“Seven steps. If you take another seven steps, you will die. If you don’t believe me, you can continue walking,” the flower’s voice sounded again.A cold sweat broke out on Zhou Wen’s forehead as he stood there, unsure if he should continue walking.
Logically speaking, Truth Listener was able to nullify any evil powers, but there was no invincible power in this world. Zhou Wen still hadn’t figured out what kind of evil powers Truth Listener could nullify.
If the flower was just making an empty threat, Zhou Wen would be fine with leaving, but what if it was speaking the truth? Zhou Wen didn’t dare gamble with his life.
However, Zhou Wen wasn’t willing to be frightened by the flower. Gritting his teeth, he continued retreating. One step, two steps, three steps. As he retreated, he looked at the flower on the mountain wall.
The flower didn’t make another sound. This only made Zhou Wen feel uneasy.
Four steps, five steps, six steps. Zhou Wen continued walking, but there was no reaction from the Truth Listener earring. Zhou Wen’s heart drummed. Could it really be a hoax? Why isn’t there any reaction at all?
Despite having this in mind, he didn’t dare to take the final step.
That’s right. Zhou Wen was indeed afraid of death, and there didn’t seem to be a need for him to risk his life.
“Why aren’t you walking? You have one more step to go.” The flower finally spoke, but its tone was filled with mockery.
“We don’t have any feud. Why are you making things difficult for me? If you lack fertilizer, I’ll help you find it. If you lack water, I’ll water you. How about that?” Zhou Wen stood there and shouted at the flower on the mountain wall.
“Why would I want your water and fertilizer?” The flower said coldly. “From now on, answer the questions I ask you. If you satisfy me, I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, I’ll make you beg for death. Even if you die, I’ll turn you into a candle.”
“I can’t stand being threatened by others. I’m leaving. What can you do about it?” Zhou Wen said as he raised his foot.
However, just as he raised his foot, he felt a wave of dizziness and almost fell to the ground. Alarmed, he stopped in his tracks, not daring to lift his foot to take the step.
Damn it, how did this happen? Zhou Wen was appalled. He knew that the flower was speaking the truth.
“Why aren’t you leaving? Continue walking. Where did your temper go?” the flower teased.
Zhou Wen thought to himself, There’s no need to lose my life over a quarrel with a flower. Even Truth Listener’s Evil Nullification Life Soul is useless. I wonder what origins this flower has.
“You seem to be the only flower growing on the mountain wall. You must be very lonely and sad. I hate seeing others sad and suffer, so I’ll chat with you. However, since it’s a chat, it can’t just be you asking questions. I should be able to ask you some questions too. Don’t you agree?” Zhou Wen bargained.
The flower didn’t refute him. Instead, it asked, “What’s your name?”
Zhou Wen’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered that in myths, there was a power capable of imprisoning people with the mere calling out of a name. He was momentarily unsure if he should answer.
“Why are you so wishy-washy? Just die,” the flower said impatiently.
“My name is Zhou Wen. What’s your name?” Zhou Wen knew that it was useless even if he used a fake name. This was because the name was actually just a representation. From his mouth, no matter if it was real or fake, it represented himself. If the other party really had that ability, it would be effective even on a fake name.
“Call me The Thearch.” The flower paused before asking, “Why are you here?”
“Will you believe me if I say that I’m here as a tourist?” Although Zhou Wen said that, he thought to himself, To think a flower wants to be called a thearch? Is it crazy?
The flower chuckled. “I believe you. Why not? Since you’re here to travel, I’ll do a good deed. I’ll take you to Chess Mountain for a tour.”
With that said, the wall in which the flower was rooted in, cracked. The cracks expanded slowly, causing Chess Mountain to shake slightly as if the mountain was about to split open.
“There’s no need to trouble you. I’m afraid of heights. I hate climbing mountains the most. I’ll just watch the river scenery here.” The beads of cold sweat on Zhou Wen’s forehead increased a lot.
The swaying mountain finally calmed down. The flower mocked, “Are you really not coming in to take a look?”
“There’s really no need.” Zhou Wen hurriedly waved his hand before changing the topic. “Are there many dimensional creatures in Chess Mountain? Are there any Mythical creatures?”
“Of course, and there’s plenty. Which would you like to see? I can get them to come out to meet you,” the flower said with a smile.
“There’s no need. I was just asking.” Zhou Wen suspected that the flower was bluffing him with its inane claims.
It was just a flower, and it grew on a mountain wall that had suffered the elements. However, its tone sounded like it was the monarch of Chess Mountain. This left him very suspicious.
“Are there currently many humans with strength like yours?” the flower asked.
“There should be quite a number.” Zhou Wen thought for a moment and felt that it wasn’t a small number.
During Jing Daoxian’s era, not long after the dimensional storms, there were very few Epic experts. Over the past few decades, Epic experts were no longer as rare as they used to be.
“How many humans are there now?” the flower continued asking.
“It shouldn’t be more than ten billion, I guess,” Zhou Wen thought for a moment and replied. These weren’t secrets and there was nothing to hide.
“Then, people of your standard should number a few hundred million?” the flower muttered.
“This... I don’t think there’s that many.” Zhou Wen found it a little difficult to speak after hearing the flower’s words. This was because the actual situation was too different from the flower’s guesses.
Although Zhou Wen didn’t know how many Epic experts there were in the Federation, he estimated that it was difficult to even reach six digits. It was already quite good to have tens of thousands.
“Tens of millions?” the flower guessed again.
“A little fewer,” Zhou Wen said helplessly.
“Just a few million? Are humans so weak now? There are so few people at your level?” the flower said in a tone of disbelief.
“Something like that. I’m basically considered relatively weak.” Zhou Wen couldn’t tell the flower that it should reduce the number it guessed by a hundred times.
Zhou Wen thought for a moment and asked, “Are you very familiar with Chess Mountain? Have you seen a symbol here? It’s a picture of a tiny palm. There might be something in the palm.”
Zhou Wen roughly described the tiny palm symbol. Since he couldn’t leave, he might as well take the opportunity to find out more. Perhaps this flower really knew.
“There is indeed such a symbol on the top of Chess Mountain. I don’t know who carved it. It irritates me. Why are you looking for it?” the flower asked.