"Don't listen to their nonsense."
The Small Tavern's boss smiled as he brought freshly grilled skewers to the other customers. "They're just here for the fun of it."
"Who says so, Boss? I believed you back then. I believed everything you said."
"Exactly. I nearly went treasure hunting beneath Changzi City with you."
"That's right. You can't call us liars now."
"..."
Watching the lively scene before him, Gu Xi instead felt his heart settle. He took another sip of wine, and that sensation of his entire body burning returned.
Gu Xi lowered his head and looked at the wine in his cup, a trace of doubt arising in his mind.
What was going on with this wine?
At that moment, the drinkers began bragging to Gu Xi again.
"You newcomers don't know this. Us old regulars grew up listening to the Boss's stories.
A long, long time ago, when the Boss was probably only around ten years old.
This shop was still run by the Boss's father.
One day, the Boss suddenly came running over and said that, the previous night, he had secretly entered the center of Changzi City, into the hidden passage beneath that clock tower.
Following the passage, he entered the underground depths of Changzi City and saw a completely golden forest.
A human head as large as a small mountain was enshrined at the center of the forest.
He said countless Black Threads descended from the sky and pierced into the head.
He suspected that the head enshrined in the forest was an Evil Formation laid down by an Evil Organization to influence Changzi City.
For that reason, he went to study the head every night.
In the end, he discovered that the head could affect people's minds.
It would slowly influence them until they