Sitting and forgetting longevity

Chapter 1944 Rat-Headed Man

Under the soft glow of the firefly lamp, the little demon was completely unaware that it had exposed itself. Upon seeing Liu Qinghuan, it not only did not hide, but instead moved even closer.

It has a rat's head and a human body, wears an open-fronted jacket and wide-legged cloth trousers, and straw sandals. In its left hand, it holds a small gong, as if it is ready to strike it at any time.

Liu Qinghuan also discovered that the other party was wearing an animal skin cloak that could make them invisible. Although the craftsmanship looked very rough and primitive, it was indeed a genuine artifact.

In addition, a small wooden token hanging from the demon's waist, engraved with the three small characters "Black Forest Town," also caught Liu Qinghuan's attention.

He hesitated for a moment, then pretended not to notice the other party's spying, and buried the array stones at the valley entrance and in several other places in the valley as planned.

Soon, a faint yellow light rose up and enveloped the entire valley.

Liu Qinghuan brushed the dust off her hands and turned around to see the rat-headed man still peeking out from outside the formation, seemingly with no intention of leaving.

He walked over, flicked his finger, and a beam of green light shot out, instantly disappearing into the other person's brow.

"Thud!" The rat-headed man fell to the ground without a sound, and the small gong in his hand rolled away.

Liu Qinghuan raised his hand again and pointed, and the green light transformed into a vine that bound it like a rice dumpling, then dragged it into the valley.

By the stream, Li Shan and Tian Nu had tidied themselves up and were discussing exploring the innermost bear cave.

Seeing that Liu Qinghuan had brought back a little demon, the two of them came over to look.

Li Shan asked, "Why is this rat's head tied up?"

"This guy's been watching us from outside!" Liu Qinghuan threw it on the ground.

"Judging from its attire and behavior, as well as the small token on its waist, it should be a patrolling lackey dispatched by the Black Forest Town to the outskirts."

Li Shan stepped forward and tore off the wooden token, exclaiming in surprise, "There's actually a small town inhabited by people in this forest within the black mist tide! What are we waiting for? We have to go and explore!"

He searched the rat-headed man and found several low-grade spirit stones, a tinderbox, and a piece of animal skin with a simple map drawn on it.

Li Shan's eyes lit up, and he showed the animal hide to the other two. There, two large characters were clearly written above the map.

"Holy Mountain!" Tian Nu roared, "Do the people in that town know how to get to Five-Colored Stone Mountain?"

“Very likely, after all, they have lived at the foot of the Five-Colored Stone Mountain for many years.” Li Shandao patted the rat-headed man’s face with his sword.

The other person slowly woke up and, seeing that he was being watched by three people, immediately screamed in fright.

Li Shan put on a fierce look, pressed the sword against its neck, and said in a menacing voice, "Speak! What are you trying to do by secretly following us?"

The rat-headed man shouted, "Bullshit! I wasn't following you. It was you treacherous outsiders who trespassed into the territory of our Black Forest Town!"

I've already notified the garrison; you're all just waiting to be arrested, hahaha!

Li Shan pressed down on the blade expressionlessly: "Heh, I'll kill you before I get caught..."

"No, no, don't kill me!" The rat-headed man quickly pleaded, "I can lead the way for you!"

Li Shan's subordinate paused: "What directions should I lead?"

"You outsiders, aren't you all here for the Holy Mountain?" the rat-headed man said, with a knowing look on his face.

"So, people often go to the Holy Mountain?" Li Shan asked.

"Hmm... actually, not many, maybe one or two every year or two." The rat-headed man said proudly, "After all, not everyone can find Blackforest Town!"

"Is Hessen town hard to find?"

“Of course! Without a guide, outsiders have no way of finding our Black Forest Town!” Li Shan exchanged glances with Liu Qinghuan and Tian Nu, then waved the map in his hand: “What’s so difficult about that?”

The rat-headed man smiled mysteriously: "If you don't believe me, go and look for it. There's absolutely no way you can find Black Forest Town at the location on the map!"

Seeing its pretentious and mysterious appearance, Tian Nu sneered, "Why waste words with such a petty wretch? Just kill it. At most, we can search for it slowly!"

“That’s right!” Li Shan agreed, and began to exert force with his sword…

The rat-headed man felt a sharp pain in his neck and blood began to flow. He realized that the other party was not just trying to scare him, and he screamed in fright.

"No, no, no, I won't spare you! I didn't lie to you. Black Forest Town is inside the Fusang Divine Tree. You need a branch of the divine tree to guide you in!"

Seeing that the three people were just staring at it without saying a word, the rat-headed man had no choice but to pull out a dry twig from his chicken coop-like hair.

“That’s more like it!” Li Shan smiled and sheathed his sword. “However, we don’t necessarily have to go to Black Forest Town. If you can take us directly to the Holy Mountain, that would be fine too.”

The rat-headed man said with difficulty, "My lord, we are not qualified to approach the Holy Mountain... If you insist on going, you should be able to find a way in town, but please don't say that I told you, I know nothing about it!"

……

After a thorough interrogation, the three of them tossed the tightly bound rat-headed man aside and went to the other side to discuss their next move.

Li Shan asked, "What do you two think? Did that guy tell the truth?"

"It doesn't matter," Tiannu said. "Now that we know where Black Forest Town is, we can find other lackeys to lead the way even without it."

But Li Shan clearly had other concerns: "But what if Black Forest Town is a trap? For example, are they luring us in and then surrounding and killing us?"

"That's unlikely!" Tian Nu couldn't help but glance sideways.

Li Shan said, "It's not impossible. The people here only try to stop us from going to their sacred mountain, so why would they guide us? That's why I suspect there's something fishy going on!"

Tian Nu thought for a moment, then looked at Liu Qinghuan: "Fellow Daoist Taiwei, what do you say?"

“Well, Brother Li’s concerns are not unfounded,” Liu Qinghuan said. “It’s always good to be cautious. How about this: I’ll go into Black Forest Town to gather information, and you guys wait outside to provide backup, okay?”

"Why should you go and we two meet up?" Li Shan disagreed: "I also want to go to that town and take a look..."

"Do you have magic powers?" Liu Qinghuan asked. "Can you transform into a little demon and sneak into the town? Can you become invisible and gather information? Can you use escape techniques when you encounter danger?"

Li Shan drew his sword: "So what if you have a gold mine, Liu? Come on, let's have a fight!"

"Alright!" Liu Qinghuan said with a smile, and with a backhand slash, the rat-headed man's head fell to the ground.

Tiannu was shocked: "Taiwei, you..."

“I already know how to find Black Forest Town,” Liu Qinghuan said calmly. “To avoid any trouble it might cause while leading the way, it’s better to kill it.”

……

The tree where the sun bathes for ten days is called Fusang. The trees are two thousand feet tall, and they grow in pairs from the same root, relying on each other.

Fusang is a divine tree, the place where the sun rises in legend, but when Liu Qinghuan and his two companions found the place, they did not see the divine tree, but only two large mountains closely side by side.

“The hibiscus tree had long since withered, struck by lightning, and buried by earth and stones.”

Liu Qinghuan told Li Shan and the other man what she had "seen," then straightened her tattered cloak and took out a piece of dry branch.

"Alright, you two just wait outside. I'll be right back."

(End of this chapter)