I Can Recognize Everything, But the Information is Wrong

Although they say it's outside the city, it's actually quite some mountain trails away from Central State.

Nowadays, these trails in Sky Gorge are densely packed with numerous houses and buildings, resembling a burgeoning town.

Looking at the densely populated villages built upon the hills, Lang Guan and the second leader appeared especially excited.

They hadn't seen so many people gathered in one place for a long time, nor had they seen a prosperous village in ages.

Seeing such a dense village again now, they felt as if they were living in the mortal world.

However, contrary to Lang Guan and the second leader, Tian Lin and Perfected Listening Rain didn't share such emotions.

Both came from a world with abundant Spiritual Energy and free from roaming souls' troubles, having been here for merely a month or two.

They didn't harbor any aversion for the apocalypse nor any sentiments for the sights of human gatherings.

On the contrary, where there are people, there's bound to be worldly disputes. Tian Lin and Perfected Listening Rain only wanted to leave this world, but had no desire to get involved in conflicts.

"This place is too dirty, too smelly, not a place where cultivators should live."

Perfected Listening Rain pinched his nose, the scene before him reminding him of his unpleasant cultivation memories.

"This should be a place where Qi Refiners gather; after all, these cultivators have low cultivation and need to eat, drink, and defecate like mortals. And since this isn't really Jing City, without court management, it inevitably becomes messy."

The crow of some chickens rang out, Tian Lin turned his head to see a woman coming out of her house, pouring urine water right on the street.

The stench of the urine was blown downwind, fouling up the whole street.

But it was clear that the people living near the street were used to these smells, so they didn't mind it.

This indicated that these people had been living here quite a while; otherwise, they wouldn't be so accustomed.

"There are words at the village entrance!"

Approaching the entrance, Tian Lin and others saw three characters written on the gateway arch: 'Rice Fragrance Village'.

But upon a closer look, the village only smelled of excrement and urine, and didn't grow rice, so where would the rice fragrance come from?

Tian Lin's remark about the writing wasn't intended for Perfected Listening Rain and others to read the 'Rice Fragrance Village' but rather to see the carved words on the two pillars of the gateway.

"No mortals allowed inside, strangers may not intrude."

It'd be one thing not to allow strangers to intrude, but 'mortals not allowed inside' made Tian Lin recall the phrase 'immortals and mortals are different'.

He exchanged a glance with Perfected Listening Rain, who said:

"There's nothing curious about it. Too many people have come here. Although houses can be expanded, land is ultimately insufficient. This village apparently only allows cultivators to live."

Tian Lin said, "If that's the case, what about newborns in the village? Surely, new babies can't be left outside the village?"

Tian Lin had only heard of how gods and demons would have descendants born with cultivation.

He had never heard of cultivators having babies that were born as Qi Refiners.

According to this village's rules, those newborns are essentially mortals, so they also can't stay within the village.

"Why talk about newborns? In this era, it's hard enough to support oneself. Apart from those aristocratic families, who dares to have children?"

A voice echoed from within the village as an old man came out, glaring sideways at Tian Lin and others, saying, "Are you Hua Hua Lang?"

Being the leader, Perfected Listening Rain immediately stepped up and said, "I'm Wang Da, a person from Zhuzhou. The four of us have just arrived at Central State."

As soon as Perfected Listening Rain finished speaking, the old man swung a whip.

The old man was just a Golden Core cultivator, and this whip didn't have enough force or speed in Perfected Listening Rain's eyes.

He could easily dodge it, but chose to endure it.

Keep a low profile!

He's currently posing as a man in the mid-Golden Core stage, not a Nascent Soul Realm elder!

If he dodged the old man's whip easily, wouldn't it raise suspicion?

With a 'snap', the old man's whip landed on Perfected Listening Rain's face.

Perfected Listening Rain suppressed his anger, holding his face and asking the old man, "Why did you hit me?"

The old man, straightforwardly, pointed to the writing on the two pillars of the gateway:

"You clearly saw the six words 'No strangers may intrude,' and yet you dare to step foot into the village? As the village guardian, who else should I hit?"

Perfected Listening Rain was a bit speechless, couldn't help saying, "Just stepping half a foot under the arch counts as intruding? Aren't you being too much?"

Though saying so, Perfected Listening Rain still retreated two steps, standing in a row with Tian Lin and others.

Previously, he stepped forward as a courtesy, thus his foot inadvertently landed within the village grounds.

Now, he stepped back two steps, belonging to the outside of the gateway, and no longer fearing another whip.

"It's not me bullying, it's just the current situation."

The old man explained to Perfected Listening Rain, "You newcomers don't know the rules of Jing City; to ascend by taking a chariot, one must possess a Jing City household registration. To acquire Jing City registration, one must be a legitimate local resident;

Outside villages have been fighting for years for a residence registration. Over these years, the Golden Core cultivators killed range from hundreds of thousands to millions. Nascent Soul cultivators killed number thousands occasionally—

So the words on the pillars are lessons from blood. When it says 'No strangers may intrude,' it strictly prohibits anyone from taking a single step into the village."

He explained a lot, somewhat rambly. But Perfected Listening Rain, Tian Lin, and the others roughly understood that to enter Jing City's Inner City, one must become a local peasant.

To become a local peasant, one must have a residence within a village.

But the current issue is, all villages are filled.

Village residents naturally don't want to give up their houses to outsiders, letting them become legitimate village households.

And the Hua Hua Lang who just arrived outside don't want to become vagrants and want to occupy the magpie nest.

What then? That surely leads to conflicts.

Perfected Listening Rain's previous action was considered overstepping.

Stepping in without village members' permission would lead others to take him as a house-snatching raider. So that whip didn't seem unjust.

"How can us outsiders, the Hua Hua Lang, move into the village and become its villagers?"

Tian Lin asked the old man, and the old man said:

"You newcomers will naturally have court managers seeking you out. Once registered, you can line up. When a village resident dies or moves to Jing City, freeing up a house, you can move in sequentially according to the queue."

Tian Lin asked again, "Where's the manager? We haven't seen anyone yet?"

Right after he spoke, hoofbeats sounded from afar.

The hoofbeats startled many, as in this apocalyptic era, even cows and horses were food and had long been wiped out.

Those able to afford using horses are either the court or aristocratic families.

Everyone looked toward the sound, only to see a person riding a horse, galloping over: "You four, why aren't you coming to register? What are you doing here? Who's the leader?"

Perfected Listening Rain quickly stepped forward, saying, "I'm the leader!"

The youth, hearing this, let his whip fall heavily on Perfected Listening Rain's face, "What a leader, raised by dog mother, so disobedient!"