My plan was met with strange looks from everyone.
"Is this your idea?"
"Isn't that a bit too unethical?"
"As expected of a young person! That brain of yours is really something."
Finally, Yue'er gave me a big eye roll and whispered, so only I could hear, "I can't believe you came up with such a devious plan. I should have let those mountain spirits bite you to death."
While some praised my idea, one person's face was ashen, looking utterly miserable as he stared at me. That was Kang Pangzi.
"Kid, this is pure revenge! You're deliberately targeting me. Do you... do you believe I'll just release my insects to bite you?"
Facing Kang Pangzi's threat, I shrugged. "There's nothing I can do about it. You're a powerful individual, not someone like me, a mere feng shui master. The saying 'the capable should bear more burdens' applies here, so you can't blame me."
My plan was simple: use sedatives and painkillers to incapacitate or make the mountain spirits collectively fall asleep.
While the plan sounded simple, its execution was quite troublesome, as one step required Kang Pangzi's involvement.
Mountain spirits are omnivorous. They not only eat fruits and plant roots but also insects and small reptiles. Given their voracious appetite, there was no reason for them not to eat so many insect delicacies.
By attaching the drugs to Kang Pangzi's蛊虫 (gu worms), the mountain spirits would inevitably grab and devour these poisonous creatures. Once the drugs took effect, even if they had the intention to attack, they wouldn't have the physical ability, making it easy for us to pass.
Kang Pangzi's face turned from pale to green. He finally turned to Fang Niubizi. "Daoist Fang, you know I don't have many蛊 (gu), just a small number. If they're all eaten, then my livelihood will be gone! You can't agree to this kid's idea; he's deliberately trying to kill me!" He said this while wiping away tears, looking like a virtuous woman about to be wronged.
Upon hearing this, Fang Niubizi appeared somewhat troubled. He seemed to know Kang Pangzi's situation well. Perhaps moved by his tears, he could only look at me.
"Young Benefactor, is there no other way besides this? If we really do this, he'll have to withdraw midway and won't be able to continue with us."
Kang Pangzi wiped his tears and looked at me with hopeful eyes, waiting for me to suggest another plan.
I smiled slightly. "It's not that there aren't other ways."
"What ways? As long as my蛊虫 aren't fed to the mountain spirits, I'll agree to anything."
"This way is also simple. Let Old Li call for people, and they can shoot all these mountain spirits dead. That solves everything."
Li Jian's face immediately fell. He looked at me displement, like a resentful mule's uncle. "If I could mobilize so many people, would I need you to give me ideas?"
I wasn't angry about this. I spread my hands. "I have no other methods. You can think of something else if you don't want to ask me."
Damn it! You think you're the only one with a temper? I have one too, but mine is different. As long as I can annoy you, everything else is irrelevant to me.
"You guys discuss it. I'm going to rest over there. I didn't sleep well last night."
As soon as I finished speaking, I pulled Zhang Dabiao and found a place to sit, completely ignoring their displeased expressions. I wasn't in a hurry anyway. I had come up with a solution; whether they implemented it was their business, and how they executed it was none of mine.
After sitting down, Zhang Dabiao gave me a thumbs-up. "Brother, your brain is truly sharp. Not only did you solve the problem, but you also managed to scheme against that fatty. I'm truly impressed."
I smiled modestly. "I didn't intend to do anything to him, but since that fatty wanted to stir up trouble, this idea just popped into my head!"
In fact, the moment Li Jian mentioned that the mountain spirits' lair was on the only path, I had already devised this plan, but I hadn't voiced it until now.
In our group, only Yue'er, Zhang Dabiao, and I were outsiders. Everyone else was aligned with Li Jian.
If it were just Li Jian, Fang Niubizi, Kang Pangzi, and the three of us acting together, I would definitely have had a chance to disrupt Li Jian's plan and prevent him from treasure hunting and tomb raiding. However, with Hei Zi and the armed bodyguards, we were at a disadvantage.
We were not afraid of dealing with yin entities and evil spirits, but facing armed bodyguards was tantamount to seeking death; we had no chance of winning. Furthermore, there was an unwritten rule in the feng shui world that one should not act against ordinary people, so even using some tricks was not feasible.
After Zhang Dabiao and I left, we saw Fang Niubizi, Li Jian, and Kang Pangzi whispering and discussing something. Initially, Kang Pangzi reacted quite vehemently, pointing at me multiple times as if complaining that I was setting him up.
But I knew that both Li Jian and Fang Niubizi would eventually agree to my suggestion, as it was the best solution. Dealing with thousands of mountain spirits with guns would take at least a month or two; they wouldn't stand still to be shot.
Eventually, I didn't know what Li Jian said to him, but Kang Pangzi's agitated emotions began to subside, though he still shook his head like a rolling wave, indicating that the proposed conditions were not satisfactory.
Seeing that they couldn't come to a conclusion anytime soon, I told Zhang Dabiao that I would sleep for a while and to call me if anything happened, then I spread out my sleeping bag and crawled in. I didn't know how long I slept before I felt someone nudging me. Opening my eyes, I saw it was Zhang Dabiao.
"What is it, Brother Zhang?"
"They've reached a conclusion. They're calling us over."
Climbing out of my sleeping bag, I stretched lazily before slowly making my way over.
None of the three had a pleasant expression. Kang Pangzi probably felt the worst, with his eyes red like a rabbit with conjunctivitis. When he saw me approaching, he glared at me with gritted teeth, making me feel like he wanted to bite me.
"Young Benefactor, Daoist Kang has agreed to your plan, but the specific implementation still needs you to explain." Fang Niubizi, as the de facto leader, spoke first.
"Since you've agreed, the rest is easy. I assume Daoist Kang's蛊虫 have strong resistance to medicine. We just need to dissolve the various drugs in water and have him control the蛊虫 to drink them. Then, have him take these蛊虫 to the mountain spirits' lair and release them. The mountain spirits will inevitably scramble to eat them. At that time, we just wait for the drugs to take effect."
I said it casually, but Kang Pangzi's face grew uglier.
"I'm contributing all my蛊虫, and I even have to feed them to the mountain spirits myself. You came up with such a terrible idea, aren't you afraid of not having a backdoor for your son in the future?"
"I am afraid! Of course, I'm afraid. But this isn't something I'm doing. As for whose son will have no backdoor, that's hard to say."
Seeing that we were about to argue again, Fang Niubizi interjected, "Alright, since the Young Benefactor has outlined the plan, let's proceed with it."
With Fang Niubizi's word, Kang Pangzi fell silent, but his eyes shot me a venomous glare, suggesting that this matter was far from over.
I returned his glare with a smile. What good is it being a蛊师 (gu master) if you lose your蛊 and can't be arrogant anymore?
Kang Pangzi, with a grim expression, took out his rattle. He chanted unintelligible incantations while shaking it vigorously.
As the clear drumbeats echoed, a "shasha" sound came from the cave entrance, drawing everyone's attention.
Scorpions and centipedes, as if possessed, swarmed out of the cave. They didn't attack people they encountered but instead moved around them and crawled towards the medicinal water prepared by Hei Zi.
Looking at the densely packed crawling venomous creatures, my scalp tingled. I even regretted pushing Kang Pangzi to such extremes. If he decided to unleash these creatures to attack me, wouldn't I be as good as dead?
Facing such a dense swarm of venomous creatures, Yue'er's expression remained unchanged. She merely glanced at them with disdain, muttered "useless," and went back to listening to her music.
After these creatures had drunk all the medicinal water that could stun all the mountain spirits, Kang Pangzi narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
"Do you have the guts to come with me?"