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The village woman stared wide-eyed at the chubby boy in front of her, incredulous. "Get out, get out, I can't do it."

Li Wei gave an awkward smile and then approached another woman, "Five hundred yuan to have someone cook a meal, are you in?"

The woman waved her hands repeatedly, looked at him with disgust, and immediately walked away.

Li Wei was met with a cold shoulder; he asked several people in a row, but was ruthlessly rejected by everyone.

Finally, he approached a short-haired girl, pulled out a stack of moon silver coins, tossed it in his hand, weighed it in his hand, and continued, "Five hundred moon silver coins, will you cook me a meal?"

The girl was a little timid at first, but her eyes lit up when they fell on the moon silver in Li Wei's hand. "Where can I do it?"

"At your house."

Li Wei smiled.

The girl tilted her head. "So, how many of you are there?"

Li Wei pointed to Chen Yuan and the others, and said, "About ten."

"Alright!" The girl nodded emphatically, her eyes fixed on the silver moon in Li Wei's hand, and said, "But there are no ready-made dishes here, so we'll have to go hunting in the mountains."

"Alright, I'll go hunting."

Li Wei said proudly, patting his chest to assure him.

To gain the girl's trust, he directly stuffed the storage bag in his hand into hers, saying, "Here's five hundred monthly silver coins for you."

The girl's eyes lit up. She accepted the storage bag, beamed with joy, and led the way.

After Li Wei sent Wang Hu, Gu Chen, and a few others out hunting, he called Chen Yuan and the others, and together they followed the girl into the village.

When the rest of the villagers saw that the short-haired girl indeed had a monthly stipend, and that Chen Yuan and the others looked smiling and meant no harm, they all relaxed their guard, dispersed, and began to work.

The girl led Chen Yuan and the others into a fairly spacious mud-brick house. After inviting them to sit down, she poured them water.

Chen Yuan looked around and saw that there were three little boys here.

After talking with them, I learned that they were all orphans.

The girl is the eldest sister, called Da Niu, and the three little boys are the younger brothers, named Er Jin, San Yin, and Si Tong respectively.

"Hey, your names are quite interesting."

Li Wei smiled.

Nuomi even took out her candied hawthorns to share with them, and they immediately lowered their guard and played with Nuomi, and were also able to answer Li Wei and Chen Yuan's questions.

"Our parents went out hunting and never came back."

Erjin said listlessly.

He scratched his head. "It was my eldest sister who raised us."

But our eldest sister is very skilled; she often goes out hunting and brings back many wild rabbits.

"And there are pheasants too. I love eating pheasant legs the most."

The smallest of the four copper ones opened its mouth in a childish voice.

He looked only five years old, dirty, and his clothes were tattered.

Seeing that their clothes were very worn, Nuomi hurriedly took out her own clothes from her storage bag and gave them to them to wear.

At first, the three little boys were quite reserved, but after Nuomi insisted, they accepted.

Although wearing Nuomi's clothes looked a bit out of place, they were still happy because they could have new clothes to wear.

Da Niu was working in the kitchen when she came out and saw her three younger brothers dressed in girls' clothes. She was about to scold them when Chen Yuan stopped her.

Zhu Xin, observing the situation, immediately took out several sets of her own clothes and handed them to Da Niu.

After some initial refusals, Da Niu had no choice but to accept, but she became even more enthusiastic, inviting everyone to drink tea.

She was clearly in a good mood after the family received their new clothes.

She picked the tea leaves on the mountain and dried them herself. She usually couldn't bear to drink them, but now she took them out to serve Chen Yuan and the others.

Soon, Wang Hu, Gu Chen, and the others returned, bringing with them a lot of prey, including wild boar, goats, pheasants, and rabbits, which quickly filled their small courtyard.

The girls, including Da Niu, Er Jin, San Yin, and Si Tong, were all stunned.

"I...I might not be able to handle it."

The young woman asked awkwardly, "Can I ask the village chief and the others to come?"

Chen Yuan nodded and smiled, "Of course."

As he spoke, he glanced around the cramped room and said, "This place is too small; it probably can't seat so many people."

"I have a way!"

The girl's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "We can go to the village chief's house. The village chief's house is very big."

Chen Yuan nodded in agreement, "Alright, I'll leave the arrangements to you."

The girl responded and ran out excitedly.

