Chapter Seventeen: Cause and Effect

  Liang Xinxing eagerly wanted to follow Liu Yi together to interrogate Zhu Wu, but as soon as he followed him into the court, he was driven out.

  Seeing Liang Xin's face full of unwillingness and curiosity, Qu Qing Shi sat at the door of the study room and advised: "You'd better not look, otherwise you won't be able to eat for several days!"

  Liang Xin was almost unscathed, and now he didn't feel uncomfortable at all, but after intense activity, his stomach growled with hunger. He ran over to help Qu Qing sit up straight, hesitated for a moment, then reached out to massage his shoulders.

  Qiu Qing Shi let out a loud "Pfft" and laughed, shrugging off Liang Xin's hand, saying with a smile: "Like a blind bear hitting a tree, forget it..."

  Lao Da Liu also dragged Zhang Wu into the prison cell of the yamen and began to use torture to extort a confession.

  The barbarians outside the forest refused to disperse, and could not enter, so they could only keep looking up at the sky and howling. Occasionally, some of the barbarians with a violent temper could no longer hold back their anger and rushed into the dense forest, but were shot dead by the crossbow after running five steps, and fell to the ground;

  Liang Xin carefully helped Qu Qing Shi wipe away the bloodstains on his body, and the two of them discussed their experiences over the past two days. They had never heard of the Jiulong Si's Banshan Institute before, which not only had monkey spirits serving as attendants but also dared to hunt down evil creatures. Even the institute set up in Kunai Mountain had a restriction that blocked the use of magical artifacts by cultivators...

  Before long, the mournful cries of Bamboo Five came from the room, intermittent and unrelenting. It was unclear what means Liu had employed, but the pain implicit in Bamboo's cries was self-evident, each one more ear-piercing than the last. Every time Liang Xin thought his cries had reached their limit, they would suddenly surge to new heights, until finally the mournful cries became a sharp, stone-shattering sound that sent shivers down Liang Xin's spine.

  It wasn't until dusk that Liu finally came out of the courthouse, and Zhu Wu was locked in a prison cell by him.

  Liang Xin immediately jumped up and went forward, Qu Qing Shi also looked concerned, asking in a low voice: "How is it?"

  Liu Yi Ha laughed and said with a big smile: "I understand! The mine things are all caused by this son of a bitch!"

  Kunoyama discovered the evil spirit of the stone vein, this matter is known to all under heaven, and it's not a secret. From the day the emperor summoned the sinners to open up the mountain and break the evil spirit, Zhú Wǔ has been commanding Xiè Chán's minions lurking on the side, waiting for the sinners to dig into the roots of the mountain and find the source of the evil stone vein.

  Liang Xin laughed and asked: "Is this Zhu Wu also like the straw shoes, wanting to seize the power of the Qiongsha Stone Veins?"

  But unexpectedly, Liu Yi shook his head: "No! Zhu Wu's trip this time is to follow the order of his elder brother, find the root of the evil spirit, and then knock down a small piece of evil stone from the root, bring it back."

  Among the Five Elements, the giant wood overcomes the thick earth. This bamboo is a cultivator of the Wood Element Taoist method. Before setting out, he was also imparted with a strange technique. As long as he finds the root source of the stone pulse, he has a way to knock down a piece of stone and bring it back.

  As for what this small piece of jade was used for, Zhū Wǔ didn't know.

  Originally, opening the mountain and breaking the evil was a long-term project that would take a good many days. Everyone understood that it was impossible to dig up the root of the stone vein in a short period of time. However, the prisoners managed to excavate jade discs from the mine...

  Yupei made a move, releasing a small ghost to harm people. Zhū Wǔ was a profound practitioner and almost immediately sensed that the mine had transmitted a wave of Tǔ Xíng Yāo Fǎ's spiritual shock. Zhū Wǔ was greatly shocked and thought that the culprit had quickly dug up the root of the stone pulse, fearing that the evil root would be destroyed. Without thinking twice, he urged Xiè Chán Màn to attack the mine. He himself went to deal with the nineteen Zhu Lí practitioners stationed at Kǔ Nǎi Mountain.

