Ch. 25
Chapter 25: Returning to the Underground Palace
The same blue sky and white clouds.
And on the road outside the city, the same scenery of wheat fields.
The only difference was that, on the way back, he was no longer riding in a carriage.
Even so, Jiang Lin’s steps were light. Though he seemed to be moving slowly, every step carried him a great distance.
This was a movement technique he had learned back in the Foundation Establishment Realm: Thousand Mountains Phantom Wind.
This technique could be cultivated all the way up to the Nascent Soul Realm, making it extremely practical.
It was just that, after reaching the Mahayana Realm, and with so much time spent in secluded cultivation, he had rarely used it, and had fought others even less.
The outline of Gerson City behind him gradually grew fainter. Once he left the gravel road connected to the city gate, he arrived once more on the country dirt road.
There were no more wheat fields around him now. Wild grass covered both sides of the road.
In the distance, he could see the continuous outline of mountain ranges, and beneath them, the forest.
Compared with the mountains, that forest stretched even farther, as though it had no end.
That was the Dusk Forest, a forest that covered nearly half of the southern border.
It was also the border line of several nearby territories.
Along the southern border, no Grand Duke had come here to establish a territory.
Most of the lands here belonged to Viscounts or Barons, like the Gerson territory.
That had a great deal to do with geography.
There were no rich mineral resources here, and even the farmland that had been reclaimed looked unimpressive compared with other regions.
On top of that, the southern border had the Dusk Forest as a natural defensive line. Even the Beastman tribes rarely set foot in the Dusk Forest, much less pass through it to invade this place.
And with no wars to win, there would be no military merit to gain. Naturally, no one thought much of it.
Even if some lord had a fit of madness and wanted to campaign against a Beastman Tribe, he would still have to consider the cost of crossing the Dusk Forest.
Jiang Lin had also bought a rather crude map of the southern region in the city.
It marked only seven or eight territories in the south, along with their names and the titles of their lords.
Then there was the blank expanse beyond the Dusk Forest on the map.
Only a few large words were written there in silence.
Beastman tribal territory. Dangerous.
Buying that map had been almost the same as not buying it at all.
All it really did was tell Jiang Lin who the nearby lords were, what their territories were called, and roughly how large they were.
Only now did he realize why the shopkeeper had insisted that he could not look without buying, and only let him look after he had paid.
At the time, Jiang Lin had not been in a hurry to inspect it.
Only now did he belatedly realize he had been tricked. He still remembered that what he had asked for was a map of the entire Tanner Kingdom.
As his thoughts wandered along the way, he could also see the outlines of some small towns and villages near the Gerson territory.
By the time Jiang Lin arrived in Wheatfield Town, it was already afternoon. He was faster on foot than a carriage.
Of course, if not for the limitations of his Spiritual Power, he would have simply flown.
“This other world truly is inconvenient in so many ways…”
He pushed open the door to the Golden Traveler Tavern. It seemed Martie did not usually bother locking the place during the day.
The tavern was still quiet in the daytime, though the dust from before had already been cleaned away.
Jiang Lin did not call out to her. Instead, he first set the goods from the list on a table, then heard movement coming from the backyard and walked over.
In the backyard, Martie was humming a little song from the town as she sat beside the stable, arranging dry hay.
Nearby, the old horse chewed listlessly, snorting now and then and shaking its head from side to side.
“Miss Martie seems to be in a good mood today.”
Jiang Lin leaned against the doorway, smiling as he looked at Martie.
“Ah, you’re back.” Martie turned to look at him, delight appearing in her eyes. The freckles on her face seemed to bunch together from how happy she was.
She shook the bits of hay from her hands, stood up, and looked at Jiang Lin with a grin.
“So? Was Gerson City fun?”
“It was all right, but I still prefer Miss Martie’s tavern.”
Jiang Lin said,
“I’ve already bought everything on the list and left it in the main hall. Is Miss Martie opening for business tonight?”
“Of course. I haven’t made any money in days, and my purse is already flat,” Martie said with a nod. Smiling, she skipped into the main hall.
When she saw the dazzling assortment of things Jiang Lin had brought back from Gerson City, the smile on her face only grew brighter.
“Oh, a city really is better.”
“Not necessarily.” Jiang Lin followed her inside and reminded her, “Miss Martie, be careful lately. Gerson City hasn’t been very peaceful recently.”
“What happened?” Martie froze for a moment and set down the apple pie in her hands.
“Have you heard of the Demon Race?” Jiang Lin’s expression turned serious.
“I found traces of the Demon Race in Gerson City. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to kill her.
But I suspect the old lord’s death has something to do with the Demon Race.”
“The Demon Race…” Martie’s expression turned strange. Then she seemed to catch up to what Jiang Lin had just said, and surprise immediately appeared on her freckled face.
“You fought one of the Demon Race and still came back completely unharmed?”
“She was somewhat troublesome,” Jiang Lin replied with a small shrug.
“Somewhat troublesome? It’s much more than that. It’s been a very long time since there were any signs of the Demon Race appearing at all.” Martie’s expression grew somewhat grave.
“That’s a huge matter.”
“How much does Miss Martie know about them?” Jiang Lin asked with a smile.
“Only what I’ve heard from stories. How could I actually know anything about this?” Martie thought for a moment, then shook her head as she explained,
“In the legends, every member of the Demon Race is said to be extremely powerful, and impossible to kill. I don’t know whether that’s exaggerated or not.
But as for what real members of the Demon Race are actually like, I have no idea.”
Then, with a hint of curiosity in her eyes, she asked,
“Tell me, then. What did that demon look like? Was it some terrifying, hideous monster?”
“Quite the opposite. The one I met looked almost the same as a human. At most, she had horns on her head. Well, horns like the goat Mrs. Mary from next door keeps.”
Jiang Lin smiled and casually changed the subject.
“But it probably won’t affect this place. That demon’s target is Gerson City. I heard they’ve already sent a secret letter to the Tanner royal family, asking for assistance from the Church.”
Martie nodded, and the surprise from before gradually faded. “That’s good, then. But it’s not really something I should worry about anyway. As long as the tavern is still here, that’s enough.”
Jiang Lin smiled as well. Soon after, he said goodbye to Martie and headed toward the Dusk Forest.
Martie was a clever person. She would not pry too much into his secrets.
After learning only that he was not from this world, she had not asked anything more.
Nor would she care too much about what Jiang Lin was doing now.
That, at least, matched Jiang Lin’s understanding of her.
Interacting with someone like that was undoubtedly comfortable.
He had not returned to the Underground Palace for two days now, and he had no idea how Trelis was doing.
He still had many things to ask this Ninth Headmaster of the High Tower.
Perhaps that fellow would know the weaknesses of the Demon Race.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, he had once been a Ninth-Tier Archmage.
After passing through Wheatfield Town, Jiang Lin headed into the Dusk Forest.
At the same time, his Divine Sense swept ahead of him, helping him avoid the Magical Beasts before encountering them.
Killing them would be easy enough, but it would be troublesome and yield little benefit.
So Jiang Lin had no such intention.
For now, the Magic Crystals he had were still enough to last him for some time.
If, by the time he used them all up, he could reach the late stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm, he would already be very satisfied.