With the Blade

Chapter 308: Chapter 259: The Hidden Village

The first thing that appeared in Tao Wuli’s sight was a large stretch of farmland.

Seeing the fields was within Tao Wuli’s expectations. After all, in this era, no matter where you go, people are always happy to plant something wherever there’s land available—it’s just that in his impression, the fields are often very irregular, creatively arranged, with farmers making precise use of every inch of land, leading to many fields being far less orderly than one might imagine.

Indeed, orderly, the fields before his eyes are excessively orderly.

The rectangular farmland before him is so orderly, with each corner being a perfect right angle, and within this vast field, various rectangular plots are dedicated to different crops... for a moment, Tao Wuli thought he was looking at a mathematical problem in some book, not reality.

The excessive orderliness even brought about a peculiar aesthetic, which for a moment held Tao Wuli’s eyes captive.

"How can such a vast area be made so straight... How was it done?"

"Oh, um, if you’re asking about this... ah, Mr. Cui is coming."

While Tao Wuli was full of questions, the prisoner who escaped with him spoke up.

And Tao Wuli finally knew the answer to the question.

Mr. Cui mentioned by the prisoner was easy to recognize, for the figure with a sword on his waist was simply too striking, especially when he drew his sword, that sharpness akin to a sword being unsheathed—even from such a distance, it filled Tao Wuli with dread.

In Tao Wuli’s sight, that swordsmanship expert swung his sword toward the whole field of crops before him.

"Buzz—"

With the resounding hum of the sword, those golden wheat stalks in the field toppled neatly.

Neat, so neat, with a single swing, only those wheat stalks were cut down—while the crops and fruit trees outside the wheat field remained untouched. The area covered by this single slash formed a perfect rectangle.

"Mr. Cui is amazing!"

"Beautiful! Little Cui did it beautifully!"

"Do it again! Do it again!"

At the edge of the field, the onlookers began to cheer, clearly pleased with the visual display, regardless of whether this harvesting method could cause trouble—but unfortunately, the swordsman known as Mr. Cui had no intention of repeating the performance. After slicing through the wheat, he simply turned and walked away.

Watching the receding figure, Tao Wuli couldn’t snap out of it for a long time.

Until the prisoner beside him tugged at his sleeve.

"Better not talk about what’s happening here outside."

"I understand, I understand."

Tao Wuli nodded vigorously.

He certainly understood; after witnessing that unfathomable sword Qi, only a fool would think of clashing with this place, for that sword Qi could cut down a vast amount of wheat, it surely could slice off a vast amount of heads, especially in the middle of a battlefield...

Tao Wuli didn’t dare to imagine.

"Uh, it’s not what you’re thinking."

Seeing Tao Wuli’s cautious demeanor, the prisoner scratched his head awkwardly.

"Well, how to say it, talking about what’s going on inside here outside isn’t really a problem, Mr. Cui himself doesn’t have the time to hunt you down... it’s mainly that people outside aren’t very friendly to us, you get what I mean? That’s the reason I got captured."

"...Huh?"

Tao Wuli once thought he heard wrong.

Even though this is just a small village, it hides such immensely powerful swordsmen, facing such formidable defenses, is there really anyone who dares to challenge it?

"Who knows what they’re thinking—maybe they’re insane."

The prisoner shook his head, looking equally helpless.

And at that moment, the villagers who were harvesting the wheat warmly approached, and the prisoner was handed a large bowl of hot tea—it was clear that this prisoner might have originated from this secluded village.

After the prisoner exchanged a few words with some villagers, Tao Wuli was also handed a large bowl of hot tea.

"Just treat it like you’re back home."

The prisoner warmly patted Tao Wuli’s shoulder, not treating him as an outsider at all.

Dressed in wet clothes returning home, the first thing naturally is to take a bath, so Tao Wuli didn’t have a chance to observe the village scenery further before being thrown into a hot water tub—and after a thorough scrubbing, he changed into fresh clothes and only then realized the sheer magnificence of this place.

In people’s eyes, being water adjacent to mountains already makes for a good place, but this village is actually surrounded by mountains on all sides. The towering peaks are like natural city walls, blocking the view from outside, making this place easy to defend—though such places are generally dead ends, because being surrounded by mountains means water scarcity, yet the western mountain range has a large cave, with a trickling stream flowing from the cave all the way to a distant place.

"...Hmm?"

Tao Wuli rubbed his eyes unconsciously.

Water flowing eastward is commonly known—yet this stream running through the valley flows from east to west.

"How... can this be possible?"

Tao Wuli felt his brain was not enough.

Does a west-flowing river really exist in this world?

"There’s nothing impossible about it."

While Tao Wuli was dumbfounded, the prisoner who escaped with him had already changed and walked out.

"Back then, when I first saw it, I was shocked too, but when you see such things often, you get used to it... if you’re willing to make it happen, there’s no impossible thing."

"Wait, where are you going?"

Seeing the prisoner about to leave after speaking, Tao Wuli hurriedly followed.

After all, at this moment in the village, he only really knows this one person, if the prisoner leaves, what should he do?

"Uh, you can come along if you want, coincidentally, I need you to talk about the outside situation a bit."

The prisoner thought for a moment and decided to let Tao Wuli follow.

"Everyone hasn’t been out for a long time, they’re just curious about what’s happening outside now."

"A long time?"

Tao Wuli was stunned.

"How long is a long time?"

"Well, I haven’t counted, I just think it’s been a very long time"

The prisoner scratched his head awkwardly, unable to give a concrete answer.

This made Tao Wuli even more confused.

Just by observing the clothes the villagers wear, Tao Wuli couldn’t discern much, but the warm hospitality seemed quite ancient—coupled with the amazing sword strike he witnessed earlier... Tao Wuli couldn’t help but have some conjectures.

Following the prisoner walking, he even saw many elderly and children, and unlike outside, the people here show no signs of panic or fear, instead, wearing rare and friendly smiles.

Of course, not everyone seemed friendly.

"People outside are really rude!"

In a hall that looked like one used for discussing matters, there’s an elderly man in a wheelchair angrily pounding the table.

"How dare they! How dare they!"