Facing each other

"I am ignorant and foolish, and I was blinded by greed. I will throw the letter back to the underworld!"

Cha Suxun didn't really blame him, so he didn't raise his eyes to give a response. He picked up the pen and wrote a few lines, then casually crumpled it into a ball and threw it to Niutou, saying, "Give it to them."

After accepting the task, Abang nodded repeatedly and quickly left with the paper ball in his hand. He looked so cautious as if he was holding a gold ingot.

Afterwards, Cha Suxun took out the Yang Scroll and unfolded it casually. It clearly stated that Chi Li had thirty years left to live, and Chi Xun had thirty-one years.

As for Qi Heng, he only has thirteen days left.

Seeing this, Cha Suxun was very satisfied. Estimating the time, he returned to the mortal world. At this moment, it was still dawn.

When I went out, smoke had already started coming out of the chimney. My mother was busy in the kitchen. There was a pile of chicken feathers on the ground outside the kitchen, stained with some chicken blood that had not completely dried and solidified.

Without even going inside, Cha Suxun knew the chicken would be stewed into a soup for Ah Li's daily nourishment. She was probably tired of it. There were some new seasonal preserves down the mountain; I thought she'd like them.

When he was almost down the mountainside, Cha Suxun ran into the sentry Ami who was hurriedly returning.

"Young Valley Master! Our people discovered a group of townspeople in disguise sneaking up the mountain. Look..." As he spoke, Ami made a gesture of wiping his neck.

"Ami, don't be so excited. It's not good to kill too much. Let's do some good deeds for ourselves. We are villagers, not bandits. We should be more polite and capture them alive."

Hearing this, Ami, who had just been on sentry duty for two years, was immediately disheartened. He had heard countless stories from his father and uncle about their battles with bandits to defend the village, and he had imagined countless times that he could be like them. But after two years of sentry duty, nothing happened. Finally, he encountered a few sneaky bandits and had the opportunity to show off his skills, but who knew that the young valley master would come and kill him.

Thinking of the new itchy insect, Ami became interested again.

A-mi was young and ignorant, so Cha Su-shun guessed most of his thoughts without him having to say anything.

"Old friend, there's no need to waste time casting a spell." Cha Suxun walked around Ami and went straight down the mountain. When he slowly strolled to the sentry post on the mountainside, the group of people had been tied up neatly and sat in a ball on the ground, their bodies leaning limply against each other.

"They look unfamiliar. They don't look like they're from the nearby villages." Cha Suxun thought thoughtfully for a moment, then turned and deliberately asked the others, "Do they have any markings from the nearby villages?"

"No, when I searched them, I saw that they were very delicate, their clothes were made of such soft material, and they had been sneaking around in the mountains for a few days. There must be something fishy going on!"

"There's no sign of the mountain, and no one knows where it is. Let's just throw it to the back hill to feed the wolves."

"yes!"

Several people roughly lifted them up from the ground. Although they all had anxious and fierce looks in their eyes, they had no strength to resist and could only be slaughtered like fish on a chopping board.

They carried them to the back mountain. After a long walk, the group remained silent. Cha Suxun looked at their stubborn figures with a worried look, unable to help but complain: "They are just stubborn as a duck."

The mountain road was so steep and winding that it was dizzying. Cha Suxun even had his leader lead them around in circles. Even if they hadn't been hit by the soft muscle powder, they wouldn't have been able to escape before being eaten by wild animals.

Even though his body was so weak, he was still trying every possible way to leave every possible mark. He had noticed four or five of them alone.

When they reached the cliff behind the mountain, Cha Suxun ordered his men to throw them over the edge of the cliff. He took out the bone whistle hanging around his neck and blew it, and many startled birds flew out from above the dense forest.

The wolves quickly came out of the forest, obeying the orders blown by Cha Suxun's bone whistle, surrounded them, staring at them as if they were prey for dinner, ready to attack, just waiting for Cha Suxun's order so that they could have a good meal.

Seeing this, the group realized that these wolves did not recognize people, but only recognized the specific tone commands blown by the bone whistle.

"In your next life, be more careful and don't take the wrong path again."

After saying that, Cha Suxun slowly picked up the bone whistle. When he was about to put it to his lips, someone in the group shouted at the top of his lungs, "How dare you! An official from the imperial court is here, and you dare to take human life so lightly!"

Judging from the man's voice, it sounded like Chu Xiao, who had fought with him a few days ago.

Cha Suxun put down the bone whistle with satisfaction. When the people in the village heard him say this, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Ami taunted him, "An official appointed by the imperial court? Where did you come from to be so shameless? You're trying to scare people by claiming to be an official. My father didn't use that trick when he was young. Now, it doesn't work. In your next life, if you're lucky, come and worship our mountain, and grandpa will teach you how to scare people."

"You!" Chu Xiao was furious. He was already weak and uncomfortable after being hit by the Softening Powder, and this sudden burst of air made it even more difficult to breathe. "Bah! A villain is getting ahead!"

