Zhang Ling stood on the branch of a large tree, looking at the distant village. It didn't seem very large, somewhat similar to Qing Tian Village where he had lived.
A few patches of green terraced fields and twenty to thirty wooden houses surrounded by the terraces made up the entirety of the village.
Zhang Ling didn't rashly enter the village but quietly observed it for a while. For the next entire day, he carefully observed the whole village. He was also certain that there were no traces of any cultivators here, only some mortals.
The style of the entire village was different from the countries in the Northern Yuan cultivation world he had visited, and the house styles were also different from the countries near the Boundless Sea region.
The village houses were like stilt houses, mostly built of wood, surrounded by low walls made of large and small stones. There were no foundations, but many thick tree stumps supported the entire building.
The upper floor was the living area, while the lower part housed livestock such as chickens, ducks, and pigs.
The villagers lived a peaceful life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. It wasn't until all the lights in the village were extinguished late at night that Zhang Ling began to act. He first put away the corpse bear and spirit beast, while completely concealing his own aura.
He quietly sneaked into the village and stopped in front of the most luxurious house. He released a trace of his spiritual sense to investigate the situation inside the house. Then, Zhang Ling flipped onto the second floor, and a flash of spiritual light appeared in his hand. He pinched a strange magic seal, condensed a wisp of spiritual power, and submerged it into a room.
After waiting for a few breaths, he pushed the door open. Although there was no light, a Foundation Establishment cultivator could still see the situation in the room clearly.
The room wasn't large, with a few tables and chairs. Some animal furs were hung on one wall.
Zhang Ling glanced around and looked at a person on the wooden bed on the left. The person lying down was an old man with white hair.
Zhang Ling flicked a finger, and a wisp of spiritual light shot onto the old man. The old man on the bed slowly sat up, got out of bed, and walked towards him, but the old man kept his eyes closed, as if sleepwalking.
After the old man walked in front of him, Zhang Ling looked at the old man. At this moment, the old man was only wearing a gray undershirt, looking very thin.
Zhang Ling sized up the old man for a few moments, then closed his eyes and chanted some words. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes. At this moment, his eyes were gray and white. At the same time, the old man also raised his head, meeting his eyes.
A gray light flashed in Zhang Ling's eyes, and the old man's body trembled, then calmed down. After the old man closed his eyes again, he began to speak to himself.
"Aba! Aba..."
Strange sounds fell into his ears, and Zhang Ling was stunned. He couldn't understand a single word the old man was saying.
Language barrier!
Zhang Ling frowned. He then had the old man say a few more words, but he still didn't understand. It seemed that there was indeed a language barrier.
The entire Northern Yuan cultivation world used the same language. Even if there were some accents in different places, he wouldn't be completely unable to understand.
Could it be that this place was too remote, or was it no longer in the Northern Yuan cultivation world? A shocking thought emerged in Zhang Ling's mind.
Thinking of his previous strange experiences, he felt that this guess was very likely.
Zhang Ling pondered for a while and raised his hand again, sending a gray light onto the old man. The old man walked towards the table next to him and stretched out a withered finger to write and draw on the table.
The old man moved slowly like a puppet. Zhang Ling was using a mind-controlling spell to temporarily control him.
Of course, it wouldn't be so troublesome for high-level cultivators. It was said that Nascent Soul stage cultivators could even use soul-searching techniques to directly examine other people's souls.
Although mind control couldn't obtain complete information, it was a method he thought of to avoid exposing his identity.
This kind of spell was simple to learn. It was recorded in the incomplete Soul Refining Technique he obtained, and there were also similar secret techniques in the Book of the Underworld King in his mind.
This secret technique was somewhat similar to illusion techniques. Both could be used to confuse the souls of cultivators, but to cast high-level mind control, one needed a strong spiritual sense and also had to cooperate with some magical artifacts. But for a mortal old man, naturally, it wasn't so troublesome. He could directly cast the spell to control him.
Zhang Ling's spiritual sense had been covering the old man. As the old man wrote, he recognized the words he was writing.
"Huang Liang Village, Feng Yangcai."
Zhang Ling read the words written by the old man, feeling happy. Although the language was different, the words written by the old man were ancient immortal script, which was easy to recognize.
With a thought, he prompted the old man to write again. After a quarter of an hour, Zhang Ling's expression became strange.
This was Huang Liang Village, and the old man was called Feng Yangcai. As for the larger region, the old man didn't know much. But he also revealed that there were different villages nearby. Zhang Ling also learned that this area was called "Black Stone Island."
This made Zhang Ling somewhat surprised. From his observation these past few days, this didn't look like an island. Then, he stayed with the old man for more than an hour. The old man also revealed that Black Stone Island was in the Flowing Cloud Sea.
As for where the Flowing Cloud Sea was, the old man only knew that it was very, very large, and it was said that there were countless islands like Black Stone Island. In addition, the northernmost part of Black Stone Island had a Black Stone City, where there were omnipotent immortal masters, but this person had never seen them.
Afterwards, Zhang Ling searched the old man's house and found three books. After identifying them, one was the Three Character Classic, one was a calendar, and one recorded some medicinal knowledge.
Zhang Ling glanced through them and put the book recording herbs into his storage bag. He flicked his fingers a few times, took out a dark pill, and shot it into the old man's mouth.
This was a pill he had refined when he was still a mortal. Although it wasn't a spiritual pill, mortals would not get sick after eating it.
This pill was entirely as a reward for obtaining this information.
After swallowing the pill, the old man got up and lay back on the bed. When he woke up tomorrow, he would not remember these things.
Zhang Ling no longer stayed and left the village, heading north. He was going to take a look at the so-called Black Stone City to see if there were really other cultivators.
Zhang Ling had been on his way for the next few days. At this moment, he was wearing a fur coat. The clothes worn by the mortals here were different from his.
The men mostly wore animal skin clothes, simple in style, and only in black, white, blue, and purple. The women mostly wore blue and green striped pleated skirts, embroidered shoes, and many silver ornaments. It was a bit like the clothing of ethnic minorities.
During this time, he had passed through many villages. In order not to attract attention, he also bought a few pieces of such clothing. At the same time, by observing these mortals, he also learned some simple pronunciations of the language.
This was not difficult for a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He believed that in another month or two, he would be able to integrate well into this place.
