804: Chapter 804 Lu Xueqi and Biyao (183)

"Documents, documents! I'm hauling a cart of my own home-grown grain, what kind of documents could I possibly need for that?!"

"It's useless to yell at me. If you've got the guts, go yell at the Town Hall. Rules are rules."

Su Han stepped into the inn and saw two men arguing in front of the counter.

One was a farmer dressed in short, rugged clothing, his face flushed red, his thick hands clenched into fists pressed against the counter; the other was a middle-aged man with a thin, long face, wearing a slightly worn blue cloth robe, holding a ledger with an indifferent expression.

Seeing Su Han enter, the farmer glanced at him and lowered his voice slightly, though he remained furious: "Regardless, I must haul this cart of grain over today. The families behind the mountain have been without food for three days!"

The middle-aged man in the blue robe slammed the ledger onto the counter: "If they're out of food, go find the Town Hall! What use is it coming to me? I run an inn, not a granary."

Su Han sat down on a nearby bench without interjecting.

The Waiter brought over a bowl of tea at this moment, placed it in front of him, and whispered: "Don't mind them, sir. Manager Chen and Brother Sun are used to arguing; they have a small quarrel every three days and a big one every five. Once they're done, it'll be fine."

Su Han nodded and took a sip from his tea bowl.

The argument over there continued for a while longer. Brother Sun, the farmer, ultimately didn't win the dispute and stormed off in a huff, slamming the door hard enough to make it rattle on his way out.

Manager Chen in the blue robe stood there, sighed, rubbed his temples, and turned to look at Su Han.

"Are you staying at the inn, sir?"

"Staying for two nights." Su Han fished a few pieces of broken silver from his bundle and placed them on the counter.

Manager Chen accepted the silver, registered his name, and handed him a key: "Heavenly Room Number Three, second room on the left upstairs. Meals are served on the first floor, both morning and evening. Just tell the Waiter what you want to eat."

Before heading upstairs with the key, Su Han asked casually: "Manager, the 'behind the mountain' that Brother Sun mentioned just now, is that inside Fire Cloud Valley?"

Manager Chen was busy recording accounts with his head down; upon hearing this, his pen paused for a moment, and he lifted his eyelids to glance at Su Han.

In that glance was something Su Han was very familiar with—the same mixture of awe and wariness that would appear on the faces of Mortals whenever they heard the words "Immortal Sect" on the streets.

"You're from out of town, aren't you, sir?" Manager Chen's tone remained polite, but it was noticeably colder than before. "There's nothing worth seeing in Fire Cloud Valley. It's just rocky mountains; not even a single tree grows there. If you want to sightsee, you might as well head forty miles east. There's a Green Creek Mountain there with beautiful scenery."

Su Han gave a grunt of acknowledgement: "I heard quite a few people live inside Fire Cloud Valley."

Manager Chen lowered his head and continued recording, his voice as bland as plain water: "There are a few families, yes. It's a godforsaken, impoverished place; nothing worth looking at."

Su Han didn't say anything more and went upstairs with the key.

Heavenly Room Number Three was at the end of the corridor. Pushing open the window revealed a view of the south side of the town—a dirt road extended from the town entrance, winding its way toward those dark red hills.

Sparse shrubs grew along both sides of the dirt road, their leaves covered in a layer of dusty gray.

There were no pedestrians on the road, only a yellow dog running slowly along the roadside. It would stop every few steps to look back, then continue running forward.

Su Han stood by the window and looked at those red hills for a long time.

Sunlight shone on those rust-colored rocks, reflecting heat back up. Even from such a distance, he could feel that dry, scorching aura.

He tapped the windowsill lightly with his fingertips, feeling a faint fluctuation of Spiritual Qi—the Spiritual Qi of this entire land was thin and scattered, like a forest that had been ravaged by a great fire, leaving only scattered embers still emitting wisps of smoke.

He closed the window and went downstairs to have lunch.

He was the only guest at the dining tables; Manager Chen sat behind the counter flipping through the ledger, while the Waiter leaned against the doorframe, dozing off.

Su Han ate a plate of stir-fried greens and a bowl of rice slowly, eating very carefully, even clearing the rice grains from the bottom of the bowl.

After the meal, he left the inn and took a stroll around the town.

Red Earth Town was not large; it only took the time of an incense stick to walk from one end to the other.

He noticed several notices from the Town Hall posted on the streets. The scribbled handwriting stated, "Effective immediately, grain and rice will be distributed uniformly by the Town Hall. Each household must collect them with a voucher; private transport will be penalized," and so on. The notices were signed by both the Town Hall and the "Fire Cloud Valley Protector Division."

The five characters "Fire Cloud Valley Protector Division" made Su Han take a second look.

Before he came, the Sect Master had mentioned to him that a Loose Cultivator lived in Fire Cloud Valley, surnamed Meng, known as Mr. Meng. He had moved there decades ago, supposedly to cultivate in seclusion, and had some dealings with the common folk in the town below the mountain.

The Sect Master's tone had been indifferent when saying this, only adding one comment: "That fellow surnamed Meng doesn't have much cultivation, but his temper is certainly not small."

Su Han stood in front of the notice for a while, having a rough idea of the situation.

He turned to head back. When passing the east end of the town, he saw a group of children squatting at the base of a wall playing with pebbles. A little girl with her hair tied in a topknot suddenly looked up at him, then tugged on her companion's sleeve, and several children looked up together, staring at him.

Su Han smiled at them.

The children all scrambled to their feet and ran away, except for the little girl with the topknot, who didn't run but stood there, tilting her head to size him up.

"Who are you?" the little girl asked.

"My surname is Su, and I come from the north."

"Where is the north?"

"A very far away place. Are you from the town?"

"I'm from the Valley!" The little girl puffed out her chest and proudly patted her gray cloth jacket. "My dad is a hunter in the Valley, and my mom is a farmer. Uncle Su, what do you do?"

Su Han squatted down to be at eye level with the little girl: "I am... just traveling around."

"Oh." The little girl seemed unsatisfied with this answer and scrutinized him again. "Then do you know how to fight?"

Su Han was taken aback: "Why do you ask that?"

"Because some people fought in the Valley a few days ago." The little girl's voice suddenly dropped, and the sparkle in her eyes dimmed a little. "A group of people rushed into the Valley to steal things, hurt several people, and even stole the three chickens my family raised. My dad chased after them to fight, but he got hit with a club, and his arm has been swollen for several days."

Su Han's gaze darkened: "Who hit him?"

The little girl looked left and right, then leaned in a little closer and whispered: "They came from the neighboring town. They said the land in Fire Cloud Valley is theirs and that we occupied their territory. But we've lived there for decades! There's a Grandpa Meng in the Valley who knows Spells, but Grandpa Meng wasn't home that day. Even after he came back, he didn't go to settle the score with those people; he just told us to be careful from now on."

Su Han was silent for a moment, then reached out and gently patted the little girl on the head: "So, is your dad's arm better now?"