Chapter 3

Chapter III

Where's the promised remote and uninhabited area? Wei Dedao deceived me!

Amidst the scorching gazes, Wei Xi slowly turned his head to survey the endless mountains and rivers stretching behind him. The path he had taken to arrive was now concealed within the vast forest, its traces long vanished. Yet, not far to the side, an unprecedented grand structure rose abruptly from the ground, stealing all attention.

Thick ropes stretched out from an unseen point below the endless mountains, ascending into the foggy summit where the towering structure stood. Upon these ropes, a series of horrifying cages, filled to capacity with people, were sliding rapidly up the mountain peak in reverse. Through the transparent gaps in the cages, one could glimpse the tightly packed crowd inside.

For a moment, Wei Xi found himself hesitating, not daring to act rashly.

Someone suddenly approached from the side, and he instinctively moved away, only to realize that it was the woman who had been selling rice cakes just now.

Gazing around, one could see nothing but pale limbs and exposed thighs, as almost everyone was dressed in disarray.

Wei Xi's gaze came to an abrupt halt when it reached the woman's chest, refraining from descending further as he vigilantly locked eyes with her.

"You child." The woman wasn't annoyed by his evasion but found it amusing. She asked with a smile, "Isn't it too hot for you to be dressed so heavily in the middle of the day? And standing under the sun like that, you might get heatstroke. Come into our shed and take cover for a while."

She said, curiously lifting the tattered Taoist robe of Wei Xi with her hand. Sensing no ill intent from her, Wei Xi suppressed the urge to ward off her touch and was pulled into a shaded food stall.

A woman offered him a glass of water and asked, "Would you like some pounded rice cake?"

Wei Xi's muscles remained tense as his gaze swept over the array of steaming pounded rice cakes on display, their aroma filling the corner. He hadn't been able to find decent food for a few days and was indeed ravenously hungry.

He still remembered her earlier cry of peddling; food outside required payment. After some thought, he croaked, "Ten pieces?"

"That's right, ten pieces for a bowl."

Upon receiving an answer, Wei Xi felt as if he hadn't received one at all. What did 'ten pieces' mean?

Not wanting to seem too abnormal, he pondered briefly before hesitantly taking out a silver ingot from his pocket.

The seller of pounded rice cakes: "?????"

"I took the wrong one." It seemed not to be ten taels of silver. Wei Xi nonchalantly withdrew the ingot and exchanged it for a yuanbao.

The seller: "...............???????"

First, a piece of iron, then game coins. The woman glanced at Wei Xi's patched daoist robe and guessed that this young man probably had no money – perhaps he was a broke university student traveling. She felt a headache coming on but couldn't bring herself to be angry when she saw his handsome, slightly bewildered expression. With a helpless wave of her hand, she said, "Forget it, forget it. It's free, just take it and eat."

Beautiful boys like that aren't commonly seen, especially ones around the same age as his son. Offering them a meal was nothing unusual.

The moment Wei Xi noticed the change in the woman's expression when she saw the coins, he realized his mistake and immediately became cautious. However, he hadn't expected her to give him the food for free.

He pursed his lips, studying her actions in disbelief. The woman merely served him while rambling on about things he couldn't understand, mentioning how one should have a plan even when out playing, and how one shouldn't suffer too much even when traveling on a budget. Her nagging was eerily similar to Wei Dedao's. With kind features and a gentle demeanor, she had a hint of shrewdness in her eyes but was not stingy. Overall, she appeared quite ordinary, except for a few faint streaks of dark aura creeping towards her forehead from the temples.

Wei Xi finally lowered his gaze, silently accepting the paper bag she offered. After examining the soft rice cake inside for a moment, he suddenly asked, "Aren't you going back?"

The woman immediately laughed, looking at him as if he were an innocent child. "We can't close up so early in business. Usually, we pack up around six or seven in the evening. Adults work very hard to earn money, and you'll understand that someday."

Wei Xi didn't speak either. He gazed at her for a moment before taking out an item.

The proprietress initially assumed it was money and tried to refuse, but upon closer inspection, she realized it was a dusty talisman. She couldn't help but laugh and cry as she accepted it. Operating a stall in front of the bustling Mountain God Temple, she had seen her fair share of mystical antics and wasn't overly concerned. She casually stashed it in her pocket. "Alright, alright. Auntie promised to treat you, so there's no need for you to give me anything. Just sit here and rest. Remember to pour yourself water if you're thirsty."

