After simply confirming the safety, Tianyou and others walked towards the direction where the children disappeared with courage.

After leaving the hiding place, he walked forward for only a dozen steps and then Tianyou and others discovered a corner of the house hidden behind the trees. When he walked forward, he soon saw more houses, and vaguely voices came from not far away.

Pang Dahai ran forward in surprise and saw more houses, then turned around and excitedly shouted to Tianyou and them: "There is really a village."

"Why was it built in such a place?" Qi Xiaomei was a little confused.

Tianyou calmly walked past Pang Dahai and explained: "You know what the lives of the people in the ten countries are. The neutral zone is not much better than that of the ten countries. Without the suppression of the government, bandits and monsters, any village can easily destroy a village. It is not as good as this mist forest, which is a little blocked, at least more comfortable."

Qi Xiaomei was also from a poor family before. At a young age, she had to follow the caravan around and travel around. She had experienced the so-called sufferings in the world. After a little diversion, she understood the truth. She couldn't help but sigh: "Yes! No matter how obstructed it, it is more comfortable than being bullied."

While they were talking, several people had already walked into the village, but every household was busy making fires and cooking, but few people noticed them. Instead, the children who had run over before noticed the strangers at the entrance of the village.

"Dad..." Seeing several children discovering their own party, Tianyou raised his hand and planned to say hello and ask about the situation. However, he had just raised his hand and the oldest child suddenly shouted and ran out. The remaining two children next to him seemed to be inspired and turned around and ran together.

Just a few children, Tianyou wanted to catch them in the blink of an eye. However, he did not move any action, but stood there with Pang Dahai and the others and waited.

Those children were obviously calling themselves adults. As long as Tianyou and the others waited in place, someone would naturally come over in a while.

Sure enough, the villagers reacted very quickly. The children ran and shouted, and before they got home, adults ran out of the house.

In fact, according to Tianyou's idea, the human defense awareness in this village is already quite bad. Like Qingyuan Village where he lived before, there were special high platforms at the entrance of the village, and there were people on duty at night. The village was built in a foggy forest, and the environment was obviously much more complicated than Qingyuan Mountain. It was not even a guard post, which was really too encouraging.

Although the three children ran to their own houses, not only three families were alarmed. It should be said that the entire village was alarmed. At this time, men, women, young and old, almost all the people who could move came out. Many people were holding kitchen knives, shoulder poles and other things as weapons in their hands, as if they were ready to fight with people.

Tianyou glanced at it and found that these were ordinary people, so he didn't do any defensive actions, for fear of causing misunderstandings. Anyway, as long as they were not the same monk or the demon clan in disguise, it would be almost impossible to threaten a monk with his cultivation level by relying on the number of ordinary people alone.

In fact, the villagers themselves probably knew that their power was limited and unlikely to threaten Tianyou and his party in front of them. Therefore, although most of them were holding weapons, they were very restrained in their behavior. Most of them just gathered together to look at Tianyou and the others from afar, and did not really rush up.

Tianyou knew that at this time, there should be someone who could make the decision and talk to them, so he did not act rashly, and by the way, he did not forget to remind Pang Dahai not to disturb the villagers.

Sure enough, after all the villagers ran out of the house and gathered at the entrance of the village, an old man over 50 years finally walked out with the help of a little girl. The crowd naturally separated a road and let him walk ahead of them.

The old man came to Tianyou and the others a few steps away and stopped, then bowed first, and Tianyou and the others quickly returned the favor. Although in terms of identity, monks are higher than ordinary people, the understanding of Shenzhou Continent is exactly the same as that of my China, and respecting the elderly and loving the young is considered to be reasonable.

After both parties saluted, the old man spoke.

"Several fairies came to our village, but I don't know what's going on?"

Tianyou took action again, and then answered: "Don't panic, my father-in-law, we are just here to do business by the orders of the master. However, we went apart and somehow we reached the noble land. It happened that it was getting late, so we wanted to stay here for a night, but we didn't know if it was convenient."

When the old man heard that he was lost and came to stay, he felt much more at ease and quickly smiled and said, "It's okay. It's a guest from afar, so we should be the only one who is a landlord. If you don't dislike me, please follow the old man into the village to rest."

It is natural that you will feel at ease when things are told, but the villagers obviously did not really give up their guard completely. After all, the Shenzhou Continent is not the peaceful and prosperous country on the earth. The desire to guard against others is definitely a necessary skill.

