**Chapter 42: A Few Matters Before Zhenwu Mountain**
“Name?”
“Fang Ji… approximately.”
“Age?”
“Twenty… if the ID card isn’t wrong.”
“Gender?”
“Male… I’m sure about that, I’ve checked while using the restroom.” Fang Ji emphasized, as this wasn’t the first time he had been misunderstood.
“Hmm?”
The police officer looked up at the slender, tall figure sitting across from him. With shoulder-length hair, skin as white as snow, and a hint of allure in his eyes, all accompanied by a hint of blush on his lips, he squinted in disbelief while double-checking the ID document, his eyes widening.
You™ told me he’s male?
After a few deep breaths to calm the waves in his heart, the officer composed himself and said, “Alright, Fang Ji, can you remember what happened before the car accident?”
Fang Ji shook his head, “I don’t remember. I was sleeping at the time when I suddenly heard someone shout, ‘We’re going to crash, we’re going to crash,’ and then everything went dark.
“By the time I came to, everyone in the car was injured, and I was sitting by the roadside, calling the police and ambulance, and then I was brought here.”
The officer stared at Fang Ji for a few seconds, then smiled, stood up, and said, “Thank you for your cooperation, Fang Ji, there’s nothing else here. I’ll escort you out.”
“Okay, thank you.” Fang Ji replied and followed the officer out of the room.
As they walked through the corridor, he caught a glimpse of a girl in the next room. He frowned slightly and asked the officer, “Can I wait for her to come out so we can leave together?”
The officer was taken aback, “Do you know each other?”
Fang Ji shook his head, “No, but she’s going the same way as me.”
His intuition simply told him that.
That girl could lead him to where he wanted to go.
“Alright, but you can’t wait here, go wait in the lobby!”
Fang Ji nodded and followed the officer through the hallway, which was filled with noise.
“d*mn! Coffee, your coffee just spilled on my keyboard!”
“Who turned off my computer last night? I hadn’t saved my files yet! I worked on it all night!”
“d*mn it, Old Zhang, my wife just called and said she wants a divorce! She can’t stand me not being home all day! What do I do now?”
It seemed every traffic police station was this loud… Fang Ji thought, shaking his head.
As he walked, this wasn’t his first encounter with a traffic accident, but fortunately, he hadn’t been hurt each time.
———
When Luxianbei discovered that Hu Chuan might be somewhere in Shizhou City, she felt a brief excitement, but soon faced a dilemma.
The official population of Shizhou City was nearly four million, possibly more, and while the number of urban legends could be temporarily ignored due to the presence of Dachunyang Palace, finding a black household among over four million people wasn’t an easy task.
Seeking help from the Urban Legends Chat Group might not work, unless she could afford a reward that would catch their interest.
Although those guys were reliable in their work, they never did anything for free.
If investigating the whereabouts of an ordinary person in Huacheng was a free project, investigating a spiritual ability user or urban legend was a membership project, while in the city where Dachunyang Palace was located, investigating a spiritual ability user would be an extra-charge premier service.
Furthermore, if those guys could find Hu Chuan’s whereabouts in Shizhou City, they would have investigated it together already and would have subtly hinted at a “premier service” when reporting back to piqued Luxianbei’s curiosity, before abruptly changing the topic to rewards.
Just like a cliffhanger, it was frustrating!
What about asking the local Siye Society?
Luxianbei thought, glancing at the listless Huasang beside her, asking, “Um, do you know where the Siye Society is in Shizhou City?”
It would be inconvenient for the Urban Legends Chat Group to investigate within Shizhou City, but seeking help from a local insider should work, right?
Hu Chuan had interacted with both Haze God and Zhang Shuo, both of whom were on the wanted list of the Siye Society for allegedly using spiritual powers to harm ordinary people, which was enough for the Siye Society to investigate him.
Although letting him fall into the hands of the Siye Society would complicate follow-up operations, it was still better than being completely unable to find him.
Huasang glanced at Luxianbei and said calmly, “There’s no Siye Society in Shizhou City.”
“Hmm? No?” Luxianbei frowned slightly.
