On the stone, hard objects were carved with winding characters, resembling official script but different from it. Upon closer inspection, one could make out the words 'Wild Bull Stronghold'.
Not far away stood a withered, yellow thatched house. These houses were built with a mixture of mud and wood, appearing simple but providing good shelter from the rain.
The Cloud Marsh was perpetually shrouded in mist, and wood was scarce. However, there was a type of extremely rot-resistant tree. Wooden houses built from this tree often lasted for decades without decaying, and even venomous insects were reluctant to approach them.
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"Mom!" Alegeya waved to the old woman at the entrance of the village. The old woman was probably quite old, and her movements were rather slow. Her pale face was covered in wrinkles, but she wore a smile.
"Mom is old and doesn't like to talk," Alegeya said. "You are Alegeya's benefactors, why not come and rest at Alegeya's place?"
The village was quite lively, but the barbarians didn't seem to like talking. When they saw strangers, they would simply nod at Alegeya and then go about their business.
A Meng walked up to Li Yunshang and whispered in her ear, "Are all these barbarians so unenthusiastic? I thought they would be very warm and hospitable."
Alegeya looked at him, and after a moment, she softly asked, "Why do you insist on going to your death?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the barbarians in the village should be controlled by you. And your true identity must be a monster under Chi Yao," Jiang Wen said, revealing Alegeya's identity word by word. Li Yunshang beside him raised her sword and aimed it at her.
"It's better not to go, Black Cloud Mountain is very dangerous," Alegeya said earnestly.
"Daoist Su, what's wrong with you?" Jiang Wen was surprised by Su Mu's strong reaction, and he became even more suspicious of Alegeya's identity.
"She's not a demon, she's not."
Jiang Wen noted this, and then tentatively probed Bai Jing.
"She's not a demon!" Before she could finish her words, Su Mu, who had been silent for a long time, said in a low voice.
It could be seen that he was very experienced in this area, perhaps he used to do some repair work often. Alegeya, standing under the eaves, looked at his figure, her black pearl-like eyes occasionally blinking.
A Meng didn't ask further. She was sometimes naive but knew that some things were hurtful to say. She and Li Yunshang sat and chatted.
When they arrived at Alegeya's house, this wooden house at the back of the village was only occupied by her.
"What's wrong with this Su fellow? I always feel like he's preoccupied," Li Yunshang said to A Meng in a low voice.
"Ziyun, we haven't accidentally entered some kind of illusion, have we?" Jiang Wen asked Ziyun, feeling uneasy. As a locust spirit, she was unaffected by any illusions.
"That's not right, you're not a barbarian woman at all," Jiang Wen got up and looked at Alegeya. "If you were truly a barbarian woman, you should know that barbarians have never had a forbidden area."
"…" Alegeya remained silent. She looked around at everyone, and a smile slowly appeared on her fair face. "I am not…"
Lu Shiming, standing at the door, asked Alegeya for directions to Black Cloud Mountain, but she shook her head upon hearing this.
"Alegeya, do you live alone?" A Meng surveyed the simple house and put down her bamboo hat. Even someone as fond of cleanliness as her couldn't avoid getting some mud on it in this rainy weather.
Ever since he met Alegeya, he had seemed somewhat distracted. He had almost made a mistake while working just now. This was a stark contrast to his usual competence, and even the most oblivious person, Li Yunshang, could tell that he was troubled.
"Careless? What a careless mistake. Then let me ask you again, barbarians live in miasma-filled lands year-round, and their skin is all similar to a cyan color. But you, woman, are fair-skinned, almost like a woman from the Su Yang region. This village seems peaceful, but only old and strong people exist, not even a child. With all these signs, dare you tell me it's a coincidence?" Jiang Wen pressed aggressively.
"He's not the kind of person who likes to be sentimental, why would he act so affected?" Li Yunshang muttered.
"Who are you?" Lu Shiming asked Alegeya with a solemn expression.
"I'm just a lost barbarian woman," Alegeya sighed. "Black Cloud Mountain is a forbidden area for the barbarians, and Alegeya doesn't want her benefactors to go to their deaths."
"I haven't," Ziyun replied. "However, the barbarian residents just now were a bit strange."
"How were they strange?" Jiang Wen asked.
At this, everyone looked at Alegeya warily. As Jiang Wen said, if these were all coincidences, then there would be too many coincidences in the world.
Su Mu jumped onto the roof, patched the leaky spots, spread weeds, and then put a layer of mud on top, finally rolling a layer of large dry grass leaves on the roof.
"We, must go," Su Mu said in a deep voice, sitting to the side.
"…" Alegeya was silent, staring at Su Mu calmly for a long time. "Some things, perhaps, can never be returned to."
"Senior Sister Yun, could it be that Senior Brother Su is reminded of his sister after entering the Cloud Marsh and feels guilty?" A Meng speculated.
Jiang Wen looked back and forth between Alegeya and Su Mu, feeling that there might be a story between the two of them.
He filled the ground where the leaking water had dripped through with mud, and then sprinkled burnt charcoal ash to make the ground less damp.
Watching Jiang Wen and the others go in and out, the group cleaned the room, replacing the damp, rotten grass with fresh, dry grass.
"I must go," Su Mu's voice was a bit more urgent. "What was lost there, I must also find there."
"Besides, this barbarian village is so close to where we came from. As a barbarian, how could you have fallen into the mud near the village?"
"They died a long time ago, leaving only me. Thanks to the neighbors, I was able to live well," she said as if she didn't know what sadness was, her tone like drinking plain water.
Inside the wooden house, long grass was laid down, and a wooden bed was placed. An iron pot was placed on the fire pit, making it an extremely simple place.
Su Mu didn't speak. He lowered his eyes and waved his hand, telling Alegeya not to mind.
"No wonder I felt that the people in this village weren't very enthusiastic, so there was a reason," A Meng immediately said, glaring at Alegeya. "Sister Alegeya, are you really a demon?"
Hearing Jiang Wen's words, Alegeya's expression didn't change. She blinked her eyes and looked back at Jiang Wen, saying, "Alegeya was just careless, it's not that she didn't know."
"I saw that although they were like ordinary people, their behavior was strange. But their souls were all normal, and I don't know if I'm just overthinking it," Ziyun said.
Alegeya took off her clothes and put on a beast skin coat, nodding to A Meng.
Bai Jing said that there was nothing unusual around, and he dispelled some of his doubts.
"She's not anyone…" Su Mu raised his face, revealing a bitter smile. His eyes were filled with endless guilt, and he tried to smile.
"She is, my sister."
"Aya, brother has come to find you…"
