Exploding God

Chapter 1108 Chongma Town

The mountaintop, shrouded in mist, resembles a fairyland.

This is a true early morning, with a gentle breeze, sunshine, blue sky, trees, and birds; as far as the eye can see, there is only natural beauty.

At the foot of the lush mountain, a figure walked out unhurriedly. A small animal perched on his shoulder, looking around with curiosity and occasionally making excited cooing noises.

Lu Ze covered ten meters in one step, seemingly slow but actually fast, his eyes filled with contemplation.

He was new to this world and knew nothing about the Tantai family and Wuyuan Lu before, so he naturally wanted to have more conversations with this effeminate man who was so enthusiastic in explaining things to him.

Unfortunately, the effeminate man's mental fortitude was not up to par. After two hours of "heart-piercing torture," he collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth, and completely turned into an idiot.

Lu Ze felt sorry for the other party for two seconds, and then, based on the principle of making the most of everything, he took the bag of coins that were gleaming with a reddish luster that the other party was carrying.

This is the Akagami Coin, the common high-denomination currency of Kirihara Riku.

Each person had about twenty coins, with Tantai Mingze having the most, a full fifty.

So Lu Ze's money pouch, hanging from his waist, was filled with a full 192 red jade coins, jingling and clanging.

Through questioning, Lu Ze also learned that there are two other currencies circulating on this continent: the most common white jade coins and the more valuable brown jade coins.

Of course, it's not as rare as Crimson Jade Coins. After all, from the perspective of martial arts cultivation, Crimson Jade Coins, which can be used for Star Source Feedback, are directly equivalent to the strategic resource [Mist Crystal Stone] on Earth.

The humans in this world possess the ability to solidify micro-energy fields, yet they haven't made significant strides in developing mechanical technology, and the world exudes an ancient atmosphere.

Even though there are money shops everywhere that are no different from banks, cash transactions are still the mainstream of society.

The technological mechanics of this world are quite strange.

Lu Ze sighed and once again expressed his gratitude to the effeminate man who had selflessly dedicated himself to the cause.

After all, until the very last second, the effeminate man was doing his best to impart knowledge, yet he didn't even leave his name in the two hours he spent there.

Of course, Lu Ze had to keep his promise to such a good comrade and gave him a way out.

Unfortunately, the effeminate man wasn't particularly appreciative. He ran towards a bottomless cliff with a silly grin, then lost his balance and fell off.

It's a pity, really... Hmm, my thoughts have wandered a bit.

Lu Ze readjusted his thinking.

……

From a social perspective, the inhabitants of Kirihara Riku highly admire Laozi and Zhuangzi's philosophy of "governing by non-action".

There are no political institutions here; large and small families constitute the main theme of the Wuyuan Continent, and towns are merely human settlements where various families operate and develop nearby.

The Zhao, Gu, Song, Changsun, and Tantai families are known to be super-powerful forces at the top of society, with nearly a hundred smaller forces dependent on them.

The population of this land is mainly of East Asian descent. Ancient customs and modernity are intertwined. Over thousands of years of development, it has created a fairyland with a modern style. Moreover, its future development trend is clearly unrelated to cyberpunk.

There has never been a large-scale war here because the resources of the Mist Plains are extremely abundant. The food needed by the common people and the star source power needed by the warriors are almost inexhaustible. Moreover, there is no racial conflict. In a sense, there is no cause for war on the Mist Plains.

In the effeminate man's memory, there were very few conflicts in the past thirty years. Even when there were conflicts over rare resources, they were usually resolved between high-level martial artists and would not affect ordinary people.

Through this question-and-answer format, Lu Ze gradually sketched out a clearer outline of Wuyuan Riku in his mind.

Moreover, he discovered something quite interesting in the other person's unconscious response.

Although the Wuyuan Plain is vast and sparsely populated, the various families are not isolated from each other, but are subtly connected by a hidden thread.

The Council of Elders!

They are known by name but never seen, and legend has it that only the heads of major families can come into contact with them.

Those ancient beings, who have lived through countless ages, guide and protect the people of the Mist Plains in unknown lands.

"The Council of Elders... If you want to truly understand this land, you can't bypass them. The Grand Elder you saw through the Smiling Mushroom must be one of them, right?"

Lu Ze muttered to himself, but there was nothing particularly concerned or cautious about him in his eyes.

Having already killed the other party casually in the previous life, if the other party doesn't perform well in this life, then Lu Ze wouldn't mind physically exorcising him again.

