The ground under our feet is full of dry cracks and weeds everywhere. Even in April, when the flowers are blooming, it is still yellow with no green or verdant color.
Lorraine Hill slowly landed on the ground and looked towards the end of the road. A small village was located on the hillside, and sporadic smoke could now be seen.
She flew all the way from Minzezhou to the west, and happened to land on Shuizhuzhou today, which was actually not far from Luzhou.
According to Leng Yan, the previous member of Tuoshi Hall, this place should gradually be restored to an area with fertile water and grass. Why does it look so desolate? As far as the girl can see, she can't even see any animals.
After stepping on the dry ground, some clods of soil were very hard, with broken powder on the edges. It looked like it had not been moistened by rain and dew for a long time, and there was a smell of sun-dried platycodon in the air.
Walking into this small village on the hillside, there was a sound of barking. A small black puppy was standing in front of the adobe hut in the distance and barking at this strange visitor. It was a pity that such a sound could not be heard.
Sharp and weak, not scary.
"Stop barking." The girl said softly, then looked at the hut behind the puppy and slowly approached.
This is the only house in the village with smoke.
With a creaking sound, the leaky old wooden door was pushed open, and an old woman with silver hair all over her head walked out slowly, hunched over. She looked at Lorraine Hill outside, and then picked up the puppy.
After petting him a few times, he calmed down the puppy's screams.
"This girl, you are..." She was a little confused as to how such a young girl could appear in this remote place, and the clothes looked like they didn't look like ordinary people.
"My name is Jia Lan. I came back from a far away place. I want to know what happened here and why it is so desolate." Lorran Hill said.
"Have you come back from other places? Oh, yes, you must not be an ordinary person, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get here..." She muttered inarticulately, her teeth still leaking. If Lorraine Hill hadn't had a sharp hearing, I'm afraid that
I didn't know what she was talking about for a while.
"Old man, we have a guest." The old woman cooed for a while, as if she didn't want to talk to Lorraine Hill, and then she carried the puppy into the house.
After a while, an old man with thinning hair but relatively strong appearance came out. He was wearing thin brown linen clothes. He was thin and skinny, and his face was full of wrinkles, giving him a shriveled look.
Feel.
"Miss, who are you?" He looked at Lorraine Hill with a slight hesitation.
Lorraine Hill simply repeated one more sentence, and then the old man opposite answered slowly.
"It's the young man who came back..." He sighed, then walked to a stone next to the hut with a cane and sat down, and then spoke slowly.
"This is Qianhua County, well, that's how it used to be called."
"However, all the young and strong people who can run are gone now." His voice was dry and hoarse, like a dried reed.
"Why are you leaving?" Lorraine Hill vaguely guessed the answer.
"There is no water, the upstream has been cut off... there has been no water for a long time... I could dig wells to get some water before, but now the wells are almost dry."
"While we can still walk, many people have left... My wife and I are the only ones who are too old to run away, so we will stay here..."
"Look around here. There used to be dozens of families, but now they are all gone..." He pointed to the abandoned houses in the village.
"There's no water... there's no water..." He said slowly, staring blankly at the empty house in the village, his body motionless.
"Sorry." Feeling that there was something wrong with letting such a thirsty and uncomfortable old man say so many words, Lorraine Hill bent slightly, then thought about it and waved his hand to the sky.
There was a sound of flapping wings, and a bird with fluffy feathers slowly flew down. It was also holding a large basket in its talons, which seemed to contain a lot of things.
Even though he knew that the contents of the basket were snacks that Dai Ju wanted to bring, Lorraine Hill still opened the cover and took out one of the sealed jars, which contained clear dew.
"Would you like a drink?" Lorraine Hill handed a glass of water to the old man.
"Ah..." The old man turned around slowly, making a hoarse voice, and then looked at the clear water that suddenly appeared.
"You...you are a good person." He said as he held the glass of water tremblingly, drank it thirstily, then drank half of it, then suddenly put down the glass again, turned his head to the side of the house and shouted.
"Old woman, come on, come out quickly, there is water to drink... there is water to drink."