Although the old man said that Tianyou and the others would follow him, in fact, the person who was actually responsible for arranging a residence for Tianyou and the others was another middle-aged man. It can be seen that this person should be a hunter in the village or a specially selected public service staff like the mate and the golf. To put it bluntly, he was the security captain of the village. However, Tianyou deliberately looked at it and there was no sign of spiritual energy flowing in his body except for his strong and agile body. It may not be a big problem to deal with two or three ordinary people or ordinary beasts, but if he encountered beasts or monsters like lions and tigers, he might even be a problem to protect himself, let alone real monsters and bad-minded monks.

Following the middle-aged man to the village, the villagers behind him dispersed. However, some young people and children who had nothing to do followed behind, but soon a few children were dragged away by their parents, leaving only a few young people following them far away.

Of course, Tianyou knew that someone was following him, and he even knew why these young people followed. After all, is there a vixen around him? Recruiting bees and butterflies is a basic operation. With Hu Qingxuan's beauty, it is conspicuous enough even among those knowledgeable and knowledgeable officials, let alone such a closed mountain village.

"Please please, please." The middle-aged man obviously noticed the young men behind him, glared at them from a distance and drove them away, then took Tianyou and the others to a wooden house, and then took them in.

The room looks a bit dilapidated outside, but it is quite clean inside. Judging from the furniture, it may not have been used by people. Fortunately, there is a long table for things in the house, and the quilt is like a large shop, which can indeed be used by people. Moreover, Tianyou and the others did not have to find a place to sleep, as long as there is a relatively dry environment, it is enough.

The middle-aged man explained the purpose of the house to Tianyou and the others, and then arranged a bed. Several women came in from outside, holding several beds in their hands. Tianyou and the others didn't need this thing, but they had already delivered it, so he couldn't refuse, so he could only take it away politely.

The villagers who helped make the bed left again, and it seemed that they were very busy. However, as soon as the villagers went out, the old man who had been before came in again.

Seeing the old man enter the door, Tianyou and the others quickly expressed their gratitude to take them in again.

The old man also politely returned the gift and then explained his purpose. It turned out that the person was delivering them food.

Of course, the old man could not get the things. The old man turned around and greeted the back, and immediately three young men walked in with a wooden board. Tianyou recognized at a glance that one of them was one of the young men who had been reluctant to leave behind before. However, Tianyou did not point it out, and glanced at it and turned his eyes to the food.

The old man sent a lot of dishes, and not to mention the variety, most of them were meat and vegetables. You should know that although the Shenzhou Continent is rich in resources, it is not a paradise on earth. On the contrary, because natural resources, especially biological resources, are too rich, monsters and beasts are rampant, and natural resources are extremely difficult to collect. Even settled and breeding is quite troublesome. If you are not careful, monsters will devour livestock and destroy crops. Therefore, the people of Shenzhou Continent are not very good.

In view of the normal living standards of the people in Shenzhou Continent, the overly sumptuous dinner in front of him seemed a little abnormal. Even the rough guy, Pandahai, obviously felt something was wrong.

"You usually eat so much?"

Tianyou and his team had just entered the village and had just enough time to drink tea, and even the restaurant was not served so quickly. So this dish was definitely not specially prepared for them, so Pang Dahai had this question.

The old man was prepared for this, and when he heard the question, he explained: "The mountain family dared not eat and drink like this on weekdays. In fact, this is a coincidence for several immortals. Tomorrow, our village will hold a coming-of-age ceremony for a few babies, and then the whole village will participate in the sacrifice together. In order not to delay the subsequent celebrations, they will prepare wine and food one day in advance every time."

When Pang Dahai heard this, he immediately asked embarrassedly: "Then we ate the food in advance, what should you do?"

The old man smiled and said, "Don't be polite in the fairy. Although the village is not rich, there are still a few hunters, and these wild animals are not short of. Let a few young wives do it later. Just put some effort into it, it's not a problem."

Although the old man was very polite, Tianyou and the others still felt a little disgusted. In the end, Xiaomei Qi almost took out a silver ingot fortress for the old man, but she didn't expect that the old man insisted on not accepting it.

Qi Xiaomei asked in confusion: "But Guicun does not contact the outside world on weekdays, so can't he use money?"

