Once the cultivator left, Tian Lin and True Person of Listening Rain continued to pull the cart.
However, compared to before, there was now one more person pulling the cart, and the person wielding the whip was replaced by a woman.
The woman's temperament was gentler; she wasn't accustomed to physical confrontations, nor did she know how to make threats.
Instead, when they encountered a watery pit or steep slope, she would come to help push the cart.
If True Person of Listening Rain and the punished supervisor were overly exhausted, she could only urge them to hurry and lend a hand.
Because of her nature, the journey was difficult, but Tian Lin and the others did not fall too far behind.
Thus, the first day passed, and the group found a grove to rest.
The woman went to the second-in-command who looked like a scholar and got some dry food; it was only a handful. They resembled grains of rice but were actually seeds from some unknown plants and didn't look appetizing.
But even such unappealing food was a delicacy in the woman's eyes.
She put each seed into her mouth carefully, chewing slowly, savoring each one; with each seed, she'd reminisce for a long time;
But how could a handful of food stave off hunger? It merely prevented complete starvation.
True Person of Listening Rain was alright, but the punished man struggled to get up and walked towards the woman.
Tian Lin and True Person of Listening Rain watched the man, guessing whether he would reach out to grab the food!
In truth, the Hualang team maintained strict "discipline."
The leading officer and the second-in-command would not allow internal strife to happen. Sёarᴄh the NovelZone.fun* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Thus, although the man was hungry, he dared not snatch.
He almost kneeled in front of the woman and pleaded, "Mistress, please give me some kernels to eat?"
The woman shook her head, the man crawled closer on his knees, "I beg you to give me some!"
The woman shook her head again, probably feeling threatened, she pulled out her whip;
By day, the woman appeared very gentle.
But Tian Lin had no doubt that if the man dared approach again, attempting to take her food, she would use her whip.
"Damn it, I don't know how many years it's been, and I almost forgot what hunger feels like!"
After confirming the man wouldn't dare approach the woman and nothing significant would happen, True Person of Listening Rain turned his attention from the couple, complaining to Tian Lin with this sentence.
In the eyes of True Person of Listening Rain, these people were mere mortals.
Although Tian Lin was a small cultivator at the late-stage Foundation Establishment, ultimately he was of the same class.
At this moment, his relationship with Tian Lin appeared closer.
"The feeling of an empty stomach? I can't forget it in a short time!"
Tian Lin recalled when he first crossed over, hesitating whether to eat cow dung.
Seriously speaking, that time wasn't many years ago.
But for True Person of Listening Rain, with his cultivation reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, he had lived for several thousand years.
In other words, the last time True Person of Listening Rain felt hungry might have been thousands of years ago. Presumably, True Person of Listening Rain had really forgotten the feeling of hunger.
"What are you getting up to do?"
True Person of Listening Rain tilted his head to see Tian Lin propping himself up with a wooden stick, standing up, and heading into the forest.
He didn't know what Tian Lin was planning to do but subconsciously followed, supporting himself with a wooden stick.
He saw Tian Lin, wobbling ahead, say: "I'm going like them, to the forest to find something to eat."
True Person of Listening Rain said, "Don't be foolish, as we walked this far, the edible bark has been gnawed clean. The remaining flowers and plants are all poisonous and will take your life if eaten."
Even with those words, he indeed followed Tian Lin into the forest.
Because at night, the officer would have the women in the Hualang team go out to pick wild fruits and plants.
Thus, Tian Lin wasn't the only one entering the forest.
"Everyone remembers to pair up to avoid being snatched by roaming souls and wild ghosts! Also, don't go too far, or else the group's presence disperses, and it's easier for roaming souls and ghosts to catch you!"
No need for the second-in-command to say more, Tian Lin and the others all heard the eerie wailing of ghosts beneath the night sky.
At that point, he and True Person of Listening Rain had no cultivation, so naturally, they didn't dare to take risks.
But hunger drives one to desperation, and some women, bolstered by courage, eventually ventured into the deep forest!
"Kid, you've got good talent in cultivation, but it seems you've never done alchemy, right? How could you eat the Ghost Cry Fruit?"
True Person of Listening Rain stopped Tian Lin, who was about to pop a fruit into his mouth after picking it.
"This can't be eaten?"
Tian Lin said, "But I just saw a woman pick a bunch of these fruits; although these women don't have cultivation, they are quite knowledgeable about whether food is poisonous. If she dared to pick it, it probably means the fruit is not poisonous."
True Person of Listening Rain sneered, "Maybe she has a death wish, preferring to die full than to suffer hunger. Or maybe she's so starved she's lost reason and wants to eat whatever's filling!
Whether this Ghost Cry Fruit is poisonous, you'll know soon by whether she survives."
Upon hearing this, Tian Lin indeed did not eat the Ghost Cry Fruit but still picked several, stashing them on himself.
The Ghost Cry Fruit was poisonous, but not to him.
Tian Lin planned not to eat it openly in front of True Person of Listening Rain, intending instead to eat it secretly to fill his stomach.
The two of them circled around, seeing many trees had their bark and leaves stripped clean. The few that were well-grown and lush were undoubtedly poisonous and inedible plants.
On the stripped tree trunks, Tian Lin even saw many bite marks, both from humans and animals.
"These barks must have been stripped by the fleeing Hualang ahead."
True Person of Listening Rain said, "Great Qi defied the heavens and perished, with the heavens descending disaster intending to annihilate the Great Qi people—we've gone back to the late period of Great Qi."
Great Qi disappeared alongside the Central State, and the information about Great Qi was vague and mysterious in Tian Lin's memory.
Tian Lin wasn't a Great Qi person, or more likely, now living in this world, few people were from Great Qi.
According to True Person of Listening Rain and the officers, the calamity was divine retribution on the Great Qi people.
And the reason heaven wished to punish Great Qi was due to the royal family's disrespect towards the Heavenly Court—
What was the Heavenly Court? How did the royal family disrespect the Heavenly Court?
These things, neither True Person of Listening Rain nor the second-in-command could clarify. The former wasn't from this era, and did not know much about the secrets of this time.
The latter, on the other hand, belonged to the bottom tier of this era, and the secrets known to the upper echelons might remain elusive to them for their entire lives.
"If heaven really intended to destroy all Great Qi people, then are the missing people from Central State already dead? If the Central State people are all dead, why did Central State disappear?
Now is not the time to lament these things; it's better to first think about how to fill the belly."
Tian Lin was confident that he wouldn't die from hunger, but whether True Person of Listening Rain would survive was uncertain.
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