Noticing Luxianbei’s confusion, Huasang explained, “The Siye Society in Shizhou City is managed by Zhen Ting Hall of Dachunyang Palace, and the urban legend incidents are handled by disciples who need to descend the mountain for training.”
Realizing this, Luxianbei recalled seeing this name on the map given by the Ancestor; Zhen Ting Hall was a place where disciples of Dachunyang Palace practiced swordsmanship, spell formulas, physical techniques, and other skills.
Comparatively, it was like the gym for the Special Action Team members.
Handing the urban legend incidents to Zhen Ting Hall in Shizhou City likely meant passing those urban legends and illegal spiritual ability users to the disciples to use as workout devices.
Luxianbei could almost visualize a group of fairly powerful disciples of Dachunyang Palace taking turns processing a hapless caught urban legend.
Thinking this way, the urban legends surrounding Shizhou City undoubtedly lived in a harsh environment.
Noticing that Luxianbei remained silent for a long time after hearing her answer, Huasang scrutinized her, puzzled, and asked, “Are you looking for the Siye Society in Shizhou City for something?”
Ever since she realized that Luxianbei was unaffected by her uncontrolled spiritual patterns’ dark encroachment, Huasang had developed a considerable curiosity about him.
Of course, this level of curiosity wasn’t enough to drive her to actively investigate Luxianbei.
However, seeing him inquire about the Siye Society in Shizhou City, she couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s nothing much, I’m just curious about where the Siye Society in different places is located,” Luxianbei replied with a hint of a grin, “You see, the Huacheng Siye Society is in a memorial hall, the Tangcheng Siye Society is on the top floor of a museum, and the Shizhou City one is in Dachunyang Palace…”
“There’s a chance there might even be high school dormitories, street-side pubs, public restrooms, and such, isn’t the disparity between styles quite interesting?”
Luxianbei planned to investigate Hu Chuan’s whereabouts on his own first.
Before obtaining the fragments and visualization diagrams of Ling Tai Purification, he probably shouldn’t have too many interactions with the disciples of Dachunyang Palace as it would draw too much attention.
If possible, he wanted to act like just an air person for a while.
Exploring the clues for the Ling Tai Purification fragments while ensuring safety and retrieving those fragments, investigating Hu Chuan’s whereabouts, and gathering several visualization diagrams and spirit energy item production blueprints… Luxianbei mentally arranged his tasks for this trip by priority.
So simple? Huasang tilted her head, not pressing further. After stealing a glance at the time on the nearby LED screen, she switched topics, “Alright, if there’s nothing else, please refrain from talking until we reach our destination.”
“I’m part of the nap-on-plane faction.”
“What’s that? Some sort of dark culinary trend akin to the star-gazing faction?” Luxianbei questioned.
“It’s the faction that falls asleep as soon as the plane takes off,” Huasang replied blandly.
While speaking, she bent down to retrieve slippers, a sleep mask, noise-canceling headphones, a U-shaped pillow, and a soft rubber stress ball from her luggage—quite the comprehensive setup.
“……” Luxianbei pondered for a couple of seconds before saying seriously, “In that case, I’m actually part of the gossip-on-plane faction, meaning when I board the plane, I can’t help but gossip with others.”
Huasang, “???” Can’t he completely see that I find him annoying?
Luxianbei, “……” Of course, I can see that she’s irritated, but if she’s not, I can’t solve the problem, and it’s me who gets annoyed!
Honestly, he was quite curious about Huasang as he wanted to find out why her voice came from the Ancestor; it could potentially become a breakthrough in finding the fragments of Ling Tai Purification.
With the search for Hu Chuan stalling for now, it might be a good idea to shift his focus to the Ling Tai Purification fragments.
However, directly asking her about that would surely arouse suspicion.
But if he mixed the question he wanted to ask within a hundred pieces of gossip, it wouldn’t be as easy to detect.
Gathering some trivial gossip was a piece of cake for Luxianbei!
Thus, from boarding until switching to the bus heading to Dachunyang Palace, Huasang didn’t manage to blink an eye, but she also didn’t answer any of Luxianbei’s questions.
