Brother Meng, do you believe in mountain spirits?
The accumulated snow in the mountains had disappeared, no longer a vast expanse of white. Rocks were piled up unevenly on the mountain path, and the stream was filled with fallen stones, changing the appearance of the valley.
“Is this the place?” Meng Qi asked uncertainly.
The sky was pitch black, without any stars for reference, and the river had changed its course, making it impossible to determine the direction.
“I’m not sure, but I can sense it.” Mo Li pointed to the ground.
They stood at a high point and could clearly see that the cliffs here were more severely collapsed than elsewhere. The cracks extending to this point suddenly widened, showing obvious forks and turns.
“Is this how the mineral veins are distributed?”
“Perhaps.”
Mo Li reached out and released the acupoints on Si Zhuan’s body. Si Zhuan took a deep breath and sat up abruptly.
“You guys—”
Si Zhuan looked around with his injured wrist covered, realizing that they could no longer see the ruins of Si Zhuan’s Family Stronghold. The surrounding terrain had changed drastically, and he couldn’t pinpoint their exact location, only knowing that they were still in the mountains.
“Where are my subordinates? Did you kill them all?” Si Zhuan asked cautiously. He had lost his martial arts and his subordinates. He had even thought he was about to bleed to death, but now he realized that his wound was not deep at all. Could it be an illusion?
These two individuals had unknown origins and strange behavior. They seemed to be here to seek justice for the refugees, but why were they carrying a tree? Si Zhuan was about to speak when suddenly his feet were hanging in the air—Mo Li lifted him up and held him at the edge of the cliff.
“How much gold do you want? I can give you any amount,” Si Zhuan quickly decided, without any hesitation.
He didn’t mention a specific number or show an ugly begging expression. If someone else were to see it, they might even praise him as a ruthless hero emerging in troubled times, showing ambition and courage. Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong path.
However, Mo Li was not an ordinary person.
Bringing Si Zhuan here, Mo Li wasn’t trying to intimidate him or see him beg for mercy. Whether Si Zhuan had ambition or courage, Physician Mo didn’t care.
“Do you recognize this place?”
Mo Li loosened his grip, and Si Zhuan quickly clung to the rock.
This cliff was not very high, so falling wouldn’t be lethal. The trouble was that a slope had formed at the bottom of the cliff, and rolling down would lead to a crack of unknown depth. Si Zhuan instinctively wanted to climb back up, but his dantian was empty, and his hands felt weak and powerless. It was already difficult to hang in mid-air like this, let alone escape the danger.
Mo Li ignored him and used lightness skills to land on the slope.
The crack was deep and bottomless, but there was an obvious dark hole on the side of the slope, with a worn-out mining pickaxe lying across the entrance.
“It’s indeed here.” Meng Qi also came down, leaving the tree on the cliff.
Faintly visible in the soil were pale white chunks.
On the left side of the crack’s stone wall, there were faint flickering lights, but they were not very prominent due to being covered in mud.
Mo Li lifted his hand and pulled Si Zhuan back, who had an expression filled with anger and unwillingness.
“You said the Si Family had already mined all the gold, but isn’t there still some here?” Mo Li gestured for Si Zhuan to look at the entrance.
Upon hearing this, Si Zhuan intuitively believed that these two individuals had indeed come for the gold mine, seeking revenge or whatever was just a pretext. But when hearing about gold, who wouldn’t be tempted? Even those self-proclaimed righteous heroes in the jianghu would be even less polite when it came to the wealth of so-called “villains.”
The Si Family had taken away the high-grade ore that contained more gold, leaving behind the ones on the stone wall that weren’t worth it.
“…Mining for gold is laborious, and refining it takes time. It’s better to open a new mine pit for ores with lower gold content. Now, the Si Family only has me left. If you are willing to spare me, I can give you all the gold that the Si Family has accumulated.” Si Zhuan’s gaze shifted between Mo Li and Meng Qi.
Wealth has always moved people’s hearts, and there was no shortage of friends who would turn their backs for gold. Si Zhuan gritted his teeth. He needed to stay alive in order to seek revenge, to rise again, and regain his dignity. The hidden gold of the Si Family was his best bargaining chip.
