From a country cook to a master chef

The next morning, Lin Jue followed Kahn to visit the village chief.

When Lin Jue's unfamiliar face appeared in the village, it immediately attracted a large crowd of villagers.

For sixteen years, no outsiders had visited Shicun. This unfamiliar face brought back memories for the older generation of villagers, as if time had turned back to sixteen years ago.

The younger villagers were filled with excitement, curious about the magnificent and colorful world outside their village.

The various gazes cast around him caused Lin Jue, who was already surprised by the Tattooed Ink Island, to frown slightly.

The men in Shicun are tall and strong, and while the women may not be fair-skinned and beautiful, they are still quite curvaceous and full-figured. The village does not seem to be experiencing food shortages.

Children played in the corners of the village, their laughter echoing throughout the village.

Everything seemed harmonious and beautiful, except for that ring of dark and solemn stone walls that spoke of the cruelty of this world.

The cold walls were covered with claw marks left by strange beasts, and still retained the unique, unpleasant smell of the undead corpses.

The most eye-catching and tallest building in the village is the village chief's house in the center of the village.

As the leader of the entire village, the village chief's stone house was several feet higher than the others. On the stone platform at the entrance, there was a sundial with the twelve earthly branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, etc.) engraved on it. In addition, there were some strange runes that made people dizzy.

With Kahn's introduction, Lin Jue successfully met the village chief of Shicun, a weathered old man who looked to be almost eighty years old.

According to Kahn, the village chief is 89 years old this year and is deeply loved by the villagers. The tall stone walls surrounding the village were built by the village chief and the villagers.

As soon as Lin Jue stepped into the village chief's house, he was shocked by the scene before him.

Unlike the Kahn family, the village chief's house was covered with various profound and mysterious runes.

Lin Jue was filled with surprise and doubt, but he remained calm on the surface. He stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Junior Lin Jue greets senior."

"I am Xiang Ting, a native of Hanzhou, Baiyue Prefecture, Dawu."

"..."

"Are you a martial arts master, senior?"

Lin Jue was filled with suspicion and looked at the old man in disbelief.

The moment he heard about Dawu Baiyue Hanzhou, two people came to mind.

Xiang Yuan of the Xiang Clan of Hanzhou was the first Divine Illumination Realm martial artist that Lin Jue had ever met.

And Xiang Ping, Xiang Yuan's adopted son, who died at the hands of the Black Bamboo Gang.

"I heard from them that you are from Da Wu. I wonder how the Xiang family in Hanzhou is doing these days?"

The old man's eyes lit up, and he pressed for more information.

Upon hearing his question, Lin Jue was certain that he was a member of the Xiang clan of Hanzhou.

"To be honest, senior, the Xiang family of Hanzhou suffered a great calamity thirty years ago, and now there is no Xiang family left in Hanzhou."

After a moment of contemplation, Lin Jue chose to tell the truth. The destruction of the Xiang family was a fact, and moreover, it had nothing to do with him, so there was no need to hide it from him.

Lin Jue had expected the old man to have a strong reaction to these words, but to his surprise, Xiang Ting remained extremely calm and showed no emotional fluctuations.

"I was originally the patriarch of the Xiang family. Due to my greed for immortality, I accidentally fell into this Netherworld. More than fifty years have passed since then. I am to blame for the Xiang family's current state."

The old man sighed deeply, a trace of distress and self-reproach finally flashing in his eyes.

"Young friend, you are handsome and have an extraordinary appearance. You must be a disciple of one of the six factions in the alliance."

"Senior, you've guessed wrong. I am actually a disciple of Tianwu Mountain. I have some questions to ask you about today."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Ting smiled casually and then replied calmly, "What you want to ask about is nothing more than the Netherworld Ghost Land. Although I have lived here for decades, my knowledge of this place is very limited."

Hearing the old man's vague reply, Lin Jue's heart stirred. He looked the old man over and calmly said, "With your family destroyed, don't you want to know who the culprit is?"

