Chapter 47

The roar had yet to subside when similar cries echoed from different parts of the Great Marsh, one after another, reverberating endlessly.

Du Heng listened for a while, and the smile that always graced his face gradually faded.

When the night in the Black Marsh Wilderness finally returned to silence, the middle-aged man, who called himself an antiquities scholar and historian, turned to Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others and said,

"The situation over there is more complicated than I expected.

"It seems I need to travel through the night."

As he spoke, he had already stood up.

"Be careful," Jiang Baimian said politely, without trying to detain him.

Du Heng laughed but did not respond directly. Before leaving, he said casually,

"Little girl, your name always reminds me of the past. Back then, there were many cotton fields near my hometown. Every season like this, or a bit later, you could see countless tiny clouds falling to the ground. The scene was beautiful."

Jiang Baimian stood up and smiled slightly, saying,

"My father is a biologist who studies cotton improvement. The month I was born was the season when cotton was harvested, so he gave me this name."

At this point, she smiled and protested,

"Although you are indeed older than us, you shouldn't call me 'little girl,' right?"

Du Heng laughed heartily,

"My age is much greater than my appearance, and even older than you can imagine."

He did not linger any longer, laughing and waving his hand,

"May we meet again."

"May we meet again," Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others responded politely.

Du Heng waved again, turned his body, and walked northward through the dark wilderness, where the sun had set and the moon had not yet risen.

"Lady Galorin, what about you? Are you also heading north of Yuelu Station?" Jiang Baimian sat down again and looked at the blonde, blue-eyed Daoist across from her.

Galorin smiled and replied,

"You don't need to call me 'Lady.' On the path of Dao, there is no distinction between men and women.

"If you want to show respect, I don't mind. You can call me Daoist.

"Of course, if you want to call me Luo, Lan, or Ga, that's fine too. It's just a different landscape on the path of Dao, with no hierarchy or distinction."

"Quite, quite down-to-earth," Jiang Baimian thought for a long time before finally finding an appropriate adjective, "I can tell your Ash Earth language is quite good."

"This wasn't my choice," Galorin's response completely surprised Bai Chen and the others.

She then explained with a smile,

"The classics of Dao are written in Ash Earth script. If translated into Red River language, they would lose their essence and fail to accurately describe the true meaning."

After speaking, she threw the rabbit bone she had finished gnawing onto the ground, put her oily fingers in her mouth, sucked on them a few times, and then wiped them on her clothes without much care.

This casual behavior, combined with her beautiful but somewhat noble demeanor, left Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others somewhat stunned.

Galorin took out a water pouch, drank a few sips, and seeing that the others were staring at her, she chuckled,

"Sometimes, we can't even distinguish between reality and illusion, and we can't even ensure our basic survival. Why bother with these trivial details? It's better to act naturally and live in harmony with nature."

At this point, her gaze turned to the leaping campfire, and she said with a smile that was hard to interpret,

"Just like the nobles in the Senate of the First City. A few decades ago, they were all struggling to survive in the wilderness, fighting over their companions' urine for clean water. Now, they talk about etiquette, hierarchy, and all sorts of meaningless formalities.

"Heh, when there are still citizens freezing and starving to death in the city, they insist on using a different utensil for each dish at banquets."

Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen had never been to the First City; they had only heard some rumors and couldn't really respond to this.

Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully,

"It seems you are from the First City."

The blonde, blue-eyed Daoist smiled but did not confirm or deny it.

Seeing the silence, Shang Jianyao changed the topic,

"Daoist Galorin, what is a Daoist?"

Galorin thought seriously for a moment,

"It's a bit difficult to explain...

"You've encountered monks, right? You can think of a Daoist as another type of monk, belonging to a different religion and worshipping a different Zhisui."

Hearing the word "Zhisui," Jiang Baimian, Long Yuehong, and the others felt a vein throb in their foreheads.

Shang Jianyao asked,

"Which Zhisui do you worship?"

Galorin's expression became serious,

"Zhuang Sheng."

All members of the "Old Tune Team" were at a loss for words.

After escaping the Purification Law, Long Yuehong and Shang Jianyao had shared the information from the truthful mechanical monk with Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen.

One of the most important pieces of information was:

The monk sect believes that this world is just a dream of the past Buddha, "Shizai Rulai," which is why it is filled with suffering. "Shizai Rulai" represents the entire year and the intercalary month, and has another name outside the monk sect.

That name is:

"Zhuang Sheng"!

Galorin noticed their slightly abnormal reactions but did not ask any questions.

A few seconds later, Jiang Baimian tentatively asked,

"Did you join your current sect in the First City?"