“Ah!”
Si Zhuan was thrown toward that hole.
He flailed his arms in panic, finally grabbing onto the mining pickaxe lying on the ground, his gaze filled with fear.
Releasing his grip would send him into the bottomless crack. The pickaxe was already trembling, on the verge of falling. At the critical moment, a strong force pushed him from behind, causing him to be completely lifted into the hole, narrowly avoiding crashing into the rock wall.
Si Zhuan tried to climb up and rush out of the cave, but after taking just two steps, the ground began to shake, causing the mining pickaxe and the soil around the entrance to fall into the crack below.
An aftershock occurred.
Rocks kept falling on both sides of the crack, and Meng Qi and Mo Li quickly moved away from the gentle slope. In just an instant, half of the slope disappeared.
“I feel something is not right here. We should leave as soon as possible,” frowned Meng Qi.
Mo Li held his breath and focused. The cave had a smell of decay and earth. For some reason, he also had a vague sense that something was off.
Amidst the smoke and dust, Si Zhuan struggled to support himself against the rock wall. If he had jumped out of the cave earlier, he might have been able to land on the slope and climb back up. But now the entrance was within the crack, like a cave with its exit in the middle of a cliff. He couldn’t climb up, and jumping down would be a dead end.
Si Zhuan coughed and faintly saw the two people turning away, unable to bear it any longer, he shouted in panic, “Wait!”
When Mo Li returned to the cliff, he could still hear the muffled shouts coming from below.
“…The gold hidden by the Si Family… you…”
Si Zhuan finally realized that these two individuals intended to leave him here. He no longer cared about concealing his sect and blurted out, “Qingwu Ancestor won’t let you go!”
The continuously collapsing rocks forced Si Zhuan to retreat step by step until everything turned black, and the cave entrance was completely blocked. The soil beneath his feet made a crisp cracking sound.
The shaking stopped, and the pitch-black cave was filled with a dim phosphorescent glow. Si Zhuan saw that he had stepped on a bone.
He belatedly realized that the abandoned mine tunnel had been completely sealed.
“No!”
His scream didn’t reach the surface. Mo Li could only see that after the tremors stopped, the location of the cave entrance had completely vanished.
“Is he dead?” Meng Qi peeked.
“He should still be alive for another two or three days,” Mo Li thought for a moment and said, “Unless this mine tunnel sinks completely into the ground and there are no cracks for ventilation, then he won’t survive long.”
“It seems he’ll regret not dying in the previous earthquake.”
“The Si Family is the root of evil. If it weren’t for the earthquake, they should have been confined in a burial pit.”
Mo Li didn’t enjoy killing, but that didn’t mean he would let the evildoers roam freely. There were many things in this world worse than death.
“People like the Si Family, even if they feel remorse in their hearts, they only regret not succeeding at the right time. They adhere to the principle of winners and losers, disregarding the evils they have committed. Your actions, Physician, are quite innovative,” Meng Qi said, supporting himself and smiling. Unfortunately, his appearance of arrogance and disdain was ruined by the mud covering him.
“I don’t know if Si Zhuan regrets or not, but before he dies, he will surely experience firsthand the helplessness of the refugees,” Mo Li turned his head and whispered, “I am neither the aggrieved party nor the celestial law. Deciding life and death is not my role.”
Meng Qi asked with interest, “What do you mean, Physician?”
Mo Li stared at the bottomless crack for a long time before saying, “Brother Meng, why aren’t there ghosts in this world?”
Even though so many people died and the crimes of the Si Family were countless, once they were dead, they were dead. They could no longer step forward and demand justice for themselves.
When they were alive, they were mere drifting leaves in troubled times, powerless.
After death, they vanished without a trace.
“Physician, are you talking about karma or vengeful spirits?” Meng Qi shook his head slightly and said in a desolate tone, “Karma is just a comforting phrase. The world has always been unjust. Repay kindness with virtue, repay enmity with blood—it sounds satisfying indeed. But vengeful spirits were once humans too. As long as they are human, they will make various mistakes, and as long as they are human, they will have their own differences. If people become ghosts after death, how can we guarantee that the souls of those who died unjustly will surpass the spirits of those evildoers from their previous lives? Perhaps even after death, they will continue to suffer.”