Tianyou actually thought so, but the old man denied it: "Although this village is located in this dense forest, it does not have any contact with the outside world. Every month, hunters in the village will still bring goods to the outside to exchange things. Just a few people come to my village to be guests, so how can they charge money for dinner? Put it away quickly, don't break me."

Seeing that the other party really didn't plan to ask for the money, Qi Xiaomei didn't force her. Tianyou started talking to the old man.

It surprised Tianyou. The old man was actually an outsider. He grew up outside when he was young and had studied. Although he only passed the exam for a child, he was considered a cultural person at least. No wonder he was not as reckless as ordinary people in the mountains and fields.

In fact, real mountain people are also quite enthusiastic, but they will not do things as thoroughly as the old man.

The young man behind the chatting session had already put the food on the table. Two of them turned around and went out with the wooden boards. The remaining one who had been peeping behind before was still rubbing, but in the end the middle-aged man twisted his ears and pulled him out.

After the old man noticed Tianyou's eyes, he also found the young man. After looking at Hu Qingxuan, he smiled and defended the young man: "The children in the mountains have never seen much, so don't blame the immortals."

Tianyou also smiled, "It's okay." After thinking about it, he continued, "By the way, my father-in-law, I saw a stone tablet erected in the middle of the road outside the village. There was a faint flow of spiritual energy on it, echoing the other stone tablets around it, forming a formation. I wonder if the fog in this village was dispersed because of this formation?"

When the old man heard this, he explained: "Actually, the old man didn't know what that thing was. He only knew that he had stood there a long time ago. As for why the fog in the mountain could not enter the village... I have also guessed that we are all mortals, and we don't understand the immortal method, and we can't see any tricks. But I think the fog in the mountain never dissipates all year round, but this place is not infected, which is mostly related to those stone tablets."

Tianyou nodded and asked again: "This stone tablet seems to surround the entire village. I wonder if you have ever counted it? How many pieces are there in total?"

"This is of course counted. There are 109 pieces in total. One hundred and eight pieces of them form a big circle around the village, and the remaining one is in the village."

"There is one more piece in the village?"

"Yes. It's at the old man's house."

"Not it stuck in the ground?"

"It's in the ground, but everyone thinks that this stone tablet protects our village from being attacked by fog and monsters in the mountains, so they specially built a house to protect it. As a village elder, they have to live in this house, which can be regarded as guarding this stone tablet."

Tianyou immediately became excited when he heard this and asked, "I wonder if I can go and take a look?"

"This...is okay."

Although the old man agreed, Tianyou knew the reason after hesitation, so he explained it.

"Don't worry, my father-in-law. I just specialize in studying magic weapons and magic arrays in the mountain gate, so I want to study them when I see such things. I will never touch your village-protecting magic array."

Sure enough, the old man was worried that Tianyou and the others would dig the stone tablet to make the village lose protection, so he hesitated before. As for the later agreement, it was mainly because the old man also knew that monks like Tianyou and the others were far more powerful than the whole village. If Tianyou was really malicious, it would be meaningless to oppose it. Instead, it might annoy Tianyou and the others to find a murder. Without the stone tablet blessing, they could still be relocated. If the monks were really provoked and were chased, then no one in the whole village would survive.

In fact, the old man was worried so completely because he really didn't understand the magic circle at all.

This magic array is like a circuit board. Its greatest value lies in the magic array itself, but the design idea and structural distribution of the magic array. Of course, the materials used by some magic arrays are relatively expensive, and they are indeed worthwhile. However, this magic array in their village is a large magic array built according to local conditions, including stones and some things that can be seen everywhere. Except for the runes on the stone tablet that may have been traced with some special ore pigments, they are basically worthless things.

Of course Tianyou wouldn't care about such a magic circle. Besides, he is not a robber. Even if this magic circle is really a valuable material, Tianyou would consider what to exchange for first, and would never force the robbery directly.

After the opening, the old man was really not worried. Tianyou was thinking about the magic circle and had no intention of eating. It happened that the old man had already eaten before, so there was no need for him to keep anyone. He pulled a chicken leg and went to his house with the old man to see the stone tablet.

The old man's house is actually not far from where they live. After all, this is a small mountain village, not a city, and even the buildings at both ends of the village are not too far away.

