"Obedient? Well-behaved?"
I tilted my head, looking at the stout man Kang, who had given such a high evaluation. How did this fellow see the mountain sprites as obedient and well-behaved?
Last night, these mountain sprites were chasing us all over the mountain. Surely he wouldn't forget such a scene so quickly?
Seeing my strange look, Kang's face flushed slightly. He knew his words were problematic and coughed to ease his embarrassment. "You're more familiar with the habits of mountain sprites. Hurry and make a decision, or we'll be in big trouble when sunset comes."
I shifted my gaze from Kang and looked at the mountain sprite group, about fifty meters away.
Through the binoculars, I could clearly see that they were very agitated and uneasy about our presence. The few that appeared stronger than the others had tried to charge out of the valley several times, but they were all stopped by the leader, the one with white fur all over its body.
I lowered the binoculars and frowned. It was clear that these mountain sprites wanted to attack us, but they were being suppressed by the white-furred leader. This was very unusual in the animal kingdom.
When things are abnormal, there must be something sinister. To make these mountain sprites agitated, we needed to use a strong measure.
"Daoist Kang, can you let your army of蛊虫 (gu worms) enter the valley? As soon as they come in, the mountain sprites will surely rush to fight over the food."
Kang raised an eyebrow. "That's possible, but can you guarantee that the white-furred leader won't screech?"
"This..."
How could I have forgotten this detail? The leader's screeching had already thrown the army of蛊虫 into chaos. If it screeched a few more times, I estimated that Kang's hard-summoned army of蛊虫 would be few and far between.
Our situation was now quite awkward. The mountain sprite group, led by the white-furred leader, absolutely refused to come out of the valley, not even showing any extreme behavior.
It seemed their mission was to guard the valley and prevent anyone from entering.
Preventing entry?
Something flashed in my mind, but I couldn't quite grasp it.
"I say we give up. Tell Old Li that we can't handle this and have him send people to shoot them."
Looking at Kang, who was losing his nerve, I didn't know what to say. This guy had been so confident before coming, saying he could definitely deal with these mountain sprites.
But now, seeing that the mountain sprites were different from what he usually encountered, he was losing his nerve. Was this guy here to cause trouble or to be a comedian?
If he was here to be funny, this situation was not amusing at all. But if he was here to cause trouble, he didn't seem like it.
I wished I could turn around and leave this place, wishing I had wings to fly straight home. But how could that old scoundrel Li Jian let me leave so easily? Did he really think he brought so many bodyguards and guns just for show? I suspected they were meant to guard against us.
No matter how skilled a feng shui master is, they can't be more skilled than firearms. A shot to the head and they're finished.
Now there were only two options: either lure the mountain sprites out, or get the蛊虫 into the valley.
It seemed the mountain sprite group would definitely not leave the valley. It was also possible that they only moved at night. Now, the only way was to get these蛊虫 into the valley.
"Let's go."
Kang reluctantly asked, "Where to?"
"The valley rim!"
When we reached the valley rim again, the sun was almost setting.
Looking down from the valley rim, I could see the mountain sprite group constantly watching our every move. The white-furred leader was perched on the highest treetop, staring at our every action.
Kang was so exhausted he collapsed on the ground, sweat streaming down his face like a small creek.
"Youngster Song, if you can't deal with these mountain sprites, don't blame me for falling out with you. Do you know how much effort it took me to control so many蛊虫 to climb the mountain?"
I ignored his complaints and started looking for suitable trees, preferably two close together. I remembered seeing two when we came.
After searching around, I found two white ash trees near the cliff. They were about a bowl's width in diameter and three meters tall, like two slender, tall soldiers monitoring everything in the valley.
"These are the ones."
I took out a rope from my bag, tied a stone to it, swung it a few times, and threw it into