Divine Tang Era

A small town in Jiangnan with white walls and gray tiles appeared abruptly before Xu Dan's eyes.

The town was bustling with people, and bright red lanterns hung in front of every house. A group of little kids stood not far away, throwing stones at the tents.

Xu Dan couldn't believe his eyes. Was this still the desolate wilderness? What... what was going on? Could it be... a ghost? Thinking of this, a chill suddenly shot up from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

But that's not right either.

The aura of a ghost should be eerie and cold, and its form should be ethereal and indistinct.

But where in this town, among these people, is there even a trace of gloom or illusion?

"Go away, you're always causing trouble. Hurry up and go home, or Grandma will spank you until your bottoms are sore."

The kids kept throwing stones, but before Xu Dan could confront them, an old woman with a wooden cane came and chased them away. The kids scattered, and the old woman, leaning on her cane, continued walking towards Xu Dan.

Xu Dan stared intently, his pupils converging as he looked at the town, the children, and the people in it.

Strangely, all the characters here seem unreal, devoid of any vitality.

Strange, strange, truly strange. Since acquiring the double pupils that allow him to see people's fortunes, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre situation.

The old woman walked up to Xu Dan and said kindly, "The little ones are so impolite and have disturbed the young master. Please don't be offended."

Xu Dan didn't know the old woman's background or what she wanted, but for the time being she didn't seem to have any ill intentions towards him, so he replied, "Grandma, you're too kind. Playing and frolicking is a child's nature, how could I possibly mind?"

"That's good, that's good."

The old woman smiled happily and asked, "Judging from the young man's movements, it seems he's heading towards Jingning City?"

Jingning?

This was the first time Xu Dan had heard of a place where people were gathering since he arrived. It meant he was very close to inhabited areas. He wanted to know what Jingning was and where it was, and without immediately denying it, he replied, "Exactly."

Upon hearing Xu Dan's reply, the old woman happily said, "I happen to have a letter to mail; could you please help me deliver it to Jingning City, young man?"

"I'd be more than happy to."

"Then please come with me to retrieve the letter, young man."

Xu Dan wasn't sure if the old woman was really taking him to get the letter, but now that the topic had come up, he wanted to find out about Jingning City, so he had no choice but to go. After thinking for a moment, he turned around, packed some important things in his backpack, grabbed the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and then followed the old woman.

The old woman was very old and walked slowly.

Xu Dan didn't mind; on the contrary, he hoped she would slow down so he could gather more information.

After walking a few steps, Xu Dan asked casually, "Grandma, this is my first time going out. I don't know which road is the shortest to get to Jingning City?"

Hearing his words, the old woman said sternly, "Young man, when traveling, safety should be the priority. How can you be so greedy for shorter routes that you disregard your own safety?"

Seeing the old man's solemn expression, Xu Dan quickly said, "The old man is right."

Seeing that he understood the seriousness of the situation, the old woman softened her tone and said, "Although there is a shortcut here, it is a place where bears and tigers roam. If young man travels here, he might accidentally fall into the jaws of wild animals, which would surely break the hearts of his family."

Xu Dan quickly admitted his mistake again and promised never to take any shortcuts.

In this life, I will always be an enemy of evil and crooked paths, and only walk the main road.

Seeing his assurance, the old woman nodded in satisfaction and said, "Young man, there's no need to take any shortcuts. Just go forward from here, walk along the canyon, and you'll reach Jingning City. It's not any further than those shortcuts."

The two walked and talked, and soon arrived at their destination.

A small courtyard appeared before the two of them, and the old woman pushed open the door and entered.

Xu Dan followed him inside and waited in the courtyard.

The old woman went inside and took out a wooden box for him. "This is the letter I want to send. The address is inside. Young man, you can open it and read it. I can't let you run errands for nothing. Two years ago, the jujube tree in the yard bore a lot of fruit. I picked them, dried them, and brewed a jar of wine. I buried the jujubes under the old tree. Today, I'm giving it to you as a token of my gratitude. Look, it's over there."

The old woman pointed to the left, where a gnarled old tree appeared out of nowhere.

Xu Dan was startled; there was definitely no such tree when he arrived.

After pointing it out to him, the old woman said, "Young man, come with me. There's an old fellow here who needs to deliver a message to his family."

At this point, Xu Dan realized that the old woman meant him no harm. Since she meant no harm, he couldn't possibly have any issues with her, so upon hearing her words, he followed her out again.

The old woman led him to a house in an alley, knocked on the door, and said, "Old man, open the door quickly."

Not long after, the courtyard gate opened.

An elderly man with white hair and beard poked his head out and asked in confusion, "Second Aunt, do you need something from me?"

"Didn't you say you were going to send a message to Gongjin? The young master is on his way to Jingning City, aren't you going to bring the message?"

The old man was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Then I really must thank you, young man." After saying that, he turned around and went back into the house to take out two boxes, which he handed to Xu Dan. Pointing to one of them, he said, "This box contains a wooden kite, which I specially made for my grandson to play with. The other box contains a small bow, which I originally intended to keep for my grandson to practice his strength, but since he is too young to need it, I am giving it to you, young man, as a token of my gratitude."

"You're too kind, sir," Xu Dan quickly replied.

"It's almost dawn, young man, you should go back now! You need to go to the tree to get the jujubes tomorrow."

The old man wanted to say a few more words to Xu Dan, but stopped abruptly upon hearing the old woman's words. Xu Dan had no idea what she meant; his head suddenly spun, his vision went black, and he knew nothing more.

The next moment, I suddenly woke up.

Xu Dan realized he was still inside the tent, and hadn't gone anywhere with the old woman. Strange, the events of last night were so clear in his mind.

Suddenly, a few boxes nearby caught his eye.

This...isn't this what the old woman and the old man gave him last night? Gongliang quickly pulled open the tent. It was already morning outside, the sun was shining brightly, and the air was fresh. There was no Jiangnan town, no old woman, no old man, and no little kid setting up the tent.

Can...

Xu Dan turned to look at the box inside the tent, and it looked so real.

What on earth was going on? He was completely baffled. If it was a dream, there were real objects; if it wasn't a dream, there were no towns or people he had seen last night. It was really strange.

Xu Dan scratched his head, unable to figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

Suddenly remembering the jujubes the old woman had mentioned last night, he quickly packed up the tent, gathered his things, and headed towards the old woman's yard.

Under the sun, the Jiangnan town of last night has transformed into a verdant alpine meadow. The old woman's courtyard and the little kids have all vanished.

Fortunately, Xu Dan had a good memory and remembered the route he and the old woman had taken the night before. Following his memory, he came to a meadow, which he felt was where the old tree the old woman had pointed to was, so he picked up a small wooden shovel and started digging.

The soil in the alpine meadows is loose and easy to dig.

After digging down about a meter, I suddenly bumped into something.

Xu Dan looked down and saw it was a dead old tree stump. A thought struck him: could this be the old jujube tree? Immediately, he began to dig down the stump.

"knock"

A moment later, a soft sound came from the small wooden shovel, as if it had hit something hard.

Xu Dan quickly put down the wooden shovel and dug with his hands. A moment later, a small wine jar weighing two pounds was dug out.

Xu Dan didn't open it immediately. Instead, he sat on the ground holding the wine jar, pondering what had happened last night. It was all too strange.