Watch out! Something's wrong with this guard.

Three days later, the group walked across a desolate plain, where all they could see was the cold desolation of winter.

However, at this moment, Lin Min, who was holding a map, looked puzzled with a frown.

"That's strange. Before I came out, I bought a map based on the directions given in the mission instructions. It said there should be a small town nearby. I was planning to take you to the town for a good meal and ask you some questions."

"A small town?" Lu Yunshi leaned over to look at the map upon hearing this, then asked, "Senior Sister, is the map you bought from a few years ago?"

"A few years ago?" Lin Min was taken aback. "Does this have anything to do with it?"

"Of course it's related. If it's a map from eight or nine years ago, it wouldn't be surprising if that town disappeared. Either it was moved, or it encountered some natural disaster or man-made calamity." Lu Yunshi paused at the end before saying the last three words.

This world is dangerous. Small towns often lack powerful protectors. If you encounter a ruthless person passing by, you might be gone.

“However…” Lu Yunshi suddenly frowned, somewhat puzzled. “Even so, isn’t it a bit too clean that it disappeared so completely?”

“Yes.” Lin Min nodded, also finding it quite strange.

Suddenly, Li Hu pointed ahead and said excitedly, "Look, isn't that the town?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked up. Lu Yunshi squinted and stared for a while before looking at Li Hu with a speechless expression.

“Senior Brother Li, if there is only one house, it cannot be called a town.”

Looking ahead, there was only one house a few hundred meters away. I don't know how Li Hu mistook it for a small town.

"Uh... haha, I didn't notice, I didn't notice." Li Hu smiled awkwardly; he just wanted to find a place to rest for a while.

"Judging from its appearance, it looks a bit like a tavern? Open in a place like this? Does anyone go there?" Lin Min asked, puzzled.

"Never mind, let's go check it out first." Tang Busan waved his hand and was the first to walk towards the tavern.

"Be careful, it might be a rip-off!" Lin Min couldn't help but warn upon seeing this.

Tang Busan didn't seem to care much and said without turning his head, "With the strength of the few of us, we can handle ordinary black market shops. If we can't handle them, who would run a black market shop? Besides, in this godforsaken place, there's no business for a black market shop."

Seeing Tang Busan walking further and further away, Lin Min sighed helplessly and could only say, "What he said makes some sense. We can't completely trust this map now, and the landmarks described in the mission aren't very accurate either. We should go ask around to avoid taking detours and wasting time. But in any case, be careful and don't let anything go wrong."

Everyone nodded in agreement and then walked toward the tavern.

"Baiweixiang." Lu Yunshi glanced at the shop's name, sniffed twice, and indeed smelled a very fragrant aroma, but he couldn't tell if it was wine or something else.

“There’s no one here.” Lu Yunxi said after observing for a while. There was no one on the first floor. She had just used her spiritual sense to sense the area and found no one there either.

"What would you like, guests?"

Just as the group was still observing, a figure suddenly stood up from behind the counter. This person was wearing a half-black iron mask, which looked somewhat frightening, but if you only looked at the other half of the face that was showing and had a smile on it, you would feel that this person was somewhat friendly.

But the strangest thing is that they didn't even notice this person's presence.

Tang Busan leaned against the counter and asked, "Boss, do you have any good wine?"

The masked man nodded slightly and replied with a smile, "Of course, we have not only fine wine, but also other drinks. Please let us know what you would like, and I will prepare it."

After speaking, the masked man placed a list of various drinks in front of Tang Busan.

Soon, everyone had chosen what they wanted, found a seat, and waited for a while before the masked man brought over several pots of drinks that emitted a peculiar aroma and placed them in front of them.

"The boss made all of these himself? He really has some skill." Tang Busan said with admiration as he smelled the aroma, but he stopped after speaking and did not immediately drink his wine.

"Boss, can you make money with this shop here? If you run into bad guys, it'll be a losing proposition," Lin Min suddenly asked.

"Haha, don't be afraid, I do have some self-defense skills. If I encounter bad guys, I can handle them. As for making money, I don't care. I opened a shop here just for peace and quiet, and also to let passersby taste my skills." The masked man laughed.

"Oh, the boss also has cultivation? No wonder we didn't sense it just now. I wonder what level of cultivation he has?" Li Hu asked, feigning curiosity.

"I am not very talented. Three hundred years have passed, and I only have the cultivation level of Moving Mountains. I can't be considered a strong person. But fortunately, this place is remote, and I usually don't encounter any powerful people." The masked man said frankly.

Upon hearing that the boss possessed the cultivation level of Moving Mountains, everyone was slightly surprised, but this explained why they hadn't been able to detect the boss's presence earlier.

Moreover, the boss's frank disclosure of his cultivation level reassured them somewhat. Even if he was only at the early stage of the Mountain Moving Realm, he wouldn't need to resort to underhanded tactics to deal with them.

They felt somewhat relieved, but not entirely at ease, and still didn't drink what was in front of them.

Lin Min glanced at everyone and then asked, "Boss, to be honest, we've come here for a reason. We're looking for a place called Li Family Village, which is said to be just ahead, but we don't know its exact location. Do you know it? Besides, are there any dangers ahead that we can't handle?"

The masked man paused for a moment after hearing the question, then replied, "Li Family Village? I know that, but Li Family Village... it's gone now."

"It's gone!" Zhao Han's expression changed, followed by a look of disbelief. Everyone else had similar expressions upon hearing this.

"Boss, you must be joking, this is really creepy," Lu Yunshi said with a smile, easing the awkward atmosphere.

"Hey, this strange world, what could possibly be considered strange? But what I'm saying is all true. I remember Li Family Village quite clearly. It was a rare village with cultivators, even if they were just Body Tempering cultivators. It was still worth remembering. As for Li Family Village, it disappeared not long after I arrived."

The masked man sighed softly, a hint of regret in his eyes.

"I remember when I first came here, the people from their village were my main guests. I would occasionally ask the young men in the village who were training to help me find ingredients for brewing drinks. Unfortunately, it hadn't been two years. I went there once and happened to pass by, and tsk... it was a complete mess."