The old woman from before walked out slowly with her puppy in her arms, still cooing. She probably thought the old man was in a daze.
When he saw the water jug handed over by Lorraine Hill, his face was surprised, and it took him a while to react.
"Thank you, girl, thank you..." She pursed her lips and kept mumbling, then she carefully held the jug, as if she was afraid of falling, and carefully placed it on the wooden board in front of the door, and then slowly poured it down.
In the mouth, drink one mouthful after another.
After the two old men finished drinking the water, they seemed to be much more energetic. At this time, they took the initiative to return to Lorraine Hill's words.
"Thank you, girl, where did you come from? I was dizzy just now and didn't want to talk, so I hid in the house."
"It's okay, it's my fault." The girl shook her head and continued to ask about what happened here.
After listening to the girl's inquiry, the two slowly explained that three years ago, the scene here was just like what Wei Lengyan said. It slowly returned to the past hometown of swamps, Shuizhuzhou, lead-red Shuizhihua, and the local area.
Its cinnabar, rouge, and dyes are all famous and there are many people there.
However, this scene gradually ceased as the river water was cut off and the climate became drier day by day.
At first, the locals asked the witches to preside over the rain praying ceremony, which could bring some rain and dew from the southern coast to moisten the earth. However, as time passed, the rain became less and less, and the witches expressed their inability to do anything.
Later, the local shrine maiden priests also gradually left. Before they left, they told the locals that this place might not last long and that everyone should plan in advance.
"Will the Miko Festival also leave?"
The girl remembered that generally witch consecrations were under the jurisdiction of the government and were officially canonized by the dynasty. They would not leave or remove them at will. Back then, even though the environment in the mountains was so dangerous at dusk, the shrine where Granny Grotto was located did not disappear.
"Yes, it is said that Chun Guansi sent people here to check and agreed to this decision."
The girl could not imagine that the powerful Four Seasons Officer would give up so easily. It seemed that the disasters in various parts of the dynasty had exhausted them. Otherwise, how could Chun Guanshi, the leader of the four officers, tolerate such a thing.
In the past, it was not unheard of to harness dragons to divert the rainwater from the South China Sea to swamp the central continents, but now we actually don’t do it anymore.
"Then the surrounding big sects still come to visit. Didn't they do anything?" Even if the dynasty officials ignored it, as a local big sect, they would still protect their territory, which is far away from Zhuo Luzhou.
The Rixiang Yu Sect is not far away, and there is also the powerful Colorful Purple and Red Valley to the west.
"The Xiangyu sect that returned to Luzhou began to close the mountain five years ago. Now we can no longer see their disciples walking around. As for the Colorful Purple Red Valley, we don't know. We just heard that the west is also unstable."
"I see."
Lorraine Hill let out a sigh of relief, then looked towards the distant sky.
The Burning Sun Xiangyu Sect has closed the mountain. Did Senior Sister Sumirehua know something in advance?
Then she patted Dai Ju beside her and handed the big basket to the two old people.
"This place is no longer suitable for living. Do you two want to leave with me?"
"Thank you, girl, but I'm only two years old, and I won't live much longer if I'm not in good health, so I won't bother you." The old man shook his head, and then coughed again. As he said, his body was already old.
, can no longer sustain it for much longer.
"In this way..." Lorraine Hill was silent.
"There is a lot of food here, let me give it to you two. As for the water..." She thought for a moment, then walked into the thatched hut and found the water tank in the house. After a while, a stream of clear water flowed out of the air.
Fill that water tank.
"This should last longer. I think it will get better after a while." Lorraine Hill saluted the two old men, then lightly stepped into the sky with Dai Ju beside him, and flew away.
Seeing the girl disappearing into the sky, the two old men were amazed and knelt on the ground praying continuously.
"Thank you Immortal for your gift..."
"Thank you Immortal for your gift..."
In the eyes of these ordinary mortals, such a powerful extraordinary person is actually no different from an immortal. It is no longer an existence that they can understand and come into contact with. They didn't expect to be lucky enough to meet one today.
The dim yellow sky hung low, making this desolate village a little more lively than before.