The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Chapter 1045: Xiao Han is Selected

Xin Xiushi stepped forward and shouted to the group of people on the other side of the river.

"Who are you?"

On the opposite bank of the river, the most burly man shouted, "Where did you come from? This is our territory."

The powerful cultivators here couldn't help but exchange glances.

The other party speaks the same language as them and can communicate. Could they also be cultivators who came here to do a mission?

That doesn't make sense either. If someone is a cultivator, it's impossible for them to be without their robes.

Even without their robes, you should be able to recognize them by their attire, right?

"Have you always lived here? How long have you been here?"

Xin Ziqi continued to ask questions.

The leader from the other side of the river said, "We have always lived here. This is our territory. You'd better leave now, or don't blame us for being impolite."

Beside him, several men shouted menacingly, "Kill them! These people must be bad guys!"

Xin Ziqi showed no anger on his face, but said calmly, "We are on this side of the river. This is not your territory."

She wanted to get some information out of them to see if there were any other ordinary people living nearby.

Sure enough, her words made the leading man on the other side hesitate for a moment.

He then said, "Then this river will be the boundary. You cannot cross it; otherwise, you will be starting a war with us."

Xin Ziqi snorted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

She didn't know where these people came from, and there were more of them on the other side, so it wasn't the time to act recklessly.

Just then, the man who was leading the group on the opposite bank whispered something to everyone. A moment later, the group disappeared into the thicket of thorns.

Xin Ziqi immediately said to Ba Dou, "Ba Dou, follow them and see what's going on. Be careful, don't let them realize you're not an ordinary bird."

With a squeaking sound, Ba Dou flew into the sky.

The group gathered together and began to discuss countermeasures.

Yao Guang spoke first, saying, "These people should be mortals who originally lived in the Mustard Seed Space, and there should be quite a few of them. The question is, how many mortals are there here, and have they lived and multiplied here for generations?"

Fatty Wang, preoccupied with getting fish to eat, waved his hand and said, "We're only here for three years, why bother with all this? Staying away from these people might be better."

Then, before anyone else could say anything, he added, "You guys can discuss it slowly. I need to start grilling the fish first. We can't have all the fish on the shore and then go hungry."

After saying that, he turned around and went back to preparing the grilled fish.

Xin Ziqi suddenly looked at Xiao Han.

"Xiao Han, what do you think about this?"

Clearly, Xiao Han's performance during this period has made Xin Ziqi willing to rely on her and listen to her opinions.

Xiao Han smiled and said, "I don't think we need to rush. We can make the next plan after Ba Dou comes back and knows more about the situation on the other side of the river."

She also thought that what Fatty Wang said made sense; if the other party was too fierce, it was best to stay away.

In any case, these people shouldn't starve to death in the wilderness.

However, considering a very real issue, she still spoke up.

“Our bodies have changed now, and we don’t know if we will need to consume salt to survive. If a mortal body doesn’t eat salt for a long time, it will become weak and may even be in danger of death. So perhaps we should try to contact the local mortals and obtain salt from them.”

These cultivators have been practicing since they can remember, and spiritual energy is practically omnipotent.

They have spiritual energy to nourish their bodies, and they have no idea what mortal bodies cannot live without.

After entering this special space, they landed in the desert. At that time, even obtaining food was difficult, let alone the problem of salt.

Now that time has passed and the environment has changed, Xiao Han is able to live a normal life, which is why she raised this question.

Sure enough, none of these people thought of this.

For them, salt is just one of the seasonings. In these harsh conditions, survival is difficult, so they don't care about seasonings at all.

Xin Ziqi looked at Xiao Han and asked, "Were you originally from the mortal realm?"

Although it was a question, the tone was certain. Only this result could explain Xiao Han's behavior along the way, and her current emphasis on salt.

Xiao Han nodded; there was nothing to hide.

Xin Ziqi said, "We are now in mortal bodies, so we will probably follow the rules of mortal survival. Since salt is a necessity, those people must have it. It seems we still need to find a way to deal with them."

As for how to deal with them, we'll have to wait for Ba Dou to find out before making a decision.

Everyone quickly grilled fish and ate breakfast.

With the river acting as a natural barrier, and it being broad daylight, there's no need to worry about being ambushed.

The arrival of this group somewhat affected everyone's mood. The previous noise and the joy of getting food disappeared, and everyone ate the fish in silence.

As for the plan we discussed yesterday—to find tree branches to burn charcoal and fire pottery jars—it's naturally impossible to experiment with that for the time being.

More than an hour later, Ba Dou finally returned.

Its first report was that two people were hiding behind the brambles on the other side of the river, watching them.

This didn't surprise anyone.

Then Ba Dou described what it had seen.

About twenty miles from the riverbank was their main base.

They lived in round thatched houses, and there were probably more than 300 men, women, and children.

There are more than 300 people, and at least 100 of them are young and strong. If we get into a conflict with them, our group will surely die.

Everyone gathered together again to discuss it.

Should they avoid these people and continue deeper into the interior, away from the desert, or try to interact with them and trade some salt?

Old Man Yu asked, "If we trade salt with them, what will we use to exchange for it?"

They looked at each other, realizing that they had nothing to offer in exchange.

Xiao Han laughed and said, "If we really want to trade, we have something to offer, like the ornaments on our heads and the fish in the river. But I don't think they'd care much for the fish. The ornaments on our heads would be fine, but I'm afraid they might just try to snatch them."

Granny Liu muttered, "Why not just leave? Don't bother changing the salt. We can live without salt; we all have the bodies of the God Emperor."

But no one agreed with her. After all, even an ordinary scorpion or snake could poison them, so Xiao Han's claim that not having salt would make them weak or even endanger their lives was probably not an exaggeration.

Some people suggested trying to test the waters and make a deal.

Some people think that they can exaggerate and say that there is a very advanced tribe behind them, and that if anyone dares to rob or detain people for trade, they will send a large army to kill them.

Xin Ziqi, the team leader, didn't say much and listened quietly.

Finally, when everyone's eyes were on her, she made the final decision.

"Send two people to try and make contact with them, and act according to the situation."

She glanced at everyone and then said, "The people going to negotiate the deal are just me and Xiao Han."

Ling Xiao, who had been silent all along, was the first to jump up and shout, "This is too dangerous! I disagree!"