  The bamboo five generals killed nineteen Zhu Lixiu, and when they rushed back to the mine, Qu Qingshi had already led Liang Xin and Liu Yi to blow up the entrance and escape into the depths of the mountain.

  Zhu Wuqi was furious and jumped up like thunder, tearing apart seven or eight heads of the barbarian tribe on the spot. He couldn't understand why they had reached the root of the stone vein so quickly, nor did he expect that thousands of powerful barbarians would fail to take down the mine, only to be defeated by the last few dozen Nine Dragon Green Robes who detonated fire thunder and blasted the entrance.

  Qu Qing shook his head with a bitter smile, probably Zhu Wu still didn't know until now that he had misunderstood, taking the evil aura of Yu Bei as the Ling Yuan shockwave caused by the emergence of the fierce root. However, both Yu Shi and Shuang Sha were earth-based demons, and it wasn't easy to distinguish between them either.

  The mine collapsed, with the entire mountain burying everything. Even if Zhang Wu's skills were exceptional, it would be impossible to dig out a path in a short time. For a while, he was at a loss for what to do. Leaving him like this was unbearable, but staying put wasn't an option either.

  Just as Zhu Wu was at a loss for what to do, a violent surge of spiritual energy suddenly burst forth from the depths of the great mountain!

  This shock was caused by Liang Xin sacrificing himself to confront the two evil stars, Yu and Shi, in a life-and-death struggle.

  At that time, the cave entrance collapsed, and the fierce battle between the two evil forces made it impossible for Zhū Wǔ to enter. However, the roots of that vicious stone vein were buried beneath the desolate mountain valley, and when they clashed with all their might, the spiritual energy in the valley also surged violently.

  Zhu Wu discovered the anomaly in the valley and, overjoyed, immediately led the barbarians to rush to the valley. On the march, they happened to catch up with Liang Xin, Qu Qing Shi and three others who were leaving the valley, resulting in a skirmish.

  At that time, the spiritual shock had already disappeared, and Zhū Wǔshēng was afraid of losing the clue to find the Qīng Shāo stone vein, so he ordered the barbarians to capture three survivors, while he continued on his way, heading towards the mountain valley where the root of the stone vein was located.

  Zhu Wu Xing rushed to the mountain valley, only to find that it was another empty joy. Shi Mai and Yu Bi had already been destroyed, reduced to nothing but ash and smoke. Having gained nothing, he returned to the big mountain and joined forces with the barbarian tribe, wanting to capture the three brothers and understand what had happened in the mine. However, they ultimately fell into the hands of the three ordinary men.

  Liu finished telling the story in one breath, and Qu Qing Shi and Liang Xin were left staring at each other in amazement. Their own experiences were already strange enough, but they had no idea that there was a mastermind named Zhu Wu behind them, making things even more chaotic.

  However, as for the matters of Ku Nai Shan, apart from the mysterious Ban Shan Yuan, all other events are causally linked, and the truth has already been revealed.

  "Also, there's another thing, from now on we need to be more careful. Zhu Wu's four brothers are all powerful cultivators with great abilities," Liu took a couple of deep breaths and continued: "This is not all, above the five brothers, there are even higher-ups, hey, we're in for some trouble!"

  The origin of the person above the five brothers of the Bamboo family is unknown, even to Bamboo Five. All orders come from Bamboo Big, and Bamboo Five has not even seen the face of a big figure.

  Qu Qing nodded and asked, "Then they, the five brothers, their own cave mansion, he would know about it, right?"

  Liu also smiled and said: "This is natural, I have already asked!"

