Zhou Ziheng shook his head gently, "It's not that I don't care, I can't manage it." Only cities with more than 100,000 people will have a public security bureau, but only more than 100 sheriffs are responsible for daily security and maintaining social order. With such a small number of people, it is simply not enough. ”

"The management of most villages and towns can only be entrusted to local clans, chambers of commerce, and guilds. Only some market towns located on major transportation routes, or with a population of tens of thousands, set up a public security station, and arranged for four or five people to be responsible for security, arrests, taxation, and so on. ”

"If you want to arrest the criminals in these settlements, you can't do it if you have fewer people. They're not good people, and they're certainly not going to be caught. ”

"What about sending more people? For example, send an army and sweep it one by one. ”

Zhou Ziheng said solemnly, "The army must not point its guns at the people. This is an iron law laid down at the time of the founding of the country. No matter how vicious these people are, they are also from the Chu State, and they can't use the army to clean them up. ”

He paused, then continued, "Even if there are more sheriffs, it will not work. These guys are very cunning, and when there are more people coming, they will go into the forest and play hide and seek with you. ”

"The more manpower you have deployed, the greater the expense. And the clean-up work cannot be completed in a day or two, and the state simply cannot afford it. Therefore, you can only turn a blind eye. ”

However, there is usually a reward for the most heinous crimes. The high bounty will attract some cash-strapped cultivators to take the risk of catching these criminals. For example, the recognition task of Zhang Yihuo that you received not long ago belongs to this situation. ”

Zhou Ziheng said again: "In fact, there is another purpose for keeping these gathering points, you might as well guess." ”

Wang Xiaotian shook his head, "I haven't seen much of the world, and I haven't received any education, how can I guess such a complicated thing?"

"Haha, you, if you don't get involved in your business, you won't use your brain. Once it involves you, you're better than a monkey. Well, it's not difficult for you, I'll teach you for free today, and I will ask such a stupid question again in the future. What would happen if all these settlements were abolished?"

Wang Xiaotian thought for a moment and said, "This place will become the territory of the beast." ”

Zhou Ziheng nodded, "That's right, not only will this place become the territory of wild beasts, but barbarian orcs and even foreign beasts may also live and haunt here." In fact, with the increase in population, whether it is humans or brutes, they will inevitably gradually expand their territory. ”

"The beast tide that occurs every few decades is caused by the barbarian orcs expanding their territory outward, and the wild beasts and alien beasts have been expelled and have to migrate to human territory. Humans, on the other hand, have adopted a policy of cannibalization. The state encourages people to pioneer and eat forests little by little, turning them into fertile land, villages and towns. ”

"These settlements are the vanguard of the pioneering. The existence of them can provide a lot of convenience for pioneering. And they can also act as outposts for villages and towns. Whatever is going on in the forest, they must be the first to know. ”

"Therefore, from this point of view, the state does not want to ban these settlements and give up a huge piece of land to the brutes or wild beasts. In addition, the state needs to invest a lot of manpower, material resources, and financial resources to organize and pioneer the land, and in comparison, the settlements also save a lot of resources for the country. Why not?"

Wang Xiaotian suddenly realized, and asked again: "Did you just say that there are no settlements, some are hunters who hunt and sell fierce beasts for money, and some are formed by settlements, and some are formed by fugitive settlements, so what kind of village is this?"

"The identities of hunters and fugitives are not opposites, and many people in the settlement are both hunters and fugitives. Moreover, even if they only have one identity, they will not be clearly indistinguishable. Communicating with each other and exchanging messages is what they need more. Most settlements are basically composed of these two types of people. In addition to them, there are some merchants in the settlement, who want money when they see money. ”

Zhou Ziheng paused and said solemnly: "Remember, this place is different from the outside society. There is no law, no good or evil, no right or wrong. Whoever has a hard fist is the boss. Anyone can stab you in the back, but some are bright steel knives, and some are soft knives with sweet words. So, don't believe what the people here say. Don't believe a word. ”

"Then can you trust the scar you are looking for?"

"It's not credible. ”

"So what's the use of finding him?"

Zhou Ziheng smiled faintly, "We naturally have a way to let him tell the truth." ”

Wang Xiaotian suddenly felt that Zhou Ziheng's smile was a little cold. He couldn't help but shudder, and hurriedly changed the topic, "What you want to do should be very confidential, right?

