The next morning, Lu Zheng led a team of the King of Chu's personal guards to Li Zheng's house. Qingluan stayed behind to protect Rong Zhen and did not follow him.

Doctor Wang had been waiting for him at Li Zheng's house. Li Zheng was a man in his thirties or forties, tall and hairy. Lu Zheng thought he would see an old man, but was surprised to see Li Zheng's appearance. Doctor Wang

told him the story, and Li Zheng immediately shook his head and said, "No, this is a village ban, and you must not enter the mountain."

Lu Zheng frowned and said, "Then have you ever thought about it? If this case is not solved, the criminal will continue to commit crimes. Those who have no home to return to because of him, and those who died tragically in the fire because of him, don't you care?"

Li Zheng hesitated.

Lu Zheng continued: "The murderer is very revengeful. Even a good man like Brother Zhang will be hated by him. Can you guarantee that you have never offended him? Even if you are not worried, where are your wife and children?"

Li Zheng's expression was obviously shaken, but he still shook his head and said: "I understand what this young master said, but when my father passed down this prohibition, he made me swear, We must not enter the mountain. If I break my oath now, I'm afraid my father will not be safe underground."

Although he was frustrated, this was what Lu Zheng expected. He followed the plan and settled for the next best thing: "Then can you tell me, What happened in the mountain that year? Why are you so secretive about it?"

Li Zheng hesitated for a moment before saying, "I don't know much about this matter, but I vaguely heard my father mention it. There was a drought that year, and one day there was an earthquake in the mountain. My father said that the mountain god was angry and did not allow people to enter the mountain. Who knew that a few people still entered the mountain, and later except for a crazy person who escaped alive, the rest died. My father found a few young men in the village and went to the mountain to collect the bodies of those people. Who knew... who knew..."

"What happened?"

"Who knew that they saw black water flowing from the rocks and said there was an evil spirit in the mountain. They didn't dare to go in anymore and quickly took their people away from the mountain. Later, they sealed the mountain and issued a ban, forbidding people from the village to enter the mountain again."

As soon as the word "black water" was mentioned, Doctor Wang could no longer sit still and looked at Lu Zheng with suspicion.

Lu Zheng said to Li Zheng: "This kind of black water is the culprit of these arson cases. Please put the greater good first."

Li Zheng looked at the team of guards following Lu Zheng, knowing that there was no chance of recovery in this matter, he could only sigh and said: "Since you say so, I have no choice but to obey. Please wait a moment, let me prepare some things for going into the mountains, and then pick a few people."

Lu Zheng nodded and said: "Then I'll trouble Li Zheng."

Li Zheng He went out to prepare for the trip, but Doctor Wang asked immediately, "Mr. Lu, what exactly is this black water? Is it the oil produced from the stone you mentioned earlier?"

Lu Zheng nodded, "This oil has a lot of uses. Although I don't know much about it, it can be used as a fuel." In modern times, oil is closely related to people's lives. Aren't the local tycoons in the Arab region rich because of oil?

Doctor Wang stopped talking, and I don't know what he was thinking. Li Zheng

was still swift and decisive in doing things. Since he had promised Lu Zheng, he didn't delay time deliberately. Instead, he quickly called everyone together. However, when those people heard that they were going to the back mountain, their expressions were different.

However, just when they were about to set off, Doctor Wang suddenly said that he wanted to join them: "Mr. Lu said that thing was so magical, I naturally want to see it too."

Lu Zheng was a little hesitant: "But the mountain road is rugged, you..."

Doctor Wang smiled heartily: "Although I am old, my body is still strong, and I often go into the mountains alone to collect herbs, you don't have to worry about it."

Seeing that he was indeed energetic, and seeing that Li Zheng had no objection, Lu Zheng agreed.

The group walked towards the back mountain. When the mountain was closed, Li Zheng blocked the several roads in with wooden fences. However, after so many years of wind and rain, these wooden fences have long been fragile and can be broken apart with a little force, which saves them a lot of effort.

Because no one had come here for many years, the grass on the mountain grew extremely dense, half a person's height. Li Zheng led people to cut the grass with a sickle as they walked, and finally cleared a path.

Lu Zheng had climbed many mountains in modern times, but those were all with stairs or asphalt roads. He had never climbed such a primitive mountain. If it weren't for a few guards helping him, he probably wouldn't have been able to climb up at all.