Furthermore, by subjecting the elders to the "heart-piercing torture," they would undoubtedly extract more knowledge about martial arts cultivation than the effeminate men. If they could also discover some basic cultivation techniques suitable for humans on Earth, that would be even better.

As Lu Ze walked, after rounding a peach grove halfway up the mountain, he suddenly felt that his view opened up and a small town appeared in the distance.

Looking out from the mountainside, he could vaguely see pedestrians in the town, like black dots. This was the first human settlement he had seen since entering the Misty Plains, and he felt a similar sense of joy as when he first entered the tower and discovered the human habitat.

Lu Ze curled the corners of his mouth, deciding to go in and see if he could buy a high-quality map.

There's no need to change your clothes.

The combat uniform that Lu Ze was wearing was also common in this world; many people on the road at the foot of the mountain were wearing similar clothing.

The technology here isn't backward, it's just not that futuristic.

……

On the flat road leading to the town, martial artists came and went in an endless stream, and all kinds of exotic beast mounts made the road even more lively.

Among them, a group of four martial artists riding black, flowery-maned lions stood out. They had rugged appearances, all with shaved heads and tattered martial arts uniforms.

The martial artists around them were intentionally or unintentionally avoiding them.

The fact that these people could tame even the fiercest maned lions into mounts, and that they were all rare black ones, already reflects that they were no ordinary people.

After seeing the five-colored ribbon tied to the reins, the martial artists beside them were even less willing to provoke them.

This is Riku Kirihara, a hunter who specializes in taking bounties.

They do not belong to any family and will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, sometimes even impersonating robbers to take advantage of their neighbors.

Wild hunters don't have a good reputation, but they are often favored by bounty posters because of their strong skills and fearless spirit.

Therefore, ordinary martial artists usually keep their distance from such itinerant hunters.

At this moment, the hunters, who belonged to the same gang, lazily looked around and then communicated in their own bandit language.

"I didn't expect the Yan family to post a recruitment notice here. I was hoping to snag a bargain, but why are there so many people on the street..."

"Ha, it's really unlucky that there are so many martial artists in this dilapidated place, Chongma Town."

The two, one tall and one short, were at the back of the line, their voices filled with complaints.

The burly man at the front, wearing an eyepatch and with a dreadlock, glanced back and said casually, "Chongma Town isn't big, but the Yan family is famous, and the Tantai family behind them is even more famous. Judging by this, it seems that martial artists from the seven towns and two prefectures nearby have all come."

"So what if they all come? They're just a bunch of loose sand." The man next to the one-eyed giant laughed, revealing an ugly profile covered in burn scars.

"Keep the Yan family's affairs under wraps; too many eyes will only make things worse," the one-eyed giant said coldly, not giving the scarred man a chance to continue his joke.

Although there was resentment in his eyes, the scarred man moved his lips but did not speak.

Clearly, the one-eyed giant held considerable prestige among the four.

"Let's talk about girls then," the tall guy said with a sly grin.

"You're a fucking stallion, aren't you?" Scarface didn't hold back with the others, his sharp voice cursing mercilessly.

"Hehe, are you jealous?" The tall guy didn't care at all. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he whistled a little ahead.

"Wow, that girl's got something. She probably just finished selling herself to pay for her father's funeral, right? She's so damn pure! Look at how tightly she keeps her legs closed when she walks, she's definitely a virgin, but she's as pure as a little cabbage."

"Damn, this is exactly what I want."

The tall man became more and more excited as he spoke, and his voice grew louder.

The round-faced girl with freckles seemed to have heard the teasing behind her, so she quickly lowered her head and quickened her pace.

"Don't go, let's be friends."

The tall man was getting anxious, but he was immediately stunned by the cold look from the one-eyed man. He chuckled awkwardly and stopped being so frivolous, but his sneaky eyes still kept glancing at the girl's hurried figure.

She wasn't very tall, but she was quite plump.

I'm so damn envious...

The tall guy swallowed back his saliva, stared at her a few more times, memorized the girl's features, and then resumed chatting and laughing with his teammates.

Beside the road, a figure bent down, picked up a small purse woven from vines, weighed it in his hand, looked in the direction where the girl had disappeared, shrugged, and walked over unhurriedly.

It didn't contain money, but rather a kind of herbal medicine. It was somewhat spicy and contained at least twenty different kinds of plants, unlike ordinary wound medicine.

So, let's just give it back to her.

(End of this chapter)