"A'duo!"
The door of a wooden house was opened from the inside, and a woman rushed out, shouting, "Don't hurt her."
"Despicable!" The man seemed not to expect Lu Zhi to resort to such a threat, nor that a child in the village had been captured.
"Sorry, desperate times call for desperate measures." Lu Zhi patted the struggling little girl, placed a finger on her lips, and whispered, "Be good, be quiet."
The little girl's dark, bright pupils trembled. The curses in her mouth dared not utter another word under the gaze of those calm, dark eyes.
"A'tai, let them in." An ancient, aged voice emerged from behind the angry villagers.
Lu Zhi guessed that this elder was likely the village chief of Kunsha Village.
Supported by a woman, the village chief walked step by step towards Lu Zhi and the other. He said, "Young man, please do not harm the child. The person you are looking for has indeed been to our village."
Lu Zhi and the village chief met eyes for a few seconds, and he decisively let go of the girl.
The angry villagers looked at him in surprise, and for a moment, no one understood what game Lu Zhi was playing.
The dangerous aura emanating from Lu Zhi suddenly disappeared. He touched his nose and said sheepishly, "Sorry, I was too anxious to find him, which led me to this method."
Although Lu Zhi initiated the confrontation, he did not harm the little girl. The threat lasted less than three minutes before he let her go so decisively.
The villagers' anger was left hanging, and they felt a sense of helplessness.
"A'duo! Get over here!" The little girl's mother, both fearful and angry, grabbed her daughter's hand.
A'duo's face, smeared with dirt like a cat, kept looking at Lu Zhi with a hint of curiosity and vigilance.
The village chief's worry subsided a bit. He said to A'tai, who had spoken with Lu Zhi earlier, "Put away the knife and tell the villagers to put down their tools."
A'tai looked displeased, his eyes still showing fierce vigilance towards Lu Zhi, but he still obediently waved his hand at the villagers, signaling them to put away their bows and arrows.
"Indeed, a man who looks somewhat like you entered the village, along with two men and one woman, a total of four people," the village chief said, not concealing anything. He turned and gestured for Lu Zhi and Shen Qi to enter the village.
"Where are they?" Lu Zhi asked urgently.
The village chief led Lu Zhi towards the village, waving for the villagers to disperse. Only A'tai followed closely behind them.
The village chief explained, "They all entered the deep mountains two days ago. We don't know anything else."
Lu Zhi's expression shifted slightly. "To be frank, the man who looks like me is my brother, my biological brother. The others are also friends very important to me."
"I came here because I received information that my brother was in danger. Seeing you all blocking us from entering the village earlier, I became anxious and used the child to threaten you. I apologize."
This was Lu Zhi's first time doing something wrong, especially threatening someone with a little girl. Besides feeling nervous and constrained, he felt more guilt and shame.
"So they are your relatives, no wonder." The village chief led Lu Zhi and Shen Qi towards the large wooden gate behind the village that led into the deep mountains. He said, "They entered the deep mountains from here."
Shen Qi, who had been silent, suddenly asked faintly, "Did another group of people also go in?"
The village chief sighed deeply. "That's right. The first to arrive in the village were a group of foreigners with unfamiliar faces. They were all ferocious and even injured several of our villagers."
Lu Zhi understood. "So that's why you were driving us away earlier."
The village chief sighed. "It was a measure of last resort. Our village people have been mountain guardians for generations. We rarely leave the valley and know that the outside world is very turbulent. Since the mountain came alive, we knew that life would be chaotic, but we didn't expect it to be so soon."
The mountain came alive, referring to the awakening of the sacred island Kunsha Ta?
Mountain guardians, those who make a living from the mountain and also protect the forest from destruction.
Lu Zhi: "When you say the mountain came alive, do you mean Kunsha Ta? Here, no one is more familiar with the geography of Kunsha Forest than you are. Have you never been to Kunsha Ta?"
Although satellite positioning now covered the globe, the existence of Kunsha Ta was only known from a blurry photograph taken when it first appeared. The rest was blocked by lush forests and dense fog, preventing further detection.
It was understood that no supernatural beings who had entered Kunsha Forest so far had ever truly approached Kunsha Ta. It seemed as if the forest itself was alive. It was clearly in this location, in this direction, at this point, yet there was no way to find an approach.
Furthermore, Kunsha Forest was dimly lit for a long time, with humid air. The surrounding poisonous plants and insects were hard to guard against. Over time, supernatural beings no longer wished to come to Kunsha Forest.
Kunsha Ta, an unexplored sacred island, with everything known still at zero.
"Kunsha Ta is the divine tower where the mountain god awakens. Anyone with ill intentions cannot approach it. You should give up," A'tai said sternly.
Lu Zhi heard this and glanced at him, asking, "You have been to Kunsha Ta."
It was not a question but a statement of certainty.
A'tai's exposed arms and legs had many fresh wounds, the scratches still very new, indicating he had entered the deep mountains not long ago.
"A'tai!" The village chief angrily reprimanded, "How many times have I told you, that is where the mountain god resides. What if we anger the mountain god and are not allowed to enter the mountain!"
A'tai clenched his fists in anger. "Are we not going to avenge A'shun and the others who had their hands and feet severed?"
Lu Zhi was secretly shocked. He had thought the village chief's mention of "minor injuries" meant they would only be bedridden for a few days. He had not expected those people to be so brutal as to sever limbs.
With this in mind, Lu Zhi became even more anxious about Lu Chengxuan's safety.
"Village Chief, I cannot swallow this insult," A'tai said, turning to Lu Zhi. "I saw you using special abilities like those people. I can take you to the vicinity of Kunsha Ta."
"No!" The village chief vehemently opposed. "Those people have no humanity. How dare you!"
Lu Zhi fell silent. "I'm sorry, as you, the village chief, said, those people are exceptionally fierce. I cannot risk your life."
The veins on A'tai's neck bulged as he tightly clenched his fists and slammed them against the wooden fence in anger.
After A'tai calmed down, Lu Zhi asked, "Can you tell me how many of those foreign-faced people there were?"
A'tai said, "There were originally two men and one woman, and then suddenly two more men appeared. One of them seemed to be injured."
Lu Zhi's eyes flickered. "Was the injured man the one with the pair of green eyes and a sapphire ring?"
A'tai was surprised. "How did you know."
Lu Zhi's face darkened.
They were the foreign apostles who escaped from the Rat God. Those people must be partners of the foreign apostles.
Lu Zhi said urgently, "Shen Qi, let's go into the mountain quickly."
If his brother and the other three encountered those five apostles, things would get bad.
They were all in danger!
Lu Zhi thanked the village chief and A'tai, then quickly entered the back mountain.
However, after walking for a short distance, hissing sounds came from all directions. Lu Zhi stopped abruptly and looked at the surrounding trees. They were all covered with venomous snakes.