Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 19 The Drummer

Time and life are inextricably linked.

Life is a counting point of time, and time is the carrier of life.

Once life is gone, time loses its meaning, which, in a sense, is a way to transcend constraints.

Yun Ce looked up at the sun, which was about to be obscured by clouds, and felt that there was still time. Then he looked at the wristband on his wrist and thought that life could be transformed from one kind of energy into another and stored. It was amazing. However, this also proved the law of conservation of energy from another perspective, which was quite good.

Gentle river bends have always been a favorite habitat for humans, and there is a high probability that humans could live in the lower reaches of this river.

Not knowing what the people living downstream of this river looked like, Yun Ce decided to wash his face and wear clean clothes to meet them. At least, the level of threat a person wearing dirty clothes poses to others is different from that of a person wearing clean clothes. Of course, the main difference lies in the impression they give.

After washing his face and hands by the river, tidying his hair, and changing into a clean and cool quick-drying outfit, Yun Ce pushed the bamboo boat with its stabilizer wings into the river. He then boarded the boat with the two paddles he had sharpened, gently pushed it with the paddles, and the bamboo boat swung into the river. After a slight struggle, it drifted downstream.

A river is not a single, continuous flow; rather, due to varying flow rates, it is composed of strands, much like the tendons of a person after being skinned.

With a stabilizing wing nearly a meter long, the bamboo boat drifted on the river without any risk of swaying or capsizing. Yun Ce's attention was not on the river. Since this thing was a real physical object, its characteristics should be extremely stable.

The fish in the river are different.

This is a low-altitude area, and the environment has a strong subtropical rainforest feel. This environment on Earth is home to many ferocious aquatic creatures, such as crocodiles and hippos.

After the bamboo boat raced across the river for an hour, the riverbanks remained a desolate wasteland. Many wild animals that came to the river to drink stared at Yun Ce as he swam through the river, their mouths watering.

There was no movement in the river at all. Some brightly colored fish swam quietly in the water, showing no interest in the foreign object that was the bamboo boat.

Logically speaking, fish shouldn't be too brightly colored, as brightly colored fish are more likely to attract predators. Since these red fish don't seem to care, it means they aren't afraid of predators, or perhaps they are the most formidable predators themselves.

The river made a nearly 120-degree turn in front of a huge mountain. Looking at the faint half-moon on the horizon used for navigation, Yun Ce understood that the river had changed course and was heading west.

The water flow at the bend was very bumpy, but after passing the bend, the river suddenly opened up, the water was almost still, and the narrow channel spread out like a fan, sparkling and very beautiful.

Beyond the mountains, there are no more high mountains, at least not within sight.

As far as the eye could see, there was only flat grassland, with no one around, except for a few tall, strange-looking wild animals with their cubs wandering across the grassland.

Upon seeing the vast grasslands, Yun Ce's heart sank. It was contrary to Yun Ce's understanding of civilized people that such a fertile, flat, and well-irrigated place had not yet developed large tracts of farmland.

Farming and agriculture are instincts ingrained in the blood of the Han people. For them, the quality of a place is determined by whether it is fertile and suitable for cultivation.

The river rippled, carrying the bamboo boat downstream. In a eddy, Yun Ce abandoned the boat and went ashore. He glanced back at the bamboo boat, wanting to put it into the Dragon Pearl, but the Dragon Pearl remained unmoved. It seemed that it couldn't hold something so big.

So he fished the bamboo boat out of the water, carried it on his shoulder, and went ashore. He found a place with lush vegetation and hid the boat, only to find that his efforts had been in vain. There wasn't a single wild animal to be seen there, let alone a person.

Several snake-like, spicy snack-shaped creatures emerged from the bushes, and out of embarrassment and anger, they were casually killed.

Just as they threw the dead animal into the water to destroy the evidence, they heard a drumbeat.

The drumbeat was very faint, but to Yun Ce it sounded like a thunderclap.

"Thump, thump, thump thump thump, thump thump thump thump thump..."

Yun Ce listened very carefully and confirmed once again that it was the sound of drums, and that it was a rhythmic drum sound, which ruled out the possibility of wind, water, or some bored wild animal patting its belly.

There's a spirited quality to the drumbeats, and that's what makes it art. But beasts don't understand art.

Yun Ce ran very fast, quickly crossing large grasslands and hills. When he was close enough to the sound of the drums, he stopped, took out his binoculars, and looked ahead.

Ahead was a small hill, but it was very large, like a huge steamed bun growing out of flat ground.

A woman in green was playing a drum at the highest point. The drum was very large, about four meters in diameter, so the drumsticks she used to play it were also very large, more than two meters long.

Although the drum was large and the drumsticks were also large, the woman's drumming movements were very skillful, and her grasp of the rhythm was very precise.

