"The Mountain God shows favor!!!"
No one noticed Zhou Li's brief encounter, because at that moment, accompanying a series of gongs and drums, a melodious and prolonged cry came from the foot of the mountain. Zhou Li had just come to his senses when Qianhu also happened to turn around, missing the abnormal expression on Zhou Li's face just moments before. He looked at Zhou Li and asked,
"Shall we go and investigate?"
With the words that he had heard echoing in his mind, Zhou Li showed no signs of peculiarity. After briefly collecting himself, he replied as if nothing had happened,
"Let's go, we definitely need to check this out."
First trial: The weight of a thousand jun is incomparable to the allure of gold and silver...
Without much thought, Zhou Li could guess what the meaning behind those spoken words was. His hand involuntarily brushed over the cloth bag at his waist, where the originally neatly arranged Seven Seeds now numbered only six.
But how had he activated these trials? Zhou Li was somewhat perplexed at this moment. He had clearly done nothing, yet he had suddenly activated the Seven Seeds and entered the Seven Trials.
However, the problem was that he had already rejected the fate line of becoming a dragon. Logically, he should not be tested by the Immortal Seed, so why...
Pushing his doubts to the back of his mind, Zhou Li and his companions started to make their way towards the source of the sound. In just a few minutes, they arrived at the base of the tall mountain. What appeared before them was a bizarre stage.
Normally, the stage would be occupied by a few people showing off their postures, singing operas. Or perhaps the stage would showcase a red-faced general waving a sword or a white-faced villain playing with power and profit. However, on this bluestone-built stage, there was only a statue of an old man with a golden body and silver face, surrounded by a mountain of gold, silver, and copper coins.
The musicians, their faces painted bright red, were kneeling below the stage, devoutly playing their strange music.
Around the stage, a crowd of people dressed in fine brocades with affluent expressions continuously threw gold and silver from their embraces onto the stage, their faces alight with fanatical fervor as if they were engaged in a most grandiose and prideful act.
As gold sycees and silver ingots and copper coins accumulated incessantly, a satisfied smile began to emerge on the stone-cast face of the statue on stage.
Looking at the unusual and sinister scene before them, Zhou Li frowned, while Qianhu squinted his eyes thoughtfully. Guo Lingyun, confronted with a scene that almost screamed "something's amiss," immediately had his right hand on his sword and his left hand by his bow, poised for action.
Tang Wan stood beside Zhou Li, silver needle pinched between her fingertips, her eyes glimmering with Spirit Qi as she scrutinized the villagers in front of her.
"They're all ordinary people."
Tang Wan was about to speak when Qianhu spoke first. His right hand still hung at his waist, but his expression had eased considerably, "There are no signs of demons or ghosts."
"Hmm."
Tang Wan didn't care whether she spoke first or second, only that she had something to say, "All of them have normal human bodies, no issue."
"Then let's go ask."
Zhou Li didn't wait for Qianhu to ask—they moved before Qianhu could start, and he quickly approached a man in a blue brocade robe on the outskirts. The man was so engrossed in fervently scattering gold and silver that he didn't notice the approach of a stranger.
"Hey, hey."
Zhou Li called out a couple of times, but the man continued with his activity, his face filled with crazed joy. After getting no response, Zhou Li reached out and gently tapped the man's shoulder.
"Hm?"
Only then did the man, who was frantically tossing out the coins, realize that Zhou Li had suddenly appeared beside him. He first paused, then immediately jumped up, his arms full of coins scattering on the ground. He took several steps back, pointing at Zhou Li, and stammered in alarm,
"Out, out, out, out, out, out, out out out"
"You can speak English?"
Zhou Li raised an eyebrow, scoffing.
"Foreigner, ahhh!!!!!"
The man instantly fell on his buttocks to the ground, desperately crawling backward, trying to slap at others to attract attention. However, Zhou Li reacted quicker, stretching out his hand to press and pull, covering the other's mouth and dragging him into the nearby woods. Meanwhile, Tang Wan and the others quickly realized what was happening and hurried after Zhou Li into the woods.
In the forest, the man dressed in fine satin and brocade was stricken with terror. Bound to a tree, he struggled valiantly, his mouth stuffed full of leaves under the tongue, preventing him from speaking, allowing for only muffled sounds.
"Fellows, let me introduce, this one, Lord Guo of the Jinyiwei Hundred Households."
Zhou Li, with Guo Lingyun on his left, a Qianhu on his right, and followed by Tang Wan, said arrogantly, "This one is Lord Qianhu of the Jinyiwei."
Making way for a petite, delicate-featured girl, Zhou Li spoke with utmost gravity, "This one is even more formidable, a disciple of Central Shichuan's Tang Sect, skilled in various poisons and locking acupoints. Go forward, and you could end up with half-paralysis; step back, and you risk shrinking your manhood and losing its function forever."
Upon hearing Zhou Li's words, the already frightened man struggled even harder. But he was just an ordinary person, and among these demons and monsters, all his actions were futile.
Zhou Li didn't hold back, leaning close to the man's ear and whispering directly:
"I'll tell you, these three are no saints. The Tang Sect of Central Shichuan loves to target a man's vital acupoints, a light prick leading to an untreatable death, or worse, left-side paralysis and right-side incontinence."
After speaking, Zhou Li glanced briefly with the corner of his eye at the Qianhu and Guo Lingyun beside him, then lowered his voice further, speaking with a hint of fear:
"What these two members of Jinyiwei enjoy most is playing a deadly game of elimination with those who resist them. I became their hunting dog by necessity. So, I'll cooperate with you for a bit, see if I can spare you the pain of torment."
Having finished speaking, Zhou Li stepped back, reached out, and pinched the man's face, forcing him to spit out the leaves in a spray of sputum. After a fit of coughing, the man caught his breath and pleaded repeatedly:
"Spare me, good sir, spare my life. I'll tell you anything you want, I know nothing else, nothing else, ah!"
"Should I do it?"
The Qianhu looked to Zhou Li and asked in a deep voice, "After all, I am a Jinyiwei."
His gaze fell on the portly man in fine clothes, and the Qianhu said coldly, "Getting information out of the likes of him is just too easy."
The Qianhu, confronted with this scene, felt his professional instincts kick in. Raising his right hand slightly, a glint of cold light flashed from the sheath of his blade. He walked over to the man, his eyes seemingly harboring a soul-swallowing menace that chilled one to the bone.
"What place is this?"
The Qianhu's presence was so overpowering that the man got the shivers on the spot, then, teeth chattering, he stuttered unclearly, "Here, this, this place..."
"Is this really necessary, Lord Qianhu?"
Zhou Li sighed longingly, stepping between the Qianhu and the man, and said earnestly:
"We are all subjects of Da Ming. Even though this brother has communicated with the spirits and littered Da Ming's currency, that's no reason for you to slash his head off and have it rolling around on the ground. Nor can you justify beheading his entire family and hanging them at the city gate just because it seems like he might be stalling for time. That would be dreadful, wouldn't it?"
Turning his head, Zhou Li looked kindly at the man and asked with a smile:
"What do you say, right?"