Xiang Ting remained expressionless, looking at Lin Jue with a smile and saying, "I have been trapped here for decades. Whether you know it or not is no longer important."

"really?"

"You seem to know quite a bit about the Xiang family?"

Xiang Ting spoke calmly, but his eyes were filled with surprise. He stroked his long beard and said slowly, "I am about to pass away. There are some things I would like to entrust to you, young friend, so that you can take them out of this Netherworld Ghost Land for me."

In exchange, or as a reward, I can tell you everything I know about Qingmo Island.

What do you think, young friend?

A hint of surprise flashed across Lin Jue's face, but he quickly said calmly, "Senior may have guessed wrong again. I am currently in dire need of my own safety and am worried about how to leave this place. I dare not accept your entrustment."

Xiang Ting's expression darkened, and just as he was about to speak, the entire stone house suddenly began to shake violently. Several villagers' screams came from outside the house, and a bloody smell quickly spread throughout the village.

Xiang Ting's expression changed drastically. He couldn't continue discussing with Lin Jue and got up to walk outside.

Lin Jue followed closely behind. As soon as he stepped out of the stone house, he saw a large crack in the ground in the center of the village, which was two zhang wide and stretched from the outside of the village to the center, with a length of more than one hundred zhang.

A giant python, tens of meters long, emerged from the crack and began to devour the terrified villagers without restraint.

Kahn and dozens of hunters were seen attacking the giant python with all their might, each wielding a spear and frantically thrusting it at the python.

The giant python, in pain, hissed and angrily swung its tail at the crowd.

Lin Jue turned his gaze and saw that the village chief Xiang Ting remained calm and composed, without the slightest sign of panic. He shouted loudly, "Women, children, and infants, immediately hide in the ancestral house. The rest of you, hunt down the giant snake with all your might."

Upon hearing this, the strong hunters, including Kahn, roared to the sky and charged at the giant python without fear of death, with not one of them retreating in fear.

Lin Jue did not make a move; he was on guard against Xiang Ting.

The Xiang family of Hanzhou is a family of martial arts masters. There's no guarantee that this seemingly frail old man might actually be a powerful martial arts expert.

He couldn't sense any internal energy from Xiang Ting. There were only two possibilities in this situation.

One possibility is that he was just an ordinary person who had never learned martial arts.

The second possibility is that he is a martial artist who has surpassed the Divine Power Realm, or at least the Divine Illumination Realm.

Lin Jue was more inclined to believe the second possibility, so he had to be wary of the other party.

The Kahn siblings knew nothing about the Great Wu. They were born here and had been completely unaware of the outside world for over a decade. This was the first time they had ever seen an outsider like him.

Unlike the Kahn siblings, the village chief Xiang Ting came from outside and must have seen many outsiders over the decades. He must have wanted to leave this place.

Lin Jue only had one teleportation talisman, and he didn't want anyone to covet it.

Under the combined attack of Kahn and his men, the giant python was quickly covered in wounds, with many holes pierced by spears all over its body, bleeding profusely, and slowly collapsed to the ground, barely alive.

Just when everyone thought the crisis was over, the ground shook again, and the dull thuds of giant feet landing came from outside the village.

Kahn's expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Damn it, it's the Green Wood Ape! Everyone, come with me to the stone wall to defend it!"

Lin Jue took a deep breath and followed the hunter, running towards the stone wall.

Unlike the extreme tension of Kahn and the others, Xiang Ting's face remained completely expressionless, as if the existence of Ishimura was no longer of any concern to him.

After climbing the stone wall, Lin Jue looked back at Xiang Ting again and saw him sitting cross-legged in front of the giant python's head, muttering incoherently.

Such a bizarre scene made Lin Jue's heart skip a beat, and he became even more wary.

At this moment, the ape that Kahn had mentioned had already run to the stone wall, pounding on the wall and letting out roars.

After seeing Aoki Ape's face clearly, Lin Jue couldn't help but gasp.