After a long while passed when no sound could be heard at all, Ji Yuan leaned against the statue of the mountain god, exhausted, and more sweat flowed out.
The physical energy just expended was like running five kilometers cross-country several times in college. Now Ji Yuan didn't even have the strength to move a finger. He just leaned against the mountain god statue and gasped for breath like a dead dog.
This situation made Zhang Shilin and others feel a little overwhelmed. They were originally feeling lucky to be still alive, but now they were panicking.
"Master, Master, are you okay?"
"water… "
"Water, water, water!! Quickly get some water for the master!!"
Zhang Shilin and a group of peddlers were busy in a panic, some taking towels and bamboo cups, some taking bamboo cups, and some were fanning Ji Yuan with their clothes.
"Here comes the water, here comes the water, Master, drink it!!"
Zhang Shilin originally wanted to hand the bamboo tube to Ji Yuan, but found that the other party was just breathing and did not raise his hand, so he carefully brought the bamboo tube to Ji Yuan's mouth and tilted it.
"Gurgle...Gurgle...Gurgle..."
After a round of drinking, Ji Yuan had drunk enough, but Zhang Shilin was still nervous and refused to let go. Now, with the bamboo tube stuffed in his mouth, his hands and feet were powerless.
"Damn, you have some good eyesight!!!"
Ji Yuan had no choice but to hold his breath and keep silent. When Zhang Shilin saw the water pouring out, he realized that the master didn't want to drink it anymore, and quickly took away the bamboo tube.
"Hiss... huh..."
Ji Yuan let out a long sigh and felt a little relieved.
Zhang Shilin and other peddlers also breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this. Then, suddenly remembering something, Zhang Shilin knelt down in front of Ji Yuan.
Seeing this, other peddlers followed suit.
"Thank you for saving my life, Master. Thank you for saving my life, Master. I kowtow to you, kowtow to you!!!"
"Thank you, Master, for saving us!!" "Thank you, Master..."
The remaining eight peddlers kowtowed loudly, not just for show.
Ji Yuan felt very embarrassed to kowtow. He was embarrassed to be bowed to by others in his life, let alone being kowtowed to by so many people.
"Hurry up and stop kowtowing. It's good enough that you don't blame me for not being able to save Wang Dong and the others..."
This was what Ji Yuan was thinking. In his previous life, he had seen many cases of gratitude and resentment. Instead of letting the traveling merchants worry about it and causing some complications, it would be better for him to make it clear first.
Sure enough, after hearing these words, the traveling merchants were all stunned. They looked at each other and the atmosphere became a little awkward.
They didn't have the courage to admit it, but that didn't mean they didn't think so. In fact, even Zhang Shilin had thought that if the master had acted earlier, Wang Dong and Jin Shunfu would not have died.
The silence of these traveling merchants proved Ji Yuan's guess. He was not Huang Lao Xie, who liked to do things his own way and abuse himself. Doing good things did not necessarily require others to always remember his good deeds, but he also did not want to leave misunderstandings in people's hearts.
Ji Yuan thought too much. What if some of these people became more and more angry after thinking about it? What if the families of the deceased were still resentful? They might even be afraid that Menghu would blame him.
"It's not that I didn't want to save those four people, it's just that I was too busy to do anything. You also heard what the tiger demon said. It's not easy to turn the dead into the living. When the ghost came, I was at the critical moment and couldn't move!"
Anyway, it’s a lie if you make it up once, and it doesn’t matter if you make it up twice, so Ji Yuan just made it up and even planned to say something more serious.
"In order to save you, I did not hesitate to use up my own power to break out of the siege, but unfortunately those four people have already left. In my current state, I am very lucky to be able to save you!!"
Considering Ji Yuan's current state, these words are still very convincing, making Zhang Shilin and others feel ashamed.
"Hey, be more careful next time. It's not normal to meet a handsome scholar or a beautiful woman in the deep mountains and old forests at night."
Ji Yuan's earnest words were meant for the traveling merchants, but in fact they were also a reminder to himself.
"Thank you for your teachings, Master! Thank you for your teachings!" "Thank you, Master!"
"Master, are you hungry? We still have some food."
"Don't call me master first or master last, just call me sir..."
Ji Yuan felt that the word "master" made people think that he was a charlatan, and it was not as appropriate as the word used by the tiger spirit Lu Shanjun.
As for eating, although he knew that he was very weak, he really had no appetite.
That night, even though they knew the danger was gone, no one dared to sleep, except Ji Yuan who was extremely tired. He swore that he was just so tired that he wanted to lie down and rest, but he fell asleep in just a few seconds.
. . .
At dawn the next day, the traveling merchants, who had endured a night of fear, could no longer sit still and got up to leave.
Zhang Shilin and others took out the luggage of the other four people, put them in their own backpacks, and put the empty backpacks under their own backpacks.
"Hey... Xiaodong is gone, how can I explain this to Uncle Wang..."
"Yes, Lao Jin has two children at home... this time... ah..."
"Liu Quan and Li Gui are both still unmarried, so young..."
"Let's help each other more in the future!"
"Yeah, that's the only way..."
The traveling merchants sighed, because with the dawn, their fear had eased a lot and the atmosphere became a little sad.
Zhang Shilin walked behind the statue of the mountain god. The sage was still sleeping soundly, covered with a piece of clothing and a straw raincoat, both of which were put on by Zhang Shilin and his men after Ji Yuan fell asleep.
He is indeed a master. No one dared to sleep last night, even holding their urine. Only those with great skills and courage could sleep soundly.
"Master, Sir, Sir, we are leaving. What are your plans, Sir?"
Ji Yuan was very tired and vaguely heard someone calling him.
"Sir, we are leaving now. Do you have any instructions? Sir..."
"Hey... stop bothering me... are you annoying..."
While sleeping, Ji Yuan scratched the itch on his face with one hand and waved his other hand as if to shoo away a fly.
"Shilin, don't disturb the gentleman's sleep!!"
"Yes, Mr. Zhang, you have been living here for a month! Let's go down the mountain quickly while it is still light!"
"Brother Shilin, the master has kicked us out, let's go!"
Zhang Shilin originally wanted to say goodbye in person, and even better, ask for a talisman or something, but now he didn't dare to disturb him any further.
After hesitating for a moment, he took out a bag of dry biscuits and steamed buns and a bamboo tube full of water from the basket and placed them carefully next to the statue of the mountain god.
"Let's kowtow to the master before we leave!"
"Yeah." "That makes sense!" "Okay!"
A group of traveling merchants and Zhang Shilin gathered on one side of the mountain, knelt down and kowtowed twice to the sleeping Ji Yuan.
"Boom boom boom..."
"What the hell are you arguing about..."
Ji Yuan turned over and cursed.
"Oh, the gentleman is angry! Go, go!" "Go, go, go!!!"
"Hey, wait for me." "Shh, keep your voice down!!!"
The traveling merchants hurriedly packed their backpacks and left this thrilling mountain temple, and secretly decided in their hearts that they would never take the Niu Kui Mountain Road again.
. . .
At noon, Ji Yuan woke up and stretched himself in the temple.
"Ahhh... I slept so comfortably!!!"
The surroundings seemed a little too quiet. Ji Yuan rubbed his eyes and looked around. Although his vision was blurry, he could see that it was dawn, but he felt that something was wrong.
Wait! Where are the people? Where have they gone
Damn it Zhang Shilin, you guys left me behind!!!