Mo Li couldn’t help but contemplate deeply and sighed.
He realized that he had witnessed too little of the world.
The books recorded the conflicts of the world and the rise of warlords.
The tales spoke of heroes and their chivalry, their tender emotions.
Those who were wrongfully killed and became ghosts under the blades of warlords were merely mentioned briefly.
Even among humans, it was like this, not to mention the mountains and rivers that could be found everywhere.
They were destroyed without hesitation, trampled upon without care, not even considered important.
“Brother Meng…”
Mo Li began to speak but stopped midway.
Meng Qi had no idea about Mo Li’s identity, and if he revealed it carelessly, he didn’t know if Meng Qi would be able to accept it. Right now, Mo Li, the great Physician, didn’t even have a single Calming Pill.
However, without further elaboration, Meng Qi asked in confusion, “What is it?”
Mo Li hesitated for a moment and whispered, “Do you believe that mountains and rivers have spirits?”
Meng Qi couldn’t help but laugh and cry. First, vengeful spirits, now mountain spirits.
Why did someone as intelligent as the Physician rely on these elusive entities to solve the injustices of the world?
On the other hand, this earthquake was indeed strange.
Meng Qi pondered. The Si Family claimed they had hollowed out a mountain, but in reality, they had only extracted mineral veins, leaving behind low-quality gold ore. Collapses often occurred during mining, but this terrifying earthquake couldn’t be explained by a large-scale collapse alone. After all, even the nearby Qiuling County suffered.
Mining collapses were man-made disasters, while the upheaval of the earth was a natural disaster. There was a fundamental difference between the two.
—The sudden loss of inner energy during the earthquake, the sight of flourishing vegetation upon entering the mountains, and this tree at their feet!
“You’re not suggesting that this tree is a mountain spirit, are you?” Meng Qi stared at the tree, looking left and right, but couldn’t see anything special about it.
Mo Li bent down and infused some spiritual energy into the trunk, but the tree showed no response. He touched the rough bark, and Meng Qi almost thought that this tree was Mo Li’s pet.
Would a normal person keep a tree as a pet?
“It… is not a mountain spirit. The mountain spirit is already dead,” Mo Li’s tone was heavy.
Meng Qi squatted beside him and imitated Mo Li’s gesture, touching the tree. Surprisingly, he also felt an inexplicable sadness.
At first, he didn’t notice anything unusual about this sorrow, but upon careful consideration, it felt as if the deep crack in front of him was bottomless.
“Why did the mountain spirit kill the people of Qiuling County?” Meng Qi asked unconsciously.
“Even within the Si Manor, there were innocent servants. Wasn’t the account book stolen by one of them? However, they all died. The mountain spirit and humans alike, before life and death, were all helpless.”
“Are there many mountain spirits in the world?”
“Perhaps,” Mo Li replied.
Mo Li had never left Pingzhou and didn’t know what other places were like.
Meng Qi paused for a moment and asked again, “Are those mountain spirits still alive?”
“…Maybe.”
Mo Li only knew that the Taijing Dragon Vein was alive, but there were numerous mountains and rivers in the world. How many dragon veins existed? Did they take on physical forms and still live in this world? The true form of dragon veins couldn’t move, and if they encountered calamities, they couldn’t escape either.
Mo Li remembered the flash flood in Qimao Mountain, which submerged the cave where the spiritual spring was located. He was forcefully washed out by the flood, and in order to hold onto a floating log, he transformed into human form.
If he hadn’t encountered Old Master Qin, how would a foolish child who couldn’t even speak fare?
What if it weren’t for the simple folk of Zhushan County? A foolish child mingling among refugees, wouldn’t he have been abducted? And after being abducted? Illiterate and ignorant of worldly matters, unable to protect himself. If luck wasn’t on his side, as a dragon vein capable of transformation, he would face even more dangers compared to dormant dragon veins without self-awareness.
Mo Li turned to look at Meng Qi. He didn’t know why the Taijing Dragon Vein had ended up in its current state. It was only a part of the past life of the Royal Teacher of the Chu Dynasty.
