Dark Moon Era

Indeed, there was a cost to protect the village. The warriors of the Uvandidi tribe would only send their warriors to protect the villages if the villages paid up with a certain number of cows and sheep. The number increased year by year, and finally, Barbarto Village was on the brink of collapsing. The other four neighboring villages were in no better shape either.

The situation was bleak. Tang Ling did not know why the Stardust Council would use a similar tactic as they did with Safety Sector No. 17 to indirectly occupy the grassland. He got carried away by his thoughts.

Valencia wiped her tears dry and continued, “We can no longer endure the payment this year, but the wolves continue harming us. At first, all six villages in the grasslands helped each other and lived in harmony, but three years ago, the Uvandidi tribe grew stronger year after year. They got greedier as well. This time, they demanded a huge number of cows and sheep, but the villagers could no longer pay up.

“Bartu’s family is the one who calls the shots, and they will try and stir up something tomorrow. I have a bad feeling that they’ll succeed tomorrow.”

“Bartu?” Tang Ling raised a brow. The buff young man? Isn’t he trying to marry Valencia?

“Yeah, Bartu. I don’t know what changed him. We grew up together and were engaged. He used to be an honest young man, but three years ago, when the Uvandidi tribe exited the Grassland Alliance, Bartu visited the tribe and returned a changed man. He gave up the pride, honor and dignity that he used to have and became someone else’s lapdog.” Valencia was filled with an obvious grudge when she talked about Bartu while tugging at the grass angrily.

Oh, so the two of them had history? Tang Ling spat the grass out and asked Valencia a strange question, “Do the six villages of the grassland, including that Uvandidi tribe, have some big secret?”

“Secret? What kind of secret?” Valencia felt like she did not understand Tang Ling.

“Well, you can’t really say it’s a secret. Hmm, how should I put it? Is there anything different from the usual?” Tang Ling tried to express his thought to Valencia.

“Different? Like the annual ceremony?” Valencia was a simple girl, so she thought Tang Ling must have grown bored about the lousy political matters between the villages, hence his question about some other strange things.

Adventurers were curious anyway. Besides, other than showing his sympathy, what else could he possibly do for the villages? He was just an outsider who was passing by.

“The ceremony? Do you mean the offering? Hmm, tell me about it, how different is it?” Tang Ling displayed his curiosity, but his heart was already calculating. He wanted to know why the Stardust Council was so interested in the grassland. He had a feeling that there was an unseen question waiting for an answer.

Why would the Stardust Council try to control Safety Sector No. 17 in the first place? Because of him? No, his identity had remained hidden until recently.

Was the Stardust Council searching for something when they sent the horde of zombies to attack the settlement? No, judging from Aber’s confession, they had achieved what they were trying to do there.

Was it their pure ambition to try and rule the world? No, no, no! Only idiots would form such a plan. Occupying a secluded grassland might not be as easy as it seems, even if they successfully occupied the grassland, they were not doing anything against the other forces in the world, they were threatening no one by occupying a grassland with only six villages.

If they were really ambitious, they would have gone for the next weak safety sector so that they could further expand their influence easily. After all, the Stardust Council had what it took to achieve it.

Tang Ling was latching on to the clues as he slowly expanded his thoughts. He would never let go of his enemy until he figured out the bottom of this! This time, the clue that he was analyzing was the distance. Safety Sector No. 17 and the grassland were rather close.

It was indeed close even on the map. In fact, the villages of the grassland were probably the closest safety villages to Safety Sector No. 17.

Valencia did not suspect anything after Tang Ling asked that question. The ceremony was not really a huge secret anyway. She took a deep breath and said, “At first, all six villages in the grassland weren’t on friendly terms, but each year before winter, we still come together to hold an offering. You’ve also been to the offering venue earlier today.”

“Huh? Where is that?” Tang Ling scratched his head as he tried to recall anything that had been out of the blue along the way, but when one was being chased by a flock of purple Udy crows, one would be rather busy to size up the surroundings.