The advocates of the nap-on-plane faction and gossip-on-plane faction were, one continuously whispering in the other’s ear like a devil’s whisper until parched, while the other wore a sleep mask and headphones, remaining silent like she was dead, nearly crushing the stress ball in her hand.
One was full-on outputting while the other defended profoundly; it was indeed a match made in heaven, tormenting each other.
———
In the afternoon, just past three, near Zhenwu Mountain.
A bus wound along the mountain road, weaving through lush greenery and towering tree canopies.
As the vehicle continued its journey, the scenery of Zhenwu Mountain gradually unfolded before them like an exquisite watercolor painting by a master artist.
Gazing into the distance, various peaks of different shapes soared into the sky, one connecting to the next, rows towering and undulating, some rugged and steep with imposing might, while others were delicate and picturesque, like dragons and snakes coiling in the sky, or like enchanting maidens descending into the mortal realm.
Among the green foliage, a few buildings could faintly be seen scattered across the mountains, either winding up the mountain along stone steps that resembled a dragon’s spine, or revealing ancient structures with green bricks and white walls, flying eaves and corbel brackets, or large platforms seemingly carved out by a single stroke of a sword.
It was already afternoon, and the two most deeply set peaks still swirled with clouds and mist; a long iron chain suspension bridge connected the two peaks, appearing through the fog, swaying in the wind, making those with acrophobia shake their heads.
“……”
In such a place, claiming that no immortals lived there would likely draw disbelief.
One couldn’t help but wonder if the dilapidated, illegally constructed temple that their Ancestor used was still standing.
If there’s a chance, he definitely wanted to see what kind of place could nurture such peculiar… um, adorably strange people as the Ancestor.
Luxianbei was enthusiastically looking out the window, his imagination running wild.
There were no bizarre spiritual ability users dropping from the sky on the way from Huacheng to Zhenwu Mountain, nor did they encounter any members of the Miracle Cult with dangerous weapons staging a terrorist attack. Not even a greedy merchant attempting to rip them off bothered him as he stayed quiet along the way, to the point where he felt it was a bit excessive.
Luxianbei had to split his focus, controlling more paper cicadas while also imagining along the way to prevent himself from getting restless and causing any major news headlines.
Just then, Huasang’s voice floated over.
“Don’t look anymore, what you can see now, aside from a corner of Zhen Ting Hall, is all the front mountain, which is a scenic area,” Huasang said in a very low voice so that only they could hear.
Luxianbei froze for a moment and turned to see Huasang’s disdainful gaze.
That look seemed to say, “How could there be immortals in this world? Trust in science, silly child!”
But you clearly know “spells”… Luxianbei mentally scoffed.
However, for some reason, through Huasang’s disheveled strands of hair, looking into her eyes, Luxianbei suddenly noticed her eyes seemed much brighter, as if they had transformed from a stagnant, foul-smelling pool into a spring bubbling joyfully.
It was as if a millennia-old corpse king had been cast a high-level resurrection spell, suddenly regaining vitality, making one feel astonished.
However, after thinking it through, Luxianbei understood this change in her.
Because she was almost “home”!
Her transformation resembled certain socially anxious individuals who are reluctant to interact when outside but become completely free and unrestrained upon returning home.
“See that iron chain bridge? After crossing that bridge, it’s Zhen Ting Hall. From there onward, past that area, is the back mountain, which is not open to the public and is set with fixed spell formulas; without a disciple of Dachunyang Palace as a guide, you cannot pass.”
Upon hearing that, Luxianbei frowned slightly.
d*mn, this is quite different from what the Ancestor provided?
According to the map given by Qing Ji, although much of what Huasang called the front mountain consisted of small Taoist temples profiting from offerings, one could reach the mountain linked by the iron chain bridge with Zhen Ting Hall by following the wide stone steps at the foot of the mountain; that was already within the range of Dachunyang Palace.
But now Huasang said that only the other end of the iron chain bridge was truly within the range of Dachunyang Palace…
It looked like the layout of Dachunyang Palace had significantly changed over the past hundred years, and the map given by the Ancestor probably wasn’t very reliable!