Someone approached to inquire about the prices at that moment. She didn't have time to attend to Wei Xi anymore and hurriedly greeted the customer. After making the sale, she turned around only to discover that the young man in the shed had vanished.

The proprietress was taken aback. She asked her husband and son, but the father-son duo were engrossed in their work and hadn't noticed when the young man left. She chuckled wryly, shook her head, and dismissed the incident from her mind.

However, she soon had no time for idle thoughts. Two tourists on Eagle Beak Cliff had suddenly started fighting, apparently due to an argument over a photo spot that escalated into insults about each other's parents.

Fighting on a mountain peak was no joke, especially on Eagle's Beak Peak with no guardrails. One misstep could result in a fatal fall. Surrounding tourists, out of concern, tried to intervene and mediate, but they couldn't stop the two young men, whose eyes were bloodshot with rage. The proprietress, seeing the escalating situation, hastily wiped her hands and rushed to calm them down.

"Damn your mother! Try cursing at me again!"

"You were the one who pushed into me! How dare you still have the nerve to argue?!"

"It's not easy for everyone to come here for a trip. The mountain gods and goddesses in the temple are watching. Let's both back off, there's no need for this."

"Stop it now! That's enough!"

The proprietress grabbed the sleeve of one of them. "Young man, it's too dangerous up here. You can't fight on a mountain! Your families will be worried if they find out."

With so many people trying to mediate, the disputants had somewhat calmed down. But then, the one in white said something in anger, provoking the other, who was in green, to throw another punch at his face.

The man in white retaliated with a kick, and as their movements grew more aggressive, the onlookers attempting to intervene became an obstacle. Both men impatiently waved away the hands trying to hold them back. "None of your business!"

In the chaos, the proprietress was suddenly pushed aside by someone. She stumbled, her head spinning, and her feet lost purchase.

A wave of panicked screams erupted from the crowd. Dazed, she turned back and could only see her husband and son, both ashen-faced, frantically rushing towards her.

"Juanzi!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Mama!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Aaaahhhhhhh!!!!! Someone's falling down!!!!!"

The sensation of weightlessness was dizzying, and the sky, which had previously been visible only by looking up, now loomed before her eyes. The mountain wind howled past her ears like a mournful horn heralding death.

The proprietress finally realized that this was happening to her. She closed her eyes in despair and resignation.

In the next moment, an immense force, seemingly out of nowhere, struck her back. She felt weightless as if she had grown wings, and before she could regain her senses, her feet were already back on solid ground.

The proprietress opened her eyes in disbelief, stunned for a few seconds before the realization of fear set in, causing her knees to give way as she fell to the ground in a seated position.

The sequence of events was so scientifically inexplicable that the screaming crowd stood frozen, dumbfounded. The father and son who ran the rice cake stall rushed to the proprietress's side, tears streaming down their faces from sheer terror.

The two impulsive young men were also bewildered by the sudden turn of events. Overwhelmed with the realization that they had nearly caused a tragedy, they hurriedly approached, asking, "Are you alright? We're so sorry, so sorry!!"

No longer engaged in a fight, they anxiously helped the unsuspecting proprietress, submitting to the angry glares of the father and son. Filled with guilt, not only did they humbly assist her back to the rice cake stall, but they also purchased all the items on display. Eventually, they pooled together one thousand yuan as a gesture of compensation to ease her shock, insisting on giving it to her.

The proprietress refused to accept it. Clutching her husband's and son's trembling hands, she was still in a daze. What was going on? She had clearly fallen; her memory couldn't be mistaken.

It was then that some of the tourists watching the commotion finally reacted. A few elders exclaimed in excitement, "It's the Phoenix Mountain deity! The deity has shown a miracle!"

A deity's miracle? Hearing this, the proprietress lifted her head blankly but felt an unusually intense heat on her leg. Instinctively, she reached out to touch it, only to grab a handful of thin ashes from her pocket.

Ashes...

She suddenly remembered something, and her entire body trembled. She turned back in disbelief to look at the path down the mountain.

"No!" Filled with gratitude and awe, she regained her voice instantly, spreading out her palm to show everyone. Her voice quivered with excitement, "Just now! That master in the Taoist robe gave me a talisman for protection!!"

The tourists marvelled as they looked at the "protection talisman" that had turned into ashes. Soon, the story was leaked to the media, and local reporters flocked to Phoenix Mountain to interview the proprietress. As a result, the misfortune turned into a blessing for the boss's family, and their steamed cake stall saw a sudden surge in income. At that moment, Wei Xi, who had already been transformed into a reclusive sage in the mouths of many tourists on the summit, had already reached the foot of the mountain.

