From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 344 Drugging
The valley runs north-south and is both high and precipitous.

It was dusk, and the sky was ablaze with the glow of dawn, but the valley was even darker.

A mountain city appeared ahead, its walls several tens of feet high, making it difficult for ordinary birds to fly.

The city wall connected to the cliff face of the valley, effectively cutting off any path forward. To proceed further, one had to enter the city.

A river meanders out of the city, forming a deep lake beneath the city walls, blocking the way into the city.

The lakeside was a large open space covered with green grass no taller than ankle-high, with no tall trees to provide shade.

This city is impregnable; it would be difficult to breach from the outside.

But for a martial artist like Meng Yuan, it was truly as fragile as paper.

Along the way, Meng Yuan had already inquired and learned that the people of Xiangji Kingdom lived behind this city.

The Kingdom of Xiangji was ruled by two main families, eleven smaller families who assisted them, and the rest were slaves.

The person currently in charge of the Xiangji Kingdom is the High Priest, who lives in the Priest's Temple and rarely shows his face except on holidays or when major events occur in the country.

In other words, this so-called Xiangji Kingdom was a place where more than 20,000 slaves supported the thirteen clans and the temple of priests.

As for the fact that the population of Xiangji Kingdom was not able to support more people, Meng Yuan was not quite sure yet and would have to go into the city to find out.

"True Lord Feiyuan." A nobleman in white feathers stepped forward, bowed slightly, and gave a haughty salute.

This white-feathered nobleman was one of the eleven clans, a man around fifty years old named Xiliu.

Along the way, Meng Yuan had already announced his name as True Lord Fei Yuan.

Because of his past power and the fact that he had cut his hair, these nobles and servants, regardless of their inner thoughts or outward appearances, still obeyed Meng Yuan.

Moreover, these nobles saw that although Meng Yuan had martial prowess, he had not killed anyone, and when he was not showing his power, he was quite easy to talk to, so they were willing to cooperate with Meng Yuan's orders.

These slaves, in particular, despised Su Xin and Su Wen, but respected Meng Yuan and Ming Yue, who both had long hair.

Moreover, these slaves were very curious about Meng Yuan, but they didn't dare to ask him many questions, which shows that they had been trained from a young age to be timid.

"Once we cross Chenxiang Lake by boat, we can enter the city." The white-feathered nobleman Xi Liu was the representative chosen by the group of nobles, and he was specifically tasked with answering Meng Yuan and Ming Yue's questions.

Of course, Meng Yuan and Mingyue didn't think so; they wanted to talk to whomever they wanted.

Upon arriving at the lake, they took a small boat, and Meng Yuan led the group of nobles ahead.

These nobles were quite particular. The two nobles surnamed Shui and Gan insisted on traveling on a slightly larger boat, but Meng Yuan reprimanded them. In the end, Shui Qingzi and three Baiyu nobles were arranged to travel on the same boat, while the rest of the nobles were all squeezed into another small boat.

There were no guards on the city wall, but there were people watching over the water gate, namely three slaves.

Seeing the nobles' unusual behavior, the three slaves were too shocked to speak. It was only after Xi Liu shouted a few times that the water gate was opened.

After entering the water gate, you will see a wide road with thatched houses on both sides.

But looking further ahead, one can see more than a dozen towering, tower-shaped buildings, each more than ten stories high, more than ten miles away.

Upon arriving at the small dock, the boats were moored. The nobles, seeing that they had returned to their hometown, all felt as if they had been transported to another world, and they all burst into tears. The way they looked at Meng Yuan also changed a lot, as if they wanted to say something harsh, but considering Meng Yuan's abilities, none of them dared to utter a word.

"Everyone wait here. If anyone dares to move, I'll cut off their hair." Meng Yuan held the knife, looking like a tyrant.

As expected, none of the nobles dared to utter a sound.

Meng Yuan immediately pressed down on the shoulder of the white-feathered nobleman Xi Liu and led him up the city wall.

Only then did they see the entire Xiangji Kingdom. The terrain ahead was gradually rising, and there was another city wall twelve miles ahead.

The city wall still connects to the valley cliffs on both sides, forming the inner city wall. Inside is the inner city where nobles reside, and outside is the outer city where slaves live.

The area inside the outer city was filled with dilapidated, low thatched houses, and the closer to the outer city wall, the more dilapidated they became.

It was already evening, and there were few slaves on the streets of the outer city; most of them must have already gone to sleep.

The inner city could not be seen in its entirety, but the towering buildings were much clearer; there were about twenty in total, with the one in the very center being particularly tall and large.

According to Xi Liu, a nobleman of the Baiyu clan, the tall tower in the middle was once the residence of immortals. There was a platform on top, and it was on that platform that the immortals ascended to heaven.

Meng Yuan leaped down from the city wall again, quickly circled the outer city where the slaves lived, and then went deep into the inner city.

