Chapter 156: Blood Yashan

Li Banfeng looked back at the man who spoke. He was about thirty years old, wearing a leather jacket, a leather hat on his head, a short knife strapped to his waist, and a bow and arrow on his back.

"Who are you?" Li Banfeng asked.

"A hunter," the man replied, "Are you here in the Three-Plate River new land for the first time?"

Li Banfeng nodded and asked instead: "What kind of tooth monster did you just say?"

This hunter's speech wasn't very clear, and Li Banfeng hadn't heard it clearly just now.

The hunter repeated: "Drizzling Blood Tooth Monster. Everyone who has been to Three-Plate River knows that Blood Yashan cannot be climbed."

Drizzling Blood Tooth Monster, this name is really a mouthful.

Li Banfeng looked at the lush Blood Yashan and asked the hunter: "Have you seen the Blood Tooth Monster?"

"I have. I always hunt in this new land."

"What does the Blood Tooth Monster look like?"

"That's hard to say. It looks like anything. In short, just stay far away."

"Is there no special feature at all?"

"If you want to talk about special features..." the hunter thought for a while, "The Blood Tooth Monster has two particularly

The characteristic is in the teeth.

By the time you see the opponent's teeth clearly, it will likely be too late to take precautions.

"Does that mean as long as I don't go up the mountain, I won't encounter the Blood-Toothed Monster?"

The hunter nodded and said, "The Blood-Toothed Monster cannot come down the mountain; that is the rule."

If the Blood-Toothed Monster cannot come down the mountain, it proves he is always on the mountain.

According to Elder Yao's instructions, Li Banfeng must head toward Sea-Eating Ridge along a fixed route and cannot take a detour, otherwise, he will encounter more dangers.

This means Li Banfeng must go up the mountain.

But before going up, he must understand the situation better.

Li Banfeng took out one thousand Huan State banknotes and handed them to the hunter; never letting others work for nothing was Li Banfeng's habit.

"Is the Blood-Toothed Monster's combat power high?"

The hunter accepted the money, very pleased, and answered Li Banfeng's question earnestly: "That depends on who you compare him to. The Blood-Toothed Monster has a cultivation base of the fifth layer. If you are an expert above the fifth layer, you don't need to fear him."

Fifth-layer cultivation...

A bit tricky.

Li Banfeng is a residential cultivator of the third layer plus a quasi-third-layer traveling cultivator; under normal circumstances, it is very difficult to defeat a fifth-layer expert.

Furthermore, this Blood-Yashan is the Blood-Toothed Monster's territory; fighting him here is obviously disadvantageous for Li Banfeng.

All of this assumes that what this hunter said is the truth.

"How many Blood-Toothed Monsters are on this mountain?"

The hunter replied, "One."

"Just one?"

The hunter widened his eyes and said, "Are you complaining that it's too few? Isn't one enough?"

On such a large mountain, with only one monster, as long as I don't blunder around, the chance of avoiding him is still quite high.

But the key is that this is Li Banfeng's first time up the mountain, and he is not familiar with the situation on it.

Just as he was pondering a strategy, the hunter asked, "Why must you go up Blood-Yashan?"

Li Banfeng gave a perfunctory reply: "Like you, I am also here to hunt."

As the words fell, a loud bang was suddenly heard.

A rock beside Li Banfeng suddenly shattered.

A piece of gravel grazed Li Banfeng's cheek, leaving a bloody scratch on his face.

The hunter shuddered in fear and shouted angrily, "You are lying to me!"

"I am not!" Li Banfeng denied it flatly.

Snap!

Another rock shattered. This time, Li Banfeng sensed the danger and dodged most of the gravel, but his clothes were torn.

What kind of situation is this?

The hunter held his head and said, "You bird-man, you're lying again!"

"I really didn't..."

"Shut up!" The hunter was terrified. "Once you enter the territory of Blood-Yashan, you must never lie! If you want to seek death, go ahead, but don't drag me into it!"

