I have nine knives

"": 200,

"": "",

"": ""Honey, you have to be extremely careful about this. You can't tell anyone." Luo Feng sighed again and warned her.

"Mm-hmm." Gu Ya wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"It's almost noon. I'll make lunch and pack some food for tomorrow's trip into the mountains." With that, Gu Ya headed into the kitchen.

Only then did Luo Bin breathe a sigh of relief, another wave of emotion washing over him.

In his previous life, his mother had never had cause to rejoice over his abilities. He hadn't had much ability to speak of, just another utterly ordinary wage slave, and he'd never been able to give back to his family. As the old saying went, only when someone wanted to care for their parents and found them already gone did they truly wake up to the fact that time never turned back.

Living a second life, Luo Bin finally understood how a mother's pride in her son could make the child feel immensely proud as well.

"Xiao Shan, I've prepared a few things for you." Luo Feng spoke again, gesturing for Luo Bin to approach the spot where he'd set the leather knife sheaths.

From a distance, it looked like one piece of leather. Up close, there were actually two, each about as wide as a spread hand.

Luo Feng picked up one of them and wrapped it around Luo Bin's waist.

The tight fit made Luo Bin instinctively straighten his back.

Then Luo Feng picked up the knives on the ground and slid them into the sheaths one by one.

At a glance, the sheaths looked like leather, but they actually had a metal lining. A ring of iron also edged each opening, keeping the blades from slicing through the sheaths themselves.

"I have nine knives. You always wanted to learn before, and I kept telling you that you couldn't. Once we get back from this trip, it'll be about time." A smile appeared on Luo Feng's face.

Luo Bin was a little dazed.

Luo Feng's feelings had changed again.

If his earlier attitude had meant accepting Luo Bin as a person, accepting that he had become the body's original owner...

Then now, this was truly... approval?

A son inheriting his father's trade was an age-old tradition.

Luo Bin simply hadn't expected the Luo Family to have some special skill he could learn.

All this time, he'd thought this was an ordinary family, and Luo Feng was just a fairly clever middle-aged man.

Before long, his waist was lined with knives.

"Dad, didn't you say nine knives? Why are there only eight?" Luo Bin came back to his senses, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"You'll find out when the time comes." Luo Feng answered, then began sorting out the remaining knives.

His heart pounded.

His hand instinctively settled on one of the knife handles.

With this many sharp blades at hand, even if he were just an ordinary person, surely few people could hurt him? And that wasn't even accounting for the skills the Luo Family apparently possessed.

For a moment, excitement surged through Luo Bin, along with a touch of impatience.

Gu Ya finished cooking.

The family regained that same warm atmosphere they'd shared before.

After the meal, Luo Feng went out.

Luo Bin didn't follow to check. He knew Luo Feng must be heading to the roadside where he'd left his mark.

He gave up trying to find a way to contact Gu Yiren that day.

There was too little time, and it would be too difficult.

If something was going to happen, it would happen. If not, waiting another day or two probably wouldn't change that. Most importantly, haste would only lead to mistakes.

If he couldn't rely on unknown information, he could only rely on himself first!

As usual, Gu Ya reminded him to take a nap.

After entering his room, he unfastened the leather belt and lay on the bed. He took out the slip of paper again, studied it for a long while, and murmured, "Those who can affect the mountain will be hunted and taken."

Affect the mountain?

Hunted and taken?

He turned toward the window and could just make out the gap where the writing had appeared last night. Of course, there was nothing there now. It was simply clear.

"I am an evil spirit. Don't believe what I say." Luo Bin murmured Xu Kaiguo's message again.

In less than ten days, he'd already learned a great deal about Cabinet Mountain Village.

The problem probably wasn't with the village itself?

The problem was actually... on the mountain?

Yes, the evil spirits came out of the mountain.

They said people couldn't leave the village, but was it really the village they couldn't leave?

What kept people hopelessly lost was the mountain road!

The village was merely here, serving as a point of reference?

