"Henan Prefecture is also known as the land of fish and rice. Maybe it's because of its location and climate?" Mo Qing raised his hand and asked.
This touched on something Yaohua didn't know. "Master, this..."
Chongming stood beside them gracefully, showing no intention of lending a hand.
Yaohua scratched her head, then rummaged through her space and quickly found the introduction about Henan Prefecture in the General Knowledge of the Three Realms. She also flipped through the knowledge about the territory of the Phoenix Clan.
"I know!" Yaohua closed the scroll. "What Brother Six said is not without reason. However, compared with our Phoenix Clan, the greatest advantage of Henan Prefecture is that it is located in a river valley plain. But this alone is not enough to make these rice plants grow so luxuriantly. Otherwise, Lei Mengze, which is also in a river valley plain, would not be overgrown with weeds and deserted."
"So, does that mean the problem lies with the rice plants themselves?" Mo Qing was puzzled. "But you just said that there is nothing wrong with the rice plants."
"Brother Six, besides internal factors, there are also external factors for plant growth!"
"But you just ruled out the external factors!" Mo Qing frowned in distress. "Could there be any other external factors?"
Yaohua stood on tiptoe and unceremoniously pressed the mark on his neck, which was left by the old man's shoulder pole.
"Ouch!" Mo Qing almost jumped up. "It hurts so much!"
"Brother Six was chased and beaten by the farmer uncle just now because he touched the rice plants they had worked so hard to grow." Yaohua paced to Chongming's side. "They reclaimed the land, sowed the seeds, and applied fertilizers. All these are external factors. Master, am I right?"
"Correct." Chongming nodded, with a look of admiration flashing across his eyes.
"So the problem lies with the fertilizer?" Mo Qing was still a little confused. "But if there is something wrong with the fertilizer, there should be some traces left, right?"
"Any action will surely leave clues, just like the uncle just now who didn't let Brother Six touch his rice plants." Yaohua said, hesitating a little. "How about we follow that uncle and see if there are any other clues in his house?"
Chongming naturally readily agreed.
Mo Qing was also eager to try. "I'm going to see how these rice plants grow."
The old man lived in the suburbs. After walking only a few miles, they saw a cramped small courtyard.
"I'm back!"
The old man pushed open the fence, and saw a child about the same height as Yaohua running out crying.
"Grandpa!"
The old man picked up the child and wiped the tears from his face. "What's wrong?"
"Sister has also been selected as a sacrifice!" The child pouted and was about to cry again.
"Sacrifice?" Mo Qing thought thoughtfully. "In this chaotic world, these mortals are struggling to survive, yet they still hold sacrifices."
"Using people as sacrifices, there must be something fishy about this." Yaohua secretly glanced at Chongming.
Master pursed his lips tightly, his face tense. Although his expression was still calm, there must be a storm brewing inside.
No wonder Master was so angry. He didn't know which guy came up with the idea of using living people as sacrifices in such a chaotic world.
At this time, there was also a faint sobbing sound coming from the house.
Yaohua tilted her head to distinguish. There should be an old woman and a young woman crying inside.
The smile on the old man's face disappeared at a visible speed. "Why is it our family's turn again?"
It seemed that more than one person from the old man's family had been a sacrifice.
Yaohua was extremely curious. She looked around but didn't find anything the old man's family was offering. She even wanted to grab the old man and ask him clearly.
"Or..." She wanted to put her idea into action, but this time, she was stopped by Chongming.
"Be patient." Chongming said calmly, but Yaohua could hear a hint of impending storm in his tone.
"Or we should run away?" The old woman trembled, grabbing the old man's arm. "Nannan is only fifteen years old!"
The old man looked worried. "Didn't the Li family run away? You saw it too. The whole family became sacrifices."
For a moment, the people in the house sighed and fidgeted.
Yaohua walked out of the house and exchanged a look with Mo Qing. The two siblings almost turned the small courtyard upside down.
"There is nothing strange in these fertilizers." Mo Qing shook his head, pinching his nose.
"Did I guess wrong?" Yaohua scratched her head. "Are these rice plants really okay?"
"Lord Chongming must have his reasons for not letting us eat those foods." Mo Qing patted her on the shoulder. "Maybe we just haven't found it yet. Let's look more carefully?"
But after looking several more times, the result was the same.
"The fertilizer is indeed okay." Yaohua looked at the house. "Then only the sacrifice is left."
But the old man's family looked sad, and no one mentioned anything about the sacrifice again.
At this time, the sky was getting darker. Yaohua suddenly remembered the night market Mo Qing mentioned. "Master, how about we go back to the inn first? When the night market opens at night, we can investigate the news about the sacrifice?"
"Okay." Chongming lowered his eyes and suddenly waved his sleeve.
Yaohua only felt a flash of white light in front of her eyes, and the next moment she was standing at the door of the inn.
Chongming stepped in. He looked solemn, as if looking for something. But after a moment, he frowned slightly.
"Master, what are you looking for?" Yaohua looked around along his line of sight, but didn't see anything suspicious.
Chongming gently shook his head and didn't say directly. "Maybe I'm being too suspicious."
It was completely dark. The lanterns on the street became the only light in the dark night. The voices outside the window gradually became noisy. Before long, it was much more lively than during the day.
Yaohua poked her head out of the window. The streets were bustling with people. There were even more people than during the day. No wonder it was so lively.
It seemed that the night market in Henan Prefecture was really interesting.
Yaohua knocked on the doors of Chongming and Mo Qing's rooms. "Master, Brother Six, let's go to the night market!"
The three of them walked on the street and were occasionally bumped into the shoulders by others. Yaohua was afraid of getting separated from Master and clung to his arm, asking to be carried.
"Why are there more and more people?" The crowd surged forward like a tide. Yaohua suddenly found that there were no stalls on either side of the street. There were food, drinks, and things to play with during the day, but there was nothing at night. What kind of night market was this?
"Is it a festival today?" Mo Qing was also a little confused. He calculated with his fingers, and his expression became even more confused. "It shouldn't be."
The two of them looked at Chongming. Chongming's face was half hidden in the lights, looking as cold as ever, as if he had endured thousands of years of incense in the temple.
Obviously, Chongming still didn't intend to interfere casually in Yaohua's training.
"Then let's go and take a look." Yaohua sat on his arm and acted coquettishly. "Master, you must protect us well!"