"All of them have fallen ill?"
"Yes."
Zhao Shuning's doubts deepened. This was the first time she had heard of such a strange thing.
"Go on," she said.
The waiter nodded.
After that, many more strange things happened.
After those men fell ill, they could only lie in bed. Later, according to those men, they all had the same dream when they were ill.
"A dream? What kind of dream?"
The more she heard, the more strange it seemed.
In the dream, those men wore gorgeous clothes and became kings in the palace. There, they had countless beautiful concubines and a vast amount of gold and silver treasures. They held supreme power.
Most of those men didn't want to wake up. Even when they did, they were in a daze.
In most families, the men were the breadwinners. When they fell ill, the women had no choice but to seek medical help everywhere.
Later, an outside alchemist told the women in the town that their men had been poisoned.
"Poisoned? Was it those traveling martial artists who did it?"
The waiter shook his head.
"At first, the women thought so too," he said.
So the women joined hands and went up the mountain together.
But on the mountain, there was no palace as the husbands had described. All they could see was a desolate wilderness.
This made the women even more frightened.
They had seen those traveling martial artists with their own eyes, and they had also seen the rewards their husbands brought back. It was impossible for so many men in the town to lie at the same time.
But the palace was indeed gone.
So the women went to consult the alchemist again.
The alchemist gave a solution.
But it was also the cruelest one.
"What is it?"
"The solution is to send all the children in the town to the desolate area behind the mountain. He said that the children would be 'raised' by heaven and earth for three years. As long as the children were sent there, the men in the family would surely get better."
"Such a superstitious thing. The women in the town shouldn't believe it, right?"
But the waiter shook his head.
Zhao Shuning could already guess the result.
Otherwise, such a situation wouldn't have happened just now.
It was all because of ignorance.
"There's a brothel in Changle Town. There's a woman named Hong'er. She had a child with her lover. Later, she heard about this. Seeing her man lying in bed, she took a risk and carried the child to the desolate area. Then, a miraculous thing happened. As soon as she got back, she saw that her man had recovered and was chopping firewood and boiling water in the yard."
"Really?"
"Yes."
As time went on, the women in the town all believed the alchemist. They thought that the children would come back after three years, and they could save their husbands' lives. So they gritted their teeth and sent their children away.
"Did their men all get better?"
The waiter nodded.
Zhao Shuning finally understood.
Anyway, some people with evil intentions wanted to use those children for some illegal activities.
Now, she still couldn't be sure what those people were doing with the children, but she was sure that the so - called alchemist must be involved in this matter.
"Where is that alchemist now?"
"You mean Master He? Since he helped the villagers in Changle Town solve this problem, everyone regarded him as a god. They built a mansion for him. It's on the east side of the city."
The east side of the city?
When she came in, she did see a rather magnificent mansion that looked like a temple.
"Most of them are just frauds. It's really pitiful for the women in the town to believe such nonsense."
Hearing this, the waiter quickly knelt down in front of Zhao Shuning.
"Miss, do you understand the mystery behind this?"
Zhao Shuning said, "Why are you kneeling to me? If you have something to ask, just ask. Kneeling like this makes me feel like I'll lose my lifespan."
"Miss, it's like this. I used to have a son named Xiaobao. When I fell ill, my wife sent him to the mountain. He still hasn't come back."
No wonder the waiter could tell this story so clearly. It turned out that he was also one of the men who had experienced this.
"The woman who was crying just now is my wife."
Zhao Shuning sighed.
She said, "Although I don't know the exact truth, there's no such strange magic in the Kyushu Continent that requires using children to relieve their fathers' illnesses."
"Miss, what do you mean?"
"That alchemist is lying to you."
"How could it be? Everything Master He said came true in the end."
Zhao Shuning dipped her finger in the water in the teacup.
She casually drew a picture on the tea table.
Then, she concentrated her spiritual power and gently swiped her hand across the air above the table. The picture on the table disappeared.
The waiter was stunned.
"Miss, how did you do that?"
Zhao Shuning didn't answer.
She picked up a sunflower seed from the side and gently threw it onto the table.
The sunflower seed disappeared from the table in an instant.
The waiter's eyes widened even more.
"Miss, you..."
"Maybe I can help you solve this problem."
"Thank you, miss. The people in Changle Town will never forget your great kindness."
"Don't say such grand words for now. I still can't predict the exact outcome."
The waiter nodded and quickly ran to the counter. He told the shopkeeper who was standing there doing accounts about this.
It was obvious that the shopkeeper was startled. He looked in Zhao Shuning's direction.
Zhao Shuning nodded at him.
The shopkeeper and the waiter then quickly ran out of the inn. No one knew where they had gone.
Zhao Shuning moved the teacup away.
With a wave of her hand, the picture on the tea table reappeared.
This was an invisible shield created by the alchemist with powerful spiritual power. It could make the things it covered invisible, so that no one could see what was going on inside.
A long time ago, Zhao Shuning often used this trick. When dealing with the Wang, Lin, and Yuan families, she had added this invisible shield and a protective shield to the outermost layer of their large mansions.
The purpose was to avoid unnecessary trouble.
This trick was very exhausting. Only those with spiritual power above the seventh rank could use it.
It seemed that this alchemist was not to be underestimated.
Either there were a large number of them, or one of them had reached a level close to the eighth rank.
In this case,
The palace and the children didn't disappear for no reason. They were just sealed by powerful spiritual power. Ordinary people simply couldn't detect it.
But...
What was the main purpose of those people going to so much trouble and using so many spirit stones to get so many children?
Zhao Shuning didn't understand. So this time, she had to find out for herself.
"This is the miss," said the waiter.
The waiter and the shopkeeper came back.
Behind them, there were many men from Changle Town.
At a glance, there were at least five hundred of them.
They were all out of breath and looking at Zhao Shuning nervously.