When Shangguan Xi said this, everyone's eyes turned to her, including Xu Yuehuai. She thought for a moment and replied, "Perhaps sometimes things are not as simple as they seem on the surface. He may have his own difficulties. Besides, a gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way. What's wrong with that?"
Xu Yuehuai's words stunned the others. At their age, they were the kind of people who liked to travel the world with swords and settle injustices. They had never imagined what human suffering was like. Apart from Xuan Chi and Shi Mu, the others were not lacking in cultivation resources.
Shi Mu lowered his head, stirring the wontons in his bowl with his chopsticks, but didn't eat them. Nangong Yu noticed his unusual behavior and asked, "Why aren't you eating? Is this not to your taste? What do you want to eat? We can still buy some now, but we'll have to wait until we leave. I guess we won't be able to eat anything hot like this for a long time."
Shi Mu snapped out of his reverie and forced a smile. "No, I was just thinking about something and got so engrossed that I didn't notice for a moment. I'll eat now."
He began to wolf down his food, leaving Nangong Yu speechless. Shi Mu, worried that he was delaying everyone's plans, ate even faster. After they finished eating, the owner cleared away the unwashed dishes and chopsticks from his stall. "Let's go," he said, "stay close to me, don't get lost."
The shop owner, still worried, gave them some instructions and led them away through a small alley behind the shop. The alley was winding and had many forks in the road; it was easy to go the wrong way if you weren't careful. Xu Yuehuai followed behind the shop owner, with Xuan Chi following behind.
Baili Xiuwen and Fu Ziyi were still at the bottom. The alley was very narrow, allowing only one person to pass at a time, so they formed a long line. Shangguan Xi looked around at the place and couldn't help but sigh, "I never thought there was such a place. Do you think the people who live here will get lost every time they go home and not be able to find their way back even when it gets dark?"
Shangguan Xi saw that there were still houses in the alley and couldn't help but sigh. Nangong Yu disagreed, "They must have lived in this alley since they were little. How could they get lost? Do you think everyone is as bad at finding their way as you are?"
Shangguan Xi was speechless. "Speak properly, why are you resorting to personal attacks!" Her eyes were filled with anger, and she didn't want to pay any attention to the man in front of her.
The boss looked at these places with an expression he had never seen before, as if he felt regret, fear, dread, and... apology.
Xu Yuehuai walked behind him, unable to see his expression or the emotions in his eyes. Perhaps that was why he could so freely display his emotions.
After walking for what seemed like forever, and with her legs aching, Shangguan Xi finally felt the road ahead widen a bit. "Boss, where are you taking us? Why do we have to walk such a long way?"
After escaping the extremely oppressive environment, Shangguan Xi couldn't help but ask.
The boss stopped hiding things and, since there weren't many people around, said, "It's nearby. I'll take you to a place that's related to what I'm about to tell you. I believe you'll understand better when you see those things than if I tell you the whole story directly."
The boss was being cryptic, not explaining what was going on directly, and Shangguan Xi didn't understand either. The group continued walking, with Xu Yuehuai squinting her eyes. She was the second person in the group, and besides the boss, she was the one who could best observe the situation ahead.
Behind these alleys was a wasteland, and the alleys had come to a complete end. Shangguan Xi looked at the wasteland in front of him, then looked into the shopkeeper's eyes, and pointed to the ground, saying, "Shopkeeper, is this the place you're talking about? What's so special about this place? I can't see anything wrong with it."
Shangguan Xi looked at it again and again, trying to find something different about this place, but unfortunately, apart from some bumps on the ground, there was nothing different. If he really had to point out something different, it would probably be that the vegetation here was growing quite well.
"These are the corpses of people who died in the villages at the foot of Taiping Mountain over the years, all of them buried here." The owner said the most shocking thing in the calmest tone. Hearing this, everyone's eyes turned to the owner.
Xu Yuehuai took two steps forward. In fact, she had some guesses at the beginning, but she was not sure. Now, she could be sure. "So what exactly happened in the village at the foot of Taiping Mountain back then?"
The others didn't understand what Xu Yuehuai was saying, but the boss took another look at her and thought that this young girl was quite capable, able to think of the key point. "There are rumors that everyone in the village would have died in the natural disaster back then if Taiping Mountain hadn't been there. But in reality, what happened back then had nothing to do with Taiping Mountain. In fact, it was caused by Taiping Mountain. Many people died in the village that year, but no one told anyone. And right after the natural disaster, the road to that place was difficult to travel, and no one was willing to go there and suffer when the village was in such a dilapidated state, all for the sake of a so-called truth."
The boss's tone was tinged with helplessness and a sense of story. Xu Yuehuai looked at him quietly, waiting for him to continue.
"You all know about the heavenly fire that year. Sparks kept falling from the sky, but only the area around Tianqi City was affected. The rest of the area was unaffected. Only the people at the foot of Taiping Mountain survived and their houses were preserved intact. That's how Taiping Mountain got its name... Back then..."
...
"What's that in the sky?" A girl in a red dress with two cute braids pointed at the flint falling rapidly from the sky, her eyes filled with innocent ignorance, completely unaware that this was the beginning of a nightmare.
The girl's mother looked up and, upon seeing the flint, her eyes widened in terror. She shouted towards the village, "Something terrible has happened! Everyone come out and see! It's raining flint from the sky!"
The village back then was so much better than it is now. Most of the villagers were young adults and children. When they heard about the firestone, everyone came out of their houses. When they saw it, they were shocked and terrified. "Run! Everyone, run! We can't stay here any longer! We have to run, or we'll all die!"
While everyone was stunned, another person observed the situation and realized that there was no way to salvage the situation. He shouted loudly to the people around him, and the others suddenly came to their senses and hurriedly ran with their children.
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