The purple Udy crows? Tang Ling scratched his head again and suddenly sat up with a start. He covered Valencia’s mouth and said nervously, “Hold on. I have something to show you.”

Valencia’s heart raced when Tang Ling’s hand suddenly touched her face while her cheeks also boiled. She could smell the scent from his hand. His shirt had the refreshing, green fragrance of the grass. Upon deeper thought, she and Tang Ling had known each other for less than a day, yet she somehow liked his scent. She was further embarrassed by her shy thoughts.

She lowered her head. Thankfully, it was late and it was raining, so Tang Ling did not see her blushing. When she looked up, he was already sneaking further away into the tent.

“What a crook!” Valencia grumbled. As she thought of her encounter with Tang Ling earlier in the day when he had been chased by a flock of purple Udy crows, the funny encounter made her chuckle.

Two minutes later, Tang Ling came back with a bird’s nest in his hand.

Valencia was rendered speechless by the bird’s nest. How shameless is this guy to steal the purple Udy crow’s nest? No, wait, did he take the whole thing back?!

Even though the purple Udy crows were thieves that would steal anything, they were known for their perverted side. They liked to steal intimate stuff such as items that should not be taken out of the bedroom like women’s intimate wear or the particular thing a girl would use every month, especially when it was soiled.

Shame! Shame! Why is Tang Nee trying to show me those things?! Valencia was nervous and agitated. She made up her mind to beat him up if he showed her something shameful or teased her.

He brought the nest back to Valencia and removed the cloth that covered the nest. In an excited tone, he told her to look.

“What!? No, I’m not looking!” Valencia quickly turned around, reluctant to even have a peek.

Her reaction raised a question in Tang Ling’s mind. Why is this girl so resistant to the crow’s nest? From the moment she saw the crow’s nest this afternoon, she’s been shooting me a disdainful look. I thought we were a lot closer, but she’s still reacting this way. Is the purple Udy crow Barbarto Village’s holy bird? 

Fortunately, Tang Ling did not voice his mind. Otherwise, Valencia would have fought him with tooth and nail if she knew that he assumed the perverted crows were the holy bird of the village.

“Just look at it.” Tang Ling picked up the thing in the nest and moved it in front of her face.

Despite feeling shy and nervous, her 17 years of maturity made her curious, so she opened her eyes in the end and saw what was in Tang Ling’s palm.

With a single glance, Valencia gasped in shock. She snatched the item from Tang Ling’s hand. “This!? Are you saying you found this in the nest of those crows?!”

“Those damn thieves! This is very serious. I have to tell abu about this. My goodness, even if the six villages aren’t on the same side, we must unite and solve this problem!”

“Hey, calm down.” Tang Ling held Valencia back. “Things might not be as bad as you think. I only found one egg in all the crows’ nests.”

Tang Ling had risked his life and stolen the crow’s nest, not because there was some perverted treasure inside, but because he had found an egg inside.

The egg was peculiar. It was silver in color and its surface had many unexplainable and strange-looking symbols. The symbols were not natural. In fact, it looked nothing like a natural egg. It looked like someone had drawn the symbols on it. The dark red ink was an obvious sign that the color had faded.

At first, Tang Ling was just sneaking past the purple Udy crows’ nests and it was not possible for him to notice the egg in the flock of crows, but coincidentally, the egg was silver in color and it reflected the sunlight at him. The purple Udy crow that had stolen the egg was away at that time, so he discovered the reflective silver egg.

Alright, to be honest, even if it was reflective, it could not have captured his attention or interest. What caught his attention was the fact that his Precise Instinct sensed a little ripple of energy from the egg!

What kind of egg was it? Even a highly mutated beast might not have emanated such an energy wave because the energy within its body was not intense enough to be exuded externally as ripples, except if it were a vicious beast, and it had to be on at least Level 2 at that.

