The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 343 Dog Skin Plaster (4k)

The sky is still the same sky, yet it seems different; the wind and clouds still swirl endlessly, but everything feels somewhat unfamiliar.

When I looked up, the outline of that dome was exactly the same as I remembered.

Wang Chengsi stood there gazing for a long time before slowly lowering his head and taking a step forward.

This is Huangya Heaven, the dividing line between the Three Realms, and also the pinnacle of the Realm of Form. The name sounds impressive, but only when you stand here do you realize that amidst the swirling clouds and mist, the boundaries between the heavens are blurred and indistinguishable, and under normal circumstances, the differences are completely imperceptible.

Right now, all he wants is to find a populated place and figure out whether, after so many years of isolation, Huangyatian is completely different from the world he knows.

We were lucky; after walking for a short while, a tavern appeared by the roadside.

He didn't recognize any of the words on the wine shop sign, but when he glanced inside, the waiters and customers didn't look particularly special, though there were some differences in the details of their clothing.

But this is different. Not to mention crossing different days, even within the same county on the same day, villages separated by a river may exist, so it's really nothing special.

Wang Chengsi chuckled softly, his gaze falling on the guest sitting under the wine banner. The blue cloth wine banner on the eaves fluttered in the mountain wind, and the man only slightly raised his eyes when the shadow swept across his shoulder.

He was a young man in his early twenties, with his back ramrod straight, yet he exuded a casual air. It was somewhat contradictory, but when applied to the other person, it complemented each other perfectly.

He was dressed in a gray cotton outfit, but the stitching was fine and neat, giving him a clean and crisp look.

The cuffs were tied to the forearms with black cloth strips, a practical and dust-proof style favored by those who spend a lot of time outdoors. The soft mud clinging to the soles of the shoes suggested a recent walk along a long mountain path.

What's most eye-catching is the long object slung across his back, wrapped tightly in blue cloth, with the curve of the hilt vaguely visible, wider than an ordinary longsword—this must be his weapon that he carries with him year-round.

Wang Chengsi pondered for a moment, then refrained from speaking rashly. Being new to the place, the language barrier was the primary challenge. He slowly stepped forward, sat down opposite the young man with the sword, and waited quietly for the waiter to come over.

Before the busy workers could come over, the young man with the sword on his back looked over first, his eyes showing a hint of surprise.

Wang Chengsi wondered to himself: Could there have been something wrong with his actions just now? Otherwise, why would the other party have such an expression?
Du Yuan, sitting opposite him, was staring at Wang Chengsi in astonishment—he clearly remembered that he had gone to another world, so how come this young master Wang was still here?
Could it be that Zou Zi made a mistake?

He couldn't help but look up at the sky above, filled with doubt.

At this moment, the worker who had finished his work finally came out.

He glanced at the extra Wang Chengsi, paused for a moment, and then spoke:

"Gentlemen, I apologize for keeping you waiting! I forgot to add oil to the warding-off-evil lamp this morning, and it almost went out. I had to fiddle with it for a while to get it working again. Otherwise, we might have been in serious trouble today!"

Upon hearing this, Du Yuan and Wang Chengsi both frowned. They could only barely make out a few words because the accents were too heavy, and they couldn't understand the full meaning at all.

Du Yuan's frowning expression caused the waiter's face to slowly change.

He looked the two of them up and down, then suddenly asked in surprise:
"Esteemed guests, where are your talismans for warding off evil spirits?"

As he spoke, he looked up at the sky and said, "The sun is almost setting. I can't go outside without a talisman to ward off evil spirits!"

It was still something she only half-understood. Du Yuan had no choice but to slow her speech, enunciating each word clearly:
"Hey buddy, I'm from out of town, I can't quite understand what you're saying."

Before he could finish speaking, the waiter's face turned deathly pale. He collapsed to the ground with a thud, scrambling and crawling back into the tavern, shouting as he went:

"Evil spirit! It's an evil spirit! Shopkeeper, an evil spirit that can transform into a person is coming to eat people!!!"

The shopkeeper in the inner room heard the shout and his face changed instantly.

He was calmer than his companion, suppressing his fear, and rushed out, protecting a bright lamp. Reaching the door, he raised the lamp towards Du Yuan and the other man, retreating while urgently calling out:

"Get out! Get out now! You—you stop standing there and bring me the copper coin sword!"

The shop assistant, who had stumbled and hid behind the shopkeeper, hadn't even caught his breath before he hurriedly climbed behind the counter and took down the copper coin sword that had always been displayed there.

In the blink of an eye, the shopkeeper held up a lantern with yellow talismans pasted on it, and the waiter held a copper coin sword strung with red thread. The two of them blocked the entrance of the tavern, waving it at Du Yuan and Wang Chengsi in fear and trepidation.

