Su Mu got out of the car and approached the construction crew, then sensed something slightly amiss. There seemed to be a faint trace of resentment here.
When Su Mu sensed this, he found it extremely strange.
"Hey, young man! There's construction going on here. It's dangerous!"
While Su Mu was observing the area, a worker nearby spotted him and immediately called out to him.
Su Mu looked up and saw the worker waving at him, telling him to leave.
"Hello. Has there been any kind of accident here recently?"
Su Mu could clearly see that those wisps of black Qi carried a little resentment. He kept getting a bad feeling from them and could not help asking in concern.
His father had once been a construction worker. Later, an accident at a construction site had left him in poor health even now, and he had to spend a great deal of money on medicine every year.
It would not be wrong to say that their family had been ruined just like that.
Perhaps it was because of this that Su Mu had hurried over as soon as he noticed something unusual here.
Perhaps this was what people online meant by that saying: even though your own life was far from good, you still could not bear to see suffering in the world.
"What kind of thing is that to say, young man? What accidents could we possibly have here?"
Hearing this, the worker immediately frowned, looking somewhat displeased.
Su Mu opened his mouth. He wanted to ask them to stop work for a while to avoid an accident, but he had no evidence that could convince them.
If he said he had seen something amiss, they would not believe him either.
At that thought, Su Mu found himself at a loss.
After hesitating for a moment, Su Mu gave the worker an apologetic smile, told them to be careful while working, then turned and left.
Seeing that Su Mu had a decent attitude, the worker's expression eased a little.
Still somewhat puzzled by what Su Mu had meant, he shook his head, then turned back to continue working.
Half an hour later, Su Mu returned to his rented room. Once he lay down, he immediately returned to the cultivation world.
Nothing much should have happened over the past few days. Xiao Wu had not come looking for him either.
When Su Mu opened his eyes again, he was already back inside his residence.
"Oh, you're awake."
Noticing Su Mu come out, Xiao Wu immediately turned and smiled at him.
Su Mu paused at the sight. "You're here?"
"I've been coming every day these past few days. We've sold quite a few more pieces of calligraphy, too. The money's all over there!"
Xiao Wu smiled back and pointed to the table beside her, where another sizable pile of gold had accumulated.
"Why didn't you call me when you got here?"
Su Mu glanced casually at the gold without any intention of counting it, feeling puzzled instead.
Xiao Wu turned back to continue her calligraphy and answered offhandedly, "You looked like you were in a meditative trance. Naturally, I couldn't just wake you."
Xiao Wu answered as though it went without saying.
Su Mu, however, picked up on something else in her words. It seemed that after he left this place, he would appear to be in a meditative trance.
Another thing was that Xiao Wu's attitude toward him was very different from before. Back when he had first arrived here, Su Mu had been on Earth, and Xiao Wu had woken him anyway without caring whether he was in a meditative trance.
"Oh, right. There's something I wanted to ask you."
"Oh, right. There's something I need to ask you."
The two spoke at the same time.
Both paused, then smiled as their eyes met.
"You ask first."
Su Mu waved a hand, indicating that she should go first.
"Here's the thing. The Academy of Righteousness learned that you can produce calligraphy with a six-inch manifestation, and they'd like to invite you to join them. Would you be willing?"
Xiao Wu set down her brush and spoke softly.
Su Mu frowned slightly at her words. The Academy of Righteousness?
"I think I'll pass."
Without giving it much thought, Su Mu shook his head.
Xiao Wu was puzzled. "Why not? The Academy of Righteousness is quite good."
"I'm just a soul. How could I produce any calligraphy? I'd rather not go and make a spectacle of myself."
Su Mu answered casually, seemingly without any other meaning.
Inwardly, however, he felt utterly helpless. Was this something he could decide?
Although Xiao Wu had never explicitly said anything, Su Mu was certain of one thing: he had come here because of Great Liang's sacrificial ritual. Whether he was a failed product or not, he ultimately belonged to Great Liang's imperial family.
Su Mu was certain that this was how these women thought.
And now she was asking whether he wanted to go? If they wanted him to go, they could simply give him an order. With the strength of the eldest princess and the others, he did not think they needed to discuss anything with him.
This question now was probably a test.
And the reason for testing him was probably that he had, to some extent, helped the eldest princess before.
Even if all these guesses were wrong, Su Mu still could not go. He could not read, could not withstand Righteous Qi, and did not know anyone at the Academy of Righteousness either.
No matter how he looked at it, staying here was the better choice.
Hearing his words, a smile appeared on Xiao Wu's pretty face. She nodded at Su Mu. "All right. I'll turn them down in a little while. Oh, right, what did you want to ask just now-"
"Well," Su Mu immediately perked up at the subject, "say you saw something enclosed in gold, like a field of Qi, with wisps of black Qi rising inside it that made you feel there was some resentment in there. What would that be?"
"Gold, black Qi, resentment?"
Xiao Wu immediately picked out several key words. Her delicate brows furrowed, and she asked, "Where did this thing appear?"
"Somewhere they're building a road."
"Building a road? What kind of road are they building, to actually damage a Dragon Vein?" Xiao Wu shook her head. "Everyone within a hundred li of that place must be dead by now, right?"
"Honestly, how are they building this road? They've even managed to enrage the Dragon Vein underground."
Su Mu's face paled. "A Dragon Vein is that powerful? It can kill everyone within a hundred li?" At this point, Su Mu finally understood what that thing was.
Presumably, the elevated bridge being built for the road had pinned the Dragon Vein in place.
"It mainly depends on the Dragon Vein's size. But as far as I know, whether in Great Liang or any of the surrounding countries, the Dragon Veins are all very large, so a hundred li is quite normal. Take the size of that golden field of Qi you saw and expand it tenfold. That should be about right."
Xiao Wu resumed her calligraphy. The Dragon Vein he had mentioned probably was not within Great Liang's borders, so she was not particularly concerned.
If it were within Great Liang, there was no way Xiao Wu would not know about it.
Tenfold? Su Mu frowned at that. If that was the case, the Dragon Vein in that area did not seem very large.
But even so, if something happened, it would probably be no small matter. That much was clear from Xiao Wu's words.
Not a single one of those workers would likely escape. At that thought, Su Mu immediately frowned. No. No matter what, he could not leave this alone.
Otherwise, what had happened to his family would likely happen to other families as well.
Where it was within his power to help, Su Mu felt he had no reason to turn a blind eye.