Chapter 157 Street Food

"Hot chestnuts, hot chestnuts, freshly baked hot chestnuts."

"Braised beef noodles, egg pancakes, saozi noodles, grand opening promotion, money back if you don't like it."

In a city of the Great Wilderness, a new stall resembling a small cart suddenly appeared these past few days.

Calling it a stall might not be accurate; it was, at most, a simple cart. The owner was a young human, but he had a bit of the air of a cultivator. His clothes suggested he was disabled, his body swaying as he walked.

There was also a woman who kept herself completely covered.

She was said to be helping, but she was just strolling around slowly.

Originally, the creatures in this city didn't want to try this unfamiliar food, but it wasn't their fault. It really wasn't their fault. The food had made the first move. The aroma was too tempting, almost like it had a spirit, irresistibly drilling into their noses.

'This must have been enchanted with some kind of spell...'

Later, a cultivator who had eaten this meal recalled seriously: 'I was originally planning to go study.'

'To pass the city lord's annual cultivation assessment, get the highest-level position, win the city lord's daughter, take a crucial position in the Great Wilderness, and finally reach the peak.'

'But by the time I realized it, I was already sitting in front of his stall.'

'Egg pancake in my left hand, pan-fried buns in my right.'

'And a bowl of reganmian (hot dry noodles) in front of me.'

'This must be the most vicious and secretive supernatural power.'

The cultivator who said this warned others not to go while fiercely biting into some strange jianbing guozi (savory crepe), thinking that this way, no one would compete with him in line, and so on.

Soon, all sorts of cultivators were standing in front of Wei Yuan's cart.

Based on his previous experience competing with Shi Yi in snack-making skills.

Museum Director Wei easily handled the situation.

For a time, it was bustling with activity. In secret, he was using the method Zhulong had told him to gather the energy of the common world. Chang Xi sat on a stool, her chin resting on one hand, bored, watching the people coming and going on the street. In the past, she had always been high in the sky, and the myriad things in this Great Wilderness city seemed like ants climbing.

But now, seeing each person, cultivators of different races talking to each other, arguing, seeing shops opening their doors, shouting to greet passing cultivators, men and women leaning on railings on the upper floors to look at the scenery, vendors pushing carts back and forth in the streets and alleys, and children running and playing, she found it had a different kind of charm.

Although it was boring, Chang Xi still watched quietly without realizing it.

She felt that this boredom had its own kind of interest.

"Here."

Until a voice sounded in her ear.

Chang Xi woke up, turned her head, and saw the human cook, who looked at least forty years old after disguising himself, handing her a bowl of clear yangchun noodles (plain noodles in broth) with a poached egg on top and sprinkled with chopped green onions, giving off a faint fragrance:

"You've been watching all morning. Don't gods have a sense of time?"

"Eat something?"

Perhaps because of the influence of this mortal world, Chang Xi didn't refuse. She took it and gently stirred it with her chopsticks. It was a simple bowl of noodles, but it perfectly matched the taste of this mundane world. Chang Xi even ate in an elegant and aloof manner. Wei Yuan leaned against the cart, a white towel draped over his shoulder, watching this city.

In this leisure of the mortal world, there was also hidden urgency and anxiety.

The cultivators often chatted, the core of their conversations being the ten suns that had once flashed in the sky and the faint rumors of the gods' wrath. Chang Xi bit off a piece of noodle, swallowed a mouthful of soup, and glanced at the cook who was leaning against the stall, chewing on a leaf.

"Are you afraid?"

Chang Xi's tone carried indifference and a hint of mockery.

"Afraid? A little."

Wei Yuan slowly withdrew his gaze. Empress Chang Xi watched him quietly and said, "The so-called gathering of mortal wishes, if these creatures in the city knew you were the target of the gods, they would probably attack you as a group and tie you up and send you to the temple."

"That's certainly possible."

Wei Yuan nodded slowly and said, "But, judging from your tone, do you think these creatures are all full of support for the gods?"

Chang Xi nodded as a matter of course, and said calmly:

"The creatures of the Great Wilderness, seeing the ten suns in the sky and the phenomena of the gods, should naturally respect and revere them, and take pride in it."

Wei Yuan shook his head, and the corner of his mouth hooked up: "It seems that you have really been in the sky for too long, and your eyes can only see what you want to see. The ten suns in the sky, if you ask me, these creatures are clearly afraid and panicked because they see disaster coming."

Empress Chang Xi paused: "You're saying, the people of the Great Wilderness fear the gods of the Great Wilderness?"

