411: Chapter 326 411: Chapter 326 And they all possessed some small amount of Spiritual Power, not all of them were Cultivation practitioners, but by their appearances, they were people with Combat Power, even having Guardians, each holding a large saber in their hands.
The houses in the Stockade were built from stone, with tiled roofs; it seemed another reason for courting death was that in the courtyard of the Stockade, amongst all the houses, hung some red streamers and lanterns.
Even so, the people within the Stockade seemed to be on guard; a few people ran up from the foot of the mountain into the courtyard, rushing into the houses to report something.
The people in the courtyard didn’t know what had happened, but they knew something significant had occurred.
In the high sky, they couldn’t hear the voices of the people below in the Stockade; they could only lower themselves a bit.
Luo Yaxuan’s questions came through, and Mo Wen explained the situation here to him.
Luo Yaxuan was now more certain that the people leading them to another mountain definitely intended to harm them.
“You all sneak a look, don’t alert them; just see where the person we’re looking for is.
See where they are hiding people,” he instructed.
“Alright, we’ll go have a look,” they responded.
“Be careful, just observe for now, don’t make any moves.
If they spot you, immediately run out.
The people in the Stockade are wicked and surely have other traps,” he warned.
“Alright, we understand,” they acknowledged.
Mo Wen, accompanying Ding Ling, chose not to land directly from the sky but in a forest near the Stockade, where they stayed in the trees to watch the Stockade from a close distance.
Luo Yaxuan had already surveyed their surroundings from the sky and came down to whisper the details into Lai Jianlin’s ear.
Lai Jianlin nodded in agreement, deciding not to waste more time wandering with these deceivers.
With a look to his companions, they all used their Flying Treasures to ascend into the sky, picking up those few people along.
The young master who had returned from the sky made them tremble with fear, knowing that their lies were about to be exposed.
Just when they were waiting to be questioned, hoping to explain, they didn’t expect to be suddenly taken up into the high sky, which caused them, who couldn’t yet use Flying Treasures, to panic and squawk in terror.
“Good Sirs, good Sirs, please let us go!” they pleaded.
“Good Sirs, we haven’t done anything wrong, we are just following the Shopkeeper’s orders,” they explained.
“Yes, yes, it’s all the Shopkeeper’s doing,” they admitted.
One by one, they began begging for mercy, with some of the workers turning against the Shopkeeper.
Now high above, fearing for their lives if they fell, they screamed heedlessly.
“You…, I’m just following orders from above, I also had no choice,” the Shopkeeper said angrily, looking at his subordinates.
At that moment, knowing everyone wanted to survive, he too quickly shifted responsibility onto the Mountain King.
“Hmph, if you don’t confess truthfully, we’ll drop you from up high to feed the Demonic Beasts,” Lai Jianlin’s subordinates threatened those they had picked up.
“Good Sirs, don’t throw me down; I really don’t know anything, I work in the back kitchen.
I’m not aware of the Shopkeeper’s and the workers’ affairs, and some secrets they don’t even tell me,” one of them said.
At this, everyone’s gaze shifted toward the Waiter and the Shopkeeper.
“Good Sirs, I’m also just following orders; there are people waiting to meet us.
Where they have taken the person?
We truly have no idea,” the Shopkeeper could only dodge the issue, but he could no longer deny having done wrong.
“Gentlemen, I really don’t know either.
There are things I have to do as the Shopkeeper says, and besides, we have a leader.
We have to do what the leader says.
Where they take people?
We really don’t know,” the Waiter said, his face turning pale, though his expression remained somewhat composed, indicating he had been involved in many such things and was more experienced.
“Tell us where your Stockade is.
If you don’t fess up, we could just go looking for it ourselves and send you first into a Demonic Beast’s mouth,” Luo Yaxuan threatened.
At Luo Yaxuan’s words, the Shopkeeper and his companions exchanged looks, torn between speaking up and remaining silent, afraid of retribution from above.
If these men weren’t enough to handle the Mountain King, they’d have a chance to be recognized by the king, and in the end, they would still be killed.
“You’re still not talking?
Actually, even if you don’t, I already know.
Do you think we only have these few people?
Heh, we have already found out.
