Mount Xueya

Li Banfeng looked back at the man who had spoken. He was around thirty, wearing a leather coat and a fur hat, with a short blade slung at his waist and a bow and arrows on his back. "Who are you?" Li Banfeng asked. "A hunter," the man replied. "First time in the Sanpan River newland?" Li Banfeng nodded, then asked, "What monster with fangs did you just mention?" The hunter's speech was slightly slurred and mumbled, so Li Banfeng hadn't heard clearly earlier. The hunter repeated, "The dripping bloodfang monster. Anyone who's been to the Sanpan River knows you can't go up Mount Xueya." *The dripping bloodfang monster.* That name was quite a mouthful. Li Banfeng looked toward the lushly overgrown Mount Xueya and asked, "Have you seen this bloodfang monster?" "I have. I hunt in this newland all the time." "What does it look like?" "Hard to say. They can look like anything. Just stay far away from it, and you'll be fine." "Nothing distinctive at all?" "If we're talking distinctive features..." The hunter thought for a moment. "The bloodfang monster has two especially long fangs. Usually it keeps them hidden inside its mouth, but sometimes they slip out by accident." So the telltale sign was the teeth. By the time one saw the teeth clearly enough to take precautions, it would probably be too late. "As long as you don't go up the mountain, you won't encounter it?" The hunter nodded. "The bloodfang monster can't leave the mountain. That's the rule." If it couldn't leave the mountain, that meant it was always up there. Following Old Mr. Yao's instructions, Li Banfeng had to stick to the designated route to reach Haichiling and could not take any detours, or he would run into even greater dangers. In other words, Li Banfeng had to climb this mountain. Yet before doing so, he needed to gather more information. Li Banfeng produced a thousand Huan Country notes and handed them over. Never letting others do work for nothing was his habit. "Is the bloodfang monster strong in combat?" Having taken the money, the hunter was thoroughly pleased and answered earnestly, "That depends on who you're comparing it to. The bloodfang monster has fifth-tier cultivation. If you're an expert above the fifth tier, you have nothing to fear." Fifth-tier cultivation... That was a bit troublesome. Li Banfeng was a third-tier Dwelling Cultivator and a quasi-third-tier journey cultivator; under normal circumstances, defeating a fifth-tier opponent was extremely difficult. What was more, Mount Xueya was the monster's home turf. Fighting it here put Li Banfeng at a clear disadvantage. All of this, of course, was assuming the hunter was telling the truth. "How many bloodfang monsters are there on this mountain?" "One," the hunter answered. "Just one?" The hunter's eyes went wide. "You think that's not enough? Isn't one plenty?" On such a massive mountain, there was only one monster. As long as he didn't stumble around recklessly, his chances of avoiding it were fairly high. The real issue, however, was that this was Li Banfeng's first time here, and he knew nothing about the mountain. As he was turning over countermeasures in his mind, the hunter asked, "Why are you so set on climbing Mount Xueya?" Li Banfeng gave a casual brush-off: "Same as you. I'm a hunter too." The moment the words left his mouth, a loud bang rang out. A boulder beside Li Banfeng abruptly shattered. A sharp fragment grazed his cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood. The hunter flinched in terror and shouted in fury, "You're lying!" "I'm not!" Li Banfeng flatly denied it. *Crack!* Another stone burst apart. This time, sensing the danger, Li Banfeng dodged most of the shards, though his clothes were torn. What kind of situation was this? Clutching his head, the hunter yelled, "You bastard, you're lying again!" "I really didn't—" "Shut up!" The hunter was terrified. "Once you set foot on Mount Xueya, you must never lie! If you want to die, do it on your own! Don't drag me into it!" *You can't lie on this mountain? Such a wondrous place actually exists?* Li Banfeng glanced around and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I really am here to hunt!" *Crack!* A stone burst. "I never looked at Teacher Song's peaches!" *Crack!* Another one shattered! "I've never killed a person!" *Rumble!* The entire mountain seemed to shudder. Several surrounding boulders collapsed in a shower of debris, churning up dust so thick that neither of them could open their eyes for a long moment. Li Banfeng dodged left and right through the hail of rock, yet he still ended up with quite a few scrapes. Cowering on the ground with his hands over his head, the hunter rasped frantically, "What are you doing? What in the world are you trying to do? Didn't I tell you that you can't lie on Mount Xueya?!" Wiping away the blood on his skin, Li Banfeng looked back at the hunter. "You've seen the bloodfang monster, so you've definitely climbed Mount Xueya before, right?" "I have," the hunter replied. No stones exploded; he was telling the truth. Li Banfeng asked, "Would you be willing to serve as my guide?" The hunter climbed to his feet, brushed the dust off his clothes, and glared at Li Banfeng. "Why should I be your guide? I came here to hunt!" That was also the truth. Li Banfeng pulled out two thick stacks of Huan Country notes and held them out. "Is this enough?" The hunter took the bills, counted them, and tucked them away. "Let me make this clear: I only lead the way. I'm not getting involved in anything else." "You don't need to get involved. Just take me across this mountain, and that will be enough!" "And another thing—you absolutely cannot lie again. You'll get people killed!" Li Banfeng nodded. "You'd better not lie either, or someone really will end up dead." "Follow me!" The hunter had only taken two steps when Li Banfeng called from behind, "Are you the bloodfang monster?" The hunter spun around. "Are you out of your mind? How could I be the bloodfang monster? I can't run away fast enough!" The rocks remained silent; the hunter hadn't lied. Li