"I advise you to think carefully before you lie. If you really are an official, feeding the wolves would be a concession from our Valley Master."

As soon as Ami said these words, the atmosphere around them instantly froze, and everyone in the village put away their smiles. They were still brooding over the harm Chi Li suffered in the imperial capital.

They always felt that they shouldn't trust those high-ranking officials from the imperial capital, just as they were untrustworthy decades ago. As time passed, they trusted the people from the imperial capital again, but they were no better than last time.

Same...it's easy to lose your life.

Cha Suxun smiled without saying a word, quietly watching the show. He wanted to see how Qi Heng, who always looked so noble now that he had become a mortal, would beg for mercy in this life-or-death situation.

He blew the bone whistle and ordered the wolves to slowly move towards them.

Facing the wolves' aggressive and wary eyes, which were filled with the hope of a full meal, and their hunting postures ready to attack at any time, they were mentally tormented by not knowing which wolf would pounce on them and bite them without any defense.

"Are you still unwilling to lower your head and beg for mercy? Look at those loyal subordinates who follow you. Aren't they really afraid of death? And you, aren't you afraid of dying here right now, Qi Heng?"

Hearing this name, the people in the village instantly filled their eyes with hatred, wishing they could personally go up and tear him into pieces. At this moment, silence was more powerful than words, and everyone looked at each other, understanding his thoughts without words.

"When I came here, I was already prepared to die. You blame me, and rightly so. I can't face you, her relatives. Ah Li is not dead, but she has disappeared, along with that lover named Ah Xun. I looked in countless directions where she might be, but there's no trace of her. Jiwang Valley is my last hope. You can kill me or chop me up, as long as I find Ah Li."

"You're so hypocritical. Ah Li was probably deceived by your hypocritical appearance, which is why she loses her life every time. You make me sick. Didn't your people carry Ah Li's body back? Now, you sneak up the mountain again, saying Ah Li is still alive? The old emperor's face changes faster than the memorials, a bunch of dogs biting each other like crazy."

Cha Suxun's tone was filled with hatred and sarcasm, his anger causing veins to bulge on his clenched fists. He pretended to have lost his beloved so much that when people in the village saw him, they were tempted to believe him.

"I swear on the lives of all nine members of the Qi clan that Ah Li is indeed still alive."

"A-Li was burned to death by your father! Your father! Your own father! Without your connivance and negligence, would she have died so miserably? She was the emperor's man, and he personally carried her coffin back. You, a murderer and arsonist, are trying to swear an oath like a gentleman."

"It's true that I failed to protect her, but there's another hidden story. It wasn't her, it was..." Qi Heng was about to blurt out the truth but was choked in his roar. He was hesitant to speak and couldn't come up with a better explanation.

He couldn't reveal the truth at this moment. If the emperor knew about it, all his family members, including his father's and mother's, would be killed.

Seeing Qi Heng being hesitant and hesitant, not daring to tell the truth and only letting A'li down, he looked exactly the same as he was in heaven.

"If you weren't wholeheartedly by her side, you shouldn't have come to provoke Ah Li in the first place. You have all sorts of reasons to be a coward, but can't you find a reason to drive you to stand by her side without hesitation? Based on this, I will never let go. Even if I have to use the most despicable means, even if I have to use a marriage arranged by parents and matchmakers to trap her by my side for the rest of her life and make her hate me, I can't let her be by your side, no matter how much she loves you, even your soul, I can't do that."

After these words were spoken, the two of them remained silent for a long time, just staring at each other, their minds full of thoughts. He knew the meaning behind these words.

However, what Qi Heng was more concerned about was who the person opposite him was.

A cold wind blew into his neck, chilling him. Cha Suxun stood before him, his head unbending, looking down at him. He spoke first, "If A-li hadn't died, why would I have left her grave to curse her until now? She was in love with you even when she was burned to death. You didn't deserve to die in her home. Take your people and get out. This time, I won't kill you, but if you set foot on her land again, I'll drag you ten miles out of the mountain and kill you."

"I don't believe it. I won't leave. I want to personally confirm whether she has returned home and whether she has been hidden by you. I heard that the Young Master of Jiwang Valley is getting married this month. The wedding is hastily scheduled and will not take more than a month. I don't believe that you will marry another wife before her body is cold."

Seeing that he hadn't reacted at all, Qi Heng leaned forward and grasped the corner of his clothes with all his strength, pleading humbly, "I just want to confirm that she's still alive. I don't ask for anything else. As long as the poison she put on me is still there, she can't be dead. Just let me know that she's still alive and well. As long as I can confirm it, I will immediately and quietly descend the mountain and will never bother you again. You can ask me to pay any price, Chi Xun, please."

"You beg me, and I'll grant you what you want? Why? Come on, throw him out of the mountain and let him fend for himself."