jdhmnovel Chapter 407 You're too young
Chapter 407 You're too young
"who are you?"
The man chuckled, his tone condescending and sarcastic: "You dare to break into the treasury of Chang Le City if you don't know who I am?"
Jiang Liqian secretly gripped the top-grade spirit stone in her hand, forcing herself to remain calm. Instead of running away in fear, she probed, "Senior, are you perhaps the city lord of this city?"
The man did not answer immediately, but instead waved his sleeve, illuminating the entire stone warehouse.
Jiang Liqian subconsciously narrowed her eyes, but did not give the other party any opportunity to take advantage.
The man didn't seem to intend to harm her. Instead, he squatted down, picked up a spirit stone, and tossed it in his hand.
Do you think I'm greedy?
With just this one sentence, Jiang Liqian was certain that he was Wang Mingzhi, the capricious city lord of Chang Le City.
"You exploit the people and oppress them. How do you think I should think of you, Lord City Lord?" Jiang Liqian directly exposed his actions without any tact.
Wang Mingzhi clapped his hands and laughed.
"They say the younger generation is to be feared, but young lady, you are too young. Do you understand the rights and wrongs of this world?"
Jiang Li sneered and said without any politeness, "Is the City Lord taking advantage of his age?"
Wang Mingzhi choked for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled, tossing the spirit stones into the pile. The shimmering spirit stones resembled a sky full of stars, their reflections illuminating the cold stone chamber.
“What if I said,” Wang Mingzhi turned his back, his voice indifferent, “that it wasn’t I who forced them to hand over the spirit stones, but that they gave them voluntarily?”
This is impossible!
Unless the people of Chang Le City all have a masochistic tendency.
Jiang Liqian stared at his retreating figure, silently comparing the difference in their strength with her chances of leaving, but said sarcastically, "So, the people in the city can't leave because they chose to?"
If there were any hidden dangers in this city, would the people in the city stay here and fight to the death instead of leaving?
To Jiang Liqian's surprise, Wang Mingzhi actually nodded and said "Yes".
What does it mean?
Wang Mingzhi turned to look at Jiang Liqian: "It's not that I'm forcing them not to leave Chang Le City, but that they can't leave here in the first place. As soon as they step out of the city gate, they will die, bleeding from all seven orifices, in a gruesome manner."
Jiang Liqian immediately rejected the idea: "That's impossible. How could there be a city that can't be left, or people who can't leave?"
"You've come to my city lord's mansion and here, surely you've heard that rumor?" Wang Mingzhi said.
Jiang Liqian stared intently into his eyes without saying a word.
Wang Mingzhi didn't feel offended at all. Instead, he continued talking to himself: "Chang Le City is a place full of laughter and joy. It is peaceful and prosperous. There is no need for sadness or tears here. Everyone who lives here just needs to live happily."
“This place really used to be like this.”
"But later, once someone broke this rule, he would disappear the next day and never reappear."
Wang Mingzhi sighed, his eyes filled with pity: "Little girl, do you think I did all of this?"
Judging from his tone, it was as if the whole thing was a misunderstanding.
"According to your meaning, senior, could it be that I have guessed wrong?"
Wang Mingzhi looked at her: "Little girl, would you dare to come with me somewhere?"
Jiang Liqian is not someone who would easily trust others.
"Senior, do you think I would take this risk?"
"If I told you that if you come with me, you would know the reason for the strange occurrences in Chang Le City, would you have the courage and be willing to take the risk?" Wang Mingzhi sighed, his voice filled with helplessness.
But Jiang Li could faintly sense the oppressive aura emanating from him.
Jiang Liqian looked at him silently, then suddenly tilted her head and smiled, clutching the Spirit-Suppressing Pearl tightly in her hand: "Alright, how could I refuse a senior's invitation?"
Wang Mingzhi seemed surprised that she actually agreed to go with him so readily. He paused for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head: "Young people these days are really something..."
He approached her, wrapped his long sleeves around her, and the two vanished from the spot in an instant.
Inside the stone chamber, a memory stone slowly rolled into the pile of spirit stones.
The place Wang Mingzhi led Jiang Liqian to was still within the City Lord's Mansion, but the location was somewhat remote. It was a very abandoned courtyard, with a thick layer of withered leaves covering the ground. The pavilions and corridors were all covered in dust. However, a hidden formation was set up at the entrance of this abandoned courtyard, making it impossible for ordinary people to find.
Jiang Liqian followed behind Wang Mingzhi, and as he walked deeper and deeper, he finally stopped in a dense bamboo grove.
Jiang Liqian stopped ten steps away from him.
“This is it.” Wang Mingzhi stepped aside, revealing the scene in the small bamboo grove to Jiang Liqian.
Actually, there wasn't much in this small bamboo grove, except for a white jade platform that was neither too high nor too low deep inside. This platform looked much newer than the courtyard, with only a few faint patterns and decorations. But what was most eye-catching on it were the several pools of scarlet blood.
Her pupils contracted, and Jiang Liqian immediately asked, "What's going on?"
She could feel it; it was human blood!
Wang Mingzhi sighed and explained the situation to her in simple terms: "After I finished my seclusion, this altar appeared here, and people in the city often went missing. I have been working hard for the people, which inevitably makes me seem unpredictable to outsiders."
"I have been searching for the reason why the people have disappeared. I later discovered that as long as the altar is filled with spiritual stones full of spiritual power on the first day of each month, the people in the city can be spared from disaster."
"Is it the work of a demon?" Jiang Li asked, her brows furrowed slightly.
Wang Mingzhi shook his head.
"I don't know either. At first, I also wanted to try to find the owner of this altar, so I deliberately delayed the time for placing the spirit stones. As a result, human blood appeared here the next day, and several people in the city disappeared without a trace."
"There is no other way. For the safety of the people in the city, I can only let them use gold and silver instead of spirit stones and control the amount of gold and silver to maintain the basic order of the city's operation."
"Since the offering of spirit stones, as long as the people in the city do not shed tears or leave the city, they will not encounter danger. Over time, the people here have settled down."
Jiang Liqian did not easily believe his words, but asked, "Why doesn't Chang Le City ask nearby sects for help when such a thing happens?"
"If I remember correctly, senior, you don't seem to like the disciples of the three major sects coming. All disciples of the three major sects have to pay one hundred high-grade spirit stones to enter the city. Can you give me a reason?"
When Wang Mingzhi heard her ask this, he laughed and said, "You young man are really cautious. You've only been in the city for a day, and you already know so much about it..."