“Why is your Dachunyang Palace like Taoyuan, setting up a scenic area? I clearly saw many people in robes coming and going up the mountain when I searched for pictures online.” Luxianbei turned his gaze to Huasang and asked.
Huasang shot an eye at Luxianbei, replying, “The disciples of Dachunyang Palace have to eat, right? Of course, they need to earn money. The pictures you found online are all staff hired for eight thousand a month.”
“Do they have social insurance? Is it a five-day workweek? Do they organize trips mid-year?”
If the benefits are good enough, maybe I could consider switching from the Siye Society, Luxianbei thought.
“They do! But you can forget it; you need to at least be a graduate student in a relevant major. If it were that easy to become a worker in the front mountain, you wouldn’t stand a chance,” Huasang replied, pouting.
Luxianbei immediately heard the underlying message—“I know the benefits are good, I want to go too, but unfortunately, I can’t.”
d*mn, even being a Taoist has become competitive?
However…
Luxianbei contemplated, looking at Huasang, “Aren’t you tired anymore? If you’re not tired, let’s chat about some gossip!”
After finally grabbing the opportunity to converse with her, how could he easily let it go?
Upon hearing this, Huasang remembered the torment along the way, and her mouth twitched as she silently put on her sleep mask and turned her head away.
“Come on, come on, don’t be shy! How many apprentices does your master have besides you and Fu Xinyi? I see you and Fu Xinyi are quite impressive… Is your lineage particularly DIO in Dachunyang Palace, similar to the elite classes in key high schools?”
Huasang, “……”
I shouldn’t have talked to him at all.
Once we reach the mountain, I’ll immediately hand him over to my junior disciples!
———
In the scenic area of Zhenwu Mountain, at Xuanwu Ping.
This place was formerly the training ground for the disciples of Dachunyang Palace, but it now serves as the largest viewing platform in the scenic area. Tourists can observe the magnificent sight of the Zhenwu Mountain waterfall cascading down the mountainside at the closest proximity by taking a scenic cable car or climbing thousands of stone steps to reach here.
Surrounding Xuanwu Ping are numerous souvenir shops and vegetarian restaurants. Local residents often bring their home-grown fruits, homemade beverages, or handicrafts to sell here.
At this moment, in one corner of Xuanwu Ping, an old man dressed in coarse cloth and wearing a straw hat sat on a small stool, squinting slightly as if dozing off.
Before him was a piece of plastic cloth spread out that held a dozen fresh watermelons. Next to him was a large water bucket filled with cool well water, floating with two or three iced watermelons. Beside it was a piece of cardboard saying, “Ordinary melon 2.5 yuan, Ice melon 3 yuan.”
At first glance, he looked like a melon farmer from a nearby village.
After a while.
A middle-aged man dressed in a deep blue robe with a long beard hurriedly approached and squatted down in front of the melon seller, lowering his voice and saying, “Master, a disciple just reported that Huasang has reached the foot of the mountain, and that young man is with her.”
Indeed, the old man was the Chief Priest of Dachunyang Palace, the protector of the Siye Society, [Black Emperor], Zhang Hainan.
The so-called “thousand faces, a thousand appearances,” sitting on Xuanwu Ping and observing the myriad expressions of tourists had become not only his hobby but also one of the ways he cultivates his heart.
Spirit patterns indicate power for spiritual ability users; they also signify risk. This risk is even greater for disaster-class spiritual ability users.
By sitting amidst the crowd and constantly reminding himself that he is one of them, Zhang Hainan has maintained control over his spirit patterns for many years.
“Hmm?” After hearing the man’s words, Zhang Hainan opened his eyes slightly and said coldly, “Why did you wait until they reached the foot of the mountain to notify me? Wasn’t Fu Xinyi supposed to pick them up at the airport?”
“She did, but…” The middle-aged man opened his mouth, wanting to explain. Just then, an incongruous voice interrupted.
“Old man, are your melons ripe?”
The old man glanced angrily at the boy who had suddenly appeared behind him. He inched closer to Zhang Hainan, wanting to say something, but the annoying voice rang out again.