"Boss, they...they don't seem afraid!" The waiter's voice was choked with sobs, his regret surging within him—he shouldn't have come to this desolate place just because of the higher wages!

My mother once said that the fewer people there are in a place, the more powerful evil spirits there are, and she was right!
The shopkeeper was also on the verge of collapse; he and his assistant leaned against each other, their bodies trembling like leaves.

"No, that's impossible! These two treasures cost me most of my life savings!"

He still remembers that when he went to the patrol office to ask for these two treasures, the officer on duty patted his chest and guaranteed that either one of them could ensure his safety and well-being while he was away.

After taking it home, he even went to stay in a village outside the county town for a while, and indeed everything was peaceful and nothing happened.

But who would have thought that just when things seemed to be going smoothly and I opened a tavern in the wilderness, I would run into this mess!
The shopkeeper and his assistant stood there, utterly dejected.

Du Yuan sat to the side, completely bewildered.

How did the tavern, which was perfectly fine just a moment ago, suddenly become so tense? What are they shouting and yelling about?
Fortunately, Wang Chengsi suddenly spoke up at this moment.

His voice was steady, and his fluent local dialect instantly broke the deadlock:

"You two are mistaken! I have other protective items on me, and the same goes for this man. It's just that he's from out of town, having come from afar. It's not that he's an evil spirit trying to be a good human; he genuinely didn't understand what you two were saying!"

As he spoke, he gestured with his lip toward the old sword bar wrapped in blue cloth on Du Yuan's back.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper and the waiter relaxed slightly, though their voices still trembled:
"How...how can you prove it?"

Wang Chengsi found it amusing and stepped forward to the two men. Under their still fearful gazes, he reached out and took the lamp with the yellow talisman affixed to it.
"Look, if I were an evil spirit, how could it not react when I'm so close to this talisman?"

Only then did the two of them breathe a sigh of relief, and the shopkeeper even patted his chest:
"I knew it! How could such a precious item, costing so much money, be useless!"

Then, the two helped each other to their feet, took the lantern from Wang Chengsi, and bowed to the two men in apology.

"Please excuse my rudeness, esteemed guests! What would you like to eat? However, the world is in turmoil, so I hope you will be lenient with the prices."

He dared to risk his life to open a tavern in this desolate place, precisely because he was after the huge profits in this chaotic world.

Wang Chengsi replied with a smile:

“Price is negotiable. In such dangerous times, it’s normal for it to be a bit expensive. Just bring me whatever you have on hand. I’ll share a table with this gentleman.”

The shopkeeper and his assistant quickly agreed and turned to go to the kitchen to prepare the food.

Wang Chengsi then sat back down opposite Du Yuan and said with amusement:
"Which sect do you belong to? How dare you travel alone when you haven't even mastered the local dialect? At the very least, you should have some magical treasures and talismans to prepare for any eventuality, right?"

As he spoke, he pulled a blank yellow talisman from his pocket, dipped it in the tea on the table, wrote a line of cursive script, and casually tossed it to Du Yuan:

"If you know your stuff, you'll know this is an excellent general knowledge talisman. Although the materials are a bit lacking, the head, core, and foot of the talisman are all top-notch. You can use it to get by and learn the elegant language of today."

When Du Yuan spoke just now, her familiar accent gave Wang Chengsi a clue.

The other party must have survived that great calamity back then, unless they are from the Confucian region like myself.

In Confucianism, the world is governed by rites and laws. As long as the Confucian temple stands, the rites and laws will not be disrupted, and the local dialects and the written language of the world will not change much.

But how could that be? So he can only be a remnant of the old era, just like himself.

“I’m giving you this talisman for two reasons: first, to make a good connection, and second, to ask you something,” Wang Chengsi changed the subject, “What’s wrong with the world these days? Ordinary people have to carry magical artifacts and talismans with them, which shows how rampant evil has become. I’ve never seen anything like this before, at least not since the establishment of the three religions.”

Du Yuan looked at Wang Chengsi, who still didn't recognize her, took the talisman, rubbed her temples, and truthfully said:

"To be honest, I'm new here too, and I really can't answer any of your questions." He thought to himself that it would be better to part ways here, since his own karma was too complicated and the other party might not want to continue getting involved.

But before he could say "goodbye," Wang Chengsi spoke first:

"That's alright. How about this, my eyesight is quite good, and you seem to have some martial arts skills, so let's travel together. It's safer than traveling alone."

Although he has re-established his path and begun cultivation, the foundation of this body is too weak; he is now only slightly stronger than an ordinary mortal. Since this place is so dangerous, it is naturally much safer to travel with a proper cultivator.

Du Yuan frowned even more deeply upon hearing this. After a moment of thought, she looked at him seriously and said:

"I have a lot of karma on my hands, you'd better find someone else to accompany you. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll regret it later."