Not long after, a kind-looking, wrinkled old man in his sixties walked in.

Behind him were several young, burly men.

They held sickles in their hands and stared at Chen Yuan and the others warily.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The village elder's face was creased with wrinkles, and his cloudy old eyes held a wary look as he looked at Chen Yuan and asked in a deep voice.

Chen Yuan had no choice but to explain to them that he and his companions were cultivators training in the Cangming Mountains who had accidentally gotten lost and wandered into this place, and that they meant no harm.

The village chief looked at Chen Yuan and his group with some skepticism, but said nothing.

Seeing this, Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes and continued, "If we had any ill intentions, you would all be dead long ago, wouldn't you?"

If sweet talk doesn't work, then we'll have to resort to force.

As expected, the village chief remained silent for a moment, his face bitter, and then nodded slightly.

Chen Yuan and his group possessed an aura as vast as the sea, making them stronger than the others.

They were naturally no match for them.

If Chen Yuan and his group were bad people, they would have been wiped out by now.

"Village chief, rest assured, we will not harm you. Besides, this is just a small token of our appreciation, please accept it."

Chen Yuan smiled and handed a storage bag to the village chief.

The village chief hesitated for a moment, but finally took the storage bag. When he saw the dozen or so Yang Gold coins inside, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. Then his wariness lessened and he became enthusiastic.

Even the young villagers who came with him were no exception; their expressions became friendly.

Chen Yuan asked in surprise, "Village chief, you people live in seclusion here, how do you know about this thing?"

"This is a Yang Stone! It can remove evil spirits from the body, strengthen the constitution, and prolong life!"

The village chief said excitedly, "It, like our village's tree spirit, has the power to protect the villagers."

And you, distinguished guest from afar, have been so generous in giving us this sunstone; you must be a good person.”

Chen Yuan and the others were stunned.

Li Wei curled his lip and muttered, "They're just greedy for money."

The village chief and the others didn't hear this, but Zhong Yue and the others grinned.

Chen Yuan smiled and asked curiously, "Your tree god is...?"

"It's that ancient tricolor tree at the village entrance. It's our village's guardian tree, with three colors: gold, silver, and purple."

Therefore, it is also called the Three-Colored Ancient Tree, which is our guardian tree spirit, protecting our village for hundreds of years.

Chen Yuan suddenly realized, "So that's how it is."

The Three Lights Tree is regarded by the villagers as a guardian tree spirit, and is also called the Three-Colored Ancient Tree.

Additionally, Yangjin is called the Sun Stone by the villagers.

"By the way, village chief, what use is this money to you since you're all stuck here?"

Li Wei asked curiously.

"Oh, you mean these sunstones and moonstones?"

The village chief paused for a moment, then took out a piece of Yang Gold and a piece of Moon Silver, narrowed his eyes, and said with a smile,

"These are wonderful things! If we take them out hunting, all the evil energy we accumulate will be absorbed by these sunstones and moonstones, and the evil energy won't harm our bodies."

"This way we can stay in the wild longer and catch more prey."

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was going on!

They each carried these sun stones and moon stones, yet felt nothing, because their bodies were inherently intertwined with demonic spiritual energy.

They even have their own methods of purification, such as the Pure Elixir and the White Elixir, etc.

The village chief then said with emotion, "Our ancestors, just like you, ventured into the Cangming Mountains for training. Little did they know that they would never return, even though they arrived safely."

"It just so happens that this place is suitable for living, especially the three-colored ancient tree, which can protect our villagers from being corrupted by the evil energy of heaven and earth. Therefore, we have settled here."

As the village chief finished speaking, his gaze swept over Chen Yuan and his group, revealing an excited expression. "Now that you've also broken into this place, there's absolutely no way you can go back."

"Why not stay here and settle down, becoming a villager of the Three-Colored Ancient Tree Village!"

The village chief, beaming with excitement, said, "If there's only one woman among you, she can only become one man's wife. As for the rest of you, the wives you want to marry, we'll provide them! Guaranteed to be big-breasted, curvy, and fertile, giving you lots of chubby babies."

The more he talked, the more excited the village chief became, constantly looking Chen Yuan and the others up and down. "How wonderful! You are all handsome. You will definitely be liked by Zhang Aihua, He Ailian, and Li Yufang."

"If you're willing to stay and live here, I'll have them come over tonight and be your wives!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan and the others were stunned.