“Old man, I’m asking you, are these melons ripe?”
Zhang Hainan waved his hand to signal the middle-aged man to stay calm for a moment before turning to the young boy with a smile, “All top melons, I guarantee that if they’re not ripe, I’ll pay you two hundred yuan, and I’ll eat a raw one in front of you. How about that?”
“That’s what you said!” The boy nodded, “Alright, pick one for me! I want that iced one over there.”
“Alright!” Zhang Hainan responded, skillfully fished a melon from the bucket, placed it on the scale beside him, and said, “Three jin one liang; it’ll be nine yuan. Do you need me to cut it open for you?”
“Sure, please cut it! Thank you.” The boy replied, scanning the QR code to pay.
Zhang Hainan took the money, held up the watermelon on the scale in one hand, and picked up a fruit kn*fe with the other. With three swift cuts, he left ten or so faint lines on the melon, and with a gentle tap, the melon split open, each piece nearly uniform in size.
“Wow, great skills, old man! But are all the people up here like you, deceiving tourists?” the boy clapped and said.
“Like me? Haha, it’s just that I’ve cut melons a lot, so I’m fairly skilled; nothing mystical about it,” Zhang Hainan laughed heartily, “Young friend, you’re still young, you should trust in science!”
“No, what I meant to say is, are all the people here like you, cheating tourists? You just said these melons are ripe; now look at them,” the boy pointed at the watermelon.
Zhang Hainan followed where he pointed and saw the red flesh gradually turning white from the outside in, and his lips twitched slightly.
“You said they were ripe; what happens if they’re not?” the boy asked, emotionless, as he shook the phone in his hand, adding, “I just recorded that. Don’t think you can go back on your word; watch out, or I’ll call the police!”
“Uh…” Zhang Hainan was momentarily speechless.
This was Dachunyang Palace! He had just strolled out to sell a melon and wasn’t carrying any money.
Moreover, these melons were sold on behalf of Old Liu; he was also a victim.
After pondering for a few seconds, he suddenly turned to the middle-aged man beside him, gave him a meaningful glance, and said, “Quick, give him two hundred.”
“I… I rushed here and didn’t bring my phone or any money…” the middle-aged man looked bitter.
Zhang Hainan glared at him, shifting his focus back to the boy and smiling, “How about this, we’ll go get the money and return to you.”
The boy narrowed his eyes, sizing up the old man and the middle-aged man, “What if you run off?”
These young people nowadays! So suspicious… Zhang Hainan thought, forcing a smile, “We won’t run; I’ll be right here!”
The boy expressionlessly pondered for a few seconds, then nodded, “Alright, but you better hurry back!”
———
Moments later, at the front of Zhen Ting Hall, on the iron chain bridge.
Zhang Hainan and the middle-aged man hurried forward, occasionally exchanging low whispers.
“Hurry up! When we reach Zhen Ting Hall, you casually grab a disciple and ask him for two hundred, then quickly bring it back to that boy from earlier.”
“Why is it me who goes?” the middle-aged man frowned.
It always felt strange to ask a disciple for money.
Zhang Hainan shot him a glare, “If you don’t go, should I go?”
“……” The middle-aged man opened his mouth, wanting to say something but stopped.
“By the way, earlier you mentioned something happened to Fu Xinyi?” Zhang Hainan pressed on.
Just now, he had heard from his disciple that Fu Xinyi encountered a traffic accident while picking up Huasang and Luxianbei, and from his rough calculations, based on the divination, Fu Xinyi’s luck today didn’t seem bad and shouldn’t have encountered any disaster.
The middle-aged man frowned, “I heard from Qing Xiazi that Fu Xinyi had a car accident.”
“Oh? Is she okay?” Zhang Hainan asked urgently.
“She’s fine, but the large bus that collided with her went straight into the mountainside, and out of the whole bus, only one person wasn’t injured,” the middle-aged man replied.
Zhang Hainan opened his mouth, about to say something when suddenly a loud hurried sound approached.
Looking towards the sound, there came a girl dressed in a light blue robe, quickly walking toward them. She had a high bun, with a wooden hairpin shaped like a crane, a dignified face, and a tear mole on her cheek.
