My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

When A'Luo saw the guards, tears finally streamed down her face: "Brother Liu, he... he stole my bag! There were two ginseng roots inside, which I was going to sell today!"

The man immediately shouted, "Brother Liu, right? You're the guard of this village? What's going on with this village? I'm here to do business, not to be scammed!"

"This bag is clearly mine, but this girl insists it's hers, and even accused me of stealing her things—is this how your village treats outsiders?"

The burly man with the dark face frowned, looked at A Luo, and then at the other man.

He recognized A'Luo. This girl grew up in the village; her parents died early, and she lived alone, never causing any trouble.

Everyone in the village knows her; she's honest and kind, and never argues with anyone.

The problem is, he can't just accuse someone of stealing based on that alone.

He thought for a moment, then asked the man, "You say this bag is yours, so tell me, what's inside?"

The man's eyes darted around: "There are three ginseng roots inside! All of the finest quality!"

Aro immediately said, "He's lying! There are only two plants inside, one dried and one fresh!"

The dried one weighed about two ounces, and half of its rootstock was broken off; the fresh one was smaller, and I just dug it up yesterday, still covered in mud!

The burly, dark-faced man looked at the other man: "What do you have to say?"

The man scoffed, "She says two, so it's just two? I could say three! If you open it and there are three, then they're mine; if there are only two... then she might have stolen them!"

A'Luo trembled with rage: "You...you're shameless!"

The man remained calm and said, "How am I shameless? Little girl, you're so young, what are you learning to do? Try to extort money from people?"

I advise you to let go quickly and not make a scene. You'll only embarrass yourself later!

A Luo bit her lip, tears streaming down her face, but she refused to let go.

The burly, dark-faced man was also in a dilemma.

He believed in Aro, but in these kinds of things, belief alone is useless.

Without evidence, he can't just arrest people arbitrarily, otherwise it will damage the village's reputation.

More and more people gathered to watch, including not only villagers but also many merchants from other places who came to do business.

People were whispering among themselves:

"This girl seems honest; she doesn't seem like she's lying."

"That's not necessarily true. You can only know a person's face, not their heart. That man doesn't seem like a bad person."

"Without evidence, no one can say for sure about this kind of thing."

"If the village's security force isn't handled properly, who will dare to do business here in the future?"

When these words reached the ears of the dark-faced man, his expression turned even uglier.

Just then, an aged voice came from outside the crowd: "What's going on?"

The crowd parted to make way, and an elderly man with a cane walked in.

It was the village elder.

The burly man with the dark face quickly stepped forward and explained what had happened.

After listening, the elder frowned and walked up to A'Luo: "A'Luo, you say this bag is yours, but what proof do you have?"

A'Luo shook her head, tears falling again: "Elder, I have no proof... but that really is mine... I recognize that bag, it was left to me by my mother..."

The elder sighed.

He looked at the man again: "Sir, you say this bag is yours, but what proof do you have?"

The man said matter-of-factly, "What proof do I need for my own things? I just bought three ginseng roots over there, put them in a cloth bag, and was about to go back when this girl rushed up and tried to snatch them. If your village is this unreasonable, who will dare to come here in the future?"

The elder's brow furrowed even more.

Having lived for so many years, he could naturally tell that this man was being a scoundrel.

But as he said, without evidence, one cannot arbitrarily convict.

This man is from out of town. If we don't handle this well, it will ruin the village's reputation. Who will want to come to Caishen Village to do business in the future?

He looked at A'Luo's tear-streaked face, then at the man's smug expression, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.

Seeing that the clan elder remained silent, the man became even more smug: "How about that? Speechless now? I advise you to make this girl let go quickly, lest you delay my business!"

He tugged hard at the bag, causing A'luo to stumble, but she still refused to let go.

The man grew impatient: "You little brat, you won't listen to reason! I've already said this bag is mine, what are you going to do about it? Unless this ginseng can talk and say it's yours, nothing you say will work!"

A Luo bit her lip, tears streaming down her face.

She knew that although what this man said was shameless, it was indeed true in principle. Without evidence, she couldn't do anything about it.

But she was not reconciled.

That cloth bag was left to her by her mother, and those two ginseng roots were painstakingly dug up by her; they were her food money for tomorrow, the money she wanted to use to buy meat for Zhou Yan. She couldn't let someone take them away like that.

She squatted on the ground, clutching the cloth bag, sobbing uncontrollably.

The onlookers watched, some with sympathy, some shaking their heads, some whispering among themselves, but no one could do anything about it.

Just then, a voice came from outside the crowd.

"I can prove that it was hers."

The sound wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

The crowd parted to make way for a young Taoist priest.

He stood with his hands behind his back, dressed in a gray-blue Taoist robe, his expression serene. Behind him followed a young man, a woman with a sword, and a man dressed as a corpse driver.

It was Ye Qingfeng and his group.

Lü Yang followed behind, his face beaming with excitement—there was more excitement to be seen. Miao Gui shrank back, muttering under his breath, "Is the Taoist priest going to meddle in other people's business?"

Shen Zhaoyue didn't speak, but simply held the hilt of her knife and followed behind Ye Qingfeng.

Ye Qingfeng originally didn't want to get involved in this matter, but unexpectedly, the Mountain God Seal in his arms was trembling slightly.

It was very slight, like something was gently touching it.

The trembling was directed towards Aro.

Ye Qingfeng's brows twitched slightly.

He looked at A'luo—the little girl was squatting on the ground, her face still streaked with tears.

The trembling of the Mountain God Seal became more pronounced.

Ye Qingfeng remained silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

No.

The commotion was too quiet; it didn't seem like the Mountain God's Seal was searching for its master.

It's more like... a connection? Resonance? Or something else entirely?

He tried to calculate with his fingers, and before half a cup of tea was brewed, his expression turned somewhat astonished.

But this look of astonishment only lasted for a moment before disappearing.

Then he came out.

All eyes were on Ye Qingfeng.

The clan elder sized up the young Taoist priest and asked hesitantly, "Master, you say you can prove it? What method do you have?"

The man also glanced at Ye Qingfeng. Seeing that he was young and dressed simply, and didn't seem to have any background, he immediately became arrogant again.

"Who do you think you are? You think you can prove it just because you say so? Do you think you can make ginseng speak?"