Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 124 - The Thatched Cottage (1)

“Yang Zanxing.” The voice calling her from nearby pulled her out of her dream, and so the clouds and flowering trees, the man and the woman, all vanished.

Gu Baiying was half-kneeling beside her, frowning as he stared at her.

Zanxing rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Martial Uncle.”

Seeing Zanxing awake seemed to ease his tension, and he asked her, “Can you stand?”

Zanxing brushed the dirt off herself and stood up. Mimi rolled around in the grass ahead, covering herself in grass blades.

“What is this…” Zanxing glanced into the distance, momentarily stunned.

Gone was the dim and cramped stone chamber and the world now seemed vast. It was an expansive grassland, covered in lush greenery. In the distance, pale-colored mountains rose and fell, and a clear river meandered from the mountains. The sunlight was gentle and warm, lazily casting its glow over everything.

If the secret realm of Li’er Country was characterized by its ethereal beauty, this place exuded tranquility and warmth. It was like a secluded mountain village, where time had been forgotten, and the people who lived here remained untouched by the passage of years, preserved in this idyllic setting.

“It’s a secret realm,” Gu Baiying said, walking up beside Zanxing.

“I know that,” Zanxing said. “I mean, hadn’t we entered the secret realm in Li’er Country?”

“It’s not the same secret realm as before,” Gu Baiying surveyed their surroundings. “At least, it’s not the one Ziluo entered more than ten years ago.”

“I understand,” Zanxing looked at him. “You mean, this is a secret realm within a secret realm?”

The path of cultivation was long and full of wonders, with countless realms within realms, like a world within a dewdrop. Within secret realms, there are undiscovered spaces and territories, making each one unique.

“So you’re saying we’ve found a great opportunity that others haven’t?” Zanxing asked. “What’s here? Martial arts techniques, manuals, spiritual artifacts, or maybe even a hermit who resides here?”

Gu Baiying remained silent for a moment before saying, “As I said, some opportunities are not meant for everyone to bear.” He reached out, and a silver spear appeared in his palm. Gripping the Xiu Gu Spear tightly, he said to Zanxing again, “Hold onto your staff. We can’t be sure of anything here.”

Zanxing nodded. In the secret realm, dangers lurked beneath the calm surface, as she had just experienced. Learning from the lesson with the Jinhua Tiger, she dared not let her guard down. Holding onto her Panhua Staff, she followed Gu Baiying as they moved forward.

Along the way, they encountered no dangers. There were no ferocious beasts, no strange plants, and no people.

It felt like a secluded paradise untouched by human habitation, serene and beautiful in its own right.

After walking for who knows how long, they reached the end of the mountain and river. Suddenly, Gu Baiying’s footsteps halted. Zanxing asked, “What’s wrong?”

Gu Baiying reached out and probed forward. “There’s a barrier.”

Upon hearing this, Zanxing thought for a moment, then gripped her Panhua Staff horizontally and swung it forward forcefully. A gust of wind rushed ahead, encountering an invisible barrier in the air, rebounding her staff forcefully.

Indeed, it was a barrier.

She looked up at the gray-green mountain ahead. “It seems this is the end.”

This mountain looked different from the Wudong Mountain. While the Wudong Mountain were covered in dense forests, this one seemed desolate. There were hardly any trees or animals in sight, just bare gray-green rocks stretching as far as the eye could see. However, it was extremely steep and high, with no end in sight.

“Who set up this barrier?” Zanxing looked around suspiciously. “It doesn’t seem like there’s anyone else here.”

Gu Baiying shook his head. He tried to sweep around with the Xiu Gu Spear, but found that there were barriers all around, surrounding the mountain. They were trapped inside, and no one from outside could come in.

He retracted his spear and looked towards the other direction. “Let’s try over there.”

Zanxing had no objections.

After walking along the foot of the mountain for about half an incense stick’s worth of time, Mimi had become so tired that she was leaping onto Zanxing, attempting to return to the Qiankun bag. Zanxing tightened the bag to encourage the cat to exercise more and lose weight. As she was struggling with Mimi for the bag, Gu Baiying, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Zanxing followed his gaze.

In the boundless wilderness at the foot of the mountain, a giant tree quietly grew. The trunk was thick, and the canopy was lush, but it was different from the Dragon Tooth Tree on the Wudong Mountain. While the branches of the Dragon Tooth Tree were tangled and grew wild, this tree, although dense, appeared particularly gentle. From afar, it looked like a heavy, warm cloud of green, pressing down on its branches.

In any case, something different had finally appeared on this wilderness.

Zanxing was delighted, and she and Gu Baiying approached the tree, walking all the way to its base.

This tree, of an unknown species, bore no flowers. Its trunk displayed a mottled dark brown color, and sunlight shimmered through the gaps in its branches like scattered gold. Zanxing reached out and touched the rough, slightly moist bark.

Suddenly, Mimi let out a meow and dashed forward. Zanxing turned her head and saw a fence, about several dozen meters away from the giant tree.

A fence? Was there someone living here? Zanxing and Gu Baiying exchanged a glance and followed along.

Indeed, in the wilderness, there was a fenced area, and within the enclosure stood a thatched cottage.

The cottage was not large, made of mud walls, and covered with a layer of grass and mud on the roof. It looked a bit rundown, with all the grass in the yard pulled out, likely cleaned regularly by someone, giving it a tidy appearance. Zanxing stood outside the fence and called out, “Is anyone there?”

No one answered.

Before she could call out again, Gu Baiying had already walked straight in.

Zanxing: “…”

Mimi happily followed behind Gu Baiying.

Pushing open the door of the thatched cottage, they found it empty.

From the outside, the cottage didn’t seem large, but inside, it was surprisingly spacious. It was divided into two inner rooms and an outer hall. The larger inner room contained only a wooden frame resembling a bed. The bed frame looked square and sturdy. Zanxing reached out and touched the corner of the frame, feeling its sharpness, suspecting it might have been carved directly from a piece of wood with a knife. There were no pillows or mattresses on it, making it resemble more of a long bench.

Zanxing left the inner room and looked at the outer hall. On the wooden table in the hall, there was a pot, two cups, and two bowls. However, the cups and bowls were made of stone. Upon closer inspection, they were uneven and had some small pits on them, clearly handmade with a hammer, and not of regular shape.

Seeing that Gu Baiying had not come out of the other inner room for a long time, Zanxing thought he had made a new discovery and followed him in. Upon entering, she felt that this inner room was particularly different.

While the previous room was large and spacious, it was empty except for a wooden structure that might have been a bed or a bench. This room, half the size of the previous one, was much richer in contents. There was still a wooden bed against the wall, but it was narrower than the previous one, with a wooden pillow on top. The bed was also covered with a woven grass mattress, making it more comfortable to sit on.