311: Chapter 311 Green Mountain Town

The loess road gleamed with a dry whiteness under the afternoon sun, flanked by rolling hills covered in unknown shrubs and wild grass. In the distance, the silhouette of a small town emerged on the horizon, its grey rooftops staggered in height, with a few wisps of cooking smoke rising straight into the windless sky.

Ling Ye stopped and squinted in that direction. His clothes were in tatters, covered in dried bloodstains and dust, and the soles of his boots were worn through, making him feel the heat and roughness of the ground with every step. Old Shi, beside him, was in no better state; his grey cloth clothes were full of holes, revealing the scabbed scars underneath.

They had been walking for three days.

Waking up in that strange forest, unable to discern the direction, without food, without a Water Source, they only had each other and the injuries they brought back from the Star Gate World. Relying on instinct, they chose a direction and walked, passing through dense forests, wading across streams, and crossing two mountain ridges, until finally, on the afternoon of the third day, they saw signs of human habitation.

"There is a town." Old Shi's voice was hoarse, carrying the exhaustion of a long journey, but it remained steady.

Ling Ye nodded without speaking. He licked his chapped lips and continued to walk forward.

Before entering the town, they saw a wooden signpost at the intersection. The signpost was quite old; the wood had turned grey from exposure to wind and rain, but the writing on it was still clearly legible. They were two characters they had never seen before—the shapes were unlike any language they knew; they were not the common language of the Star Gate World, nor were they the official script of the Court of World Purification, and certainly not the runes of the Immortal Realm in Ling Ye's memory.

But they understood them.

Not through learning, not through deduction. The moment they saw those strokes, the meaning of the characters appeared directly in their minds, as if those symbols had skipped the step of visual interpretation and poured the meaning directly into their consciousness.

Qingshan Town.

Ling Ye and Old Shi exchanged a look. They both saw the same confusion and vigilance in each other's eyes.

"Can you understand it?" Old Shi asked.

"Yes," Ling Ye said, "but I shouldn't be able to."

Old Shi was silent for a moment, then said, "Me too."

They did not continue to discuss this topic. In a completely strange world, when an unexplainable phenomenon occurs, the best way to deal with it is to keep it in mind rather than investigate it on the spot. This was the experience they had exchanged for with countless life-or-death situations in the Star Gate World.

They walked into the town. A bluestone path ran east to west, flanked by low earthen and wooden houses, housing businesses like grain and oil shops, blacksmith shops, and inns. There were not many pedestrians on the street, mostly local villagers wearing coarse cloth clothes, conversing in an accent they could not understand. Occasionally, one or two young people dressed in uniform green attire and carrying long swords could be seen, walking steadily, their expressions carrying a touch of the reserve and aloofness belonging to cultivators.

Ling Ye's gaze quickly swept over those Green-robed Disciples, memorizing the details of their clothing, the style of their swords, and the patterns on the tokens at their waists. Then he lowered his gaze and hunched his body, making himself look more like an ordinary, weary traveler.

His and Old Shi's attire were particularly striking in this town. Two ragged, scarred outsiders attracted quite a few curious and vigilant gazes. But no one came up to question them. In such a remote small town, occasionally down-and-out travelers or refugees would pass through; as long as they didn't cause trouble, the locals couldn't be bothered to care.

They found an inn that looked the cheapest. Ling Ye paused at the door, signaled for Old Shi to wait outside, and walked in alone.

Behind the counter sat a middle-aged woman, clicking an abacus. She looked up at Ling Ye, her gaze lingering for two seconds on his tattered clothes and the scars on his face, her expression unchanged, only asking, "Staying at the inn?"

"Yes," Ling Ye said, "the cheapest room, how much a night?"

"Fifteen wen. Deposit extra."

Ling Ye took a small piece of dark silver metal fragment from his bosom and placed it on the counter. It was a piece of Materials he had cut off while in the Star Gate World, which he had always carried with him, not expecting it to come in handy here. "I don't have money from here. Can this thing be used as payment?"

The woman picked up the metal fragment, held it up to the light from the window to look at it, then pinched the edge with her fingernail and frowned, "Never seen this quality before. Where is it from?"

"Passed down by my ancestors," Ling Ye said without changing his expression, "my family met with misfortune, and this is all that's left."

The woman looked at him again, didn't ask any more questions, and put the metal fragment into the drawer, "I'll give you three days. If you want to continue staying after three days, you'll have to pay more."

Ling Ye nodded, took the key to the room, turned around, went out, and called Old Shi.

The room was at the very end of the second floor, not big, with a wooden bed, a table, and a stool, and the window faced the backyard. Ling Ye closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed; Old Shi leaned against the edge of the table. The two were silent for a while.

"Any discoveries?" Old Shi spoke first.

"I can understand the writing directly, but I can't understand the accent," Ling Ye said, "This indicates that the language system of this world, at least at the written level, is compatible with us—or rather, with something in my Soul. But the spoken language needs to be relearned."

Old Shi nodded: "I walked around the town and listened to a few sentences. The pronunciation rules are completely different, with no similarities whatsoever."

"Those Green-robed Disciples, did you notice them?"

"I noticed them," Old Shi said, "Uniform attire and swords, they should be Disciples of some Sect. The people in town call them 'Qingyun Sect'. I listened outside a teahouse for a while; the locals are very respectful toward them, but don't dare to get too close."

"Qingyun Sect..." Ling Ye repeated the name, confirming he had never heard of it. He knew nothing about this world. All information needed to be collected bit by bit starting from now.

"We need to figure out a few things," he said, "First, the basic rules of this world—are there government offices, are there laws, what is the common currency. Second, what is the deal with those Sects—do they accept outsiders, how to join, what to do after joining. Third—"

He paused.

"Why did we come here."

Old Shi was silent for a while, then said: "The third point can be put aside for now. Once we figure out the first two, we can survive. Only after surviving do we have the qualifications to look for answers."

Ling Ye nodded. In the Star Gate World, the most important lesson they learned was: survive first, then talk about other things.

Outside the window, the sun was setting, dyeing the rooftops of the town a warm golden yellow. In the distance, the mountain peak where the Qingyun Sect was located outlined a silent, towering silhouette in the twilight.

Ling Ye stood in front of the window, looking at that silhouette.