Chapter Two New Beginning

  The two followed the old blacksmith, taking breaks along the way, and it took them more than two hours to approach the village. Perhaps it was because of the simplicity of the mountain villagers or perhaps it was because children who were used to hardship were like this, but the old blacksmith didn't find it strange that the two had walked barefoot on the mountain road for so long without getting hurt or falling behind.

  The houses in the village are concentrated in the sunny area of the mountain valley. At the head of the village, more than 100 meters away from the gathering place, there is a single-family house that was moved out by the old blacksmith who was afraid of disturbing the villagers when he hammered. The people in the village are surnamed Yang, and it has been about three hundred years since their ancestors moved here. They all have some kinship with each other, more or less.

  As I walked closer, I saw two houses standing on either side of a small courtyard. One had a small chimney and the other had a large one. The courtyard was surrounded by over a meter high earth wall. Inside the courtyard were several newly made farm tools, including hoes, sickles, plows, etc.

  The old blacksmith kicked open the wooden gate of the yard, walked into the somewhat deserted yard, put the bag on his shoulder at the door of the big chimney house, sat on the low stool in front of the door and panted for a few breaths, looked up at the two little boys who were looking around the yard and said: "You two can sit anywhere and rest for a while." After finishing speaking, he stood up and walked into the opposite room. A moment later, Old Blacksmith Yang brought out some food from his home for Lei Ming and the others to eat, and then laid out a bed in a small room. Lei Ming and the others also observed Old Blacksmith's home more carefully. Although the two houses were not small, there were many things, and the family was quite well-off, Old Yang was also quite diligent, but because of the lack of a woman to take care of household chores, the house was still somewhat messy, and many pieces of furniture were covered with a layer of white dust.

  The thunder was too small, and in the past, they didn't even move their hands to do these things, all of which were done by machines. So everything was fresh and interesting as they watched Old Yang busy back and forth. After cleaning up, Old Yang went to the village to buy a chicken, brought back two sets of gray clothes and cloth shoes, killed the chicken and cooked dinner, it was already time for lighting lamps.

  Old Yang lit a lamp on the wooden table, set out the dishes and smiled at the two children: "Eat, it's been a long time since I've had such a lively atmosphere here."

  The two of them couldn't quite make out what the thunder was saying, but they roughly guessed it was calling them to eat. They smiled slightly and picked up their rice to start eating that fragrant and mouth-watering chicken, after all, the chicken they had eaten before were mostly fed with feed.

  After going through the trouble of space transfer, although both of them had their meridians fully opened and didn't look tired on the surface, they were actually extremely exhausted. After eating a full meal, the two of them went to bed and fell asleep immediately.

  The next morning, the sun had just lit up the sky, and the mountains were still far from being visible. Everything was still in a state of waking up, when Lei Meng and his companion were woken up by the melodious sound of chickens chirping and the intermittent barking of dogs in the village. As they stepped out of the door, they saw this small mountain village, which was both desolate and lively, and suddenly felt that the more than 20 years of their previous life had been a dream of yesterday. It was as if they were like Zhuangzi's butterfly, unsure whether it was the man who dreamed of being a butterfly or the butterfly who dreamed of being a man.

  Old Yang had already gotten up early and started cooking, boiling porridge, waiting for the two little ones to wake up and eat. Lei Meng and his companion found a vacant spot, habitually went through some moves, slightly opening up their stance, neatly and orderly practicing a couple of forms, just as they were starting to feel invigorated, suddenly realized that Old Man was standing at the door staring blankly at them, only then remembering that they weren't people from this world. Although everything here was similar to Earth, almost identical to Earth's 2000 years ago, but it wasn't clear if such martial arts existed here. The two of them stopped their exercises, stood there scratching their short hair and grinning foolishly, wearing grey clothes on their bodies.

  Old Yang came back to his senses after hearing the laughter, thinking: It's still two kids who have learned martial arts, it seems they have some skills, never mind, let them stay as long as they can. He smiled and said: "Good, good fight! You guys keep practicing." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked into the house.

  The two of them were bewildered and looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders. They found a bowl of clear water to rinse their mouths and then went into the house to eat breakfast.

  Old Yang had just finished his breakfast and ran to the opposite blacksmith's shop, where he started hammering away at his farm tools. Lei Meng and the others didn't have much interest in this, so they went into the village to take a stroll. The adults and young men of the village had all gone out to work early, leaving only the elderly and children behind. When the two met people, they just smiled slightly, and the villagers' elderly would also respond with a simple smile. Occasionally, an old man would enthusiastically invite them over to play with his child, but since they weren't actually kids and didn't speak the language, they just smiled and passed by.

  As the two of them wandered around, they heard more and more words. They were surprised to find that their memories were super strong, and they remembered every word they had ever heard. Gradually, they understood the meaning behind them. Trying to say a couple of sentences, they could actually utter them awkwardly.