"No, I don't. It's also a rare experience for you. By the way, you have just been promoted to the fifth level, settle down in a while, hurry up and stabilize the lower realm, and don't leave hidden dangers. Do you need my help?"

"No, I don't. Thank you. Wang Xiaotian immediately refused. Letting Zhou Ziheng help is equivalent to opening up his sea of knowledge to him, which means that all Wang Xiaotian's secrets are open to Zhou Ziheng. Except that his brain will only agree.

The group walked up from the valley mouth. The valley is in the shape of a trumpet, with a high top and a low outlet. The small village is in the middle of the valley, only two miles from the mouth of the valley.

For Zhou Ziheng, this distance was not even a walk after dinner, and soon they came to the entrance of the village.

The village was built on a three-meter-high earthen platform, with a thick tree trunk as a stake and a three-thick trunk as a horizontal strip, and a fence was built around the earthen platform.

This kind of architectural layout is extremely common in the Chu State, and there are some scientific truths in it. For example, the high earthen platform is good for drainage, so you don't have to worry about poor drainage during the rainy season, and you can plant a strong fence around the earthen platform to prevent large wild animals.

Follow the dirt slope at the gate and walk to the earthen platform. Wang Xiaotian saw that the whole village covered an area of about three acres, with a large vacant land in the middle, and there was a relatively large wooden house facing the fence gate, and there were three or four smaller wooden houses on each side.

It is said to be a village, but in fact it is a big courtyard. The strange thing is that there is no one in the entire courtyard.

Shen Shuming walked in the front, shouting loudly as he walked: "Is there anyone who is panting, come out." ”

Shen Shuming's shout contained abundant force, although it didn't sound harsh, but it shook the roof and floor of the wooden house.

Shen Shuming glanced around, saw that no one came out, and continued to shout: "Master knows that you are hiding inside. Hurry up and get out of here. Otherwise, the master will collapse all your little suffocation. ”

The floor and roof of the wooden house shook even more violently. Especially the wooden house facing the gate, and the nails of several wooden planks on the roof were shaken away.

Before Shen Shuming's words fell, a voice immediately came from the largest wooden house, "Uncle, please be merciful, little old man will come out." ”

After a while, an old man in a gray rabbit skin jacket came out of the wooden house.

The old man walked quickly to a few people, and bowed with a humble face, "A few masters, please raise your noble hands, and the little old man will not compensate a few masters." ”

Shen Shuming said unhappily: "Why don't they come out?

The old man hurriedly said, "The villain doesn't dare, he doesn't dare." Come out, all of you. ”

In seven or eight wooden houses, more than 20 men, women, and children came out one after another, all of them ragged and unkempt.

Compared with them, this old man in a leather jacket looks very glamorous and stands out from the crowd. In this way, the old man is the head of this group.

Shen Shuming glanced at it, glared at the old man and said, "What about Scar Laohe?"

The old man hurriedly replied, "Uncle Hui, he hasn't shown up for a while." ”

"Who are you?"

"Xiao Lao'er's surname is He, and Scar is Xiao Lao'er's cousin. ”

Shen Shuming looked incredulous, "Oh, so you're his uncle?"

The old man's old face was squeezed into a chrysanthemum, "It's Uncle Cousin, Uncle Cousin, hehe." ”

"Don't talk nonsense to the master, tell me where he is?"

"Little Lao'er really doesn't know, wow. ”

Shen Shuming pointed at the old man and shouted: "Old thing, if you don't know how to lift, don't blame the master for being polite." ”

The old man hurriedly waved his hand, "Uncle don't do it, Uncle don't do it." Where did he go, Xiao Lao'er really didn't know. ”

Zhou Ziheng was always observing, and the old man's every move felt that he was not lying, so he said, "Tell me what you know." ”

The old man nodded again and again and said, "Good, good." Would you like to go inside, sit down and have a glass of wine? Let the little old man tell you what he knows. ”

Zhou Ziheng nodded. The old man immediately bowed down and pointed to the big house facing the entrance of the village, "Please, please." ”

Zhou Ziheng was in front, Wu Ling'er followed him with Cao Lianyou in his arms, and Shen Shuming glanced at Wang Xiaoche and asked him to follow Wu Ling'er, and he was the last.

Entering the room, Wang Xiaotian saw that there were several tables inside, all of which were made of logs, and the surface was very rough, so he could barely make a flat surface. There were many tree stumps beside the table, old and new, and on top of two of them, green branches were coming out.

