Chapter 100

The man stood in front of the old man, speaking a long string of words, gesturing constantly with his hands, and occasionally pointing to the hot air balloon, looking particularly agitated.

After a moment, the man finally finished speaking, grinned at Zhao Chen and Cheng Chumu, who looked bewildered, and respectfully stepped aside.

The old man's originally calm eyes finally showed a hint of change after the man finished speaking. However, it seemed he was still uncertain, probably because there was not a single trace of their clan in Zhao Chen.

The old man glanced at the hot air balloon, then at Zhao Chen, who was smiling at him, hesitated for a long time, and finally, as if making a decision, took a deep breath, stepped back, and bowed to Zhao Chen.

This was an acknowledgment of Zhao Chen as a deity!

Standing quietly at a distance, the crowd, who had been watching in silence, suddenly burst into thunderous cheers when they saw the old man bow to Zhao Chen.

Seeing this, Zhao Chen couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. He then stepped forward, reached out, and gently helped the old man, who was bowing, to his feet.

Once Zhao Chen's identity was confirmed, the old man's attitude did a complete 180-degree turn. He gave some instructions to the man beside him, then stepped aside, revealing a wooden ladder behind him, and gestured to invite Zhao Chen.

Seeing this, Zhao Chen sighed inwardly and could only smile at the old man. Then, he and Cheng Chumu walked up the wooden ladder, one after the other.

Since they were treating him as a deity, he couldn't be insincere and polite, lest he cause unnecessary trouble!

This was a huge attic, with a space of over a hundred square meters, filled with all sorts of things, giving the entire room a strong sense of mystery.

However, as soon as Zhao Chen entered the room, his eyes were immediately drawn to a large drum hanging on the wall in the center of the room. Unlike the oxhide drums of the Han people in Central China, this drum was bright and shiny.

At first, Zhao Chen thought it was made of gold, but he quickly shook his head. A drum of this size, if made entirely of gold, would require an enormous amount of gold!

If not gold, then it must be a bronze drum!

The drum was carved with some peculiar patterns. If you looked closely, you would see that they were not patterns at all, but lifelike frogs.

These frogs were either squatting or lying down, some with their bellies up, others with their backs up, and some even stacked on top of each other.

The bronze drum hung prominently on the wall in the center of the room, making it hard for Zhao Chen to miss it once he entered.

"Divine One, are you familiar with this bronze drum?" Zhao Chen was so engrossed in looking at it that he was startled by the old man's sudden, hoarse voice from behind. Though the words sounded a bit awkward, they were genuine Han language.

Hearing this, Zhao Chen instinctively wanted to shake his head but then froze, suddenly turning around and looking at the smiling old man with disbelief. "You know the language of Central China?"

"I know a little!" The old man seemed to have anticipated Zhao Chen's reaction and smiled. "I went to the imperial capital of Central China many years ago, but at that time, the emperor of Central China was not surnamed Li!"

Zhao Chen was now completely stunned. It was too incredible to think that they would encounter an old man who spoke Chinese in the deep mountains of Lingnan.

Wait, this old man said he had been to Central China! And even to the imperial capital!

Thinking about this, Zhao Chen looked at the old man, who was now in his twilight years, with a strange expression and asked in surprise, "Old man, did you really go to Central China?"

"Many years ago!" The old man's eyes suddenly took on a wistful look, as if opening up old memories. He spoke in a melancholy voice, "Back then, this place was just like today, with constant warfare. I didn't want to see so many of our clan's brave warriors lose their lives in these wars."

The old man suddenly smiled bitterly and continued, "So, accompanied by a few brave warriors from our clan, I went to Central China to present a petition, hoping the emperor of Central China could end the war!"

That must have been during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui! Zhao Chen had some recollection of this. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, the Liang people in Lingnan often rebelled, but historical records show that these rebellions were quelled several times by Feng Ang, who repeatedly went to the capital to request military assistance.

In fact, it was because of these repeated pacifications that Feng Ang gradually grew in power in Lingnan, eventually controlling a third of the region!

