I stared at Lai Youwei without speaking. He insisted, "You swear, or I won't tell you, even if it costs me my life!"
Helpless, I had no choice but to swear as he requested.
Lai Youwei shifted his body, causing his wounds to ache, and he gasped in pain.
After a long breath, he finally said, "Fifteen years ago, the Golden Dragon fell from the sky in the Great Ten Thousand Mountains, and a child of destiny was born. This is something the entire Xuan World knows."
My brow furrowed slightly.
Lai Youwei, noticing my expression, grinned smugly and said in a disdainful tone, "Oh, I forgot, you're just a wild boy. How could you possibly know anything about the Xuan World?"
I grabbed his neck and squeezed tightly. His face immediately turned red.
Lai Youwei, stretching his neck, still wore a mocking expression. He sneered, "I see you're trying to talk about rules, but I don't even know what rules you mean or who you're talking to."
"People like you are not part of the Xuan World, so talking about rules is just a joke," he continued.
The more my face darkened, the more pleased he seemed.
To be honest, he had struck a nerve with me. When I left the mountains, I thought that if I could practice Xuan techniques, I would be considered part of the Xuan World. But now I realized I had always been on the outskirts, never truly accepted.
Seeing me lost in thought, Lai Youwei became more excited and continued, "The Xuan World is deeply rooted and self-contained. Information only circulates within the circle, and outsiders like you will never get in. You're doomed to be blind and deaf your entire life."
I believed him on this point.
As he said earlier, the events in our village 15 years ago were well-known in the Xuan World, but I knew nothing about it. These kinds of matters, which seemed hard to find out, were probably casual dinner conversations among them.
I took a deep breath.
Seeing my expression soften, Lai Youwei thought I was about to hit him, so he quickly reminded me, "Don't forget your oath."
I snorted in response.
Lai Youwei was the kind of person who could tear someone down with a single point. Seeing that my face was no longer tight with anger, he became even more enthusiastic and added, "No matter how hard you try, you'll always be a wild child. From the very beginning, you've lost at the starting line."
As he spoke, his words were meant to provoke me even further.
Yellow Nine narrowed his eyes and reminded me, "Li, he's trying to destroy your will."
I nodded silently, then straightened up and said, "My wife is the Mountain Lord of the Great Ten Thousand Mountains. What Xuan World are you talking about? If it's filled with people like you, I don't even want to join. Just thinking about it makes me sick."
I wasn't going to say this, but letting such people off was just cruel to myself.
Lai Youwei's face changed, and his mouth moved, but he couldn't find a way to rebut.
I smirked maliciously and added, "And by the way, the oath I made only said I'd get someone to take you out of the mountains, but I didn't say anything about whether you live or die."
With that, I slowly drew out the Blood Dagger.
Lai Youwei looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His face turned ashen, and the next moment, he crawled over to my feet, begging pitifully, "Master, grandfather, I was wrong, beat me if you must!"
As he spoke, he began to slap himself repeatedly.
Before I met him, I never could have imagined such a person existed in the world. And this person was actually from the Xuan World, a member of the so-called righteous sects. It was laughable.
His words had no effect on me because I had the Great Ten Thousand Mountains behind me, but what about those practitioners without proper lineages, scattered across the common folk? No matter how talented they were, they were destined to be trampled by people like him.
I kicked Lai Youwei away, saying, "I'm not your grandfather."
Lai Youwei's skin was thick beyond measure. One second, he mocked others; the next, he was begging on his knees. He could switch between these two faces without a hint of discomfort.
Such a person was sick.
And it was nearly impossible to hit him with words.
I asked, "Last question: Did Mr. Tang invite you here just to bury his son?"
Lai Youwei, still on the ground, crying and sniffling, said, "It wasn't him who found me; it was me who found him."
"Mm?" I raised an eyebrow.
Lai Youwei hurriedly explained, "I heard rumors that his son had passed away and he was looking for a good burial spot. Coincidentally, I heard about this 'Hidden Dragon Cave,' so I took the initiative to approach him and told him about it."
I asked, "Who mentioned the Hidden Dragon Cave to you?"
Lai Youwei thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I can't remember. It was during a gathering in the Xuan World, and there were too many people."
A coincidence?
I don't think so.
It seemed too coincidental, and coincidences like that were never truly random.
It seemed Mr. Tang was indeed setting up a "Red Flowers in the Open, Black Flowers in the Dark" scheme.
Yellow Nine said, "It's not too late to pursue them now!"
I shook my head.
It was obvious they were in a car with four wheels, while we had only our two legs. We would never catch up.
Besides, I believed the trap wasn't set yet, and they would likely return.
I kicked Lai Youwei, who had crawled over, saying, "I'll spare your life this time. If there's a next time, don't blame me."
Lai Youwei repeatedly kowtowed, swearing, "I won't, absolutely no next time."
His words were as useless as farting, and I didn't believe him at all.
I ignored him and started walking toward the mountain's exit. When we reached the place where Yellow Nine had released the Paper Man, I stopped and looked at the surrounding peaks.
When we entered the mountains, I had noticed how peculiar the peaks were, like upside-down domes stuck to the earth, stretching endlessly.
But now, standing on the Da Nao Bao peak, I could see the entire landscape more clearly.
It turned out this was a naturally formed "Twenty-Four Mountain Formation," with six peaks in each direction—north, south, east, and west—arranged like the six lines of a hexagram.
We were at the center of this formation, which explained why Yellow Nine's paper man had automatically disbanded.
But this was all I could discern; anything deeper was beyond my understanding.
I asked Yellow Nine, "Do you think the disappearance of the Little Foot Girl is related to the peculiar Feng Shui here?"
If something had happened to the Little Foot Girl, she might have gotten lost.
Because of the Twenty-Four Mountain Formation, spiritual energy and techniques were often disrupted, and spirits and other entities could lose their way.
Before Yellow Nine could respond, I shouted loudly.
Surprisingly, it worked. After two calls, a figure of the Little Foot Girl appeared in the Dog Star's vision.
I felt relieved and hurried toward her.
The Little Foot Girl was rushing toward me, her face flushed red. She slowly descended in front of me.
Seeing she was unharmed, I let out a sigh of relief and scolded, "Where have you been? We've been searching the whole mountain for you."
The Little Foot Girl lowered her head, tears welling in her eyes. She spoke in a soft voice, "When you were fighting, I suddenly sensed the presence of the female ghost you mentioned, so I chased after it."
Seeing her about to cry, I was taken aback and prepared to comfort her. But before I could, her tears started flowing down in big drops.