Banfeng smiled, and the two chatted as they began their ascent. "What other monsters are on this mountain?" The hunter shook his head. "Only the dripping bloodfang monster. No other monster can set foot on Mount Xueya. There are wild beasts and birds from time to time, but you don't need to worry about those—I can handle them all." If it truly were just ordinary animals, Li Banfeng wouldn't even need the hunter's help to deal with them. The mountain path was treacherous, choked with knee-high weeds. As they walked, Li Banfeng asked, "The bloodfang monster doesn't usually lurk around here, does it?" The hunter shook his head. "That I wouldn't know. Either way, I've taken this route before." "You'll help me avoid the bloodfang monster, right?" "Of course I will. I don't want to run into it either." The stones made no sound; that was the truth. The higher they climbed, the denser the vegetation became. The hunter wielded his curved blade, clearing a path ahead. They talked as they went. The hunter's articulation was truly clumsy, making listening to him a chore. Yet every word he spoke was the truth, and the mountain's stones remained completely still. Reaching the mountainside, the hunter began veering right. "We won't go to the summit. The bloodfang monster's lair is fairly close to the top, so we'll skirt around it from here." Li Banfeng nodded, then asked, "Do you have cultivation?" "I do!" the hunter replied. "Which pathway, and what tier?" The hunter frowned. "Why should I tell you that? We're not friends!" Li Banfeng said calmly, "I'm a good person." At those words, the hunter shuddered in fright and hastily clutched his head. The mountain stones did not budge. Li Banfeng had spoken the truth. "Scared the life out of me!" The hunter let out a long breath. "I thought you were up to your tricks again!" Li Banfeng maintained a placid expression. "I truly am a good person." The stones remained dead silent. In Li Banfeng's own perception, he genuinely was a good person. This led Li Banfeng to a deduction: Mount Xueya did not judge whether someone was lying based on objective reality, but rather on that person's own self-perception. A wild mountain in a newland could not possibly gather so many objective facts, not to mention that whether a person was good or evil was difficult to define objectively in the first place. However, if a person spoke words contradicting their own internal beliefs, they violated Mount Xueya's rule, triggering an explosive rupture of the stone. The more severe the contradiction, the more violent the burst. If a pathological liar showed up, would they blow up the entire mountain? If someone actually dared to do that, they probably wouldn't survive it either. This reminded Li Banfeng of an artifact—a Virtue Cultivator artifact used by the border control. That artifact could test whether a person was lying; if someone gave a false name, their body would instantly tear apart into pieces. If someone had only recently changed their name and had not fully embraced it in their own mind, they too would drop dead on the spot before that artifact. It exploited the very nature of lies. You could deceive others with a lie, but it was far harder to deceive yourself. That was likely the Virtue Cultivator method for detecting falsehoods. Of course, this was merely Li Banfeng's conjecture. While he was lost in thought, the hunter suddenly turned back and asked, "Earlier, when you said you'd never killed anyone, the mountain stones blew up. You lied. So you have killed people, haven't you?" "I have," Li Banfeng answered honestly. "You've killed people, and you still claim to be a good person?" Li Banfeng replied calmly, "Every person I've killed deserved to die." The stones still showed no reaction, further corroborating Li Banfeng's hypothesis. Whether someone deserved to die was difficult to determine objectively, but in Li Banfeng's own mind, they truly had deserved it. The surrounding weeds grew taller and taller, some brushing against Li Banfeng's shoulders. Yet the stones underfoot grew increasingly numerous. Had it not been for his foundation as a journey cultivator, a single misstep would have sprained his ankle. This was rather abnormal. Where vegetation was so lush, there shouldn't have been so many rocks. Having skirted the mountainside, it was nearly time to descend. The hunter wiped away his sweat, lowered his curved blade, and asked Li Banfeng, "Rest for a bit?" Li Banfeng didn't feel particularly tired, but seeing the hunter sit down, he took a seat as well. He felt no danger in the surroundings, but the bloodfang monster was a fifth-tier cultivator while Li Banfeng was only a second-tier journey cultivator; if the bloodfang monster concealed itself intentionally, detecting its malice would be very difficult. The hunter stroked his curved blade and said to Li Banfeng, "Rest a moment, and it'll be time to hit the road." Li Banfeng produced his liquor gourd, took a sip, and asked, "Which road would that be?" The hunter looked surprised. "What other road could there be?" Li Banfeng watched him intently. "I truly do not know." The hunter scowled. "Have you completely lost your mind?" "I'm not crazy." Li Banfeng smiled naturally. The stones showed no reaction; this was the truth. The hunter's frown deepened. "Then what on earth are you trying to do?" Li Banfeng said, "I just wanted to ask—which road are we taking?" "You're the one who wanted to climb Mount Xueya, so of course it's your road." "Aren't you going to accompany me on my way?" "Haven't I been accompanying you this whole time?" "You want to kill me, don't you?" Li Banfeng's eyes turned icy. The hunter spoke slowly: "I told you, I'm not the bloodfang monster." Li Banfeng nodded. "You indeed are not the bloodfang monster. You also told me that besides the dripping bloodfang monster, no other monster can set foot on Mount Xueya." "That's right, I did say that. Aside from the dripping bloodfang monster, there are no other monsters on this mountain." The hunter nodded placidly. Li Banfeng smiled. "So you're 'Dripping,' aren't you?"