Over those few mountain peaks in the opposite direction, our people have reached your stockade,” Luo Yaxuan said, unafraid that these people would find out.
Even if they knew, they lacked the ability to transmit information through Spiritual Power, and to send messages via talisman, they would need to have their hands free to get the talisman out.
Right now, these people were bound by ropes.
The ropes used to bind them were not ordinary hemp ropes.
Even if they had cultivation, they couldn’t cut through them; this was a special kind of binding material.
As Luo Yaxuan spoke, the captives’ faces turned ashen.
The shopkeeper hadn’t expected that his plot would be uncovered.
Now, whether he spoke or not, the stockade already faced the danger of being wiped out.
He truly regretted it.
When he had encountered those people earlier today, and they had not yet been knocked out, why hadn’t he just knocked them out immediately instead of talking to them?
If he hadn’t done that, right, those people wouldn’t have had the chance to look for help and none of this would’ve happened.
It’s like walking a dark path too often; eventually, one encounters a ghost.
This was meeting a ghost, who seemed so strong, so powerful.
He wondered whether their stockade could escape this calamity, but it seemed they might not be able to escape it after all.
Upon this realization, the shopkeeper figured that even if he divulged the stockade’s secrets, he would still face death, so he might as well keep silent.
“Heroes, young masters, we just run a teahouse on the street, acting as their informants.
We don’t know about the stockade’s arrangements.
Besides, we’ve always been at the foot of the mountain.
Whether they took someone prisoner there or sold them off, we have no idea,” the shopkeeper said, and his workers nodded in agreement.
The shopkeeper held a slightly higher position and knew a bit more about what went on up on the mountain.
As for the chefs and workers in the teahouse, they were just minor lackeys of the stockade.
Despite what these people said, the captors didn’t believe their words.
Unable to extract anything valuable, Luo Yaxuan decided to question Mo Wen again.
The information returned by Mo Wen gave Luo Yaxuan yet another bad premonition.
This market might also be one of the places that Nangong Ximen passed through on his way back to his hometown.
Could his master, mistress, and junior sister, who had lost contact, also be related to this stockade?
“Why is your stockade decorated with lights and colored fabrics, as if you’re preparing for a celebration?
It’s unlikely that you would marry off someone so quickly after kidnapping them.
Could it be that you have kidnapped someone else?
A young couple, a young man, and a woman, were they also ensnared by you?” Luo Yaxuan inquired, leaving his companions puzzled.
Could it be that Luo Yaxuan had other companions coming to find him?
Upon hearing Luo Yaxuan’s words, the shopkeeper and his workers were taken aback, not expecting that both groups of people were related to this man.
Everyone was afraid to speak and silently lowered their heads.
“I’m asking you, if none of you speak, is that it?
If you don’t talk, we’ll just throw you down,” one of Luo Yaxuan’s subordinates threatened.
He also threatened the man in his hand, who was an apprentice in the kitchen and actually knew a bit.
Whenever there was a celebration in the stockade, or if a robbery was successful, he would be aware of some of it.
“Please don’t throw me down, hero.
I’ll tell you everything I know.
Please spare my life.
I am just a lowly lackey, with a wife and children, and an eighty-year-old mother to take care of.
Please let me go!” pleaded the kitchen apprentice.
“Then speak quickly.
I’ll consider whether to spare you after you’ve spoken.
If you don’t, then I definitely won’t spare you,” the subordinate commanded.
“I’ll talk, I’ll talk…” the man began, but before he could spill the secrets, his companions started to threaten him.
Naturally, it was the shopkeeper who spoke the threatening words.
“Traitor!
Once the Mountain King finds out, he’ll kill you, flay you alive!” the others glared angrily at the man, furious at his willingness to betray them to save his skin.
But their expressions from before, that fear of death, wasn’t that also desperation to survive?
“You’re not afraid of death, are you?
Then let’s have you meet Yama first!”
Luo Yaxuan tossed Changgui, who was in his hand, from high above.
The shopkeeper hadn’t expected this young master to throw someone just like that.
Wishing to deploy his cultivation technique but unable to do so while bound hand and foot, Changgui plummeted from the sky.
Even if he managed to survive, he would be severely injured and if not devoured by a Demonic Beast, he wouldn’t live much longer.
“Ahhh…!”