The inner city wasn't very lively either. Most of the nobles were at home, and there were few people on the streets. They were all wearing feathered robes and followed by slaves with feathers in their hair.

These nobles were either sitting in a group, eating medicines of unknown efficacy, or kneeling on the ground, muttering something unintelligible.

There weren't many nobles on the street, and most of them were physically weak. If they got tired after walking around for a while, they would let their slaves lie down and sit on their backs to rest.

Meng Yuan discovered that these people had completely forgotten about the nobles who had gone out of the city to hold the ceremony, and did not care that Shui Qingzi and Gan Juezi had not returned so late.

It was already dark when Meng Yuan wandered around the inner city, visiting all the tall towers.

Except for the central tower, which served as a council chamber for nobles and was relatively clean, the other towers were uninhabited and filled with thick layers of dust. As for their function, most of the towers were used as library towers.

However, because the library tower has not been used for a long time and no one has taken care of it, many of the books are in bad condition, either eaten by insects or gnawed by rats.

Meng Yuan flipped through several books; the handwriting was not much different from that of the outside world. There were Buddhist scriptures, Taoist scriptures, and Confucian classics.

However, there are many more medical classics.

Meng Yuan wasn't in the mood to look around much at the moment, so he continued forward, and once he left the inner city, he saw vast fields.

“The slaves and the fields are separated by the nobles’ inner city… What kind of arrangement is this?” Meng Yuan didn’t understand either. Seeing that there was no danger, he turned back and returned to the outside of Chenxiang Lake.

After picking up Mingyue and Suxin, the group crossed the slave quarters of the outer city and arrived outside the inner city wall.

The guards on the wall were slaves dressed in tattered clothes with feathers in their hair.

Xi Liu shouted a few times, and the inner city gates opened. The Baiyu nobles carried sedan chairs and entered the inner city together.

"Let's have a meeting!" Following Meng Yuan's order, Xi Liu struck the evening drum in the city.

Sure enough, as soon as the drums sounded, all the nobles in the city came out to see what was happening.

As darkness fell, torches were lit again. However, these were carried by servants; the nobles would never lift a finger.

"How could there be such filthy people in the world?" The nobles stood by the street, frowning as they looked at Meng Yuan and the others.

Meng Yuan and Ming Yue were somewhat better off, but Su Xin was treated as if she were the most filthy thing in the world.

Su Xin was already used to it, and instead glared back at them one by one.

Shui Qingzi and Gan Juezi were the first to speak, and neither of them offered much explanation; the rest of the Baiyu nobles were responsible for providing the explanations.

Soon, an old man with white feathers appeared.

The old man was extremely old, with a long beard and draped in white feathers, giving him a somewhat ethereal appearance.

"The Grand Elder, having heard of the visitors from the outside world, has informed the Eleventh Clan Chief that he will meet you all at the Ascension Tower." The white-feathered elder spoke politely, but his disdain was undeniable; he even preferred to speak from ten paces away. Meng Yuan and Mingyue exchanged a glance, knowing that to awaken Suwen, they would inevitably need to meet with the high-ranking officials of the Xiangji Kingdom.

The so-called Grand Elder was the elder of the Shui and Gan clans, while the Eleventh Clan Chief was the elder of the Eleventh Tu clan.

We arrived at the tallest tower in the inner city and entered it.

Meng Yuan and Ming Yue were in front, while Su Xin supported Su Wen.

The first floor of the tower was very spacious and brightly lit by many lanterns.

There are two seats at the very back, each about the height of a person, and seventeen low seats below them.

On each of those two high seats sat two elderly men, dressed in colorful robes, clearly elders of the Shui and Gan clans.

Below sat eleven elderly men draped in white feathers, presumably the leaders of the eleven clans.

Behind each of these old men stood a young man in feathered robes, who must have been a direct descendant.

Once inside, the people outside closed the door.

The group of elders looked at Meng Yuan and his companions who were striding forward.

These elderly men were all in their seventies or eighties, or even over a hundred years old. At this moment, instead of the composure one would expect from someone accustomed to the ways of the world, they showed even greater disdain and contempt.

“Why do you, a lowly outsider, not kneel before the descendant of an immortal from my Xiangji Kingdom?” said an old man with white feathers.

Meng Yuan stepped forward and drew his sword.

Upon seeing this, the group of young noblewomen with colorful feathers drew their swords.

In a few swift moves, Meng Yuan knocked all the young nobles to the ground, breaking their swords and shaving their heads before finally cutting off the hair of the white-feathered old man who had spoken.

“Barbarians and scoundrels, do you really think I am Xiangji…” Another white-feathered old man had his hair cut off.

With white hair scattered on the ground, the group of elderly nobles fell silent.

Meng Yuan revealed his abilities, and a group of young nobles lay on the ground, howling in pain, none of them able to get up.

Holding his knife, he looked around at everyone, but no one dared to meet Meng Yuan's gaze.

