Chapter 105: Tension is building

According to Chengxin’s judgment, we are still in the old forest, but because the time when the incident occurred is too long ago to be verified, we can only roughly judge that this old forest has been hidden.

But I never imagined that the masked people in the mural would appear in this old forest, and not just one, but a group, about twenty or thirty of them, and they have already surrounded us.

I have no idea how they appeared or how they hid their tracks. Even my spiritual senses, which are so outstanding, only felt the presence of someone peeping, and I never imagined that there were already 20 or 30 of them surrounding us.

Chengxin and I were both shocked, but after the shock, the only thing we could do was to smile wryly. Was this tomb-hunting trip destined to be so unsafe?

Although we are fine now, after the battle outside, we are afraid that if we fight again, we won’t be able to fight.

The masked men were holding what looked like primitive wooden sticks, except that one end of the stick was very sharp. In the absence of heat weapons, I have no doubt that these sticks could “poke” me and Chengxin to death.

These masked men wore strange masks and were wrapped in cloth of a strange pattern that looked very rough. We couldn’t see their expressions clearly, and we couldn’t tell from their muscle movements whether they were full of aggression towards us.

Even so, Cheng Xin and I still sensed their hostility, but we didn’t know where it came from.

The atmosphere was a bit tense. I and Cheng Xin Ge might not be able to win. Who knows if these masked men have any special abilities? We can’t run away. I see that they are surrounding us from all directions except the sky. The only direction we can run to is the Dragon Tomb, but I and Cheng Xin Ge can’t guarantee that we won’t be caught by them before we push open the seemingly very heavy stone door.

In this situation, Xiaoxi and Xiaomao ran in front of us and bowed repeatedly to the masked men. I was helpless and said, “Xiaoxi, Xiaomao, don’t beg them. The worst that can happen is that we will fight to the death.”

I’m joking. I, Li, can die standing up, but I will never kneel down and live!

But I didn’t expect Xiao Xi to turn around and say to me, “Chengyi, I think they are very kind. Maybe we can talk.”

Xiao Xi’s words made my and Cheng Xin’s muscles relax a little, or maybe it was the bowing of Xiao Xi and Xiao Mao that had an effect, or maybe it was for some other reason.

One of the masked men, an unusually tall one, stepped forward and said in a dull voice, “Are you coveting the Dragon Tomb?”

This is really archaic language, and the voice is indescribably strange. It’s not unpleasant, in fact, his voice is full of depth, but it’s just strange, like a cat learning to bark. Even if it “woofs” out, can you not feel strange?

Cheng Xin and I both had this strange feeling, but to say that we coveted the dragon tomb, where did this come from? Cheng Xin stood up and once again hung up a spring breeze-like smile and said, “You misunderstood, we definitely are not coveting the dragon tomb. After all, we are human, what in the dragon tomb is worth coveting? It’s the medicinal herbs here that I’m interested in.”

Facing Chengxin’s words, the masked man smiled indifferently, as if the Dragon Tomb really had something worth coveting, but he was too lazy to talk to us.

He slammed the wooden stick in his hand on the ground, and then finally, instead of speaking in the archaic language, he said to us in more modern terms: “You cannot go near the dragon tomb. This is a forbidden area! You can pick herbs, but you cannot touch the roots. For herbs that require the roots to be touched, you can only touch a small part of them. You cannot touch things with a spirit. Once you come, you cannot leave. You can live there.” After saying that, the strange masked man waved his hand, meaning that there was no room for discussion. His words would never be changed, and they were not allowed to be changed.

Can’t leave? Does it mean that once we enter the Dragon Tomb, we will be under house arrest by these masked men? I frowned, obviously unable to accept what he said, so I stepped forward and said, “We absolutely have no ill intent, but we must wait here in the Dragon Tomb because we are waiting for a friend. And we can leave without moving the herbs, but we must leave, we just don’t know how to leave right now.”