Mo Li had long overturned his previous speculations. Based on Meng Qi’s various behaviors, Meng Qi might be the Taijing Dragon Vein.
Previously, Mo Li didn’t have a good impression of the Golden Dragon in Taijing, who had played tricks on him. Now, he recalled the words the Golden Dragon had said to him in the end—
“You are a dragon vein, and I am also a dragon vein. Take good care of yourself.”
Did the unconscious Meng Qi’s appearance in Maxian County happen because his subconsciousness drove him to find Mo Li? Mo Li was uncertain in his heart, but he knew that he must go to Taijing. As fellow dragon veins, they were closely connected.
The cause of Meng Qi’s illness wasn’t as simple as a spiritual medicine.
If Meng Qi could stand here well, then what about the fat rat?
With countless thoughts swirling in his mind, Mo Li couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to temporarily set it aside.
“Let’s go,” Mo Li said, reaching out to carry the tree.
“I’ll do it,” Meng Qi preempted him, not as if he was exerting strength but rather wanting to carefully sense the wonders of this tree.
Mo Li remained silent and followed along as Meng Qi took the lead.
While walking, Meng Qi asked, “Where should we take the mountain spirit?”
He didn’t mind carrying it all the way, but the tree couldn’t endure, right? Even if the tree roots were wrapped in soil, being away from the ground for too long would inevitably be detrimental.
“It’s not exactly a mountain spirit… Well, you can call it that if you wish. We need to find a place rarely visited by people and plant it there,” Mo Li added. “By the way, it must be within this mountain.”
“I understand. As a mountain spirit, it cannot be taken out of this mountain.”
After walking for a few miles, Meng Qi suddenly felt that the tree’s branches and leaves were getting closer to him, rustling as if demanding something. At first, Meng Qi didn’t pay attention and pushed them away, as the feeling of the branches and leaves constantly brushing against his face was somewhat painful.
The branches and leaves were relentless, continuing to launch their assault with the help of the wind.
“…”
Oh no, Physician! This mountain spirit doesn’t like my face!
The author has something to say:
A tree without soil: Spiritual energy (￣0￣)
Meng Qi: …
Brother Meng, do you believe in mountain spirits?
The accumulated snow in the mountains had disappeared, no longer a vast expanse of white. Rocks were piled up unevenly on the mountain path, and the stream was filled with fallen stones, changing the appearance of the valley.
“Is this the place?” Meng Qi asked uncertainly.
The sky was pitch black, without any stars for reference, and the river had changed its course, making it impossible to determine the direction.
“I’m not sure, but I can sense it.” Mo Li pointed to the ground.
They stood at a high point and could clearly see that the cliffs here were more severely collapsed than elsewhere. The cracks extending to this point suddenly widened, showing obvious forks and turns.
“Is this how the mineral veins are distributed?”
“Perhaps.”
Mo Li reached out and released the acupoints on Si Zhuan’s body. Si Zhuan took a deep breath and sat up abruptly.
“You guys—”
Si Zhuan looked around with his injured wrist covered, realizing that they could no longer see the ruins of Si Zhuan’s Family Stronghold. The surrounding terrain had changed drastically, and he couldn’t pinpoint their exact location, only knowing that they were still in the mountains.
“Where are my subordinates? Did you kill them all?” Si Zhuan asked cautiously. He had lost his martial arts and his subordinates. He had even thought he was about to bleed to death, but now he realized that his wound was not deep at all. Could it be an illusion?
These two individuals had unknown origins and strange behavior. They seemed to be here to seek justice for the refugees, but why were they carrying a tree? Si Zhuan was about to speak when suddenly his feet were hanging in the air—Mo Li lifted him up and held him at the edge of the cliff.
“How much gold do you want? I can give you any amount,” Si Zhuan quickly decided, without any hesitation.
He didn’t mention a specific number or show an ugly begging expression. If someone else were to see it, they might even praise him as a ruthless hero emerging in troubled times, showing ambition and courage. Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong path.
However, Mo Li was not an ordinary person.
Bringing Si Zhuan here, Mo Li wasn’t trying to intimidate him or see him beg for mercy. Whether Si Zhuan had ambition or courage, Physician Mo didn’t care.
“Do you recognize this place?”