You can't lie on this mountain; is there such a magical place?

Li Banfeng looked around and shouted loudly, "I really am here to hunt!"

Snap!

A rock shattered.

"I have never seen Song Laoshi's peaches!"

Snap!

Another one shattered!

"I have never killed anyone!"

Boom—!

The entire mountain seemed to be shaking.

Several rocks around them collapsed, dust swirled, and the two couldn't open their eyes for a long time.

Li Banfeng dodged left and right among the falling rocks, still suffering quite a few abrasions on his body.

The hunter held his head, curled up on the ground, and hissed, "What are you trying to do? What exactly are you trying to do? Didn't I tell you that you can't lie on Blood-Yashan?"

Li Banfeng wiped the blood off his body and looked back at the hunter: "You've seen the Blood-Toothed Monster, so you must have been up Blood-Yashan, right?"

"I have." The hunter answered. No rocks shattered; he was telling the truth.

Li Banfeng asked, "Are you willing to be my guide?"

The hunter stood up from the ground, brushed the dust off his body, looked at Li Banfeng, and said, "Why should I be your guide? I'm here to hunt!"

This was also the truth.

Li Banfeng took out two stacks of Huan State banknotes and handed them to the hunter: "Is this money enough?"

The hunter took the money, counted it, accepted it, and said, "I'm telling you, I'm only responsible for leading the way; I won't concern myself with anything else."

"You don't need to concern yourself; just lead me across this mountain!"

"Also, you must never lie again; if things go wrong, it could cost lives!"

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "You had better not lie either, otherwise it really will cost lives."

"Follow me!"

Just as the hunter took two steps forward, he suddenly heard Li Banfeng ask from behind: "Are you the Blood-Toothed Monster?"

The hunter looked back and said, "Are you crazy? How could I be the Blood-Toothed Monster? I avoid him as much as I can!"

The mountain rocks didn't move; the hunter wasn't lying.

Li Banfeng smiled and went up the mountain while chatting with the hunter.

"What kind of monsters are on this mountain?"

The hunter shook his head and said, "Only the Lin Li Blood-Toothed Monster. Other monsters can't get up Blood-Yashan. Occasionally there are some birds and beasts, but there's no need to worry about those; I can handle them."

If they were really just ordinary birds and beasts, Li Banfeng could handle them himself without the hunter needing to intervene.

This mountain path was difficult to walk, with wild grass knee-deep. Li Banfeng asked as he walked: "The Blood-Toothed Monster doesn't usually haunt this area, right?"

The hunter shook his head and said, "I don't know about that, but I've walked this path before."

"You will help me avoid the Blood-Toothed Monster, right?"

"I definitely want to avoid him; I don't want to meet him either."

The mountain rocks didn't move; this was the truth.

The further up the mountain they went, the more lush the vegetation became. The hunter held a curved blade, clearing the path ahead.

The two chatted along the way. This hunter's speech was truly not fluent; Li Banfeng found it quite strenuous to listen to him.

But every word the hunter said was the truth; the rocks on the mountain remained still throughout.

Walking to the middle of the mountain, the hunter began to turn right: "We won't go to the summit; the Blood-Toothed Monster's lair is quite close to the summit. Let's take a half-circle detour from here."

Li Banfeng nodded and suddenly asked, "Do you have cultivation?"

The hunter nodded and said, "I do!"

"What Daoist sect, and what layer of cultivation?"

The hunter frowned and said, "Why should I tell you that? We aren't even acquaintances!"

Li Banfeng said with a calm expression, "I am a good person."

Upon hearing this, the hunter shuddered in fear and hurriedly clutched his own head.

The rocks on the mountain didn't move.

Li Banfeng was telling the truth.

"You scared me to death!" The hunter let out a long breath and said, "I thought you were going to pull some other trick!"

Li Banfeng said with a calm expression, "I really am a good person."

The rocks remained still.

In Li Banfeng's own cognition, he truly was a good person.