Galorin nodded,

"Yes, the Eternal Ages Sect."

A smile gradually appeared on her face,

"At that time, my mother had just passed away, and I didn't get along well with the rest of my family..."

Suddenly, Shang Jianyao interrupted her reminiscence,

"Why did you laugh when you mentioned your mother's passing, instead of being sad?"

Galorin laughed and said in perfect Ash Earth language,

"Birth, aging, illness, and death are natural laws of this world, just like the changing of the seasons. My mother may have died, but she still rests peacefully in the universe, still a part of nature. Perhaps one day, she will start anew in another form, just like the arrival of spring after winter.

"Since I understand this, why should I cry in sorrow?

"Instead, I should spend my energy remembering her."

Shang Jianyao wanted to argue but couldn't find any flaws in her reasoning, so he closed his mouth in frustration.

In a way, he even felt that Galorin had a point, though it was extreme.

Galorin was about to continue her story when another mournful roar echoed from the north of Yuelu Station,

"Ao wu!"

This time, the roar was even more high-pitched and rough, clearly different.

Galorin listened for a moment and smiled slightly,

"It seems I need to head that way too."

She stood up slowly, clasped her hands in a respectful gesture,

"The sage has no self, the new world is right before us."

Then, she patted her Daoist robe and walked northward, as if carried by the current.

"The sage is another name for a Zhisui..." Watching the Daoist Galorin walk away, Shang Jianyao explained briefly.

Jiang Baimian had already stood up, looking in the direction where Galorin and Du Heng had left. Suddenly, she laughed,

"Really, why didn't they prepare a car and walk instead?

"With their abilities, that shouldn't be too difficult..."

Who would venture into the wilderness at night without some means of support?

And such people wouldn't need to deliberately delay, waiting for the first batch of relic hunters to trigger most of the dangers.

"Maybe it was sudden," Bai Chen speculated from his perspective.

"Maybe it's to maintain their image," Shang Jianyao suggested from a direction no one would normally consider.

"...I strangely feel that what you said makes some sense," Jiang Baimian almost laughed, "I mean the historian Du Heng. As for Galorin, she said she wants to see the various landscapes on her journey, so walking is better."

Before the team members could speak, Jiang Baimian said seriously,

"What puzzles me the most is another question."

"What?" Long Yuehong, who was on guard, asked nervously.

Jiang Baimian couldn't hide her smile,

"Shang Jianyao, why didn't you join in the 'chorus' like before?"

She was referring to the first time they heard the strange sounds from the depths of the marsh, when Shang Jianyao had joined in the roaring.

Shang Jianyao glanced at the team leader and said seriously,

"You're really childish."

"..." Bai Chen and Long Yuehong almost burst out laughing, while Jiang Baimian was speechless and could only touch her ear, "Eh, what did you say? Seriously, can't you speak louder? Never mind, never mind, let's eat."

After leading the team in finishing the compressed biscuits and energy bars and refilling their water pouches, Jiang Baimian warned them seriously,

"Be even more careful tonight.

"You heard the commotion just now."

After Bai Chen, Shang Jianyao, and Long Yuehong responded, Jiang Baimian smiled and said,

"But, rest well when you can. We need to continue our journey tomorrow.

"Also, we need to start training you to find food. This includes not just hunting and searching, but also identifying which leaves and roots are edible, which parts of mutated animals can be eaten in emergencies, how long you have to inject genetic agents after eating certain things, and which types of soil can temporarily serve as food, once or twice... Don't think the past few days were adventures on Ash Earth. With plenty of food, it was more like an armed parade!"

This made Long Yuehong feel a bit fearful, while Shang Jianyao was eager to try.

Jiang Baimian thought for a moment and added,

"Also, don't be misled by the theories of strange religions. While they can provide some mental comfort, in the environment of Ash Earth, it's like escaping reality, which can be very dangerous."

Long Yuehong nodded and asked curiously,

"Team leader, are there many strange religions?"

This was rarely mentioned in the "Pangu Biology" textbooks.

"Very many. When people are in pain and despair, they easily turn to religion," Jiang Baimian chuckled, "As far as I know, in the main city of the First City, there might be more underground religions that can cause significant harm than you can count on two hands."

After giving the warning, Jiang Baimian took over Long Yuehong's task, patrolling the surroundings, and instructed the team members to review all the encounters of the day.

That night, they encountered no unexpected incidents. As soon as it was light, the jeep started heading north.

Seeing that their destination was not far, Jiang Baimian, sitting in the passenger seat, began to introduce the place to the team members,

"The residents of Black Rat Town are actually a group of sub-humans."

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