"What happened later?" Zhao Chen quickly reviewed these historical records in his mind but asked calmly.

"Later, it became the situation we have today!" The old man suddenly smiled, a bitter and helpless smile. He looked at Zhao Chen and said, "The wars continue, and every day, our clan's brave warriors lose their lives."

At this point, the old man's eyes dimmed, as if speaking to himself or to Zhao Chen and Cheng Chumu. He said in a melancholy voice, "I have lived a long time, but since I can remember, this place has never stopped being at war. But even now, I don't understand what these wars are for."

For interests! Zhao Chen sneered inwardly. Wars, in the end, are all about the imbalance of interests or perceived unfairness.

The powerful always want to吞并弱小的，而弱小的为了不被吞并，总是想尽办法壮大自己，等壮大了自己，又害怕被新崛起的力量推翻，于是又回头去吞并弱小的。

周而复始，战乱便产生了！

“老人家，既然你懂中原话，那我也就不瞒你了！”赵谌看出眼前的这位老者绝非愚昧透顶之人，最重要的是，老者能听懂他说的话，所以，再三考虑后，还是决定实话实说为好！

“尊神，是不是想说，你并不是我们的神？”老者没等赵谌说出下半句，便抬起头笑眯眯地望着赵谌，语出惊人地说道。

瞧瞧，早就说了，这些老家伙活了这么多年，即便是个笨蛋，也都活成了老妖怪！

赵谌还没说话呢！老家伙已经猜到了赵谌接下来要说的话！

“这是一个误会！”赵谌冲着老者笑了笑，解释道：“先前我和我的兄弟只是不小心误闯到了你们这里，当时是解释了的，可惜外面的那些你的族人根本听不懂我说的话，后来只好跟着一起来了！”

“那么，尊神是走着来到这个地方的，还是坐着外面那个神器，从天上飞着来的？”老者微笑着望着赵谌，指了指外面的热气球，笑眯眯地问道。

“似乎是飞着来的！”赵谌闻言，呼了一口气，对着老者说道。

老者闻言，目光忽然亮了一下，然后继续笑眯眯地望着赵谌，问道：“那请问尊神，在中原之地，像尊神这样能飞的神器多吗？”

“似乎……就只有我一个人有！”赵谌听到这里，嘴角使劲抽搐了一下，摇了摇头，说道。

“老头活了这么多年，竟是从未听过，人竟然可以上天！”老者目光灼热地望着赵谌，幽幽开口说道：“既然如此，那么尊神便是雷神派来拯救我们族人的神使了！”

我勒个去的！这是要生生地给他头上戴上一个神使的名号啊！

“老头，可我是唐人啊！”赵谌脑中忽然灵光一闪，望着老者头痛地说道。

“那又如何！”老者闻言，显得不以为然地开口道：“这是神的旨意，是雷神让你不远万里的来到这里的，雷神无所不能！”

老者说到这里时，忽然目光虔诚地望向房间正中的那面巨大的铜鼓，声音幽幽地开口：“一定是族人的虔诚，感动了雷神，才会将尊神从不远万里的中原之地，派到了这里！”

赵谌已经被老者弄得无语了，先前在丛林里时，因为语言上的障碍，他无法跟那些人说明，现在好不容易有了可以听懂他的话的人，没想到，这老者竟然会如此固执。

老者认定了他就是雷神派来的，无论赵谌怎么解释，老者都只管摇头，最后赵谌也懒得解释了，你要认定我就是神，那就是神呗！

看到赵谌不解释了，老者的脸上终于露出了笑容，热情地请赵谌和程处默坐下，不多会儿，先前的那名男子便带着几个人，鱼贯进入了阁楼，将一盘盘的食物分别摆到了赵谌和程处默的面前。

只是，赵谌和程处默两人看着面前盘子里的食物，嘴角不由自主地抽搐了一下，这些想必都是寨子里最丰盛的食物了，可看上去黑不溜秋的，别说吃了，光是看看就让人食欲全无。

“倒叫尊神见笑了！”老者似乎也觉得这样的食物用来招待赵谌有点难为情，脸上带着尴尬的神色，望着赵谌说道：“咱们这里不比中原繁华，这些都是寨子里最好的食物，还望尊神莫要嫌弃！”

