Tongling Peak! Up the Mountain!

Fortunately, when entering the city today, he had not gone with that fellow and had chosen to enter separately.

County Office!

In the County Office morgue, the corpses of Zhang Heng and the Huang family members lay on several crude wooden beds.

"Uncle Chen, what is there to deliberate? Both sides of this murder case are lying right here."

"If you ask me, we should just let the Huang family take these beasts who bullied others through their power back."

"Keeping them here in the County Office is nothing but bad luck!"

Liang Cheng looked at the corpses on the wooden beds with utter disgust, especially the heap of red-and-white matter wrapped in thick cloth, as well as the not-quite-cleaned white bones beside it.

That thing was worse than a beast. Even dead, it was still so revolting!

"Enough. Go have the men fetch some ice from the ice cellar. These bodies need to remain here for a few more days."

"Tomorrow morning, I will report this to County Magistrate Sir and let him decide."

Chen Shi did not take Liang Cheng's suggestion. He could see that there were still some unresolved doubts in this case.

Moreover, one of the dead was the County Magistrate Assistant's biological son. This matter could only be brought before County Magistrate Sir.

As the first light of dawn shone, golden rays pierced through the clouds, draping the walls at the County Town gate in a thin veil.

Not long after the County Town gates opened, a horse galloped out through them at tremendous speed.

The rider on its back was none other than Lu Xuan!

To avoid complications from dragging on too long, Lu Xuan did not waste any time and headed straight for Tongling Peak, which Zhang Heng had mentioned, in search of the Purple Blood Spirit Mushroom.

Tongling Peak?

Lu Xuan had not fully believed Zhang Heng's words about the Purple Blood Spirit Mushroom and its location, Tongling Peak, and had not rashly gone searching for it.

Having absorbed the experience of countless predecessors who had mastered the art of staying alive, Lu Xuan naturally remained cautious in all matters.

Thus, before heading to Tongling Peak, Lu Xuan had specifically sent people to investigate the place in detail.

Only after learning about Tongling Peak did Lu Xuan finally lower his guard.

Tongling Peak was only two hours' travel from the County Town, and there was a village at its foot where people had lived for generations.

Lu Xuan urged his horse onward at full speed without stopping, following the Official Road the entire way.

Before two hours had passed, Lu Xuan rode off the broad Official Road and raced toward a secluded path.

Before long, an enormous village appeared in the distance. It looked several times larger than Willow Ditch Village, which he had visited last time.

Following the narrow path, Lu Xuan slowed his horse until he reached the village entrance.

Beside the road at the entrance stood a polished stone stele, bearing the three large characters: Chenpo Village.

Looks like this was the place. Lu Xuan carefully examined the stele.

Not far inside the village entrance, villagers who had risen early to work in the fields were busy with farm labor.

Some of them looked up and noticed Lu Xuan at the entrance.

Before long, a burly man with sun-darkened skin walked over. His hands were covered in calluses formed by years of heavy labor.

As he approached, he saw Lu Xuan's exceptionally handsome face and the air of someone raised in comfort that he carried.

The burly man looked puzzled. He held his hands awkwardly before him, seemingly nervous, before slowly speaking. "Young master, you are?"

Still seated on horseback, Lu Xuan glanced at the burly man, then dismounted. Cupping his fists politely, he said, "Brother, I have come from the County Town."

"May I ask if this is Chenpo Village?"

Seeing how courteous Lu Xuan was, the burly man hurriedly replied, "So the young master is an honored guest from the County Town. My name is Chen Dachun, and this is indeed Chenpo Village."

"What brings you here, honored guest?"

"I have come for Tongling Peak. Could Brother Dachun tell me the direction to Tongling Peak?"

Lu Xuan only knew that Chenpo Village lay at the foot of Tongling Peak. He did not know the exact route up the mountain.

"Tongling Peak? Then you have asked the right person. Our village has lived at the foot of Tongling Peak for generations. That over there is Tongling Peak."

Once Zhang Dachun learned why Lu Xuan had come, he raised his hand without hesitation and pointed behind Chenpo Village.

Lu Xuan looked in the direction Zhang Dachun indicated. In the distance stood a tall, straight mountain peak, so high its summit seemed to pierce the vault of heaven.

However, before Lu Xuan could inspect it closely—

As if suddenly remembering something, Zhang Dachun looked at Lu Xuan with hesitation and slowly said, "Honored guest, you are not planning to climb Tongling Peak, are you?"

"You absolutely must not!"

Seeing Zhang Dachun's frightened expression and his attempt to stop him from going up the mountain, Lu Xuan was puzzled. "Why?"

"Tongling Peak is far too dangerous now. Half a year ago, no one knows what happened on its summit.

"The wild beasts living at the mountaintop all seemed to go mad. They ran down to the mountainside and the foothills, and sometimes they even attacked the villagers.

"Fortunately, our village has a martial guard squad that can kill the beasts attacking the villagers.

"If you go up the mountain now, honored guest, I fear you may encounter those ferocious beasts."

The beasts from the summit had come down to attack the villagers?

Lu Xuan frowned slightly, but he was not overly concerned and spoke again.

"You need not worry about that, Brother Dachun. I have trained in martial arts, so dealing with a few wild mountain beasts will not be a problem."

"Besides, I will only be going a short way up from the foothills to gather some medicinal herbs unavailable in the County Town."

"Medicinal herbs?"

Zhang Dachun froze for a moment, then recalled that Reaching Peak Ridge indeed had many medicinal herbs.

Part of their village's income came from gathering herbs in the mountains.

At that moment, Lu Xuan took out a string of copper coins from his robes, around twenty in all, and held it out.

"I'll have to trouble you to lead the way, Brother Dachun. Please accept this small token of my appreciation."

"Ah? How can I accept this, honored guest...?"

Zhang Dachun looked at the copper coins in Lu Xuan's hand, at a complete loss.

"No need to stand on ceremony, Brother Dachun. I will need your help with something else as well. When I go up the mountain, please look after this horse for me."

Lu Xuan directly pressed the string of copper coins into Zhang Dachun's hand.

"Th-This, this, this!"

Holding the copper coins, Zhang Dachun looked deeply moved.

After all, the money in his hand was worth as much as a month of his earnings.

An excited smile spread across Zhang Dachun's face. He then bowed toward Lu Xuan and said ingratiatingly, "All right then, honored guest, this way please. Leave the matter of handling the horse to a rough fellow like me."

After some time, once Lu Xuan had settled his horse, he followed the burly man to the foot of Reaching Peak Ridge.

Before them lay a small path leading up the mountain.

According to Zhang Dachun, this path had been carved out by the villagers over generations.

"Honored guest, this is the way up the mountain. Do you want me to go up with you? Then I could look after you if anything happened."

Zhang Dachun scratched his head honestly. Clearly, after taking Lu Xuan's money earlier—

He still felt that he had gained too much and was somewhat embarrassed.

"No need. I appreciate your kindness, Brother Dachun. I will take my leave first."

Before Zhang Dachun could react, Lu Xuan's figure had already gone far down the path, gradually vanishing from sight.