John pulled out his map and examined it closely.
"This should be….huh? It's not marked on the map. It's pretty remote from what I can tell. Why is there a village so far from the main road?"
John was still roughly one hundred miles from the main road leading to the Dreadel Kingdom. He hadn't expected to run into civilization so soon.
The village was several miles across and had large wooden walls surrounding the perimeter. Several hundred buildings could be seen inside the walls, while farmland surrounded the outside of the walls.
"Let's check it out I suppose. Maybe I can find an inn to stay in. It's been weeks since I've had a bath and a proper meal."
John walked towards the main gate of the village.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
John was stopped by several guards stationed at the front gate.
"Hmm? They're normal humans? They're not even Body Refinement cultivators. Why are normal humans acting as guards for a town in the middle of the forest?"
John walked up to guards before saying "I'm just a traveler who happened upon this village. What is this place anyways? It's not marked on any map?"
John was curious as to why this village was unmarked.
The guards eased up slightly at John's answer. One stepped forward and responded "If that's the case you can enter. The entry fee is two copper coins. As for your question...this village was founded by those who sought to distance themselves from the Dreadel Kingdom."
John handed over two copper coins before asking "You're all just regular humans. Does the village have any cultivator guards?"
The lead guard hesitated for a bit before responding "Our village contains no cultivators. Almost all of its inhabitants sought to distance themselves from the world of cultivators, and so we established this village roughly a decade ago."
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" asked John. "There's Body Refinement level beasts everywhere, and if you're unlucky you might even run into a Mist Creation level beast. What will you do if that happens?"
"The walls are sturdy enough and high enough to deal with any Body Refinement level beasts. As for Mist Creation level beasts...let's just say that we have a way of dealing with that as well" responded the guard.
John noticed that the guard had a complicated look on his face when he discussed the Mist Creation level beasts, but didn't ask for further elaboration.
"Is there an Inn in this village?" asked John.
"Yes, the Nightfall Inn. It's in the center of the village and has a moon symbol placard posted out front. You'll easily recognize it."
"Thanks." John thanked the guard before heading through the open gate.
As soon as he stepped inside, John could see hundreds of people scurrying around, going about their day to day lives. John started walking towards the center of the village, all the while scanning everyone he crossed with his divine sense.
"They really are normal humans. How do they deal with strong beasts?" thought John. He soon approached the center of the village, at which point he spotted the moon-placarded building.
John walked inside and noticed a rather downtrodden atmosphere inside. He approached the female innkeeper and called out.
"Excuse me, how much for one room?"
The innkeeper turned around and was slightly surprised to see John.
"Not often we get strangers around here. What do you want?" asked the innkeeper.
"I'm looking to rent a room for the night. How much for one night?" asked John.
"One room is twenty copper coins." The innkeeper paused for a second before saying "I would suggest that you don't stay inside the village tonight."
Perplexed by the response, John asked "Why is that?"
The innkeeper hesitated for a moment before saying "Some mean folk will be arriving here tomorrow. It's best that you're not here when they arrive."
"Oh" responded John. "Thanks for your concern, but I'll be fine." John handed over the twenty copper coins. The innkeeper looked at him for a bit before turning around and leading him to his room.
The room was quite small, with a bed, wardrobe and a small washroom. John immediately washed himself clean before taking out a new robe from his storage area and putting it before climbing into bed.
"Phew! It's been awhile since I've been in bed. I'll take a break from cultivation for one day. Tonight I'm just going to get some good rest." John drifted off into a deep slumber.
The next morning, John was woken up by a loud racket.
"Huh? What's going on?"
John quickly left his room and walked downstairs. The entire main floor of the inn was empty, even the innkeeper was missing. Finding this odd, John thought about what the innkeeper had said to him last night.
He walked out the inn and onto the main road. A few hundred yards down the road, John could see thousands of people gathered in the town center. Curious as to what was going on, John walked down the road and approached the gathering. After arriving at the gathering, John stood off to the side away from the crowd and watched.
"The entire village must be here" thought John. There were thousands of people gathered together. John's eyes wandered over the crowd until he spotted six men standing in front of the large crowd.
"Cultivators?"
Although John was too far for his divine sense to reach the six men to see their cultivation levels, John knew just by the natural pressure that they radiated that they were cultivators.
"Although I can't be certain, they seem to be a Mist Creation realm cultivators. I thought this town was a cultivator free town? What are they doing here?"
Just as John was thinking about the six men, one of the men stepped forward and shouted.
"Alright, where is my money?" The man who stepped forward was quite muscular and had a nasty scar on his face, making him look quite mean.