Seeing Zhang Hainan and the middle-aged man, she bowed slightly, “Greetings, Chief Priest, greetings, Senior Brother Ling Ji.”
“Qing Xiazi, why are you in such a hurry to the front mountain?” Zhang Hainan asked with a smile.
Qing Xiazi frowned, hesitating to speak a few times before saying, “Chief Priest, the boy who returned with Huasang got lost.”
“Hmm? How did he get lost?” Zhang Hainan’s smile froze on his face.
“This… Huasang left that boy at the foot of the mountain, telling him to wait for her brother to come pick him up, but when her brother arrived, the person had already disappeared,” Qing Xiazi explained.
Zhang Hainan, “……”
He could understand that Huasang left Luxianbei at the foot of the mountain; after all, not everyone could handle that level of torment.
If given the chance, he’d like to do something similar to Qing Ji.
“Have you looked for him?” Ling Ji asked, “Perhaps he’s just wandering around nearby?”
“We looked; there’s no one nearby.” Qing Xiazi remarked, pulling out her phone from her pocket, saying, “Here, this is a photo of that boy; I was just about to go to the scenic area to check the surveillance!”
Zhang Hainan and Ling Ji leaned in to take a look at the photo, and in the next instant, their lips twitched in unison.
The boy in the photo was good-looking, expressionless, as if everyone owed him two hundred yuan. It was none other than the boy who had just bought the watermelon at Xuanwu Ping!
“Master, look at this…” Ling Ji cautiously asked.
“……” Zhang Hainan took a deep breath and said nonchalantly, “You can take him the money later; I won’t go. I just had a sudden intuition that I must return to the back mountain and enter seclusion immediately.”
“Master, this… isn’t necessary, right?”
“Hmph, do you think it’s just a matter of two hundred yuan? If it were that simple, it’d be better,” Zhang Hainan snorted, then turned around, swiftly walking away across the iron chain bridge without looking back.
I know those Lu’s too well.
That boy probably knew I was selling melons at Xuanwu Ping and deliberately came to stir up trouble.
Too insidious, just like his ancestor, every word and action is a scheme! Zhang Hainan thought.
———
After cutting five watermelons, all of them unripe, Luxianbei felt this really wasn’t approachable for the folk customs up at Zhenwu Mountain.
Not to mention that Huasang had him waiting at the foot of the mountain for a long time with no one arriving, just wanting to buy a watermelon to quench his thirst led to this vexing situation.
He had initially trusted that old man, as the fellow seemed kindly and amiable.
However, what Luxianbei didn’t anticipate was that the old man had disappointed his trust, running off without returning along with the middle-aged man.
After waiting for over an hour, he hadn’t seen a single person.
“Just left the stand and ran off? Is it really worth it for a ten yuan melon? What about trust between people?”
Luxianbei grumbled, picking up the fruit kn*fe to k*ll another melon.
With a swift cut, “puff!” he saw the familiar gradient of the melon flesh.
Luxianbei froze for a moment, grabbed another melon, and again cut through another. The results were consistent.
Luxianbei, “???”
Wow, looks like he’s a habitual offender?
No wonder he rushed off so quickly after hearing I wanted to call the police!
Upon this thought, Luxianbei pulled out his phone and hurriedly paid for three more melons.
Although this act resembled having been scammed out of five hundred online and then sending over one thousand five for convenience in filing a report, it was a bit silly, but currently, it wasn’t merely about two hundred… um…
“Two, four, six, eight, eight hundred… tsk!”
This was no longer just about eight hundred yuan; mainly, he wanted to see how the old man could manage to finish these four unripe melons.
Hmm, I have to see him eat them in front of me, no helping allowed!
Old conman, just wait. I plan to stay here for a few more days; I’ll come see you every day, don’t let me catch you!
While Luxianbei was fuming over this, a familiar voice suddenly called out from not far away.
“Luxianbei? Junior Brother Luxianbei!”
Luxianbei looked towards the sound and noticed Fu Xinyi standing not too far away, on her tiptoes waving at him, and quickly approached with a girl.