“哪里哪里！”赵谌脸上勉强挤出一抹微笑，对着老者说道。说着话，为了不让老者觉得他虚伪，只好拿起其中一个盘子里的食物，冲着老者笑了笑，在旁边程处默直呆呆的目光下，放入了嘴里。

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The powerful always want to吞并弱小的，而弱小的为了不被吞并，总是想尽办法壮大自己，等壮大了自己，又害怕被新崛起的力量推翻，于是又回头去吞并弱小的。

In a cycle, wars are thus produced!

"Since you understand the language of Central China, I won't hide anything from you!" Zhao Chen could see that the old man in front of him was far from ignorant. Most importantly, the old man understood what he was saying, so after much consideration, he decided to be honest.

"Divine One, are you trying to say that you are not our god?" The old man, without waiting for Zhao Chen to finish, lifted his head and smiled at him, surprising him with his words.

Look, as I said, these old guys have lived so long that even if they were fools, they have become old demons!

Zhao Chen hadn't even spoken yet, but the old man had already guessed what he was going to say!

"This is a misunderstanding!" Zhao Chen smiled at the old man and explained, "My brother and I accidentally stumbled into your place. We tried to explain, but your people outside couldn't understand us, so we ended up coming here with them!"

"Then, did you walk to this place, or did you fly here in that divine artifact outside?" The old man smiled at Zhao Chen, pointed to the hot air balloon outside, and asked with a grin.

"Seems like I flew here!" Zhao Chen sighed and said to the old man.

Hearing this, the old man's eyes suddenly lit up. He continued to smile at Zhao Chen and asked, "Then, Divine One, are there many such flying artifacts in Central China?"

"Seems like... only I have one!" Zhao Chen's mouth twitched, and he shook his head, saying.

"Living for so many years, I have never heard of humans being able to fly!" The old man looked at Zhao Chen with burning eyes and said, "Since that is the case, then Divine One must be a divine envoy sent by the Thunder God to save our people!"

Oh my! This is about to give him the title of a divine envoy!

"Old man, but I am a Tang person!" Zhao Chen suddenly had an idea and said to the old man, looking pained.

"So what!" The old man replied, unconcerned, "This is the will of the gods. The Thunder God sent you from afar to be here, and the Thunder God is all-powerful!"

As he said this, the old man looked devoutly at the large bronze drum in the center of the room and said, "It must be the sincerity of our people that moved the Thunder God, who then sent Divine One from the distant Central China to be here!"

Zhao Chen was completely speechless. Earlier in the jungle, due to the language barrier, he couldn't explain to those people. Now, finally, he had someone who understood him, but he never expected the old man to be so stubborn.

The old man was convinced that he was sent by the Thunder God. No matter how Zhao Chen tried to explain, the old man just shook his head. In the end, Zhao Chen gave up. If you insist I am a god, then I am a god!

Seeing that Zhao Chen was no longer explaining, the old man finally smiled, warmly inviting Zhao Chen and Cheng Chumu to sit down. Soon, the man who had spoken earlier brought in several people, who placed dishes of food in front of Zhao Chen and Cheng Chumu.

However, Zhao Chen and Cheng Chumu looked at the food in the dishes and their mouths twitched. These were probably the best dishes in the village, but they looked so dark and unappetizing that just looking at them made them lose their appetite.

"Forgive me for making a joke, Divine One!" The old man, feeling a bit embarrassed about the food, looked at Zhao Chen and said, "We are not as prosperous as Central China. These are the best dishes in the village. I hope Divine One will not be offended!"

"Where, where!" Zhao Chen forced a smile and said to the old man. To avoid making the old man think he was insincere, he picked up a piece of food from one of the dishes, smiled at the old man, and, under Cheng Chumu's stunned gaze, put it in his mouth.

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