On the way, they also chatted with Li Zheng. Li Zheng said to Lu Zheng: "Sometimes the years have been difficult, and some people say that the ban on the back mountain should be lifted. If it weren't for my father's will, I'm afraid..."

At this moment, a man's scream interrupted Li Zheng's words: "There are traces of people!"

Li Zheng hurried over and followed the man's instructions. He found that the weeds on one side had fallen down, and there were footprints on the soft ground.

Li Zheng's expression suddenly became serious. Doctor Wang had said before that the Tian family might have entered the mountain, but Li Zheng didn't take it seriously. After all, the village strictly prohibited entering the back mountain, and he didn't believe that anyone would be so bold, but everything at the moment was proving Lu Zheng's inference.

A guard came over and took a closer look at the footprints, saying, "These footprints are very fresh, they should not be more than two days old."

Lu Zheng suddenly asked, "Are these footprints from one person or two people?"

"One person," the guard said with certainty.

"That's strange..." Lu Zheng's face showed a puzzled expression. He originally thought that these footprints should be from the two brothers of the Tian family, but now it seems that there may be more than one group of people entering the mountain.

The man who found the footprints looked at Li Zheng in surprise and suspicion: "Li Zheng, what should we do next?"

Li Zheng frowned: "Keep going inside."

The group went towards the mountain again. As they went deeper into the mountains, the temperature gradually dropped and the humidity gradually increased. Lu Zheng only felt that his breath was becoming moist, and small insects fell on his face from time to time. Fortunately, it is not yet summer, otherwise they would have to prepare mosquito repellent before entering the mountains.

At this time, a guard suddenly said, "How come there are no birds or insects at this moment?"

Everyone realized that it was indeed silent. The chirping birds and the annoying insects seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden. The group of young men that Li Zheng had brought with him suddenly became restless. Li Zheng finally calmed them down and asked Lu Zheng solemnly, "Master Lu, do you think we should continue to go inside?"

Lu Zheng had just heard the guard explain that if they encountered such a situation in the mountains, there would either be an ambush or there would be something wrong with the environment in the mountains. What they encountered at this moment could not be the former, so it meant that something was wrong in the mountain. For these villagers, they were naturally afraid of such things, and no matter what Li Zheng said, they refused to move forward.

Lu Zheng was in a dilemma. Of course, he wanted to go inside, but he couldn't ignore the safety of so many people and go his own way. He said directly: "No matter what is ahead, I must go to see it, but I won't force you. I will pay double the reward for those who are willing to go, and it doesn't matter if you don't want to go. I will pay the agreed reward

as well." As soon as he said this, the villagers immediately talked about it. The guards were originally sent to protect Lu Zheng, so they would follow him in no matter what. Doctor Wang didn't want to stay, and Li Zheng was afraid that they would get into trouble, so he had no choice but to follow. In the end, two villagers joined the team for the benefit.

The group took a short break and then continued to walk into the mountain. However, Lu Zheng found that they were not walking uphill at this moment. Instead, the road gradually became flat. Li Zheng explained: "This mountain is originally like this. It is steep around, but it becomes flat in the center. It is not as cold as outside in the middle of the mountain. It is said that before the mountain was closed, hunters would kill a lot of prey in this mountain every autumn." As

they talked, they gradually felt a hint of warmth, and the trees became sparser, revealing the bare rocks underneath. Without the shade of the trees, the warm sunlight shone directly on them. Lu Zheng's hands and feet, which had been frozen stiff, gradually regained consciousness, and his forehead was sweating.

Li Zheng estimated the journey and said to Lu Zheng, "Master Lu, let's rest here for a while."

After he said this, Lu Zheng felt tired. He nodded, and Li Zheng shouted, "Rest for a while."

Except for the guards who were still on alert at all times, everyone else sat on the ground to rest. Lu Zheng felt much better after sitting for a while. He thanked the guards for the water and observed the surroundings with Doctor Wang.

Doctor Wang looked at it for a while before saying, "I also came to this mountain when I was young. At that time, the mountain was full of trees and it didn't seem to have so many rocks."

Lu Zheng said, "Didn't they say there was an earthquake before? Maybe the soil layer on the mountain was shaken off, exposing the rocks."

Doctor Wang stroked his beard and said nothing. He originally thought that if there was nothing wrong in the mountain, then lifting the ban on the mountain might give the villagers another way to make a living, which would be a good thing. But now seeing the exposed rocks on the mountain, it was far from what he thought.

At this moment, a patrolling guard suddenly exclaimed, "Master Lu, there is something going on here!"