The moment the words "the cause and effect are huge" left his mouth, Wang Chengsi's heart skipped a beat—he instantly thought of those three gentlemen, and even though he had now escaped to Huangyatian, he still felt lingering fear whenever he thought of them.

He forced a smile and said:

"Actually, I have quite a lot of karma on my side. Here's what we'll do: you have to go somewhere populated, so just give me a ride."

After careful consideration, he felt that it was just a stretch of road and shouldn't cause him any trouble.

Seeing his insistence, Du Yuan no longer refused and simply nodded, saying:

"That's fine too."

Then, with a deep sigh, she glanced at this young master Wang, whose fate was not yet sealed and who seemed like a persistent nuisance.

How come wherever I go, you're there too?

But Du Yuan didn't say those words aloud.

They simply waited quietly for the waiter to bring up the dishes.

When the other person brought over the steaming hot dishes, Du Yuan noticed that she could understand what the other person was saying.

"Thanks, buddy!"

But the waiter scratched his head and said:

"Sir, how far have you traveled? I can't understand a word you're saying!"

Young Master Wang laughed and said:
"The knowledge talisman I gave you is excellent, but you can only listen, not speak. After all, any more than that wouldn't be something you could get with just a random talisman!"

Du Yuan understood, and then bowed apologetically to the waiter.

The other party looked at Young Master Wang and said:

"Sir, we're a small business, how about it?"

Young Master Wang immediately took out a silver ingot and said:

"Is it enough?"

But the waiter was completely taken aback, and fear slowly crept into his heart.

"Sir, where would you need money now?"

In the past, a silver ingot this size would have been more than enough.

But in this godforsaken world, who still uses silver, something that can neither be eaten nor used?
If the talisman hadn't failed to work, he would definitely have wet his pants by now.

After all, who doesn't know that money is useless these days?
The imperial court had long since stopped exchanging old coins held by local people. Otherwise, even if they missed the very beginning, they could still exchange them for Antongbao coins at a discount from the imperial court later.

This answer left even someone as eloquent and quick-witted as Young Master Wang speechless.

He really didn't know how to respond to that.

Fortunately, at this moment, Du Yuan placed a Yin De Bao coin on the table and said:

"Is this okay?"

The waiter looked in the direction of the sound and his eyes lit up immediately.

"Oh my goodness, sir, it's Yin Virtue Treasure Coin?!"

But immediately, he encountered a dilemma:
"Sir, this is too big for us. We're a small business and we don't have enough change!"

His employer, the owner of this tavern, was once a well-known wealthy household. However, after selling all his wealth, he only got five Yin De Bao Qian coins. After using four coins to buy those two treasures, he used the remaining one to set up this shop, and he still had some left over!

Upon hearing this, Du Yuan simply pushed him forward.

He gestured for him to take it, and then slowly and clearly said:

"Take it all, and tell me about the situation in your territory."

He could barely understand it, so the waiter immediately accepted it with a beaming smile, saying:

"Alright, sir, let me tell you! Our area is Taotu County. The best clay in the entire imperial court comes from here and is specially supplied to the imperial estates!"

"Even in these times, the kilns in Huangzhuang have never stopped burning! You'll see them soon if you walk a little further. But the county town isn't over there, so don't go the wrong way. The county town is this way!"

Their tavern was located between the county town and the imperial village, which was the reason the manager believed they could make a lot of money.

After gaining a basic understanding of the situation, Du Yuan nodded and then asked another question:
"What's the situation with the evil spirits here?"

Hearing this, the waiter said helplessly:

"What could possibly happen? Isn't it all the same everywhere? All sorts of bizarre things are out there. The shopkeeper and I are here to earn our living so we can save up enough money to hide somewhere big!"

"But if I had to say, I've only heard that the biggest difference between this place and other places is that 'people with the surname Zhang are not allowed to enter the mountains'?"

Ever since evil spirits arose back then, all sorts of strange and unusual things have come out.

Although the imperial court tried its best to turn the tide, it only managed to maintain a precarious stability.

In many places, they were simply lost. Let alone reclaiming the lost territory, they didn't even dare to look at it again.

After all, he had heard that not only the lost places, but also a large number of places that were not lost, were not suppressed by the imperial court, but by the great evil spirits that were entrenched in these places, who simply couldn't be bothered with these people!

But he didn't know what evil spirits were, and it seemed the imperial court didn't know either.

Anyway, I know they are extremely powerful, and you can't violate their taboos.

Otherwise, no one can be protected!
Thinking of this, the waiter's enthusiasm waned. He then said helplessly to Du Yuan:
"Sir, in this world, we people really see no end in sight!"

At this moment, Du Yuan frowned slightly, and the world fell silent.

The waiter was completely unaware, but Young Master Wang was in a state of turmoil.

A familiar feeling has returned!
(End of this chapter)