Wei Yuan curled his lips: "Isn't that a matter of course?"

Thin anger flashed in the Empress's eyes: "You, a human, are you slandering?"

"As someone who came to the Great Wilderness and started killing gods, where do you get the right to say this?"

"I'm just speaking from an outsider's point of view." Wei Yuan paused: "Besides, my sword has never been stained with the blood of innocent civilians, whether it was to save Yu or to fight Zaochi. Since we picked up weapons, we naturally had the awareness of being killed and killing others."

"Empress, weapons and battlefields are not child's play."

"This is a place of life and death."

"One must be vigilant."

The atmosphere between the human and the god became stiff again. Chang Xi said:

"This is just your side of the story."

Wei Yuan said calmly: "If you don't believe it, you can ask."

There happened to be a cultivator of a non-human race next to him, over two meters tall and muscular, clearly a good candidate for body refinement. He said, "Boss, are you still selling?" Wei Yuan casually agreed, and while cooking, he asked casually, "Recently, I've seen everyone thinking about running far away."

"Sigh, who says not?"

The tall cultivator with a pair of ox horns stared at the spareribs Wei Yuan was making, and said casually, "Those great gods are fighting in the sky, and those great powers have sent out coalition forces to fight, I don't know which world they're going to invade. Sigh, there's no peace."

"The gods are fighting with foreign enemies, shouldn't you pray?"

Chang Xi's cold voice sounded from the side.

The cultivator, of unknown race, chewing on food, rolled his eyes wildly after hearing Chang Xi's words, and said, "Ah, yes, yes, you're right, we have to pray to those great gods, but what's the use of that?"

"When the great gods make their moves, they won't take us into account just because we prayed."

"When they casually make a move."

The cultivator gestured and said, "With a whoosh and a bang, this place, this street, this city, will turn into ashes. The ten suns are in the sky, amazing, we can't catch up with the gods' heels even if we cultivate for a lifetime, but when they turn in the sky, I don't know how many thousands of miles of spiritual herbs and lands will wither."

"And then, hundreds of millions of creatures will have nothing to eat and will have to run around and rob."

"And we still have to squeeze out treasures from between our teeth to offer up for prayer ceremonies."

"If we don't, we're defying the gods, not being aware of the big picture."

"As for how miserable, bitter, and tired we are, or how many areas are destroyed by a casual fireball or meteorite, there's no way to say it. At most, the city lord will send a report upwards, and the gods will stamp it and approve a note, and it's over."

"But over the years, everyone has gained some experience, seeking their own fortune, seeking their own fortune. Taking advantage of the present, everyone is rushing to stay in the prohibitions and formations under their own courtyards, hoping that this time it will pass quickly. This life, there's nothing to say."

Wow, they've even maxed out the shelter technology of the supernatural world.

Wei Yuan twitched his mouth. He really didn't expect this. He handed over the food and said, "This life is really hard."

"Who says not?"

The bull-headed cultivator sighed and hurried out with the spareribs.

Wei Yuan turned around and looked at the empress sitting on the stool, her gaze slightly lowered and fixed. He put the remaining spareribs in a bowl, leaned over and handed it over, and said, "How is it, looking at the glory of the gods from the perspective of ordinary people, is it also a different taste?"

"Empress, isn't it nice to come to this mortal world from time to time?"

"We have a saying there, 'When the empire prospers, the people suffer; when the empire collapses, the people suffer.'"

"What do you think?"

Chang Xi raised her head and looked at the human guest who had disguised himself as a forty-year-old man. The other person's eyes were calm and honest, but what he said reminded her of that day, when the fierce man wantonly slaughtered under the northwest border of the Great Wilderness, killing the outstanding members of many great clan gods and blood descendants.

The day the sword tore flesh and blood, and blood splattered out.

The cold and indifferent pupils like a snowless night, and the warm black pupils that reflected the fireworks of the world at this moment, were completely different. But when these words came out of this person's mouth, she felt a sense of disgust and anger—

Was it because she didn't like the fact that the other party, who could create such a massacre, said such things.

Or was it that seeing the truth of the shadows behind the light of the gods made Chang Xi feel ashamed and angry.

She slapped Wei Yuan's hand away.

Raising her chin slightly, the cold face regained the nature of a god:

"We are enemies."

"Also, no matter what..."

She looked at the man in front of her, word by word: "Don't forget, you are the reason why these creatures of the Great Wilderness have to face disasters. Without you, there would be no phenomenon of ten suns in the sky. You are also the root of the creation of slaughter. I will personally go and see the countries of this Great Wilderness."

