At the foot of the mountain,
Two corpses were locked in a struggle. Neither had emerged victorious; one had a wound in the back of the head, the other in the back.
One of them had his fist half-open, as though he had still been trying to grab something before he died.
"Gold!"
One sharp-eyed clerk spotted two scattered gold melon seeds beneath a leaf, and his eyes immediately lit up.
The other clerks were immensely envious.
After savoring the sight for a while, the clerk reluctantly handed them to Long San. "Shopkeeper, these are for you."
"Keep them. They're your reward."
Long San waved a hand and continued climbing the mountain.
"Thank you for the reward, Shopkeeper!"
The clerk excitedly clasped his hands in salute and tucked the gold melon seeds into his breast.
There were only two of them, but this was gold—worth at least twenty taels. It was enough to cover five or six years of work, and he had earned it without lifting a finger, simply by picking it up off the ground.
The other clerks instantly widened their eyes, unwilling to overlook the slightest detail on the ground.
The farther up Long San went, the more alarmed he became.
The excitement gradually vanished from the clerks' faces, replaced bit by bit with fear.
Corpses!
There were far too many. Corpses lay all along the path, and the higher they climbed, the more there were!
Some were tangled together in combat; some had their chests pierced through by long spears; some were headless bodies, their heads nowhere to be found; some were charred black from head to toe, covered in horrifying blisters...
When they arrived before the main stronghold of Fierce Tiger Stronghold, an overwhelming shock swept over Long San and the clerks, leaving them frozen