Zhou Ziheng found a table and sat down, and Wu Ling'er sat next to him. Shen Shuming pulled Wang Xiaotian to sit at another table. The two tables were located on either side of the door, and the four of them sat separately, which was equivalent to sealing the door.

The old man smiled all over his face and shouted, "Old woman, quickly take out the wine and pour it for a few distinguished guests." ”

An old lady with gray hair, holding a small wooden board with two porcelain vases and four cups with a big belly and a small mouth, with a smile on her face, revealing her only two front teeth, came out of it upside down, walked a few steps to the table of four, put down a bottle of wine and two glasses on each table, and then quickly retreated.

"Distinguished guests, please drink. ”

Zhou Ziheng glanced at the cloudy wine in the cup, and said, "Let's talk about Scar Lao He first, when was the last time you saw him?"

The old man was full of smiles, and the folds on his face were squeezed into layers of mille-feuille, "The last time the little old man saw my nephew was ten...... Eleven days ago. On that day, a tall man suddenly came to the village, with a fierce face and a beard, but he was dressed very brightly, and he carried a machete, which was worth a lot of money at first glance. ”

"When that man came, he also went directly to my nephew. After the two met, they talked behind closed doors for more than an hour, and then my nephew packed up his things and followed the man, never coming back. ”

Zhou Ziheng asked, "Where did Lao He go, do you know?"

The old man shook his head, "Little old man really doesn't know. ”

Zhou Ziheng asked, "Did he have any explanations before leaving?"

The old man pursed his lips, "Before he left, he called the woman into the house for a while, and if he wanted to explain anything, he must have told her." ”

"Which woman?"

"It's the one out of the valley. ”

As soon as the old man said this, Wang Xiaotian immediately remembered that at the door of the cabin, the woman with a haggard face wearing a black cloth.

Zhou Ziheng nodded, "We want to do this for one night, is there a room?"

Chapter Twenty-Six: Seeing the Sea from the Inside

"Yes, yes. Xiao Lao'er just doesn't sleep in the room by himself, and he has to let a few uncles sleep in the room. Hey, old woman, go to the two mothers-in-law to help you clean up the best two rooms. If you want to find a clean and neat body, don't look for those pickled mothers-in-law, the provincial guests are angry. ”

Zhou Ziheng ignored the old man's dedication and glanced at Shen Shuming. Shen Shuming immediately got up and went out.

Wang Xiaotian looked at Shen Shuming in puzzlement, and turned his head to look at Zhou Ziheng.

Zhou Ziheng looked at the cup in front of Wang Xiaotian and shook his head gently. Wang Xiaotian immediately understood that Zhou Ziheng was reminding him not to drink the wine in the cup.

Wang Xiaotian couldn't help but secretly wonder, could there be something wrong with this old man? But even if the old man poisoned the wine, it would not have the slightest effect on him at the fifth level of the Force.

He had already seen that this old man was only a second-level Force, and he was old and weak, so he was not a threat to him at all.

Moreover, the poison that can put the fifth-level cultivator of the Force, he is a second-level old man, not to mention eating it to the stomach, even if it touches the skin, he will die.

So what can the old man do in his wine? Wang Xiaotian couldn't figure it out. However, he knew that Zhou Ziheng was well-informed and experienced, and he thought that if there was a problem, there must be a problem, and he had better listen to him.

The old woman quickly beckoned a few women in, ran quickly to the back, and cleaned the two rooms.

The old man graciously invited them over. Zhou Ziheng looked from room to room, chose one of the rooms and said to Wu Ling'er: "You sleep in this room with mercy." ”

Wu Ling'er nodded and entered the room with mercy in her arms.

Zhou Ziheng said to Wang Xiaotian: "The two of us live here. ”

Wang Xiaotian nodded and asked, "Shen ...... Where's the uncle?"

"He's still on business, and he doesn't know when he'll be back. ”

Wang Xiaotian knew that Shen Shuming must have gone to track down the whereabouts of Scar Lao He. He didn't ask any more, nodded and entered the room.

The room was very rudimentary, consisting of a bed made of stakes and planks, covered with hay and hides, and a small table with two small stakes for stools.