"I also agree with what you just said, but, Wei Yuan, you whose hands are already stained with blood, are no longer qualified to say these words."

The snack fell to the ground, and the relationship that had eased a bit these past few days became cold and confrontational again.

When Wei Yuan wielded his sword for Shenzhou and came to the Great Wilderness, he himself was indeed a disaster for this peaceful city. After Wei Yuan pondered, he asked, "Is resisting invasion unjust?"

"Doesn't rotten meat protected by flowers stop being rotten meat?"

"If a pebble can cause an avalanche that covers all living beings, shouldn't we also consider that this mountain was already about to collapse?"

The youth who had been reincarnated in the world for thousands of years and had suffered the pain of reincarnation frankly said:

"Of course, I'm not trying to excuse myself."

"If all beings are born equal, then no matter what, killing is a sin."

"When I drew my sword, I had already embarked on this path, but I want to tell you, Chang Xi, there is also something in our hearts that absolutely transcends good and evil. Taking the lives of others will dirty our hands, but we came here precisely because we hope that others in our hometown don't have to dirty their hands."

"Slaughter and battle are just means, not the goal."

"It is precisely because we have a lofty goal in our hearts that we can cross countless slaughters and deaths."

"This is resistance to an unjust war."

"Peace is achieved through battle, and only under the edge of the sword can繁花安静生长的权利(this phrase seems untranslatable, it appears to be some sort of saying. Please provide more context. But I am translating it literally here to comply with the rules).

The youth who had experienced countless battles said:

"Therefore..."

"Our children don't have to hold swords."

"Shenzhou will always have swordsmen, Empress Chang Xi, the place you want to attack is a land that possesses both steel swords and proud-snow plum blossoms, so you are destined to fail." He flung his sleeves and stood up, looking at the wasted food, and finally an obvious heartache appeared on his face after reincarnation:

"Eat it or don't!"

The cook gritted his teeth: "I'd rather feed it to the dogs than give it to you!"

Chang Xi was slightly shaken by those words, but when she heard this, she turned her head away and snorted coldly.

"Heh..."

I am Chang Xi, the creator of the Taiyin.

But when she finally found that the cook was actually holding the extremely tempting snack, which she originally wanted to eat, and feeding it to the stray dog next to her, for some reason, a sense of frustration rose up. The cook shook his hand, stood up, and the corner of his mouth hooked up, word by word:

"All beings are equal."

Maximum taunt.

………………

After Buzhou Mountain God impulsively ate the food left by Wei Yuan a few days ago, he was completely exposed.

Since he ate it, he simply stopped pretending.

I'm not pretending.

I'm laying my cards on the table, I've woken up.

Wei Yuan's care for him was still quite considerate.

The old mountain god, who had been trapped for thousands of years, quite enjoyed this atmosphere.

It was more fun than eating melons.

And in this environment that was more fun than eating melons, he could still eat first-hand melons.

That was even more fun!

But on this day, Uncle Buzhou found that the contradictions and conflicts between this human and god, which had obviously eased slightly, or at least neither side was willing to mention, had resurfaced, and even the old man felt a little cautious when eating, not daring to breathe loudly.

This melon was probably about to ripen.

Buzhou Mountain God swallowed a mouthful of braised shiitake mushrooms with pork, and made a judgment based on his rich experience.

If he didn't run, this melon would probably explode again.

As for helping, as the Buzhou Mountain God, He was neutral in the Three Realms and Eight Wildernesses, and could not interfere. These beings and even gods were His descendants, and had their own destiny trajectories. The old mountain god did not intend to interfere, nor could He interfere.

In the following days, the conflicts and contradictions between Wei Yuan and Chang Xi became more and more obvious.

The human war god and the god's empress were completely incompatible in their thoughts.

Wei Yuan's injuries gradually recovered to 70% under the method given by Zhulong. Estimating the numbers, it should be about the same in a few more days. Wei Yuan thought about this and pushed the cart into the courtyard.

Suddenly, he heard Uncle Buzhou's reminder.

"Be careful!!! Fox cub!"

"Huh?!"

Wei Yuan's pupils shrank, and after the old man's reminder, he subconsciously took a step back.

Suddenly, an extremely fierce cold light appeared, seeming to cross time.

Wei Yuan's heart sank slightly.

The Great Wilderness was not foolish...

The pursuers had arrived.

ps: Today's first update...