“Yay, Master, let’s set off quickly!”
Yan Hua was overjoyed.
Without waiting for Bai Yue’s response, she directly opened her Big Mouth.
A suction force emerged, swallowing Bai Yue and Mu Chenxi back into the space inside her belly without any chance for objection.
As for Hei Ya, Yan Hua grabbed her in one hand, holding her up.
“Hei Ya, you lead the way. Let’s hurry to your village.”
Hei Ya, dangling in Yan Hua’s hand, looked a bit dazed.
“Where did the pretty sister go…?”
She hadn’t yet reacted—just a moment ago, Bai Yue and Mu Chenxi had been standing beside her, but in the blink of an eye, they had vanished.
“They’re in my belly. That’s not important.”
Yan Hua interrupted Hei Ya’s confusion and urged her on.
“Hurry and show the way.”
Hei Ya nodded blankly, then stretched out her small hand, pointing the direction for Yan Hua.
“My village is over there.”
Once she got the direction, Yan Hua didn’t hesitate.
The air beneath her feet exploded in an instant, and her whole body turned into a streak of flowing light, soaring through the air in the direction Hei Ya had pointed.
Yan Hua’s speed was terrifyingly fast.
Luckily, Hei Ya was also a cultivator with decent physical strength; otherwise, just the fierce wind from the high-speed flight would have been enough to tear her apart.
Even so, with Yan Hua moving at full speed, it was already evening by the time they finally reached the village Hei Ya had mentioned.
At the village entrance stood an ancient-looking Stone Stele.
Three characters were engraved upon it.
Liushen Village.
The grooves of the carved characters were filled with gold leaf, glowing faintly in the setting sun.
It looked both ancient and sacred.
Now that they’d reached their destination, Yan Hua released Bai Yue and Mu Chenxi from her Big Mouth.
The two of them, as soon as they landed, curiously examined the entrance Stone Stele of the village.
Bai Yue took a step forward, preparing to enter the village.
But before she’d gone a few steps, her foot suddenly caught on something unknown, and her body lurched forward.
“Master.”
Mu Chenxi reacted quickly, catching her with a swift motion.
Thus, she avoided the embarrassment of Bai Yue taking a nose-dive into the dirt.
Bai Yue looked in surprise and doubt at the object that had tripped her.
She was, after all, a Jindan Cultivator, her spiritual sense not weak—she should have been able to sense any obstacles on the road.
Yet this thing underfoot had completely escaped her perception.
That was truly bizarre.
“What on earth is this?”
Bai Yue focused and looked closely, discovering it was a rough, uneven stone.
Looking closer, it seemed to be a Human-face Stone Sculpture.
Why would there be a Human-face Stone Sculpture buried at the entrance of someone else’s village?
Strange and peculiar.
Hei Ya, following behind, was also filled with astonishment.
She looked at the half-buried human-faced stone in the ground with confusion.
“You don’t know either? This is your first time seeing it?”
Bai Yue saw Hei Ya’s expression and asked in puzzlement.
“That’s right. When I left the village, this thing wasn’t here.”
Hei Ya explained, her small face full of bewilderment.
“It’s impossible for our village to place such obstacles at the entrance. They’d just trip people up.”
Bai Yue nodded.
If it wasn’t placed by the villagers, then its appearance here was truly strange.
“Let’s help out and dig it up to move it away, so no one else trips over it.”
Bai Yue said, her kindness swelling.
“Let me do it!”
Yan Hua volunteered immediately and began digging.
With only a few grunts and shovels, she soon unearthed a complete stone sculpture buried deep in the ground.
It was a lifelike statue of a woman.
The woman on the sculpture was frowning in contemplation, as if pondering some difficult problem, her expression vivid and real.
Both her hands formed a peculiar Orchid Finger Seal, as if she was calculating something.
“It’s you, who almost made Master fall.”
Yan Hua glared at the stone statue with her ruby-like eyes.
“Get lost!”
She shouted, hugged the beautiful statue, and with all her strength, hurled it far into the distance.
“…….”
With a swish, the statue arced through the air and quickly became a tiny black dot, vanishing without a trace.
Bai Yue didn’t even have time to stop her.
“Yan Hua, you can’t just throw things around. What if it hits someone?”
Bai Yue said helplessly.
In fact, she’d wanted to study the stone sculpture, feeling that its appearance was very odd.
“Alright, I won’t throw things around next time.”
Yan Hua stuck out her tongue, not forgetting to defend herself.
“It was mainly because it almost made Master fall.”
Looking at her aggrieved little face, Bai Yue couldn’t bring herself to scold her.
She simply raised a hand and patted Yan Hua’s head in understanding.
Even though the statue had been thrown away, the strangeness of the incident made Bai Yue feel a bit more vigilant inside.
Mu Chenxi and Su Qiuyue, standing nearby, also became quietly alert, their expressions turning serious.
Within the group, only Yan Hua remained carefree and thoughtless.
Hei Ya, on the other hand, looked normal and showed no sign of anything amiss, leading the way ahead as usual.
Entering the village, the view suddenly opened up.
But strangely, as they walked, the village was silent, with not a soul in sight.
The fields were overgrown with weeds, untended.
“Hei Ya, where did all the villagers go?”
Bai Yue couldn’t help but ask as she looked at the desolate fields.
“Everyone in the village is cultivating.”
Hei Ya answered matter-of-factly.
“Now everyone can cultivate, and we eat refined Peigu Dan, so there’s no need for farming.”
Bai Yue was shocked by her words.
From Hei Ya’s answer, she extracted a startling fact.
The people in this village could all cultivate.
But then she thought, perhaps it made sense.
After all, this was the dangerous region of the Ancient Battlefield—mortals could hardly survive.
Only by becoming cultivators could one live better on this perilous land.
Following Hei Ya, the group walked a while longer.
The village was quite large.
After passing many houses, Hei Ya finally stopped in front of a shabby, secluded dwelling.
“We’re here. This is my home. Come in quickly.”
Yan Hua pushed open the door.
Because it had been unoccupied for a long time, dust had accumulated inside.
Hei Ya walked in, waved her small hand, and cast a Purification Technique.
A soft light flashed, and most of the dust in the room was cleared away.
Seeing how skillfully Hei Ya used the technique, Bai Yue was shocked again.
The proficiency with which she wielded this magic was completely unlike a child’s.
It seemed Hei Ya’s talent was far higher than she’d imagined.
Such talent would make her a top cultivation seedling sought after by major sects in the outside world.
Yet here, in this remote part of the Ancient Battlefield, she was somewhat buried.
However, Bai Yue recalled the two scoundrels from Sword Sect and Dao Sect and felt that it might be a good thing for Hei Ya to stay here.
The outside world was full of treacherous people—this secluded place was not necessarily a bad thing.
“Hei Ya, where’s the tasty stuff?”
Yan Hua couldn’t wait to ask.
She’d been thinking about it the whole time.
“What I called tasty is the Divine Fruit in the village. Divine Fruit is extremely delicious and also enhances cultivation speed and talent after eating.”
“Big Sister, wait here. I’ll go find Village Chief to get some.”
Hei Ya said, then headed straight out the door, leaving Bai Yue and the others behind.
Yan Hua wanted to follow, thinking she might be able to get a few more of those fruits.
But Bai Yue grabbed her arm.
Hei Ya hadn’t gone far yet, so Bai Yue said nothing—she just shook her head at Yan Hua.
To be honest, Bai Yue was starting to regret following Hei Ya to Liushen Village.
She felt increasingly uneasy, everything tinged with an eerie strangeness.