of Lan, so we wanted to see it for ourselves.” Lu Qing smiled faintly and nodded.

“No wonder you’re not very clear about what’s going on here.” The landlady and the innkeeper exchanged a glance. Clearly, the innkeeper had already told her about the generous gesture of spending a small amount of silver. So the landlady spoke frankly, “I also advise you two that the mountains and rivers of Lan Di are indeed very beautiful. You can travel however you like, but remember to stay away from the capital and avoid crowded places.”

“Don’t say that. We’ve been cooped up here for years. Nobody knows what the situation is like outside. There’s no need to scare our guests and make them nervous for no reason…” The innkeeper, who was more cautious than his wife, chimed in.

"What else could happen? As long as the king is still the same king, what difference does it make?" The landlady was clearly dissatisfied with living in such a cramped place, but since they were discussing their Lan Kingdom's king, she subconsciously lowered her voice, almost muttering a few words to herself, "Even though they are outsiders, without land or fields, who knows what kind of mess the capital has become..."

In these kinds of situations, it's always better to be a little more careful, right?

"From what I'm saying, you originally had houses and land elsewhere, but they were seized by others, forcing you to become homeless and relocate here?" Lu Qing asked in a low voice, "Were they seized by the government?"

“If it weren’t for this, who would be willing to leave their hometown and give up a good place to live, even though there are rumors of evil spirits around here?” The innkeeper couldn’t help but sigh and shake his head. “For more than 20 years, we have never thought about moving elsewhere. Actually, we were thinking that since there are evil spirits here, we are afraid, and the officials should also be afraid. They would not want to go to such an unlucky place. So as long as we avoid the evil spirits, we can live a peaceful life.”