Chapter 35: Bloodthirsty Demon Beast

Three days later.

After making full preparations, Ye Jinxiù once again arrived at Lin Huanhuan’s residence.

Lin Huanhuan had used her free time to buy another batch of Zhènléizhū as backup. These things were truly handy, letting her overcome the strong with the weak and snatch victory against the odds.

Looking at Ye Jinxiù—who shouldn’t have been here but got involved because of her own blunder—Lin Huanhuan still felt somewhat displeased.

But now that the arrow was on the bowstring, it had to be released. Lin Huanhuan glanced at Ye Jinxiù, who looked eager and expectant, as well as the gentle Dong Yuner. Even though she was just leading two girls, she felt as if she was commanding an army of thousands. For a moment, she was filled with heroic spirit.

With a vigorous wave of her hand, she said, “Let’s go!”

Having said that, she immediately took out her folding fan, chanted an incantation to enlarge it, and then jumped on top.

Although they hadn’t reached the Foundation Establishment stage and couldn’t walk on air, using Yùwù Shù to control their magic artifacts for flight wasn’t a problem. The only issue was that the speed wasn’t very fast.

Eastern outskirts of Weiyang City, Yuanshan Village.

This place was still under the jurisdiction of Lingyun Sect, but it was already a remote area, and the governance here was much weaker.

It wasn’t very far, only about two thousand li away. They didn’t make any stops, so it took less than half a day to reach their destination.

As they arrived at the entrance of the village, the village chief—who had been waiting for a long time—hurriedly greeted them. “You must be the Xianzhang from Lingyun Sect, right? Welcome, welcome! We’ve been looking forward to your arrival.”

Though there was a divide between mortals and cultivators, every now and then one would see cultivators descend to exorcise demons and uphold justice.

The village chief was just a minor official of no real rank, but he did hold a bit of power. Precisely because of this, he understood better than anyone the strength wielded by cultivators.

If they met someone good-natured, then even if they were disrespected, nothing would happen. But if they met someone with a bad temper, even killing or beating them would go unpunished.

He had even heard that if a cultivator killed a mortal, they just had to pay some compensation. As someone with no background at all, how could a humble village chief like him dare to offend them?

“You’ve all come from afar and must be tired. The villagers have heard that you’re coming and have already prepared food and wine for you. We’d like to give you a warm welcome and let you rest before discussing the matter at hand.”

The village chief’s wrinkled face was squeezed into an obsequious smile, like a chrysanthemum in bloom.

The militia captain standing beside him instinctively frowned, but recalling that this was the norm for officials, let alone for cultivators, he couldn’t expect any different now that people of even higher status had arrived.

‘Let’s just hope these cultivators, after seeing the village’s misery, won’t take too many gifts and will resolve this matter quickly.’

‘There must be a difference between these elegantly dressed cultivators and the expensively dressed officials, right? At least, cultivators should have the ability to actually do something?’

The village chief could only think positively.

“No need. Just have someone explain the situation here to me directly.”

Although she had already read the reports, there were always things that couldn’t be written down. You had to come and investigate in person. Trusting so-called ‘real’ intelligence unconditionally could be deadly.

Lin Huanhuan was direct, not because she minded such formalities, but because this village looked so desperately poor. Her own monthly allowance would probably be enough to buy the whole place outright.

She was honestly worried that just eating one meal might bankrupt the entire village. If that happened, it’d be ridiculous: the beast attack didn’t destroy the village, but the supporting cultivators did.

“Huh?”

The village chief was stunned. ‘Do Lingyun Sect’s cultivators all avoid these formalities? Or do they just want to be efficient?’

He was puzzled, but since it was the cultivator’s request, he promptly began to recount everything in detail.

It turned out that starting about a month ago, incidents of villagers being attacked by demon beasts began to occur frequently.

Moreover, the targets were all eerily similar: all unmarried young men and women under the age of twenty-eight. Each victim was drained of all blood, their bodies left shriveled like dry wood.

The village had tried sending its militia up the mountain to hunt the beast, but they returned empty-handed every time.

The villagers were now living in terror. Many families were considering moving away to escape disaster.

Lin Huanhuan and Dong Yuner exchanged glances, each seeing the confusion in the other’s eyes.

‘At first glance, it seems like a Bloodthirsty Demon Beast, but I’ve never heard of a Bloodthirsty Demon Beast that only targets unmarried young people under twenty-eight.’

“It could be a type of demon beast we haven’t seen before,” Ye Jinxiù suddenly said.

“That’s possible,” Lin Huanhuan nodded.

A demon beast was a wild beast that had gained intelligence through some stroke of luck. Humans were the most spiritual of all creatures, and devouring them allowed demon beasts to progress much faster than normal cultivation. Once a demon beast had a taste, it was easy for them to become addicted.

Attacks on humans by demon beasts were not uncommon.

But this particular case was still very unusual.

Lin Huanhuan asked, “How many people have fallen victim so far?”

The village chief’s expression turned grim. “Thirteen people have already been drained of blood. They were all young people from the village, making up about one percent of the total population.”

“If you Xianzhang hadn’t come, we truly wouldn’t know what to do.”

“So many?”

Lin Huanhuan was taken aback.

Hearing this, both Dong Yuner and Ye Jinxiù’s faces became unsightly.

If they had arrived any later, who knew how many more would have died?

Life was so fragile, after all. For the first time, they realized how human lives could be reduced to a string of cold numbers.

“It’s been only two days since the last attack. According to the pattern of one attack every three days, another person will likely die tomorrow.”

The militia captain spoke with a heavy heart.

Lin Huanhuan clenched her fists, her heart tightening. The atmosphere grew even heavier.

Dong Yuner stepped forward and gently patted her on the back, comforting her in a soft voice, “Don’t worry, Miss. I’ll always be here to protect you.”

Only then did her heart settle a bit. She nodded. “Let’s go into the village and have a look.”

Summoning her courage, Lin Huanhuan took the lead, stepping first into the village.

It was still daylight, yet there wasn’t a single villager in sight. Every house had its doors tightly shut, as if trying to lock themselves away completely.

Fear had already gripped the entire village.

Lin Huanhuan said, puzzled, “Since you already know the beast’s targets are specific people, why not gather them together and protect them? Wouldn’t that be much safer?”