Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 347 Wedding Banquet
Sishui is not a river, but a town.

Jiang Shu led Pei Xia through a dark forest, where the terrain gradually sloped down.

Standing at the edge of the forest and looking into the distance, there is a basin with a small cluster of low buildings in the center.

Pei Xia squinted and looked for a while before shaking her head: "I thought that since it's a town, there should at least be some inns or shops."

Most of the houses were low-lying houses made of mud bricks mixed with straw, and you could hardly see any people from a distance.

Jiang Shu peeked out from behind him: "What you're talking about, I'm afraid only Helian Haozhang's old imperial city will still have."

Helian Haozhang is also one of the generals of Qinzhou, and for the time being, he should be the strongest among them.

Ironically, with the Dragon Cauldron shattered, heroes vied for supremacy. Li Qing and Li Xu were both descendants of the royal family, while Cheng Xiong and Shen Lianjia, whether high or low, all had powerful backgrounds. Even Hong Zongbi, in fact, was once a confidant of Xiaoguo King Li Peng.

On the contrary, Helian Haozhang, who was just a military man who came to the capital from the northern frontier to sell horses, has become the most powerful warlord, and has even occupied the capital of the old Qin state.

"Senior brother." Feng Yao's voice came from the side.

The brain worm raised its jade-like finger and pointed far away to a spot on the edge of Sishui Town: "There's a horse."

Four strong warhorses were tied there.

It seems they were heading in the right direction; Zhao Beishi and the others have already entered the town.

From their conversation, it seemed that something had happened in Sishui Town, which was supposed to be suppressed by Li Qing's troops.

But those horses were tied to trees outside the town, and Pei Xia could imagine the boys galloping up to them before leisurely dismounting.

It doesn't look like anything's wrong.

He looked at Feng Yao and said, "You go first."

Feng Yao immediately understood, crossed his hands, struck out a bronze sound, and took the lead in taking a step.

The brain worm essentially controls a corpse; it feels no pain, and even injury is a non-issue for it.

Pei Xia followed closely behind, holding a folding fan in one hand and a long needle tempered with blazing sun gold tucked into her sleeve in the other.

Jiang Shu, however, casually picked up the dagger and held it in his hand.

Out-of-state people are used to appearing harmless.

However, Jiang Shu was taught from a young age that if you have a knife, you must hold it in your hand.

This is like fangs and claws, which are important criteria used by others to distinguish between "meat" and "wild beasts".

As you walk down the slope, you gradually see the marks of a path, but they are hidden among the withered yellow grass, suggesting that it is not often used by people.

Traces of fields can be vaguely seen on both sides of the road, and the "ridges" used to demarcate the land are mostly just surrounding patches of weeds.

Pei Xia followed behind Feng Yao, looking around, and asked Jiang Shu, "Don't you farm?"

"How can we grow crops if there's no food?"

"Where's the grain?"

"They've been conscripted."

Pei Xia was puzzled, as the battle in Qin Prefecture hadn't just started recently.

Warlords who have fought for over twenty years and still managed to maintain their foothold would never engage in short-sighted exploitation.

Jiang Shu scratched his head. He was also a young man from the mountains, and he couldn't understand everything in Qinzhou.

He could only say, "Maybe the town is on the periphery, and it changes hands frequently, so no one manages it properly. Look at us at the foot of Tianbao Mountain, although we are mostly displaced people, we can still grow some grain every year."

It also makes sense.

Pei Xia nodded, then asked, "How do people survive when there's no food?"

Jiang Shu had no idea; he just heard that there was no famine in Sishui, so maybe there was some unconventional method.

Thinking it over, he glanced around and pointed to a grayish-white field: "That's edible."

The grayish-white color was actually mud, somewhat similar to the soil at the bottom of a river, but with a coarser texture. The ground was covered with this white mud, and every few steps, a flat, slender object grew out of it.

This slender object clearly grew independently, yet it was also grayish-white in color and did not move, as if it were some kind of root.

“This is called ‘earth tongue,’ and it’s the lifeline for many people in Qinzhou. I ate this when I was a child,” Jiang Shu explained. “This thing doesn’t need watering or fertilizing. Just dig up some white mud from the riverbed, spread it on the soil, and it will grow on its own.”

What's the point?
Pei Xia tried to think about it using her humble common sense. Perhaps the river mud in Qinzhou itself contained some kind of plant seeds or fungi that could grow in the soil.
He asked, almost as if possessed, "Is it good?"

Jiang Shu shook his head decisively: "It has no taste and no feeling of fullness. No matter how much you eat, it can't relieve the slightest bit of hunger. And once you eat it, you can't poop anything. But... you can survive."

It cannot alleviate hunger, but it does not allow people to starve to death.

“There are tens of millions of people in Qin, and most of them live off the earth,” Jiang Shu said calmly and naturally, stating something that was very common to him. “So they are always hungry, and their diet is quite varied.”

A person who has once been hungry may still retain their integrity and moral character.

But for a group of people who are constantly hungry, dignity, morality, and ethics are actually very fragile.

These words were also a reminder to Pei Xia.

Pei Xia tightened her grip on the folding fan and looked into the distance at Feng Yao, who was leading the way.

My senior sister has already entered the town.

Just as Pei Xia had seen from afar, there were almost only low houses built of mud bricks, most of which were only about the height of a person, and many of them were crooked and crooked, as if the owners of the houses did not value their so-called "place of refuge" much.

Feng Yao looked around but didn't see anyone before turning to call out to Pei Xia and Jiang Shu.

"Why does it feel like there are no living people here?" Jiang Shu muttered.

Pei Xia shook his head and stretched out his foot to wipe away the dust on the dirt road in the middle of the town: "There are footprints."

The dust has settled, but the footprints are still there, indicating that not much time has passed.

Upon closer inspection, one can discern clear shoe sole patterns, but most of the marks are those left by bare feet and straw sandals.

The neat and clear footprints should be those of Zhao Beishi and his group, while the rest are those of the villagers.

Moreover, the footprints were neat and there were no signs of fighting, suggesting that the two groups were heading in the same direction.

Pei Xia looked in the direction of the footprints, which seemed to lead to an open area deep inside the town.

He gave him a wink, and Feng Yao still went ahead to clear the way.

Sure enough, as they walked deeper into the town, they gradually began to hear faint human voices.

Qinzhou is a continental region that borders both the Ling Kingdom and the Northern Barbarians. Although they speak a dialect, Pei Xia can understand most of it.

It was noisy, lively, and even had a festive atmosphere.

This made Pei Xia unconsciously furrow her brows.

As they turned the last corner, a warm light shone down. Pei Xia looked up and saw a large iron pot hanging on the open ground, the fire burning brightly, and the intoxicating aroma of meat wafting everywhere.

Around the iron pot sat hundreds of emaciated people, most of them with sunken facial armor and tattered clothes.

But only at this moment did he appear kind and content.

They gathered in small groups, arms around each other, as if celebrating some joyous occasion.

Feng Yao, who was walking in front, had already stumbled into the banquet. At first, she was like a sudden nail, which surprised everyone for a moment.

But soon, this sweet and warm atmosphere enveloped Feng Yao as well.

Several villagers came up and greeted Feng Yao with respect and politeness.

Pei Xia heard a sentence from afar.

"Today, the second son of the Qi family is getting married."

(End of this chapter)