Mo Li loosened his grip, and Si Zhuan quickly clung to the rock.
This cliff was not very high, so falling wouldn’t be lethal. The trouble was that a slope had formed at the bottom of the cliff, and rolling down would lead to a crack of unknown depth. Si Zhuan instinctively wanted to climb back up, but his dantian was empty, and his hands felt weak and powerless. It was already difficult to hang in mid-air like this, let alone escape the danger.
Mo Li ignored him and used lightness skills to land on the slope.
The crack was deep and bottomless, but there was an obvious dark hole on the side of the slope, with a worn-out mining pickaxe lying across the entrance.
“It’s indeed here.” Meng Qi also came down, leaving the tree on the cliff.
Faintly visible in the soil were pale white chunks.
On the left side of the crack’s stone wall, there were faint flickering lights, but they were not very prominent due to being covered in mud.
Mo Li lifted his hand and pulled Si Zhuan back, who had an expression filled with anger and unwillingness.
“You said the Si Family had already mined all the gold, but isn’t there still some here?” Mo Li gestured for Si Zhuan to look at the entrance.
Upon hearing this, Si Zhuan intuitively believed that these two individuals had indeed come for the gold mine, seeking revenge or whatever was just a pretext. But when hearing about gold, who wouldn’t be tempted? Even those self-proclaimed righteous heroes in the jianghu would be even less polite when it came to the wealth of so-called “villains.”
The Si Family had taken away the high-grade ore that contained more gold, leaving behind the ones on the stone wall that weren’t worth it.
“…Mining for gold is laborious, and refining it takes time. It’s better to open a new mine pit for ores with lower gold content. Now, the Si Family only has me left. If you are willing to spare me, I can give you all the gold that the Si Family has accumulated.” Si Zhuan’s gaze shifted between Mo Li and Meng Qi.
Wealth has always moved people’s hearts, and there was no shortage of friends who would turn their backs for gold. Si Zhuan gritted his teeth. He needed to stay alive in order to seek revenge, to rise again, and regain his dignity. The hidden gold of the Si Family was his best bargaining chip.
“Ah!”
Si Zhuan was thrown toward that hole.
He flailed his arms in panic, finally grabbing onto the mining pickaxe lying on the ground, his gaze filled with fear.
Releasing his grip would send him into the bottomless crack. The pickaxe was already trembling, on the verge of falling. At the critical moment, a strong force pushed him from behind, causing him to be completely lifted into the hole, narrowly avoiding crashing into the rock wall.
Si Zhuan tried to climb up and rush out of the cave, but after taking just two steps, the ground began to shake, causing the mining pickaxe and the soil around the entrance to fall into the crack below.
An aftershock occurred.
Rocks kept falling on both sides of the crack, and Meng Qi and Mo Li quickly moved away from the gentle slope. In just an instant, half of the slope disappeared.
“I feel something is not right here. We should leave as soon as possible,” frowned Meng Qi.
Mo Li held his breath and focused. The cave had a smell of decay and earth. For some reason, he also had a vague sense that something was off.
Amidst the smoke and dust, Si Zhuan struggled to support himself against the rock wall. If he had jumped out of the cave earlier, he might have been able to land on the slope and climb back up. But now the entrance was within the crack, like a cave with its exit in the middle of a cliff. He couldn’t climb up, and jumping down would be a dead end.
Si Zhuan coughed and faintly saw the two people turning away, unable to bear it any longer, he shouted in panic, “Wait!”
When Mo Li returned to the cliff, he could still hear the muffled shouts coming from below.
“…The gold hidden by the Si Family… you…”
Si Zhuan finally realized that these two individuals intended to leave him here. He no longer cared about concealing his sect and blurted out, “Qingwu Ancestor won’t let you go!”
The continuously collapsing rocks forced Si Zhuan to retreat step by step until everything turned black, and the cave entrance was completely blocked. The soil beneath his feet made a crisp cracking sound.
The shaking stopped, and the pitch-black cave was filled with a dim phosphorescent glow. Si Zhuan saw that he had stepped on a bone.
He belatedly realized that the abandoned mine tunnel had been completely sealed.
“No!”
