Terrifying Heavens: I'll directly worship the Black Law of Fengdu!

Chapter 170 Mars (Starting Here)

Li Xuan picked up the mute girl, took out a strip of cloth and tied it to his back, saying, "Let's go to Jicao Hall and see what's going on."

The mute girl lay on his back. She was only five years old, but her eyes were so cloudy. She hummed softly. As long as she could be treated as a normal person, even if it was only for a day, an hour, or even just a quarter of an hour before she died, that would be enough.

Just as Li Xuan was about to leave this place with her.

Two men dressed in gray stood up from a rock not far away, pushed through the crowd, and squeezed forward. One of them was burly with a thick waist and a fleshy face, while the one behind him was thinner but had a short knife hanging from his waist, and his eyes flashed with hostility.

The man in front of Li Xuan stretched out his hand to block Li Xuan's way and sneered, "Young brother, looking at your delicate skin, you probably only know how to hide at home and study, and you don't know the cruelty of the outside world. If you want to save this little beast, you have to show your sincerity. Here, give me one hundred taels of silver, and you can take her away!"

Those around gasped. One hundred taels of silver could buy a lot of things. Even those filial sons and daughters who sold themselves to bury their fathers wouldn't dare to ask for such a large sum. Yet this little girl with no legs, so thin and frail, dared to ask for so much.

When ordinary people make transactions, the currency they use is basically copper coins. Even those who manage to accumulate wealth only have small pieces of silver of varying sizes and qualities.

Keep in mind that ten baskets of matches, which are essentially just matches, only amount to an ounce.

Li Xuan could tell from the two men's eyes that they had a relationship with the mute girl. There were many people around, so after thinking for a moment, he said, "I only have a handful of copper coins on me. If you want silver, come with me."

The burly man puffed out his chest and chuckled, "Kid, do you think I'm stupid? Who knows what tricks you have up your sleeve? I'm not falling for it!"

Li Xuan said, "Oh, so this is the kind of guts you have when you're out in the game. Your path is limited to this. As the saying goes, the timid starve, the bold get rich. You choose. I'm taking the child with me now..."

The man only felt a blur of movement in front of him, and when he came to his senses, Li Xuan had already walked past him and out of the crowd.

He was slightly taken aback, then a surge of anger rose within him. He lowered his voice and said, "Damn it, this kid has an accent from out of town. If he were a local rich kid, he would definitely know we have connections! Ha, such a young calf is not afraid of tigers. Today, whether he has a hundred taels of silver or not, he will have to spit it out!"

"Brother, could this be a trap?"

The skinny man watched Li Xuan's figure, a sense of unease rising in his heart. He said, "This person is so calm. He might have arranged for someone to wait for us in a secluded place."

"He's the only one from out of town?"

The burly man disagreed, but thought there was some truth to it, and said, "Here's what we'll do, I'll go after them first, you quickly gather the brothers to look after each other, and tell them that a fat sheep from out of town has arrived."

The skinny man nodded, took two steps back, and squeezed through the crowd, running in the opposite direction.

Outside the dock, in the woods, along the official road, the road from six months ago had become quite dilapidated. Li Xuan could even still see fragments of the oxcart's planks remaining.

The mute girl glanced back every now and then, and saw the burly man following about ten paces away. She nervously gripped Li Xuan's shoulders with both hands...

"Kid, where's the money? You're not thinking of sending me to the yamen, are you?"

The burly man squinted, pulled a dagger from his waist with his right hand, and said in a rather unfriendly tone, "If you want to do this, I can tell you in advance that it's useless. The county magistrate also has a share in it! If you know what's good for you, pay up quickly, and I'll pretend nothing happened."

Li Xuan stopped by a tree, bent down, and gently patted a stone with his left hand, saying, "I've hidden the silver under this stone for many years. If you can move it, it's yours." The burly man walked over, looked at it, and immediately flew into a rage: "There's no sign of digging or covering it with soil! You've tricked me!"

Li Xuan glanced at the road he had come from, but the skinny man hadn't appeared yet. He said, "How could something that happened a few years ago leave any trace after being exposed to wind and rain? You don't want me to leave!"

The burly man walked around the tree twice, put the dagger back at his waist, chuckled, then, with his back against the rock, he kicked the ground wildly with both feet. He actually managed to push over the 300-pound rock. It wasn't very deep; after a little soil was turned up at the base, the rock fell to the other side.

There were many earthworms burrowing around in the pit, heading deeper into the soil.

Lumps of silvery-white material, shaped like stones, caught the burly man's eye in the soil. His heart raced. He crouched down, dug through the soil with both hands, roughly pulled out the silvery-white objects, bit them, and exclaimed with delight, "It really is silver! Such pure silver..."

Li Xuan asked, "Isn't your friend here yet? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

The burly man's good mood was interrupted, and he said impatiently, "What are you yelling for? What are you yelling for? I'm going to..."

His words caught in his throat, and he couldn't speak. He saw that Li Xuan, who was not wearing any weapons, had a long, square black mace in his right hand. This thing was extremely imposing. What was even more terrifying was that the mace was about a meter long and quite heavy, but this delicate-skinned guy was only holding the end of it.

"Where...where did you get this thing from, and what do you want to do with it!"

He hurriedly drew the dagger from his waist and waved it wildly, his voice tinged with fear: "My brother will be here soon. Put the things down, and I won't hold it against you."

Li Xuan stepped forward slowly, gently patting his mace in his left palm: "Why did you abduct children? What are your relationships? How many children did each of you handle? Tell me everything, down to the smallest detail."

The burly man was intimidated by the aura emanating from Li Xuan and realized he had kicked a hornet's nest, so he immediately turned and ran!

Once the people arrive, twenty or thirty of them will surround them, and even the strongest will be brought down.

Li Xuan casually tossed his mace, which landed on the back of the burly man's right knee, making a dull thud. The man's right leg twisted unnaturally, and he fell to the ground, letting out a pig-like scream.

With a torn joint, he'll never be able to stand up again on his right leg.

He picked up the mace and smashed it against his right ankle.

The burly man cried out in anguish, his heart breaking. When his left ankle was also shattered, he finally spoke: "I beg you, please stop hitting me. I'm ruined. I'm a cripple."

He confessed that the Empress Dowager was about to celebrate her birthday, and officials from all over the country were racking their brains to send her some rare treasures and gold and silver as expenses for the birthday celebration. So, from the prefect to the county magistrate, everyone was trying to squeeze money out of the people.

Many people who commit crimes are not imprisoned because these officials need them to make money. It doesn't matter if the money is dirty or clean; the most important thing is to have money.

Li Xuan asked, "Does the Jicaotang clinic in the county know what's going on?"

The burly man, convulsing and nearly passing out, said, "I've heard that this little girl was brought from there. That Mr. Sun refused to pay taxes, so the county magistrate sent soldiers to seal off Ji Cao Tang and arrest a lot of people..."

(End of this chapter)