The old man smiled all over his face, "This is the best room in our village." Except for these two rooms, the other rooms did not even have beds, so they had to spread some hay and animal skins on the floor. ”

Zhou Ziheng nodded, reached out and took out a gold coin from his arms and threw it to the old man. The old man took it and looked at it, and immediately smiled even more happily, and thanked him again and again: "Uncle Xie reward, Uncle Xie reward." ”

"Go ahead. ”

The old man hurriedly retired. Zhou Ziheng walked to the bed, squatted down and checked the bottom of the bed. The bottom of the bed was clean and there was nothing left. He went to the four walls again and tapped lightly to check for mezzanine or mechanisms.

At this time, there was also a gentle knocking sound next door, and Wu Ling'er was also checking the wall.

Wang Xiaotian watched carefully, and Zhou Ziheng carefully checked all the corners in the room before sitting down at the table.

He also sat down and asked a question that had been bothering him for a while: "Did you not let me drink that glass of wine just now because it was poisonous?"

"Poisonous?" Zhou Ziheng was stunned for a moment, and then smiled: "Of course not." It's just that they don't think their stuff is clean. ”

Wang Xiaotian couldn't help but be discouraged. He originally thought that there was a fierce medicine in the wine that could poison them, but he was still seen by Zhou Ziheng, who was experienced and had vicious eyesight, so he staged a wit drama.

Wang Xiaotian wanted to hear Zhou Ziheng's experience in the rivers and lakes, so as to increase his knowledge. He has already made up a number of complicated plots in his brain, but Zhou Ziheng is just because the suspect is dirty.

Alas, think too much, think too much.

"You hurry up and cultivate, and stabilize the lower realm. I'll take a look around. ”

After Zhou Ziheng left, the black dog honestly lay at Wang Xiaotian's feet, the little monkey grabbed the hair on the black dog's body, lying on it and shivering, just now all the way to the clouds, frightened it and the black dog, and until now he is still afraid.

Wang Xiaotian sat cross-legged on the stake, emptied all distracting thoughts, and first looked inwardly at the acupuncture points around his body. The Yellow Pivot has been broken, and the force that is as clear as water ripples in the Yellow Pivot, but the number only accounts for about one-tenth of the entire Yellow Pivot. It seems that if you want to fill the huge Huang Shu, you need to practice diligently for a while.

Originally, eating the meat of alien beasts was a shortcut to quickly increase the Force. But after Wang Xiaotian was promoted to the fifth level, the force that his body could accommodate increased several times, and compared to such a huge force demand, the little force contained in the fourth-level alien beast was insignificant.

Unless you hunt a fifth-level beast and eat meat. Moreover, every time you advance to the next level, the required Force will increase several times, and if you want to increase your Force by eating the meat of the alien beast, you must hunt the alien beasts of the same level, the higher the level of the alien beasts, the number of alien beasts will be scarce, the stronger the individual strength, the more difficult it will be to hunt, and this road will become more and more difficult.

This situation is not obvious before the fourth level, and it will become more and more obvious after the fifth level, and when it reaches the seventh level, it is basically impossible to count on eating the meat of foreign beasts to increase the Force.

Because, the combat effectiveness of the seventh-level alien beast is off the charts, and under the same level, three humans may not be able to ensure that they can kill the alien beast steadily.

At this time, it reflects the difference between cultivating alone and being covered by someone.

Cultivating alone like Wang Xiaotian can only increase his Force power quickly through penance and hunting alien beasts. Although he is free and unrestrained, he is actually living a very hard life.

Penance is boring and a great challenge to resilience and patience. The process of hunting alien beasts is full of dangers, and if you are not careful, you will have to worry about your life. Not to mention these, more importantly, it is extremely difficult to obtain weapons and equipment, medicines, exercises, etc.

There is still a place to buy weapons and equipment and medicines, and the price will naturally not be cheap. But don't think about the exercises, you can't buy them with money at all, unless you exchange them for rare materials, and the more advanced the exercises, the more rare materials you need. To obtain these rare substances, you need more strength, better equipment, and more luck.

It's not the same if someone is covered. Whether it is a family or a teacher, for carefully cultivated children (disciples), there is no problem with exercises, equipment, and medicines, but the price is that these people have no freedom.

Because of the family and the family, if you want to survive for a long time, on the one hand, you must continue to cultivate outstanding talents to support and strengthen the façade. On the other hand, it also needs to rely on continuous feedback from generations of disciples. Especially after leaving the school, you should regularly send money and materials to the teacher (good seedlings).

Therefore, their cultivation of disciples is not free of charge. All the actions of the cultivated disciples must obey the instructions of the family and the teacher, and make contributions to the interests of the family and the teacher. Even if he is reluctant, he can't disobey his family and master. Unless they want to be spurned by society as a whole.

