Yu Xuzi clearly hadn’t expected his request to be rejected, especially before he had even disclosed the details of the request.
Li Zhiyuan answered straightforwardly again: "Yes, I’m unwilling."
Yu Xuzi showed an expression of incomprehension and asked, "Why? For young friends like you, it’s just a matter of lifting a finger. Perhaps, young friend, you can let me finish what I have to say."
Li Zhiyuan pointed at the six college students and asked, "Daoist, did they also listen to you finish your talk?"
Yu Xuzi slightly shook his head, a smile appearing on his face: "Haha, young friend, it seems you have misunderstood."
"The Array has been connected as of now, but young friend, you do not know what dangerous and complicated circumstances surrounded this village before the Array was connected.
I can tell you very directly, this evil creature was rampant and harmful here in the past, it killed many villagers, and the villagers’ resentment accumulated here, with ghosts crying and wolves howling every day.
These six young people trespassed here, if it wasn’t for my intervention, they would have died long ago.
all six of them, are now still alive."
Yu Xuzi clapped his hands.
All six college students knelt down and started to vomit, a foul-smelling black liquid coming out of their mouths, mixed with some small fishes.
At this moment, although their expressions were still hazy and their minds unclear, they showed more vitality than before.
Li Zhiyuan asked, "If this is the case, why doesn’t the Daoist fully help by sending them out as well, having saved them, why not send them away?"
"It’s because they can’t leave." Yu Xuzi let out a sigh, "In fact, you young friends, can’t leave either."
Li Zhiyuan revealed a surprised expression.
"You probably don’t know, young friend, that this Array allows entry but not exit."
"Daoist, what kind of joke is this, how is that possible." Li Zhiyuan feigned calmness.
Tan Wenbin shouted hoarsely, "Yeah, how is that possible!"
Yin Meng: "Heh, alarmist talk!"
Normally, apart from necessary social interactions, Li Zhiyuan seldom revealed his emotions, especially when he was with his friends in private, he deliberately refrained from performing.
From the perspective of Tan Wenbin and the other two, sometimes, this was also an advantage. That is, when their Brother Xiao Yuan suddenly started to act with rich emotions, they would immediately realize it and start to cooperate.
Their performance was somewhat exaggerated but with no flaws.
Because the performance was meant to cover certain truths, and they didn’t know what those truths were, they purely acted.
Yu Xuzi extended both hands and pressed down: "Everyone please calm down. As the saying goes, ’seeing is believing,’ why don’t you go and see for yourselves whether I’m deceiving you or not?"
Li Zhiyuan nodded: "Fine."
Li Zhiyuan turned around and left, with Run Sheng, Tan Wenbin, and Yin Meng closely following. But they hadn’t gone far when Yu Xuzi’s voice sounded from behind again:
"Are you not taking them with you, young friends?"
The four turned their heads and saw Yu Xuzi pointing at the college students crawling on the ground.
Li Zhiyuan responded with a question: "Didn’t the Daoist say we can’t leave, so why bother asking us if we are taking them with us?"
Yu Xuzi equally responded with a question: "Isn’t the young friend confident that you can get out? Then why not take these six young people along, to avoid the trouble of coming back to fetch them?"
"If we can leave, then coming back in is just a matter of some walking, not troublesome at all."
Yu Xuzi tapped his forehead: "That was my misunderstanding. I thought that you young friends came specifically to rescue them."
Indeed, this was a good excuse and suited for taking advantage of the moment to back down.
But in reality, it was a trap.
Li Zhiyuan had long since known that the Big Fish outside the village was not completely controlled by the village, and that their memories and perspectives could not be shared.
Because the fish in Yin Meng’s situation was still eating mice, satisfying its own appetite. Only after all the nearby mice were eaten, did it start to deal with Yin Meng and Zheng Jiayi.
The fish in Binbin’s situation was even more outrageous; even when it finally came down to a fight and it could have taken the chance to kill Zeng Yinyin first, it surprisingly missed the opportunity because it feared the ghost husband getting angry and taking Binbin’s side. That fish... it actually wanted to be independent.
Now, however, Li Zhiyuan had gained a new piece of knowledge: the monsters could extract information from the fish.
Li Zhiyuan’s gaze swiftly scanned the small fishes that had just been vomited from the college students’ mouths and were still wriggling on the ground.
His mind quickly went over all the conversations between himself and his friends since they had entered the village and had been near these college students.
"Daoist, you really have misunderstood; we didn’t come for their sake."
"Mm, that’s right." Yu Xuzi made a gesture of invitation towards the end of the village, "Please go ahead, young friend. I will wait here for your return."
After Li Zhiyuan and the others left, Yu Xuzi walked over to the six college students, bent down, picked up a small fish from the ground, then opened his mouth and put the fish inside.
While chewing, streams of sounds scattered from his mouth.
If one could be close enough to the old man’s ear, they would hear snippets of conversation.
Yu Xuzi nodded thoughtfully, then looked back at the Big Fish floating in the river and said with a smile:
"Indeed, they didn’t come for their sake, nor purely for the sake of the Righteous path, but to seek excitement."
After a pause, Yu Xuzi opened his mouth, revealing two rows of sharp teeth hidden within his lips.