His scream didn’t reach the surface. Mo Li could only see that after the tremors stopped, the location of the cave entrance had completely vanished.
“Is he dead?” Meng Qi peeked.
“He should still be alive for another two or three days,” Mo Li thought for a moment and said, “Unless this mine tunnel sinks completely into the ground and there are no cracks for ventilation, then he won’t survive long.”
“It seems he’ll regret not dying in the previous earthquake.”
“The Si Family is the root of evil. If it weren’t for the earthquake, they should have been confined in a burial pit.”
Mo Li didn’t enjoy killing, but that didn’t mean he would let the evildoers roam freely. There were many things in this world worse than death.
“People like the Si Family, even if they feel remorse in their hearts, they only regret not succeeding at the right time. They adhere to the principle of winners and losers, disregarding the evils they have committed. Your actions, Physician, are quite innovative,” Meng Qi said, supporting himself and smiling. Unfortunately, his appearance of arrogance and disdain was ruined by the mud covering him.
“I don’t know if Si Zhuan regrets or not, but before he dies, he will surely experience firsthand the helplessness of the refugees,” Mo Li turned his head and whispered, “I am neither the aggrieved party nor the celestial law. Deciding life and death is not my role.”
Meng Qi asked with interest, “What do you mean, Physician?”
Mo Li stared at the bottomless crack for a long time before saying, “Brother Meng, why aren’t there ghosts in this world?”
Even though so many people died and the crimes of the Si Family were countless, once they were dead, they were dead. They could no longer step forward and demand justice for themselves.
When they were alive, they were mere drifting leaves in troubled times, powerless.
After death, they vanished without a trace.
“Physician, are you talking about karma or vengeful spirits?” Meng Qi shook his head slightly and said in a desolate tone, “Karma is just a comforting phrase. The world has always been unjust. Repay kindness with virtue, repay enmity with blood—it sounds satisfying indeed. But vengeful spirits were once humans too. As long as they are human, they will make various mistakes, and as long as they are human, they will have their own differences. If people become ghosts after death, how can we guarantee that the souls of those who died unjustly will surpass the spirits of those evildoers from their previous lives? Perhaps even after death, they will continue to suffer.”
Mo Li couldn’t help but contemplate deeply and sighed.
He realized that he had witnessed too little of the world.
The books recorded the conflicts of the world and the rise of warlords.
The tales spoke of heroes and their chivalry, their tender emotions.
Those who were wrongfully killed and became ghosts under the blades of warlords were merely mentioned briefly.
Even among humans, it was like this, not to mention the mountains and rivers that could be found everywhere.
They were destroyed without hesitation, trampled upon without care, not even considered important.
“Brother Meng…”
Mo Li began to speak but stopped midway.
Meng Qi had no idea about Mo Li’s identity, and if he revealed it carelessly, he didn’t know if Meng Qi would be able to accept it. Right now, Mo Li, the great Physician, didn’t even have a single Calming Pill.
However, without further elaboration, Meng Qi asked in confusion, “What is it?”
Mo Li hesitated for a moment and whispered, “Do you believe that mountains and rivers have spirits?”
Meng Qi couldn’t help but laugh and cry. First, vengeful spirits, now mountain spirits.
Why did someone as intelligent as the Physician rely on these elusive entities to solve the injustices of the world?
On the other hand, this earthquake was indeed strange.
Meng Qi pondered. The Si Family claimed they had hollowed out a mountain, but in reality, they had only extracted mineral veins, leaving behind low-quality gold ore. Collapses often occurred during mining, but this terrifying earthquake couldn’t be explained by a large-scale collapse alone. After all, even the nearby Qiuling County suffered.
Mining collapses were man-made disasters, while the upheaval of the earth was a natural disaster. There was a fundamental difference between the two.
—The sudden loss of inner energy during the earthquake, the sight of flourishing vegetation upon entering the mountains, and this tree at their feet!
“You’re not suggesting that this tree is a mountain spirit, are you?” Meng Qi stared at the tree, looking left and right, but couldn’t see anything special about it.
Mo Li bent down and infused some spiritual energy into the trunk, but the tree showed no response. He touched the rough bark, and Meng Qi almost thought that this tree was Mo Li’s pet.
