"This Mystic Gu Workshop..."
Zan Popo slowly said in a deep voice, "is a very dangerous and evil place. The people inside are like monsters; they like to eat people."
"Eat people?"
Li Hai raised an eyebrow, "That's fine. I've met people like that before. You don't need to reason with them; just beat them until they hurt and force them to their knees."
"No, no, no, it's not just eating people."
Zan Popo shook her head and said, "Those monsters in the Mystic Gu Workshop also use people for experiments, putting various Gu into their bodies, transforming them into all sorts of monsters. In short, it's better not to go there if you can."
"Heh heh, Popo, saying that just makes me more interested."
Li Hai chuckled softly, "How about this, I'll pay for the information. Your place—"
He turned to look around and said, "I see your Li Wang Temple has been here for quite some years, hasn't it? Haven't you thought about renovating it?"
"And that Divine Statue, I see it has also endured years of wear and tear. Don't you want to plate it with a layer of gold leaf to make it look more magnificent?"
As he spoke, he pulled out two gleaming gold bars from his Arms, which were quite eye-catching.
"This..."
Upon hearing Li Hai's words and seeing the two gold bars, Zan Popo's heart immediately wavered.
At the same time, Feifei, who was sitting nearby, also stared intently at the gold bars in Li Hai's hand, unable to blink.
But then Zan Popo sighed, "Alas, child, but—Popo is old now. Too old to travel long distances."
"Moreover, the location of that Mystic Gu Workshop is deep within the Red Soil Forest. It's impossible to explain the exact path just by talking."
"Is that so?" Li Hai couldn't help but frown upon hearing this.
He felt a bit helpless.
Although this Zan Popo knew the location of the Mystic Gu Workshop for some unknown reason, she was indeed quite old, so she was not suitable to lead the way for him.
Just then, Feifei, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up, "Master, why don't—I take Big Brother Li Hai?"
"No!" Zan Popo hastily said, "You can't go! You, you don't even know the exact path, how can you take this young man?"
"Then—" Feifei hesitated for a few seconds, then finally sighed, "Alright then."
"Hm?"
Li Hai suddenly felt that there was something fishy in the few words exchanged between the master and disciple. Could it be that Feifei actually knew the path, but Zan Popo was worried about her safety and didn't want her to go?
Suspiciously, Li Hai casually took out four more gold bars from his Arms and slowly placed them on the table.
This was not all; he immediately took out another four gold bars from his Arms and smilingly placed them on the table.
Li Hai kept taking them out, and finally, there were twenty gold bars neatly arranged on the table in front of him.
And this many gold bars stunned both Zan Popo and Feifei, the master and disciple.
"This, this—" Zan Popo struggled to tear her gaze away from the twenty gold bars and looked at Li Hai, saying, "Child, you, what do you mean by this?"
"Popo~"
Li Hai gently stroked the gold bars in front of him and smiled, "There are fifty taels of gold here in total. I'm giving it to you as a greeting gift."
"As long as you let Feifei take me into the Red Soil Forest to find that Mystic Gu Workshop, when I return—I will give you another five hundred taels of gold, how about that?"
"It's settled then!"
Feifei spoke first, then she grabbed Zan Popo's hand and shook it vigorously, pleading, "Master, just let me go, nothing will happen. You know my ability, I'll just go and come back. I won't even go inside, I'll just wait outside for Big Brother Li Hai, isn't that okay?!"
"Alright, alright, alas~" Zan Popo said helplessly, "Go, go then."
"Yay!"
Seeing Zan Popo agree, Feifei immediately happily hugged her and laughed, "Master is the best! Master, just wait in the temple. Once Big Brother Li Hai comes back, we'll renovate the entire Li Wang Temple and even plate the Li Wang Divine Statue with gold!"
After a period of laughter and fun, Feifei and Li Hai left the Li Wang Temple together and headed out of the town.
Although Jin Fu Town was adjacent to the Red Soil Forest, there was still some distance, about eight or nine li.
This distance was not far for either Li Hai or Feifei.
So they walked at a leisurely pace, as if strolling.
As they walked, Li Hai also learned from Feifei why she knew the location of the Mystic Gu Workshop.
It turned out that Feifei was not a native of Jin Fu Town, but an orphan, and since she could remember, she had lived in the Mystic Gu Workshop.
Using the word "lived" to describe it was not entirely accurate.
More precisely, Feifei was actually a "guinea pig" "raised" by the Mystic Gu Workshop, a "Material" for their experiments.
And it was during a cruel experiment that she Awakened her Bloodline Divine Power.
Subsequently, after dying in that experiment, Feifei relied on the power of her Divine Ability, Fatal Cat Demon, to resurrect in a wild cat in the forest not far from the Mystic Gu Workshop.
After her resurrection, driven by fear, Feifei instinctively fled in the direction away from the Mystic Gu Workshop. Relying on the power, agility, intuition, and self-healing ability brought by her Divine Ability Awakening, she walked and stopped for a full half month, finally struggling to Transmigration through the vast forest to reach Jin Fu Town, and was eventually taken in by Zan Popo of the Li Wang Temple.
That year, Feifei was only six years old.
And it was this unforgettable experience that made Feifei firmly remember the path to the Mystic Gu Workshop. "So that's how it is."
At the edge of the Red Soil Forest, as they walked quickly, Li Hai curiously asked Feifei, "Then, why would Zan Popo know the location of the Mystic Gu Workshop? Was she also an experimental subject there?
"No, that's not it."
Feifei explained as she walked, "My Master was actually a disciple of the Mystic Gu Workshop a long time ago, but she was kinder and unwilling to participate in the various cruel experiments of the sect, so—wait!"
She suddenly stopped, clutching her chest, and said blankly, "Big Brother Li Hai, my heart is beating very fast. I don't know why—I feel like something very bad is suddenly happening."
"Hm?" Li Hai, who was beside her, asked in confusion, "What could possibly be happening now?"
"I don't know either." Feifei shook her head, "I feel better now, let's—let's go first."
Saying that, she stepped into the depths of the Red Soil Forest, and Li Hai silently walked beside her, also heading into the depths of the forest.
But at the exact moment the two stepped into the Red Soil Forest, in the Li Wang Temple ten li away from them,
Zan Popo was already tied up with a look of horror on her face, bound tightly to a pillar in the temple.