Yun Ce carefully examined the woman's appearance, then walked up the earthen slope. Seeing her engrossed in playing the drum, he squatted down beside her to admire her performance. The drum was large, so the sound was also very loud; from a close distance, the drumbeats seemed to reverberate across the surrounding area.

The woman playing the drum was very young and looked a bit like a younger version of Brigitte Lin. In particular, the way she glanced at Yun Ce had a hint of Dongfang Bubai about her.

Her hair wasn't very long, only a little over a foot long, and her skin color was similar to Yun Ce's, just a bit darker.

These are nothing compared to what Yun Ce discovered: the woman's appearance seemed to be of the same race as his, which is why he chose to approach her.

The only thing that startled him was that the woman was wearing Hanfu, not the ethereal Hanfu that young women wear at tourist attractions, but a Ruqun, a traditional Han Dynasty dress consisting of a top and a skirt.

If this woman didn't have a wooden hairpin in her hair, Yun Ce wouldn't be so upset. The wooden hairpin in the woman's hair was already patinaed, which was obviously something used daily, indicating that this was how women's clothing looked in this era.

Despite the close proximity, Yun Ce carefully examined the material of the woman's clothing. It resembled hemp, not cotton, and certainly not silk.

Yun Ce squatted on the ground scratching his head, thinking that he would come to a technologically advanced cyberpunk world or a world with a high space civilization. If that were the case, and Long Guo came to pick him up in a few years, he could at least bring back some high technology that Earth didn't have. Whether it was to make a fortune or get promoted, it would be useful.

After seeing the woman's attire, Yun Ce was certain that he had come here to help alleviate poverty.

Just as Yun Ce was scratching his head in frustration, the woman finally finished playing the drum. She casually tossed aside the drumsticks and quickly came to Yun Ce, opening her mouth to say, "Jili gullu, jili, jili gullu... gullu."

Yun Ce stared blankly at the beautiful woman, his eyes filled with confusion. To be honest, he didn't understand a single word she said.

Yun Ce may have lost a lot of flesh and blood during his space travel, so he is shorter than the woman. The woman thought he was still an immature child, so she started to touch him, pinch his face, lift his nose, and even pry open his mouth to look at his teeth.

At first, she was quite happy, but then her face fell. She looked closely at Yun Ce's face and even touched his lips. Perhaps because Yun Ce didn't have a beard, she suspected he was a woman and even tried to pull down his pants to check. Yun Ce was shocked and quickly ran away.

"Gibberish, gibberish."

Yun Ce listened to the woman's wailing and noticed the cunning look hidden in her eyes. Although he couldn't understand what she was saying, he felt that she was lying to him.

Yun Ce was moved to tears. Since arriving on this planet, he had finally met someone who wanted to deceive him again. How could he not be moved to tears?

Seeing him cry, the woman gently wiped his tears with her sleeve. If she could have concealed the smugness in her eyes or pressed her upturned lips down a little, Yun Ce would have been even more moved.

He didn't know why this woman wanted to lie to him, but it was probably nothing more than trying to swindle him out of his money, his body, or his clothes and shoes. After all, apart from these things, he had nothing else right now.

"Gurgle, gurgle gurgle".

The woman warmly took his hand, gesturing for him to come with her.

Yun Ce had just let the woman pull his left hand, and the wristband had already touched the woman's hand. Seeing that the wristband did not react, this ruled out the possibility that the woman was a spirit.

Since I'm homeless and have nowhere to go anyway, following this woman is a good option.

"Gibberish, gibberish, gurgle, gurgle."

The woman was very talkative, and Yun Ce had no reply, so he simply followed her.

Sometimes the woman would jump, gesturing for Yun Ce to jump too; sometimes she would laugh, gesturing for Yun Ce to laugh too. Yun Ce, like a complete fool, would do as she was told.

Perhaps confirming that Yun Ce wasn't a fool, the woman placed a large bundle of tree bark on Yun Ce's shoulder as they passed a grove of trees. She continued to pull him along, never letting go.

Seeing that Yun Ce could walk briskly while carrying a large bundle of tree bark, the woman placed another large bundle of peeled tree bark on his shoulder. Seeing that Yun Ce seemed to be able to bear it, his shoulders and back were now full of tree bark. He had to occasionally use his right hand to flick the drooping bark so that he could see the road clearly.

Even though he knew this woman was treating him like an animal, Yun Ce was worried that she wouldn't take him with her, so he had to show something that could win her heart. For example, he looked young, but he was as strong as an ox.

"Gurgle gurgle, gurgle bacha..."

The woman's tone suddenly changed, carrying a hint of joy. Yun Ce used his right hand to push aside the harmful tree bark and saw that on the other side of the hill, there were houses of all sizes.

(End of this chapter)