This gave Li Banfeng a slight hypothesis: the basis for Blood-Yashan judging whether someone is lying is not objective fact, but a person's own cognition.

It is impossible for a desolate mountain in a new territory to collect so many objective facts; furthermore, it is difficult to define clearly whether a person is good or bad objectively.

But if a person says something that contradicts their own cognition, it is equivalent to violating the rules of Blood-Yashan, which will cause the rocks to shatter.

The more severely it is violated, the more violently the rocks shatter.

If someone who is particularly good at lying came here, would they blow up the whole mountain?

If someone really dared to do that, they probably wouldn't survive it themselves.

This reminded Li Banfeng of a magic treasure: the Virtue Cultivation magic treasure used by the border defense on the border line.

That magic treasure can test whether a person is lying; if a person lies about their own name, they will be torn apart on the spot.

If a person has just changed their name and does not yet fully accept it, they will also die on the spot in front of that magic treasure.

This also happens to utilize the essence of lies.

You can use lies to deceive others, but it is very difficult to use lies to deceive yourself; this should be the means used by Virtue Cultivators to distinguish lies.

Of course, this is just Li Banfeng's hypothesis.

While pondering, the hunter suddenly looked back and asked, "You said just now that you hadn't killed anyone, and the rocks exploded; you lied. It seems you have killed people."

"I have." Li Banfeng answered truthfully.

"You've killed people, yet you still call yourself a good person?"

Li Banfeng replied calmly, "The people I have killed all deserved to die."

The rocks still didn't move, which further proved Li Banfeng's hypothesis.

Whether a person deserves to die is difficult to distinguish, but in Li Banfeng's cognition, they indeed deserved to die.

The wild grass all around grew taller and taller; some wild grass even reached Li Banfeng's shoulders.

The stones underfoot became more and more numerous; if not for his foundation as a traveling cultivator, he would have sprained his ankle at the slightest carelessness.

This is somewhat abnormal; in a place where vegetation is lush, logically there shouldn't be so many stones.

Detouring past the middle of the mountain, it was almost time to go down.

The hunter wiped his sweat, put down his curved blade, and asked Li Banfeng: "Shall we rest for a while?"

Li Banfeng didn't feel tired, but seeing the hunter sit down, he sat down as well.

He didn't sense any danger around, but the Blood-Toothed Monster had fifth-layer cultivation, and Li Banfeng's traveling cultivation was only at the second layer; if the Blood-Toothed Monster deliberately hid, it would be difficult for Li Banfeng to sense malice.

The hunter fumbled with his curved blade and said to Li Banfeng, "Rest for a while, then we should be on our way."

Li Banfeng took out his wine gourd, took a sip of wine, and asked, "Which road are we taking?"

The hunter was surprised: "Is there any other road we could take?"

Li Banfeng looked at the hunter earnestly: "I really don't know."

The hunter frowned and said, "Are you crazy?"

"I'm not crazy." Li Banfeng smiled naturally, and the rocks didn't react; this was the truth.

The hunter frowned and said, "Then what exactly are you trying to do?"

Li Banfeng said, "I just want to ask, which road are we taking?"

"You wanted to go up Blood-Yashan yourself, so surely you must be the one who wants to be on the road."

"Aren't you going to accompany me on the road?"

"Haven't I been accompanying you all this time?"

"You want to kill me, don't you?" Li Banfeng's eyes flashed with cold light.

The hunter said slowly, "I told you, I am not the Blood-Toothed Monster."

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "You are indeed not the Blood-Toothed Monster; you also told me that apart from the Lin Li Blood-Toothed Monster, no other monsters can get up Blood-Yashan."

"Yes, I said that. Apart from the Lin Li Blood-Toothed Monster, there are no other monsters on this mountain." The hunter nodded calmly.

Li Banfeng smiled and said, "So you are Lin Li, right?"

PS: Is Blood-Yashan particularly fun?

(End of chapter)