The steamed cakes were delicious, so he carefully kept the paper bag they came in.

The descent was also effortless, as his feet were no longer sinking into the damp mud of the deep forest but stepping on smooth, solid steps built for the tourist area.

It was hard to imagine what kind of power could accomplish such a massive project. Along the way, he witnessed even more incredible sights.

The crowd was unbelievably dense, but almost everyone was barely dressed, with a few women revealing half their breasts or buttocks. However, they clearly lived leisurely and comfortably, without any signs of poverty in their expressions. Wei Xi couldn't recall from his hazy memories or Wei Dedao's accounts any city that had such a licentious atmosphere. With his fully-covered attire, he had become the odd one out.

Many people on the road held various square objects in their hands, some admiring them, others muttering to themselves as they held them up to their ears. Most strikingly, when they raised these squares high, images of landscapes, mountains, and people ahead appeared vividly inside! They were incredibly lifelike and detailed.

Wei Xi didn't know what kind of magic this was. He had contemplated snatching one for closer examination, but uncertain about the strength of those who possessed such powerful artifacts, and having heard Wei Dedao emphasize repeatedly not to commit evil in the mortal world, he ultimately refrained from acting rashly.

In addition, there was that seemingly endless cable stretching towards the heavens.

He could hardly fathom the immense strength required to lift so many cages filled with people and make them slide upward against gravity.

Analyzing inwardly, Wei Xi concluded that if the person operating the cable were to engage him in combat, he would have little chance of victory.

Thus, the mountain lord reluctantly restrained his nature, behaving obediently throughout the journey. Even when he saw a squirrel climbing a tree by the roadside, he resisted the urge to catch it.

But just as he thought he had avoided trouble by following the flow of people down the mountain, someone approached him and stopped him.

At the foot of the mountain stood a massive and sturdy canopy. Beneath it was an oddly-shaped fence that was very low, unable to prevent anyone from easily jumping over it. However, the descending pedestrians lined up orderly at a gap in the fence before leaving in an organized manner.

So, Wei Xi joined the queue too. But when it was his turn, the fence suddenly emitted a sharp beeping sound.

Wei Xi's pupils constricted, and he instinctively raised his hand to strike. However, a sluggish voice suddenly rang out from the side, "Hey, stop pushing! Show your ticket before you pass."

Turning his head, Wei Xi saw a middle-aged man in a hat walking towards him. At the same time, he noticed that several people in the nearby pens all held slender pieces of paper in their hands.

They attached the paper to the handrails on either side of the fence, and then a small gate would silently open, allowing them to pass through.

After some thought, Wei Xi recalled seeing this kind of paper before. It had been tucked away in the lining of the leather pouch that the unfortunate soul had given him before being sent away, but he had discarded it after flipping through it a few times.

The middle-aged man had already approached, scanning him from head to toe. Upon noticing his strange, tattered clothing, he frowned and asked, "Where's your ticket? Show me your ticket."

Wei Xi replied, "I lost it."

The man's demeanor was aggressive, and Wei Xi considered the possibility of killing or knocking him down before leaving.

However, just as this thought crossed his mind, he seemed to hear Wei Dedao's endless nagging in his head, causing him to pause for the moment.

The middle-aged man, however, seemed unwilling to let it go so easily. He adjusted his hat and pressed on with his questions, "Lost it? Where did you get it from? What are you doing here? Show me your ID, what's your name?"

I-D... Identity card...?

Was it proof of his identity? Wei Xi suddenly recalled that Wei Dedao had given him something like this before.

With so many people around, he didn't want to make a move without understanding the depth of his opponent. So, he obediently reached into his basket and took it out, remembering the question about where he came from and what he was doing.

To be honest, this question made him feel a bit dazed.

Moments later, the leader of the Fengyang Mountain scenic area's tourist security department received a tattered, yellowed scroll.

He unfolded it in confusion, only to see countless words of various sizes crammed together. Upon closer inspection, they were in traditional Chinese characters.

Struggling to decipher them, he murmured, "A... travel permit?"

At the same time, the young man standing before him with delicate features, piercings, curly hair, carrying a basket, and dressed in tattered clothes spoke in a peculiar, heavy yet ethereal tone:

"I am Wei Xi, the sixty-second sect leader of Taicang Sect."

The security team leader: ".................................................."