An egg that emanated an energy ripple? It was difficult for Tang Ling to ignore.

Therefore, he risked his life and stole the egg, even torching the rest of the nests just to chase the crows away and search for other possible eggs in the area.

At one point, he suspected that the egg was from the king of the crows and that the strange symbols on the egg had been drawn by the king crow with its natural instinct like how a monkey could brew wine but knew nothing about what it was doing.

“Cia, you mentioned the offering, so it reminded me of the symbols on the egg. Tell me, is this egg related to the offer?” Tang Ling briefly told Valencia about how he got the egg and then asked the only question that baffled him.

Valencia saw her life flash by when she heard what Tang Ling said.

The young teen before her eyes did not just steal from the crows, but he had even torched the nests of the thieves! How lucky was he to have escaped their pursuit in the afternoon? How bold was he?!

Nevertheless, the matter was in the past, and Tang Ling’s action of torching the nests proved that the crows had only stolen one egg, which was considered lucky in such a disaster.

Valencia calmed herself down after a few deep breaths. She stroked the egg in her hands and said, “This egg does have something to do with our offering ceremony. Like I told you before, the place for the offering is between the valley and the Goddess Tear Lake. There’s a secret cave that is naturally veiled. Even if outsiders discover the cave, they won’t be able to feel how magical the cave is. Only people from the six villages know that there’s a temple deep inside the cave. You need the Holy Blood pill to get into the temple.”

“The Holy Blood pill? What’s that?” Tang Ling pulled another straw of grass and put it into his mouth.

“The pill is made from the fresh blood of the direct descendants of all six villages by adding some special herbs. Rather than calling it a pill, it’s really a type of incense. Whenever we have to open the seal of the temple, a Holy Blood pill must be lit…” Valencia spilled the secret without holding back.

Then, a grave voice interrupted her, “My daughter, aren’t you sharing too much?”

“Abu, why are you awake?!” Valencia covered her mouth after realizing her father’s presence. She never thought her father would come out.

Wenbu, however, did not care about Valencia. He stared at Tang Ling and said word for word, “I overheard your conversation, and I now suspect that you’re prying on our secrets. I suppose you owe me an explanation, outsider.” His tone was not exactly friendly when he warned Tang Ling.

Valencia nervously looked at her father and said, “Father, he’s my friend.”

“Valencia, get back to the tent. This is beyond you.” Wenbu was a loving and kind father, but whenever he was strict, even she could not talk him out of it.

“Valencia, go in. I have something to talk to your father about alone.” Tang Ling sighed in his heart. Somehow, things were always so coincidental and he really believed he owed this straightforward and strict man an explanation.

Besides, the upcoming matter was not something Valencia could or should be a part of. Tang Ling also needed Wenbu’s help. Unable to argue, she gave the egg back to Tang Ling and went back into the tent with a worried look.

Tang Ling looked at Wenbu with the egg in his hand. “I guess I should return it to its owner, shouldn’t I?”

“Not necessary. There are many similar eggs in the temple, but they cannot be hatched or eaten because the egg white and yolk are poisonous. If you have ill intentions towards the temple, I would suggest you give up while you still can because there’s nothing desirable or special inside the temple! The temple’s sole existence is to act as mental support for the six villages! The offering to the temple is a custom that was left behind by the old civilization,” said Wenbu strictly.

“Actually, I’m not the one that is eyeing the temple. So is the Stardust Council, isn’t it? As for me, I’m really just a passerby,” Tang Ling said.

Wenbu was stunned. The villagers might not know much about the outside world but not him. He had once been young before and he had an ambitious heart to go on an adventure. However, in three short years, he returned with a dead heart because he was too weak.

Then, Tang Ling suddenly grabbed a cow beside the tent and carefully tossed it up a few times with his hand. “Uncle Wenbu, I think we can help each other. What do you say?”