Chapter 32: Worshiping the Mountain God

The woman's eyes suddenly lit up.

Shen Xun continued to tempt: "What I hate most is people who deceive me."

The woman's eyes darkened.

"However, to atone for the crime, if anyone can tell me everything they know, I can forgive them."

The woman's eyes lit up again.

She couldn't wait to say, "Girl, let me tell you the truth. We don't just want money, we also want..."

Village Chief Liu's face changed drastically. "Shut up, you bitch! Do you want to betray me?!"

The woman was frightened by him and subconsciously shut up.

Shen Xun gave Xie Lan a look, and Xie Lan casually took a rag to cover Village Chief Liu's mouth.

"Go on," Shen Xun promised, "Tell me everything you know, and I'll spare your life. As for the village chief..."

Shen Xun curled his lips: "I won't give him the chance to report to that master."

The woman hesitated before continuing, "Our village is ostensibly a village, but in reality, we collect offerings for the mountain gods for you, my Lord."

"Mountain God? Sacrifice? And what are the adults you mentioned?"

"The master came to our village a few years ago. He said he was a messenger from the mountain god and was ordered by the mountain god to lead us to find the wealth buried in the mountains."

"But before each search, you must offer sacrifices to the mountain god. This will please the mountain god and bring down wealth."

Seeing that the woman had been avoiding talking about the sacrifice, Shen Xun asked directly: "What is the sacrifice?"

"yes……"

The woman's eyes evaded, "It's a human."

Everyone present was shocked, and Zhong Danyue exclaimed, "Could it be a living sacrifice?"

This sentence attracted the attention of others. Zhong Danyue explained, "I read in some miscellaneous books that in the past, sacrifices to gods were always made with living people."

Not only gods, but even emperors and nobles in the past buried living people with them, but this custom was gradually banned.

The woman shook her head. "Every time, the adults tell us to take the people to the back mountain and then ask the village chief to stay. I don't know how they do it."

Everyone looked at Village Chief Liu. Shen Yunzheng kicked him and Village Chief Liu screamed in pain.

Shen Xun squatted down and took the rag out of Village Chief Liu's mouth. "Village Chief, I'm very interested in your village's mountain gods and messengers. Why don't you tell me about them?"

She really wanted to know what kind of benefits the mountain god's messenger had promised the village chief that made him not afraid of even being poisoned.

Village Chief Liu sneered and turned his face away from Chen Xun.

"I will never betray the Mountain God. Don't even think about getting any information out of me!"

"Oh, you're quite courageous," the second-in-command rubbed his hands, "Madam, I'm not very talented, but I know some ways to force you to tell me. Why don't you let me try?"

Shen Xun glanced at Village Chief Liu and saw that although his face was pale, he still clenched his teeth and kept silent.

So, she warned: "Be gentle, don't kill him. He has taken poison, so he must enjoy himself anyway."

The second in command responded and carried the desperate Village Chief Liu to another house.

The woman trembled and said, "Well, the sacrificial ceremony is about to begin. The village chief and I are in charge of you here. If we don't make it in time, the envoy might become suspicious..."

Since she has already betrayed the envoy, she should be more thorough. Women are still very smart. Instead of wavering, it is better to stand completely on Shen Xun's side.

"Girl," the woman said flatteringly, "I've told you everything I know. Can you please let me go?"

Shen Xun curled his lips, "Not now, we'll pretend to faint later, and you take us to the back mountain..."

After some planning, the woman looked at the dozen or so people lying on the carriage, gritted her teeth, and drove the carriage towards the back mountain.

When they reached the back mountain, Shen Xun opened the curtain of the carriage a little and quietly checked the situation outside.

The back mountain was brightly lit, and outside were villagers holding torches. She roughly counted and there were about twenty people.

The carriage approached, and on a makeshift platform, Su Song and others were lying in a mess. A masked man was sitting on the only chair, as if waiting for someone.

Seeing the carriage coming, the masked man walked over, and Shen Xun heard him say: "Why are you alone? Where is the village chief?"

The woman replied, "Sir, my husband had to go to the bathroom urgently, so he said he would stay home to watch over the rest of the people, so he didn't come."

"If the Lord has anything to tell him, I'll go and call him..."

"No need," the masked man shook his head, "Let someone move them down."

The woman nodded and asked the villagers to move people, while she personally led Chen Xun off the carriage.

The masked man took a quick glance and asked, "Just this one woman?"

Among the dozen or so people, except Chen Xun, all of them were bandits from Longao Village.

The woman replied, "There are a few more, but they seemed to have eaten less at night, so the medicine wasn't enough. I was afraid they might wake up, so I didn't bring them this time."

The masked man nodded and had Shen Xun and the others moved to the stage.

As soon as he turned around, he heard a gust of wind behind his head. He subconsciously dodged and avoided the fatal blow!

A burst of wailing was heard, and the men who had been unconscious all woke up, each holding a weapon in their hands, and knocked down the villagers in a few strokes.

The villagers had never practiced martial arts and could not defeat them as they were former bandits.

Seeing that the situation was not right, the masked man tried to escape, but Xie Lan stopped him from behind.

"Where do you want to go?"

Xie Lan and Shen Xun looked at each other, and they attacked at the same time, catching the masked man in a few moves.

The man said angrily: "I am the messenger of the mountain god. How dare you offend me? Aren't you afraid of the anger of the mountain god..."

Shen Xun retorted, "Even if the Mountain God gets angry, he'll crush you to death first. How dare you use the name of the Mountain God to kidnap passersby!"

She took off the man's mask. His face was very ordinary, the kind that you wouldn't be able to find in a crowd.

Shen Xun was too lazy to interrogate him, so he had Su Song and others wake up and threw the man to Su Song for interrogation.

Su Song was angry because he had been tricked, and the man's weapon came at the right time to vent his anger. After a few officers worked hard, the man confessed.

Chen Xun was shocked, "Hey, you are too bad, you are not even as good as Village Chief Liu."

Village Chief Liu didn't reveal a word.

It was also from the masked man that Shen Xun learned why Village Chief Liu was so loyal.

The masked man promised that as long as Village Chief Liu helped him, he would send Village Chief Liu and his family to another place to become rich after the task was completed.

Shen Xun asked the woman, "What about you?"

Isn’t this woman also a member of Village Chief Liu’s family?

The woman gnashed her teeth and said, "He and that bitch are from the same family. I can't have children. If he didn't need me to do something, that bastard would have divorced me long ago!"

So that's how it is.

Susong learned that the passers-by who had been sacrificed to the mountain god in the past were actually transported to other places by masked men. The men were used as coolies and the women were sold to brothels. He immediately decided to send someone to the nearest town to report to the police.