Chapter 538: Du Tingxiu (4)

"Ganzhou... ah," Luo Qi said slowly, "Ganzhou... what is there?"

Han Yi moved his arms a few times, rubbing his shoulder uncomfortably, "Qiongqi?"

Luo Qi looked at him, "Qiongqi?"

"Ordinary Mages might not know much about this, but when Battle Mages are trained, there is a required book: the Battle Mage Chronicle. This book records important battles that Battle Mages have experienced in the past and can serve as a reference for handling emergencies. You might know that Qiongqi is the monster that guards the Qionglin, but according to the records in this textbook, Qiongqi was first discovered at Kongsang Mountain in Ganzhou," Han Yi said.

"So that's how it is," Luo Qi said, as if hearing it for the first time. "Could it be that Du Tingxiu went to Ganzhou because of Qiongqi? Are there still Qiongqi living in the mountains of Ganzhou now?"

"How could that be? Humans have propagated themselves everywhere; if there were still wild Qiongqi, humans would have discovered them no matter what," Han Yi said with disdain.

Luo Qi nodded nervously. Han Yi mistook this for the timidity of a soft young boy. Luo Qi did not want to appear too eager and have his motives seen through, but he was also afraid that Han Yi would stop talking, and as a result, he choked on his own saliva and began to cough.

"Excuse me, give me a second," Luo Qi said while coughing, and as soon as he calmed down, he asked, "Did you go to Kongsang Mountain? Didn't you go over to take a look?"

Han Yi waited for Luo Qi's coughing to subside, "I was originally on the grand investigation team for the Hearing. When you wouldn't wake up, I took the opportunity to leave the Highland for a few days, and I went to Ganzhou, and also to Kongsang Mountain."

"What did you discover? Did you find out why the Du Family is so fond of that place?" Luo Qi followed up immediately.

Han Yi leaned back into his chair, ceding the tabletop to the approaching shop assistant; he didn't know when it had happened, but the shopkeeper had started lighting Tibetan incense at the edge of the table. Luo Qi suddenly sniffed the scent forcefully. There was something about this smell that was extremely familiar to him; his cat became somewhat excited, as if it had smelled catnip.

Han Yi waited for the shop assistant to leave before continuing, "The place called Kongsang Mountain makes me uncomfortable."

Luo Qi waited for him to continue, but after waiting for a long time and finding he had nothing more to say, he couldn't help but say, "And then?"

"I don't know how to put it. You've heard the saying 'The Destined Mysterious Bird descends and gives birth to the Shang,' right? I don't know how humans specifically interpret it, but we all know that this saying is actually about how tens of thousands of years ago, the Ancestor Mage arrived riding a Mysterious Bird, created humans in the Shang territory, and used humans to provide for us Mages. And the Ancestor Mage's first foothold was Kongsang Mountain; that is our source. However, if you put it that way, we should at least have some sacred feelings for Kongsang Mountain, but that mountain... makes me feel..." Han Yi became somewhat hesitant here.

"Feel what?" Luo Qi asked anxiously. He knew that most Mages had some basic Telepathy, which made them prone to sensing some Mind Magic, especially since Battle Mages were accustomed to magnifying all their senses year-round; they were even more capable of detecting existences that ordinary Mages and humans could not feel.

"Fear," Han Yi said.

"Following that fear, what did you discover?" Luo Qi almost held his breath.

Han Yi shrugged, "We continued walking, but the deep valley in the mountains was not suitable for moving forward. If the fear signal is already this obvious, it is not suitable for a single Battle Mage to continue forward; retreating is the textbook standard operation."

Luo Qi caught his breath and frowned, saying, "In other words, you went into the mountain, felt afraid, and then you came back?"

Han Yi glared at him unhappily, "I can be certain that there is indeed something there."

"Determined by fear?" Luo Qi was a bit annoyed and stopped restraining his speech. "Pardon my bluntness, but when I was five, I also felt like there was something in my closet! Guess what my dad, that distinguished Mind Archmage, did later? He bought me a nightlight that cost five yuan! Hey, from then on I slept much more sweetly at night, and my courage grew quite a bit."

Han Yi's face turned red, but Mages who spoke like Luo Qi were rare to begin with, and those who dared to bicker with a Battle Mage were even rarer. Han Yi was rarely treated this way, so for a moment, he actually didn't know how to counterattack.

"What exactly did you come to find me for?" Luo Qi continued to say with dissatisfaction. His cat was still trying to bolt out like a cannonball, and he was struggling to control it with his arm, which made him even more annoyed. "Are you expecting me to provide more news about Du Zhengyi and the Du Family based on your line of thinking? How much money do you plan to give me? If the reward is less than a candied hawthorn skewer, I definitely won't do it! But as long as you give me a candied hawthorn skewer, I can tell you that Du Zhengyi is the son born of Du Tingxiu and Pei Shu! Because guess what? The biggest secret about Du Tingxiu is that he is actually a woman! The reason the two of them fell out is because the old man Pei Lao had a change of heart. So Pei Shu protecting his own youngest son is indeed a heinous crime; I support you in going to the Qionglin to denounce them!"

Han Yi looked at Luo Qi in astonishment. As Luo Qi's shocking words continued to escalate, his level of shock also reached its peak. For a long while, Han Yi's tongue was stiff and his lips trembled. It took him a long time to find himself again, and he growled, "What kind of joke are you playing with me?"

Unexpectedly, Luo Qi was also furious, "Hero Han! If you don't have any basic trust in me, don't come to me for help."

"What did you call me? Are you making fun of me?" Han Yi roared.

Luo Qi, full of anger, said unyieldingly, "Han Yi! Although you and I are strangers, since you are one of the people responsible for investigating me, you must know what I have encountered in my life, so you should know that what I hate most is injustice in the world! I have known Du Zhengyi for so long; can't I tell what kind of person he is and what his style is? I have been in the position Chu Yao was in back then for several months myself! Do you think I wouldn't believe your words or sympathize with Chu Yao? Since you trust me and are willing to open your mouth to me, you should bring out the bottom line! You must believe one thing: even if I am small and weak now, and might not be able to help you find any strong evidence in the end, I have an endless future. You should take a longer view. The person in front of you may not be successful now, but in a hundred years, he might not necessarily be the Head Venerable of the Qionglin. A gentleman taking revenge is never too late—you don't even understand this, do you?"

Han Yi's anger was drowned out by a new round of astonishment. His gaze landed on Luo Qi's face; one could still see the softness and greenness of a youth on Luo Qi's jaw, but there was no ignorant sharpness of a youth who was overly high-spirited on his face. He looked into Luo Qi's eyes and fell into confusion again; there was no oily slickness of feigned generosity in those eyes either.

There was neither heroic spirit nor lewdness, so... to believe, or not to believe, he was actually unable to judge.

After half a day, he finally said a sentence that could act as a slight buffer, "Do you mean that I didn't tell you everything?"

(End of chapter)