The Empress's No.1 Lackey-Chapter 1274 - 677: The Grand Ancestor of Yu Country in the Boxing Hall

Chapter 1274: Chapter 677: The Grand Ancestor of Yu Country in the Boxing Hall

"It’s the dialect of the Northern residents of Qi Country," Tuoba Weizhi suddenly said:

"Listen closely, and you can distinguish it."

Zhao Douan hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something, but Pei Niannu, who was up ahead, turned back, looked at him, and said:

"These people originally lived here, but they haven’t communicated with the outside world for a long time."

Xu Zhenguan said:

"Senior, do you mean they are citizens of Qi Country?"

Pei Niannu neither confirmed nor denied it and continued:

"This village is called Taohuayuan."

Taohuayuan... Others didn’t feel anything, but Zhao Douan was moved, was it a coincidence?

Or was the name deliberately taken from Earth’s classic stories?

However, he immediately realized something was wrong:

According to Tuoba Weizhi, a thousand years ago, there were indeed a few residents in Mubei Forest, but later, a massive wildfire caused those residents to flee. After that, a barrier appeared, turning the place into a forbidden zone, and no more residents entered.

So, are these people descendants of the residents who didn’t evacuate back then?

Or are they descendants of those who entered this forest later and never left? And why don’t they leave?

All these doubts knit his brows tightly together.

However, understanding Pei Niannu’s character, he did not pursue the matter further, but closed his mouth and entered the village with the Empress and the others.

...

That night.

The villagers of Taohuayuan prepared a simple banquet to welcome their arrival.

The villagers set up tables in the square, lit bonfires, used clay pots crafted from burnt paper to serve pieces of barbecued meat, brought out jars of fruit wine, and many strange vegetables not found in the outside world.

But the Empress’s mind was not on the food. She couldn’t help but ask, "Is this the place the senior intended to bring us?"

This village was too ordinary; it did not contain the person she expected to find.

Pei Niannu, sitting on a chair, cut a large piece of fragrant meat with the short sword in her hand, shaking her head as she said:

"No."

No? Zhang Yan Yi stroked his beard: "Then why stop here?"

Pei Niannu glanced at him with a peculiar look and righteously said, "I was hungry."

Zhang Yan Yi: "..."

Alright, it turned out their group was simply too impatient.

Just then, Tuoba Weizhi, who was eating and drinking silently, opened a wine jar, took a sip, then let out a low cry, stretched out her small hand into the jar, and under everyone’s gaze, pulled out a core.

Zhang Yan Yi’s eyes lit up:

"A top-quality demon core; this was a valuable item in ancient times and is even rarer in the outside world now."

Zhao Douan also opened a jar of wine and found a core inside, evidently used to brew the wine, much like the role of ginseng...

Soon after, they were amazed to find that the fragrant leaves used to wrap the meat were precious plants worth hundreds of silver pieces per leaf in the outside world.

The chopped "dry dish condiments" on the table were also extremely rare and valuable herbs.

This forest, sealed away for so many years, was like a treasure trove, greatly astonishing the group.

After finishing the dinner, Pei Niannu stood up, showing no intention of staying overnight, and led the group to bid farewell to the village, preparing to continue their journey.

The villagers walked to the village entrance to see them off.

As they were saying their goodbyes, something unexpected yet happened.

In the back of the crowd, an elderly man dressed in simple clothes, with disheveled hair, seemingly slightly mad, pushed through the crowd and stared straight at Zhao Douan with wide eyes.

Suddenly, he fell to his knees, excitedly kowtowing toward Zhao Douan and loudly shouting something in his dialect, repeating it over and over...

The surrounding villagers quickly helped him up and led him away.

"What was that about?" Xu Zhenguan couldn’t help asking.

Pei Niannu said indifferently:

"That was the previous village chief of Taohuayuan. He became too old and his mind is sometimes clear and sometimes confused, so he doesn’t come out much anymore."

Zhang Yan Yi asked, "What was he shouting just now?"

Pei Niannu didn’t answer but turned and headed toward the bamboo rafts, saying lightly:

"It’s late; let’s go."

The group exchanged glances and followed silently, though Zhao Douan’s frown only deepened.

He wasn’t sure if he had misheard, but he seemed to vaguely make out a few words in the old village chief’s Northern dialect, something like...

"Master."

Master? Who was he calling master? Who among us did he mistake for someone else?

...

During the next part of their journey, words from the mad old village chief occasionally lingered in Zhao Douan’s mind.

The group ventured deeper into the heart of Mubei Forest, seeing signs of villages along the way, suggesting more than one settlement existed along this river.

On the second night, they didn’t make it to a village, so they found a simple place to rest; Pei Niannu wanted to go hunting but was stopped by Zhao Douan.

He took out prepared food brought from the Capital, and though Pei Niannu initially felt awkward, her eyes lit up slightly behind her face mask after tasting the delicacies from the famous food emporium in the Capital.

From then on, using her ’master’s authority, she forcibly took all the snacks and finished them... and looked increasingly satisfied at her apprentice, Zhao Douan.

On the third day, they continued their journey.

Zhao Douan, repeatedly calculating based on the crude map he drew, realized they had arrived at the central area of the forest.

...

At dusk.

The bamboo raft stopped once again at a large dock.

They disembarked and saw what was the largest village they had encountered along the way, no... it could even be called a town.

The town’s buildings, made of brick and wood, stood in rows, and there were even some shops!

The architecture bore an ancient style, that of the Da Qi Dynasty, and Zhao Douan was stunned to see some lanterns and paper items, which made him even more puzzled:

How have they not interacted with the outside world for so many years, even if some items from a thousand years ago were preserved, how can they still be in use today?

As they entered the town, they noticed that the residents clearly lived a more affluent life, and along the way, some villagers nodded and saluted Pei Niannu.

Walking along the stone-paved road in the town’s center, they even passed a ’school,’ where a teacher was giving lessons to a group of children.

This made the group feel even more incredulous.

Finally, Pei Niannu led the four members to stop outside a boxing hall in the town. Indeed, above the courtyard gate, large black characters were written on the wooden lintel: "Xu’s Boxing Hall."

"The person you’re looking for is inside," Pei Niannu said, looking at the four of them, before stepping back a few paces to make way.

Zhao Douan hesitated for a moment, raised his hand to stop the Empress from stepping forward, shook his head, then walked up himself, raised his hand, placed it on the door, and pushed forcefully!

"Creak—"

The wooden door opened outward, revealing a clean courtyard under the setting sun, with two main rooms and left and right wing rooms.

In the courtyard center, a huge, ancient red banyan tree grew lushly!

The banyan tree was very old and large, bathed in the sunset, with each leaf seemingly ablaze!

Under the banyan tree, there was a well, beside which sat a stone table and some stone benches.

At this moment, a burly old martial artist, wearing simple clothes with greying temples, was standing under the tree, practicing a set of martial arts at a measured pace.

With each breath, strands of evening glow, like flames, surrounded him, magnificently.

The old martial artist slowly stopped his movements upon hearing the door, looked up towards the courtyard gate, met their gaze, and smiled slightly:

"You’ve arrived."

Zhao Douan was shocked to the core:

Yu Country’s Grand Ancestor, the Emperor!