Luo Bin was now certain that Xu Kaiguo's final sentence had meant he shouldn't believe the claim that Luo Feng and Gu Ya were evil spirits, and that he absolutely must not open the window.

Xu Kaiguo's periods of "lucidity" were rare. The reason nothing had happened when Luo Bin opened the window on the first night was that he'd happened to catch Xu Kaiguo while he was "lucid," allowing him to pass on information.

He went over the contents of the note again.

Luo Bin's eyes widened. His ears seemed to buzz, as though he could truly hear a clear spring flowing beside them, a sudden revelation pouring into his mind.

"Those who can affect the mountain."

It meant exactly what it said.

Cabinet Mountain trapped people, and evil spirits killed them. This was something that could be resolved.

Once someone capable of that appeared, they would be hunted and taken!

It was hunted and taken, not hunted and killed.

That meant turning such people into beings like Xu Kaiguo!

Turning them into evil spirits as well, making them hurt and kill others!

Those brief moments of lucidity were a struggle, and at the same time, a kind of punishment and torment?

Xu Kaiguo had been hunted and taken.

It probably hadn't happened to Luo Bin yet. The original owner had only been killed by coincidence, his fingernail taken away, and Luo Bin's soul had been summoned into the body by coincidence, turning him into an evil spirit with a living person's consciousness!

But Xu Kaiguo had already been warning him...

Someone would come to hunt and take him!

Because he might be able to break free of this situation!

Goosebumps spread over his entire body again.

Luo Bin had originally thought that, as long as he played the body's original owner well, he could focus on figuring out how to survive here and how to leave.

He hadn't expected such danger to be lurking in the shadows.

He probably... hadn't been discovered yet?

Too much had happened, and his mind had been pushed too hard all at once. Luo Bin felt a dull ache in his head again. He'd spent too long thinking too deeply, draining himself.

Waves of grogginess washed over him, and Luo Bin fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke, the hour hand pointed to three. The sunlight was still dazzling, but much of his energy had returned.

Someone was talking in the courtyard. The clear, pleasant voice belonged to Zhang Yunling? The other voice came from Gu Ya and sounded normal and sensible.

Luo Bin yawned, got out of bed, and pushed open the door.

"Xiao Shan, you're awake. Come here. Your Sister Ling heard about what happened this morning and brought me some calming medicine. Have some yourself." Gu Ya beckoned to Luo Bin from the main room.

Zhang Yunling sat beside her, her hands braced on the sides of her chair, looking poised and at ease. A pot of medicine sat on the table, and a faint, bitter smell drifted through the courtyard.

Luo Bin walked over, feeling a little awkward, his gaze lowered toward the ground.

As it happened, he caught sight of Zhang Yunling's pale pink cloth shoes. A little of her ankles showed above them, looking delicate and pretty.

He hurriedly raised his head, only to meet Zhang Yunling's eyes.

Zhang Yunling gave a serene smile, lifted the pot, and poured out a bowl of medicine.

"Xiao Shan, drink some. It'll soothe your nerves and make you feel much better. You're going into the mountains tomorrow, so you must sleep well tonight and get your strength back."

Luo Bin relaxed a little. Clearly, Zhang Yunling hadn't held the earlier incident against him.

He'd overthought it, too. Zhang Yunling might only have been casually mentioning what she was doing at the time, without any intention of having him do it. Gu Ya's words had simply given him that preconception.

He stepped forward, picked up the bowl of medicine, and gulped it down.

Only then did Gu Ya

say softly, "Now that Xiao Shan's awake, I'll explain what happened. His dad came back a little while ago and told me a few things. He warned me over and over not to tell any outsiders, but you're not an outsider, Ling. I'm worried you might be in danger, too."

Luo Bin hadn't even swallowed his mouthful of medicine before he choked and broke into a fit of coughing. When he set the bowl down, it struck the table with a sharp clink.

Zhang Yunling hurriedly stood and gently patted Luo Bin's back.

Startled as well, Gu Ya said, "Xiao Shan, are you all right? How could you be so careless? Did it go down the wrong way?"