My words were very direct. I had a feeling that when facing these masked people, it was best not to do anything half-hearted. Going straight to the point might offend them, but it was definitely better than trying to coax them with falsehoods!

Faced with my directness, the tall masked man first froze for a moment, then let out a deep sigh, and then a heavy grunt! He was a little angry!

Under his anger, the other masked men roared in unison, then walked towards us a few steps, as if they were going to fight if we didn’t agree!

I don’t know why, but I have never panicked in the face of hundreds of people, let alone elite cultivators, let alone psychological pressure. But in the face of these masked people’s encirclement, I felt a lot of pressure in my heart, unconsciously clenching my fists, and the other hand involuntarily touching the yellow cloth bag I carried with me.

Xiaoxi and Xiaomao were in a panic. Xiaomao kept bowing repeatedly, while Xiaoxi was anxiously trying to persuade me and Brother Chengxin, saying, “You should give in to them first. Don’t start a conflict with them.”

“If we give in to them first, we may not be able to leave later. Besides, we haven’t found Ruoxue, so how can we be at ease?” At times like this, I’m usually too lazy to explain, so it was Brother Chengxin who spoke up.

“Hmph,” the tall masked man snorted again, and at this time, a thin, old voice interrupted, and it was another masked man, but compared to the tall masked man, he was much smaller and his temper was slightly gentler.

“We have already accepted the agreement and do not want to create more evil and harm others. Those who can come here are not ordinary people, so you should also know how rare this place is. It is rich in medicinal herbs, has a quiet environment, is not disturbed by the secular world, and is also a place with an abundance of spiritual energy in the mountains. It is difficult to find a place with sufficient spiritual energy in this world.”

“What do you mean?” asked Chengxin.

“What it means is that you are cultivators. In this world, there are fewer and fewer truly good places where people can avoid the world and cultivate. If you realize the benefits of this place, even if we drive you away, you probably won’t want to leave. Of course, except for here, you can’t get close. We are being kind, can’t you realize that?” It was still the same old man with a high-pitched voice answering our questions.

I have to admit that his words are really persuasive, and he is always thinking of us. It seems that if we leave at this time, we are stupid and ungrateful. Before we can even open our mouths, the big man said in a bad voice, “You humans are hypocritical. You came here in the first place for the so-called treasures. Later, not only did we not want you to leave, but even if we chased you away, we couldn’t get rid of you! Do you think we want to keep you in our sacred place? You…”

The big man seemed to have no heart, and the amount of information he revealed in his speech caused the short masked man to interrupt him with a cough. However, I and Brother Chengxin had already heard it. What do you mean by “us humans”? Are you not human if you wear a mask?

“What do you think? Have you thought it over? Come with us. This forest is rich in medicinal herbs, and you can come here to pick herbs occasionally. You just can’t go near the dragon tomb.” The short masked man didn’t seem to want to say much more.

I definitely wouldn’t agree. I wouldn’t leave this area until I saw Ruoxue. I couldn’t just leave Ruoxue alone like that.

I was about to speak when I was stopped by Chengxin. He squinted slightly and suddenly asked, “According to you, you are the original inhabitants here? And鈥攜ou are not human, right?”

If you were to face a group of people wearing masks and say that they are not human, that should already be a very powerful insult. Most people would be furious, but in the face of Chengxin’s question, these masked people were unusually silent and showed no sign of anger.

Only the masked man with the high-pitched voice said, “If you must ask, I can tell you! But after knowing this secret, you can’t leave even more. Have you thought it through?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the tall masked man said coldly, “Humans? We can’t afford to be associated with them! We don’t want to be recognized as humans either. In the future, you’d better stop asking whether we’re humans or not. That’s insulting to us. If you do it again, I’ll tear you apart.”

He finished his speech with a smile, but I was furious. The men of the Old Li clan can tolerate and not argue with others, but to be threatened like this? So I laughed, and my face suddenly turned dark.

The big man also took a step forward and said, “What do you want?”