Would a normal person keep a tree as a pet?
“It… is not a mountain spirit. The mountain spirit is already dead,” Mo Li’s tone was heavy.
Meng Qi squatted beside him and imitated Mo Li’s gesture, touching the tree. Surprisingly, he also felt an inexplicable sadness.
At first, he didn’t notice anything unusual about this sorrow, but upon careful consideration, it felt as if the deep crack in front of him was bottomless.
“Why did the mountain spirit kill the people of Qiuling County?” Meng Qi asked unconsciously.
“Even within the Si Manor, there were innocent servants. Wasn’t the account book stolen by one of them? However, they all died. The mountain spirit and humans alike, before life and death, were all helpless.”
“Are there many mountain spirits in the world?”
“Perhaps,” Mo Li replied.
Mo Li had never left Pingzhou and didn’t know what other places were like.
Meng Qi paused for a moment and asked again, “Are those mountain spirits still alive?”
“…Maybe.”
Mo Li only knew that the Taijing Dragon Vein was alive, but there were numerous mountains and rivers in the world. How many dragon veins existed? Did they take on physical forms and still live in this world? The true form of dragon veins couldn’t move, and if they encountered calamities, they couldn’t escape either.
Mo Li remembered the flash flood in Qimao Mountain, which submerged the cave where the spiritual spring was located. He was forcefully washed out by the flood, and in order to hold onto a floating log, he transformed into human form.
If he hadn’t encountered Old Master Qin, how would a foolish child who couldn’t even speak fare?
What if it weren’t for the simple folk of Zhushan County? A foolish child mingling among refugees, wouldn’t he have been abducted? And after being abducted? Illiterate and ignorant of worldly matters, unable to protect himself. If luck wasn’t on his side, as a dragon vein capable of transformation, he would face even more dangers compared to dormant dragon veins without self-awareness.
Mo Li turned to look at Meng Qi. He didn’t know why the Taijing Dragon Vein had ended up in its current state. It was only a part of the past life of the Royal Teacher of the Chu Dynasty.
Mo Li had long overturned his previous speculations. Based on Meng Qi’s various behaviors, Meng Qi might be the Taijing Dragon Vein.
Previously, Mo Li didn’t have a good impression of the Golden Dragon in Taijing, who had played tricks on him. Now, he recalled the words the Golden Dragon had said to him in the end—
“You are a dragon vein, and I am also a dragon vein. Take good care of yourself.”
Did the unconscious Meng Qi’s appearance in Maxian County happen because his subconsciousness drove him to find Mo Li? Mo Li was uncertain in his heart, but he knew that he must go to Taijing. As fellow dragon veins, they were closely connected.
The cause of Meng Qi’s illness wasn’t as simple as a spiritual medicine.
If Meng Qi could stand here well, then what about the fat rat?
With countless thoughts swirling in his mind, Mo Li couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to temporarily set it aside.
“Let’s go,” Mo Li said, reaching out to carry the tree.
“I’ll do it,” Meng Qi preempted him, not as if he was exerting strength but rather wanting to carefully sense the wonders of this tree.
Mo Li remained silent and followed along as Meng Qi took the lead.
While walking, Meng Qi asked, “Where should we take the mountain spirit?”
He didn’t mind carrying it all the way, but the tree couldn’t endure, right? Even if the tree roots were wrapped in soil, being away from the ground for too long would inevitably be detrimental.
“It’s not exactly a mountain spirit… Well, you can call it that if you wish. We need to find a place rarely visited by people and plant it there,” Mo Li added. “By the way, it must be within this mountain.”
“I understand. As a mountain spirit, it cannot be taken out of this mountain.”
After walking for a few miles, Meng Qi suddenly felt that the tree’s branches and leaves were getting closer to him, rustling as if demanding something. At first, Meng Qi didn’t pay attention and pushed them away, as the feeling of the branches and leaves constantly brushing against his face was somewhat painful.
The branches and leaves were relentless, continuing to launch their assault with the help of the wind.
“…”
Oh no, Physician! This mountain spirit doesn’t like my face!
The author has something to say:
A tree without soil: Spiritual energy (￣0￣)
Meng Qi: …