  After walking back and forth several times, the villagers also became familiar with them. The two of them relied on their exceptional hearing and memory to learn the language here through super-normal reasoning and learning ability, but speaking it out was a bit awkward. At this time, the sun was high in the sky, and the two of them drilled into a small forest outside the village, listening to the birds singing around them. Yang Tian rubbed his face, which was stiff from smiling, and said dejectedly: "Lei Meng, are we going to be stuck here forever? Everything here seems like ancient China."

  "Yes, iron has just appeared here, and many are still using bronze. It's just that they're all called iron now. The level of technological development can be imagined to be very low. It seems we can only spend the rest of our lives in this world." Lei Meng also sighed.

  The two fell silent for a moment, then Yang Tian's big eyes turned and said: "Why don't we make the most of it here? With our qigong level, your unfinished martial arts, and our knowledge, we still have an advantage here." After finishing speaking, he looked at Lei Meng sincerely.

  Lei Meng looked at Yang Tian with a shocked expression, then closed his eyes and meditated for a moment. Suddenly opening his eyes wide, he declared loudly: "Alright, we didn't do too well on Earth, but here, the two of us will make some noise! With a wave of his true energy, his clothes puffed out, and with a burst of air, the surrounding weeds and leaves rustled loudly.

  With a casual swing of his arm, Yang Tian split the strong wind in two and grumbled discontentedly: "What nonsense! Let's go back and bid farewell to that old man. He seems to want to treat us like grandsons." On a leisurely morning stroll, they had figured out some things - Old Yang Fuzi had always wanted children but never had any, so he was thinking of adopting one, only this place was too remote, making it difficult to adopt a child.

  Lei Meng collected his energy and cracked a smile, saying: "This place isn't very peaceful. If you run out carelessly, you might get killed by someone. Not to mention people, even encountering fierce beasts is quite normal. I think we should prepare some weapons first and then teach you a few more moves."

  "It's good that there aren't any ferocious beasts around here, otherwise we would have been skinned alive even if we didn't die." Yang Tian said, rubbing his sweatless forehead.

  "Besides, our meridians are all open, and we need to adapt for a period of time and accumulate strength. Alright, let's go back." Leiming turned around and drilled out of the forest.

  Back at Yang Fu's home, Yang Tian shouted as soon as he entered the door: "Grandpa, is dinner ready?" The voice was tender and the tone was awkward. When Yang Fu heard it, he came out and saw that it was the two children from yesterday. He was surprised and said: "Huh? Aren't you mute?"

  Lei Meng said with a bit of embarrassment: "Yesterday was a lie, we were caught by someone and left there, our stomachs were hungry, and we didn't know how to get out. If it wasn't for meeting you, we would have starved to death." He told a not-so-big-not-so-small lie, otherwise, if the truth came out, they really wouldn't be able to explain their origins.

  "Don't worry now, there's plenty of food here. You can temporarily stay here until your family finds you." Yang Fu said with a surge of sympathy and a hint of disappointment.

  "All right, old man, we'll live here from now on. If there's any work for us to do, just let us know." Yang Tian said with delight.

  "Hehe, you two little ones can't do much, just have fun. You can stay here as long as you like, and when you're free, come keep an old man company." Old Yang said with a comforting tone, stroking his short beard.

  "Old man, you don't look old at all, there's no wrinkles on your face."

  "Hehe, you two kids are quite talkative. Come on, go in and eat, you must be hungry. By the way, what are your names?"

  "My name is Yang Tian, his name is Lei Meng."

  Two months have passed, and Leiming and Yang Tian have been staying at home, either practicing qigong in the house or practicing martial arts in the small courtyard. I don't know what the name of the qigong is, it's just that Leiming found a book in the library that practices the whole body meridian skeleton, tried it out and felt good, so he brought Yang Tian to practice together until now. After the meridians are opened, only knowing that the strength is very great, but not yet measured how much strength, gathering energy in both eyes, then the eyes are bright, the vision is clear and the visual acuity is several times higher than that of ordinary people; Gathering energy in both ears, then the hearing is extremely sensitive, almost catching up with dog's ears; The movements have also become much faster, often practicing out a full courtyard of shadows, only shoes and floorboards suffer, often damaged. The martial arts practiced are Tai Chi, grappling, intercepting fist, and special forces killing techniques. I don't know if it's because the meridians are opened or because of super strong memory, but the two practice martial arts as soon as they learn, one practice is precise, really a bit like Zhang Wuji on the body.

  One afternoon, while eating breakfast, Lei Ming put down his bowl and chopsticks, and sincerely said to Yang Fu: "Old Master, I and Yang Tian want to practice our swordsmanship, so we can go out into the world and make a name for ourselves. Can you forge a knife and a sword for us?"

  Yang Fu thought the two little kids were just playing around, after all, what children say is not reliable. These two months have been lively with two kids by his side, and he chuckled: "What do you want to do? After dinner, follow me to the forge."