  Although the process is roughly understood, the case has not been figured out yet. Qu Qing Shi's mind is ruthless, and although he knows he's not a match for his opponent, he's not willing to wait for them to come and take revenge. At this moment, he's already thinking about how to counterattack and not give his opponent a chance to strike.

  Liu Yi's right hand was crushed, and it was completely useless. It would never recover. At this moment, the painkiller had taken effect, and although it didn't hurt much, his hatred was thicker than ever. He sneered at his two sworn brothers, "I just found some kerosene from downstairs and poured it on Zhu Wu's body. When we make a break for it tonight, I'll set him on fire first. Wood generates fire, and fire overcomes wood. Let's see if he can survive?"

  Qu Qing shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Fire overcomes metal, metal overcomes wood!"

  "Even Jin can be defeated, let alone Mu."

  Liáng Xīn nodded vigorously from the side, cheering on his big brother.

  Qu Qing cursed and scolded, "One is more ignorant than the other!" Then he looked up at the sky, the sun had already set behind the western mountains, leaving only a faint glow in the sky.

  Qu Qing Shi struggled to get up: "Get ready, wait till night falls, take advantage of the barbarians' night blindness and make a breakthrough."

  Liang Xin was just about to nod when the barbarian tribes outside the dense forest suddenly stopped their clamor.

  Liu Yi and Liang Xin were both shocked, could it be that Zhu Wu still had an accomplice, and Xiang Chan had a second leader? Qu Qing Shi smiled instead, saying lightly: "No big deal, there's still one more person who hasn't returned!" He then stood up straight, pulling open the Yang Shou evil bow with force!

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  Outside the dense forest, the sky gradually darkened, and Xiang Chan's anxiety grew. Several leaders were gathered together, loudly arguing... Just as they were in a state of chaos, a sudden "thud" sound came from behind, as if something had fallen to the ground.

  The leader of the barbarians turned his head and saw a large ape, about the same size as an ordinary boy, staring at them with a gloomy face!

  The monkey's fur is sleek and clean, its eyes are orange-yellow, its upright body is slightly hunched, and a fiery red tail trails behind it, especially eye-catching, as if it might ignite a flame at any moment.

  Suddenly, the sound of thuds was incessant, one after another, apes leapt out from the distant mountain forest, their fiery red tails drawing streaks of blood in mid-air!

  These fire-tailed monkeys leaped dozens of feet in a single bound, making it impossible to tell whether they were flying or jumping. The usually proud and boastful Pongidae turned pale with shock, involuntarily retreating several steps and shutting their mouths.

  The number of Huo Wei apes was not large, and after they all landed, there were only over a hundred heads, gathered together in silence, coldly staring at the barbarian tribe surrounding the dense forest.

  Yuan Tuoman, like a human but not quite, not only has thick skin and flesh, cunning and intelligent, with great strength, but also retains the greatest wealth from generation to generation in the desolate mountains and evil waters: foreknowledge of danger!

  In the mountains, a fierce tiger roars at the moon, and all the beasts hear its voice and dare not move slightly... Now it's like this, the fire-tailed monkey hasn't spoken or moved, but compared to them, the short-statured ones are terrified under their gaze, and they all stand still on the spot, no one dares to move again.

  After a while, a group of fire-tailed macaques finally shifted their gaze, and one of them waved its paw at the barbarians, indicating that they should leave.

  The gecko felt its body lighten, and it finally regained the ability to move. The ferocity that had just been present a moment before, when it didn't even care about its own life or death, was now completely gone. It lowered its body, put its four limbs on the ground, let out a low hum, and quickly escaped with a flick of its tail.

  The monkeys didn't even give them a glance, but instead stared motionlessly into the dense forest...

  In the heart of the dense forest, the three brothers were completely unaware of what had happened. Liang Xin held his crossbow at the ready, Qu Qing Shi drew his bow, and Liu Yi continued to crouch beside the main switch of the mechanism, waiting for the enemy to enter the forest so they could use their old trick again.