The scenery of Weizhou is completely different from that of Liangzhou and Xiangzhou.
Liangzhou is surrounded by mountains and rivers, while Xiangzhou is covered by flat plains.
But when we arrived in Victoria, it was filled with yellow sand and desolate everywhere.
It was clearly spring, but the weather was dry and muggy. But in the evening, the cold wind blew again, and it was quite bitingly cold.
Lin Ji didn't ride a horse. He followed the map and walked along the overgrown official road for a day.
For a whole day, there was no one around, and it was so desolate and deserted that it didn't look like an official road.
Feeling the cold evening wind, Lin Ji looked forward and could already vaguely see a village.
"Are you here already?"
According to the map, the front is Nanmo County.
But in Lin Ji's eyes, it was clearly just a large, rundown village.
There was not much brightness in the sky, and the moonlight was obscured by heavy clouds.
But there were no lights in the village, let alone smoke.
Not angry.
This was Lin Ji's first impression of Nanmo County.
Taking a few steps faster, Lin Ji was already standing outside the village in less than a moment.
When he got closer, he saw the whole village.
This village seems to have been built later, and the old site of Nanmo County should be in the distance.
However, the old site has been eroded by the wind and its appearance is no longer visible. Some of the remaining ruins silently tell the story of the prosperity that this place may have once had.
His mind moved slightly, and his spiritual consciousness had already detected it.
The village was not that big, with about one or two hundred households. Lin Ji's fifth-level consciousness quickly enveloped the entire village.
"There is someone here, but he is dying."
Lin Ji's eyes were focused on a farmhouse next to the road not far away.
The surrounding houses were occupied, and there was still some smoke and smoke, but no one was home at this time.
Only in the farmhouse, there was still a little life, but it was almost dissipated.
Lin Ji came to the farmhouse and knocked on the door.
No one answered.
But he clearly detected that the heartbeats of the people in the room were significantly faster, and the whole person became extremely nervous.
"Are you afraid of something?"
Lin Ji pushed away the farmhouse and walked into the small courtyard in front of the house.
Generally speaking, some vegetables should be planted in the courtyard of a farmhouse.
However, although there are some traces of reclamation in this yard, there are some tools such as dustpans and stone manuscripts piled on the ground.
After Lin Ji looked at it twice, he lost interest and simply opened the door of the house.
squeak...
The rotten wooden door made a harsh sound.
Before Lin Ji could step into the house, an old voice sounded from inside.
"Master, have mercy on me, master, have mercy on me."
Lin Ji saw a skinny old man wearing a tattered coat, trembling and kneeling on the ground.
The windows of the house were leaking, and the cold night wind was biting, but he was only wearing a broad-chested coat.
Before Lin Ji could speak, the old man began to kowtow.
Boom, boom, boom!
Before Lin Ji had time to stop him, the old man had already knocked hard several times. There was a hole in his forehead and blood flowed out, staining the ground and his face red.
"I'm not a monk, I'm just a passerby who came to ask for directions." Lin Ji frowned slightly, raised his fingers slightly, and the invisible spiritual energy helped the old man up, and began to treat the injury on his forehead.
Only then did the old man finally see Lin Ji's appearance.
Thinking of the situation in which he had just been lifted up, he was shocked again.
"Are you...an immortal master?"
"Immortal Master? That's right." Lin Ji estimated that this should be a title for monks.
In other states in the Central Plains, even children who have just learned to walk are aware of the existence of monks.
But here, something seems to be different.
When the old man saw Lin Ji nodding, the fear in his eyes became more and more obvious.
"Come on! Don't drag me down if you want!"
He trembled and huddled on the hard soil bed.
It can't even be called a bed, because it's just a platform made of dirt and covered with some straw.
"Why would it drag you down?" Lin Ji asked.
"The masters of Xingye Temple do not allow anyone to interact with the immortal masters. If they find one, they will kill the other, and they will also curse us. We will live like pigs for the rest of our lives, and we will not be able to escape after a hundred deaths."
Before Lin Ji could ask again, the old man started talking to himself crazily again.
"I...I don't want to be a pig, I want to be a monk."
"I have been working for sixty years, and in another ten years, I will be free."
"The great master promised me that I will be sent to the temple after my death and become a monk in my next life."
At this point, tears filled the old man's eyes again.
"But...but I was lazy today, and sixty years of hard work were ruined in one day."
"I was hit by a stone and injured my leg. I couldn't get out of bed. I didn't do it on purpose."
"But I'm just lazy."
"In the next life, I will be a pig again, I will be a pig again."
The old man's voice gradually became more desperate and quieter.
Suddenly, Lin Ji's face changed slightly and he quickly came to the old man.
He stretched out his hand and put it under his nose, but he could no longer feel his breath.
When I touched my neck again, there was no pulse.
"Is this... is he going to die?"
Lin Ji frowned and used his spiritual sense to investigate.
"Did you die at the end of your life? Are those words you just said a reflection of your past?"
No matter what, the information the old man just revealed was enough to shock Lin Ji.
"So the people here have been bewitched by Tantric Buddhism? Indoctrinated into their thoughts?"
"What is a pig? The bald donkey in the sixth realm who hunted me earlier also called me a pig. This old man also calls himself a pig."
"So Tantric Buddhism divides the people of Victoria into three, six or nine levels? Monks are the highest and pigs are the lowest?"
"Because pigs are the lowest, so they were driven willingly for sixty years...just to become a monk in the next life?"
Lin Ji felt an immense chill in his heart, and this chill quickly turned into anger.
Seeing the big from the small.
The old man's heartfelt fear just now is enough to show how outrageous the tantric sect's control over the people of Victoria has reached.
"So the evil of Tantra is not just enslaving the people?"
Just when Lin Ji was thinking about this, there was finally some noise outside.
After his investigation, he found that there were hundreds of people dragging their tired bodies slowly towards the village.
The originally deserted village became a little livelier, but only a little.
Because all the people were so exhausted that they could only stoop when walking.
Each of them held tools such as dustpans and pickaxes in their hands, and they were silent, like walking zombies.
After a while, someone pushed open the door of the small courtyard where Lin Ji was.
The man opened his mouth as soon as he entered the door.
"Old man, I've already told the monk about your laziness today! Don't blame me, if you are discovered, I won't be able to survive even if you die!"
"The monk praised me for being honest and said that after my death, my ashes will be buried in the temple."
"You won't live for ten more years, so don't bother me anymore."
With that said, a strong man pushed open the door to the room.