That was an exceptionally beautiful girl, and Luxianbei even noticed the girl before Fu Xinyi.
There was no denying that the girl’s beauty was only second to Miaomiao Sauce, and her boldness was even greater than Miaomiao Sauce.
How pitiful, the clothes were practically glued onto her body.
Fu Xinyi reached the watermelon stand, excitedly asking, “Luxianbei, why are you here helping Old Liu watch the stand? Where’s my senior sister?”
So that old man’s surname was Liu? Luxianbei grumbled internally, raising an eyebrow as he turned to the sliced watermelon beside him and said crossly, “I got scammed; I cut several melons, and they were all unripe.”
“He claimed they were ripe, but anyone with unripe ones would make him pay me two hundred; when I cut one and found it unripe, he played tricks and ran off, claiming he needed to get money.”
As he spoke, Luxianbei exchanged glances with the girl beside Fu Xinyi, inadvertently meeting her gaze.
The girl looked at him, hesitated as if she wanted to say something, her eyes rippling like water, seeming somewhat emotional.
At that moment of eye contact, Luxianbei suddenly felt a stir within, and it was as if something inside him was being drawn away by the girl’s gaze.
He genuinely felt like the girl’s eyes had taken something from him, but it didn’t feel unpleasant.
It felt… how to say it? Almost like a sudden refreshing relief? This was likely what they meant by being able to prolong life by gazing at beautiful girls, Luxianbei thought.
“How could that be? Old Liu’s melons are always good; it may just be an accident,” Fu Xinyi pondered, interrupting Luxianbei’s musings.
“They were all cut five times; and you’re still saying it was an accident? The odds of that are too high, right?” Luxianbei retorted, and while speaking, he picked another melon, slicing through it, only to freeze in place again.
Originally, he intended to use practical action to prove to Fu Xinyi that there were no good melons at this stand, yet the one he just chopped open turned out exceptionally good.
Thin skin like paper, and the flesh was bright red and juicy; one cut, and the juice splattered out.
Fu Xinyi glanced at Luxianbei, then at the melon, tilting her head in confusion.
“That’s strange! Let me cut another!” Luxianbei said, carefully selecting a watermelon that was whitish with a few scars, then chopped it open.
This time, not only was the skin thin and flesh good, but not a single seed could be seen; at first glance, one could even be under the impression they were gazing at the cut face of a red gemstone.
This was definitely high-quality produce!
Luxianbei, “…”
I’m ™ flabbergasted!
How coincidental is this? This kind of coincidence could already be considered an urban legend event, right?
While Luxianbei stared at the bright red watermelon flesh in bewilderment, a sudden scream came from the distance, interrupting his thoughts.
“Car! Car!”
“Dodge! Everyone, quickly dodge!”
Following the sound, a runaway sightseeing vehicle came barreling towards the watermelon stand amid the startled shouts.
Seeing this, Luxianbei instinctively thought the out-of-control sightseeing vehicle was coming at him and quickly stood up from his small stool, jumping back.
This was a self-preservation instinct of an old unlucky person encountering danger.
Before Luxianbei could react any further, he heard a muffled crash.
“Bang!” With a loud thud, the beautiful girl beside Fu Xinyi was hurled through the air, following a parabolic arc.
She landed on the ground, startling the horses that were transporting the tourists nearby, causing them to race over her, trampling her.
Among them, a startled horse even kicked over a stall selling boiled peanuts and fried tofu, splattering boiling water and oil onto the girl.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye; by the time Luxianbei and Fu Xinyi came to their senses, the girl was already face down on the ground, her body covered in hoof prints, peanuts, and tofu pieces, trembling slightly and unable to move.
And in this brief chaos, apart from that girl, not a single person was injured, as if she alone absorbed all the damage.
“d*mn! Your friend…” Luxianbei gasped, “She won’t be, you know, dead, right?”
“……” Fu Xinyi fell silent for two seconds and said, “She should be fine; as long as she has a breath left on Zhenwu Mountain, she can be saved.”
“Let’s go check?”
“Mm…”