Wang Xiaotian is still relatively lucky, and the transaction with Zhou Ziheng has helped him pave the way for future development. At the moment, his top priority is to enter the sea of knowledge as soon as possible, and he has a stomach full of doubts to find answers. Therefore, he didn't stay on the inner vision acupoint for long, and immediately sank his consciousness into the sea of consciousness.

Although it was not the first time to enter the sea of knowledge, Wang Xiaotian was still shocked.

The sea is still boundless and endless, the sea surface is sparkling and vast, and the water is steamy. There is a huge ice bead hanging above the sea of knowledge, like a bright moon. The island in the sea is no longer what it looks like in memory, but has expanded hundreds of times, and it is enough to have a radius of thousands of square kilometers.

In the middle of the island is a towering giant tree, with a canopy like a canopy and a dome that covers the sky and the sun, covering most of the island. The huge rocks on the island are not as smooth as a mirror.

"Is there anyone? Are you still there?" Wang Xiaotian remembered the two voices at the beginning, and couldn't help shouting, and the sound instantly spread all over Zhihai.

Wang Xiaotian waited for a while, but did not wait for any response. Wang Xiaotian couldn't help but feel disappointed. He clearly remembered that the middle-aged man's voice had told him that the two consciousnesses had been seriously injured due to forcibly unlocking the skill, and it would take time to recover. After all this time, haven't they recovered?

Wang Xiaotian sighed secretly and prepared to withdraw from Zhihai. For others, the purpose of seeing the sea is to see their own natural potential, so that they can choose and exercise accordingly according to their own strengths.

For example, if you know that the sea is as wide as a lake and the initial force is sufficient, you can choose explosive exercises and skills, and as soon as you come up, you will break out in a wave, and the ultimate move will kill the opponent.

If the sea is surging like a river, and the Force recovers relatively quickly, you can choose the exercises and skills of continuous attack, and fight a protracted battle to make the opponent tired and consume the opponent.

But these are no longer important to Wang Xiaotian. The purpose of his inner vision is to communicate with those two consciousnesses, and he has too many doubts that he can't find answers.

For example, what are the identities of the two of them?

Why did he have common sense from a thousand years ago?

The old fox kept calling him a "transcendent body", what was going on?

What is the god that the old fox man said?

What happened in the Old Era that caused the Big Bang?

Did the old fox man really live for a thousand years?

These doubts, except for these two consciousnesses, he did not dare to ask anyone for advice. He believed that no one else would know the answer either.

Suddenly, Wang Xiaotian saw that on a relatively flat ground, there was a huge golden ball.

He immediately remembered that this was the thousand-year-old cultivation experience left by the old fox man. When the old fox man brought it in, it was several times larger than the entire island. Now it doesn't even have one-twentieth of the island.

Wang Xiaotian's consciousness sank to the golden ball. What enters the sea of consciousness is only his consciousness or a perspective, and there is no such thing as his ontology.

However, compared with the distance and altitude in reality, he found that his height in the sea of consciousness should be much higher than the actual height.

For example, this golden ball, from a high altitude, gave him the feeling that it was ten kilometers in diameter, but when it really fell on the ball, he found that his estimate was a little too large, and the diameter of the ball was far less than ten kilometers.

Wang Xiaotian couldn't understand why. And apparently not at the moment, when thinking about it. He simply put the question aside and took a closer look at the golden orb.

Looking at the ball from a high altitude, the surface is very smooth, but when he falls on the ball, he finds that in fact, there are many complex lines and various patterns on it. It's like an article, he knows every word, but when put together, he doesn't know what the article says.

Could it be that these patterns and lines are the old fox's special method of remembering? Well, that's not accurate. After all, there is a difference between the way of thinking of humans and foxes, and you can't use people's thinking to figure out foxes.

And the old fox man may not know it, and Wang Xiaotian doesn't know the human language...... No, the brutes don't have words. How did the old fox man record his experience of cultivation?

If this is the way of recording created by the old fox man himself, how can others understand it? If this is the case, wouldn't it be very cheating?

Wang Xiaotian tried to touch the golden ball with his consciousness, but received no response. He turned his gaze with some disappointment to look at the towering tree.

The tree was so big, compared to it, Wang Xiaotian felt like a little ant.

Wang Xiaotian decided to go under the tree to have a look.