"I'm here to ask you!" Meng Yuan stepped forward, looked at the two elderly men with colorful feathers sitting high on the throne, then pointed at Su Wen and asked, "How can I wake my friend up?"

The two elders with colorful feathers remained silent, instead looking down at the nobles with white feathers below.

It's the same old routine! Meng Yuan cut the hair off the old man sitting high on the left.

"I don't know, I don't know!" The old man with colorful feathers on the right could finally understand human speech. "That wretched woman took the high priest's pill. Only the high priest can save her from waking up."

"Where exactly is the High Priest?" Su Xin no longer cared much about being called a "lowly woman".

The old man with colorful feathers didn't want to talk to Su Xin with her short hair, and only looked at Meng Yuan, who was difficult to talk to.

"Where is the High Priest?" Meng Yuan ultimately didn't cut his hair.

"I don't know," the old man with colorful feathers replied. "The high priest said that an old friend from outside the wall has come and he wants to go and see him."

"An old friend outside the wall? Who is it?" Meng Yuan and Mingyue exchanged a glance, and they couldn't help but think of the Daoist nun Yun Huanian and Dugu Kang.

"I don't know," Elder Caiyu said.

"What is the high priest called?" Meng Yuan asked.

"The high priest on duty now is from the Shui clan, whose given name is Xiang Sheng," Elder Caiyu said.

"How old is he, and what supernatural powers does he possess?" Mingyue asked.

"The High Priest is 137 years old this year. He can observe the changes in heaven and earth and absorb the essence of heaven and earth! He is the person in our Xiangji Kingdom who is most likely to ascend to immortality!" Elder Caiyu said proudly.

"Can my junior sister only be saved by waiting for the high priest to return?" Su Xin asked anxiously.

"Exactly." Elder Caiyu, seeing Meng Yuan draw his sword, abandoned all principles and immediately replied to Su Xin.

Meng Yuan and Mingyue exchanged a glance, and then took turns asking many more questions, but to no avail.

These so-called nobles actually spent their entire lives in Xiangji Kingdom, in this city, never venturing far from home, much less venturing into the outside world.

After enduring a long night, Meng Yuan and Ming Yue realized they couldn't get any more information from him, so they stopped asking.

Meng Yuan had a library tower prepared for his own residence, but because he was still worried about unforeseen circumstances, he also had Su Xin and Su Wen live in the tower.

Elder Caiyu, perhaps impressed by Meng Yuan's abilities, sent over a dozen slaves with feathers in their hair to stand outside the tower for Meng Yuan's use.

The food was brought in all at once, all vegetarian, without a single piece of meat. It was extremely bland, with only a little rice and even grass roots and herbs as side dishes.

Upon inquiry, it was learned that this was how everyone ate. Slaves were even more so, as they required rations from the nobles.

None of the four, including Meng Yuan, were picky eaters, and Su Xin was so used to vegetarian food that she didn't find it particularly objectionable.

After the food was tested and found to be free of poison, Meng Yuan ate first, followed by Su Xin after three hours, and then Ming Yue.

The drinks were light in flavor, but sweet, which was quite nice.

Seeing that they could only wait for the high priest to return, Meng Yuan and Mingyue knew they couldn't rush things. So Meng Yuan went out to talk to the nobles and servants in the city, while Mingyue browsed through the books in the tower.

Several days later, Meng Yuan and Ming Yue finally figured out that the so-called Xiangji Kingdom was founded by an immortal, and that the so-called immortal was probably a Buddhist master.

Therefore, these nobles and slaves do not eat meat and their diet is bland. Moreover, the area is rich in spices and rare herbs, so the nobles have become increasingly detached from worldly food and have gradually developed the habit of consuming herbs and spices. Now they consume spices every day.

Moreover, the nobles were not fond of physical activity, so their health was poor, and they were even less able to have offspring.

The reason why there were not many slaves was that most of them were starving and had no food to eat; out of ten children, three would not survive.

The traditions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism were all burned here, and even martial arts were lost. Outsiders had no access to the teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and could only study some slightly modified Buddhist scriptures.

Only those with the two highest surnames can learn other things.

After seven days, Meng Yuan and Ming Yue saw that the people of Xiangji Kingdom truly had no intention of revenge or resistance, and that their daily meals were very considerate, so they stopped taking turns on guard.

That evening, Meng Yuan returned from his wanderings, and Mingyue excitedly invited him to the top floor of the library tower.

"What did you find?" Meng Yuan asked curiously.

But Meng Yuan didn't hear a reply. He saw Mingyue rush up to him, hugging him tightly, her eyes filled with lust.

Suddenly, moonlight streamed in through the window, and under the dim light, the moon appeared even whiter and more beautiful.

Meng Yuan, who was still concerned about Su Xin and Su Wen below, was now completely captivated and immediately responded to Ming Yue.

(End of this chapter)