"Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people." Xu Qian originally thought it was just a common saying, but now he thinks it is probably the experience of the masses.

And so, a very puzzling scene unfolded before our eyes; extortion would be a more accurate description than robbery.

Just a few steps ahead of Xu Qian, a dozen villagers, each holding their own "equipment," formed a circle around a jeep in front of them. Upon closer inspection, three men were sitting inside the jeep, while outside, villagers were shouting for the men to get out. The initial reaction was somewhat ridiculous: they claimed that the three men had crushed a farmer's dried radishes that were drying by the roadside and demanded compensation of 30,000 yuan. It was astonishing that they dared to ask for such a sum.

But just then, a loud 'bang' rang out.

The villagers blew out the tires of that jeep!

Xu Qian frowned, feeling it was necessary to step in and stop it.

But just as he was about to make his move, the people in the car got out, and—they were carrying a gun!

"You want money, huh? You think we're easy to bully? How about I give you a bullet first?"

The speaker was a man with a fake mustache and very 'powerful' eyes. When the other villagers saw that they had met their match, they exchanged glances, hesitated for a moment, and then decided not to make a fuss. The leaders walked away cursing and swearing, and their movements were very swift.

The debt collectors simply packed up and left, leaving behind only a car with a flat tire.

"What terrible luck! What kind of people are these! This lousy place!" The man who had been holding the gun cursed under his breath.

"Never mind, it's not far anyway, let's just bring all the equipment," said another bespectacled, more refined-looking man.

The third person was the most silent one. He simply took the items from the trunk and carried them on his back.

Xu Qian watched silently for a while while keeping the car invisible. Seeing the three people lock the car, shoulder their bags, and walk towards the road leading up the mountain, he slowly withdrew his gaze.

Xu Qian stopped in his tracks, took out his phone and looked at the chat history. It was a photo that Bai Jiamu had sent him. After comparing it with the scene in front of him, it basically matched. This was the place.

Xu Qian walked along the path the three people in front of him had just taken. He then opened the mini-map, but the red dot for 'Blood Ginseng' still didn't appear in the search bar. There were only two possibilities: either the Blood Ginseng didn't exist, or it wasn't on the surface.

Xu Qian searched for 'blood ginseng grass' again, and finally the red dot appeared. He looked at the map and saw that it was located high up on the mountain.

It drizzled a little this afternoon, making the path up the mountain very slippery. Xu Qian himself really wanted to use his light-footed skill to get up there, but it was daytime, and it wouldn't be appropriate if someone saw him.

Xu Qian looked around and saw that there were no more yellow dots, so he deactivated his invisibility. It was quite uncomfortable to be hunched over like that for so long.

He took two rice balls from his backpack, pork floss pastries with meat filling. He had bought them from a breakfast shop he passed by before coming here. He bought a lot at once and stocked them all in his backpack, as these kinds of things are convenient to eat when you're out and about.

He was eating his rice ball bite by bite when suddenly a cawing of crows rose up in the distance, and a dark mass quickly filled most of his field of vision.

Just then, a voice slowly drifted over, like an echo from not long ago.

Xu Qian paused for a second, stuffed the rice ball down his throat in a few bites, and then leaped into the air. He saw the situation in front of him on the mountaintop; it was the same three people who had come up the mountain earlier.

Author's note: The day after tomorrow.

***