He talked with the old man along the way, and then Tianyou realized that the old man actually had a house in his house. The place he lives now is a temple for worshipping stone tablets, and on the other hand, it is also considered the office of the old man. The difference is that the old man in their village must live in this house. As for the old man’s original home, he is naturally still there.

The old man not only has his own home, but also has many family members. Although his wife passed away, he left him with two sons and a daughter, and the three children each had their own families and children, so there were quite a lot of family members. However, Tianyou and the others are now visiting the place where the stone tablets are worshipped, not the old man's home, so they didn't see his family members.

According to the old man, the houses in the village are not allowed to live in ordinary people, but there is no restriction on entry and exit.

Following the old village to the door, the old man took off the hook on the door and pushed the door open directly. Hezhe didn't even have a door lock, and it was probably the purpose of protecting wild animals. After all, it was just such a big place, and every household knew each other, so there was no need to prevent theft.

Because it is not a real home, but is just like a manager, there are not many decorations in this house. The house itself is adobe structure, which looks no different from brick walls, but its sturdiness is much worse. Even so, it is already the most solid house in the village. At least it is stronger than the wooden houses of the villagers.

Because there were not many rooms, Tianyou came in and saw the stone tablet in the room on the left.

Sure enough, compared with the stone tablet outside the village, this piece in the village is obviously larger, and the part exposed on the ground is also higher. Unexpectedly, the spiritual fluctuations on it are weaker than those outside the village, so that when the old man didn't say it before, Tianyou didn't notice that there was a stone tablet here.

"Immortal, this is the stone tablet." The old man pointed at Tianyou and stood beside him and stopped talking. Tianyou originally wanted the old man to do his own thing first, but thought about it, it was impossible for him to be assured to leave him here alone. Even if the old man knew that Tianyou really planned to do something, it was meaningless whether he was there or not, but even so, the other party would definitely not leave.

It was useless to know that it was said. Tianyou simply didn't persuade him, but just started to study the stone tablet on his own.

Because the spiritual energy flows even weaker, Tianyou has to almost stick it on to sense the internal spiritual energy circulation.

It can be clearly sensed that the spiritual energy in this stone tablet comes from the underground, and then after it is running in the stele body according to a specific route, it goes up the upper end of the stele body. But... I don't know if there is something wrong with the stele or what's going on. Anyway, the spiritual energy under the stele begins to become weaker and weaker as it goes up, and in the end it completely dissipates without even reaching the top of the stele. In other words, the stele actually cannot really operate at all.

"this……"

Seeing that Tianyou had been walking around the stone tablet for several times, he frowned and looked like he wanted to speak but stopped, the old man couldn't help but become curious.

"Immortal, what did you see?"

Tianyou glanced at the old man, thought for a while and said, "This stone tablet does not seem to be running."

The old man obviously didn't fully understand and asked, "What does this mean?"

"That is to say, this stone tablet has no effect at all." Tianyou sorted out his language for a while before continuing: "You have seen a water truck that relies on people to step on it and then drives a large roller to pump water from a low place to a high place?"

Seeing the old man nodding, Tianyou continued to explain.

"This stone tablet is like a water truck. The water truck must be stepped on by someone to pump water. This stone tablet must have spiritual energy to play its original role. But I don't know if it was damaged or other reasons. The underground spiritual energy entered below the stone tablet, and then it disappeared before it reached the top, so it did not play any role at all."

The old man was obviously very shocked. He stared at Tianyou in surprise and asked, "How could it be useless? On weekdays, we can feel the whole body feel comfortable as long as we get close to this stone tablet. If we have any illness, we can recover by just sleeping next to the stone tablet. How could it be useless?"

"What you said is the proof that it has not started. It is precisely because there is a problem with the stone tablet and all the spiritual energy has been scattered, so the spiritual energy around the stone tablet is relatively rich. This spiritual energy is like a elixir. Even if you don't know how to practice, you will feel comfortable as long as you get close to it. It can strengthen your body and prolong your life." At this point, Tianyou asked the old man in turn: "Are all the villages in your village very long? That's because the village elders must guard the stone tablet, which means they have long-term contact with the spiritual energy, so they will naturally be healthy and live longer than others."

Tianyou obviously said it to the point, and the old man's eyes widened, obviously shocked. He never expected that the stone tablets worshipped by ancestors in the village had no effect at all.
To be continued...