Chapter 280 - 177: The Most Beautiful Woman

Chapter 280: Chapter 177: The Most Beautiful Woman

The clatter of hooves echoed without end.

Dust billowed up from the ground as a procession of people trudged slowly through the haze.

At the head of the procession were several mounted soldiers. Their warhorses snorted heavily while the riders, hands resting on their whips, barked impatiently, "Faster, faster! Get a move on, you worthless lot!"

Another soldier chimed in, his tone dripping with scorn. "You lost the war, so now you get to be our slaves!"

As it turned out, a war between two nations had just concluded. One had won a decisive victory, and the citizens of the other were now captives.

This very procession consisted of soldiers from the victorious nation, escorting laborers from the defeated one to perform hard labor.

The slaves had sallow, dust-caked faces. Numbness was all that remained in their eyes.

A single glance was enough to see that while most of them were still alive, they were not far from death. Yet among them, one person stood out.

He was a young man with black hair, dressed in a Profound Robe.

Seen anywhere else, one might have mistaken him for the son of a wealthy family, or even a secret lover some Princess was utterly infatuated with.

He was so handsome that he was an anomaly in this procession.

The young man was, in fact, the adopted son of a high-ranking Official Family from the defeated nation.

The head of the Official Family had committed too many sins in his day; all seven or eight of his biological children had died young. In the end, he had no choice but to adopt an eight-year-old boy—the young man in question.

Although the head of the family tried to give the boy a new name, the boy stubbornly insisted his name was Lu Changyuan, leaving the official with no recourse.

So, the official planned to find a wife for Lu Changyuan when he turned eighteen, intending for their children to carry on the family name instead.

Unfortunately, before any marriage could be arranged for Lu Changyuan, his nation fell and his home was destroyed.

The official was dead, but Lu Changyuan was lucky enough to survive. Then again, his luck ran out when the soldiers stormed the capital and captured him.

They weren’t taking him to do hard labor with the others. Seeing his good looks, they planned to sell him to the estate of a Princess in the victorious nation.

In this world of Immortals, mortals, and Demons, life was miserable for the common folk. But for the handsome, there were always other options.

Lu Changyuan, for his part, was optimistic.

’As long as I’m alive.’

The procession continued its silent, shuffling advance. A small, thin figure tripped, nearly falling flat and causing those around him to stumble. This immediately drew another impatient shout and the piercing CRACK of a whip.

"What do you think you’re doing? You asking for a whipping?!"

"N-no, sir! A-ahead! Look ahead!"

The scrawny man screamed in terror, "A Demon! There’s a Demon!"

A cloud of yellow dust erupted into the sky as a gigantic maw rose from the earth, its interior lined with countless sharp teeth.

A monster from beneath the ground!

No one could see the creature in its entirety. It simply opened its great maw from beneath the earth, and dozens of people fell to their deaths.

The soldiers and slaves alike scattered in terror, running for their lives.

But you can’t outrun a monster.

And so, one by one, people were devoured by the massive jaw. Not only that, but after it snapped shut, a multitude of smaller maws sprouted from the surrounding ground and began chasing down the survivors.

Lu Changyuan instinctively reached for his waist. Finding it empty, he turned and fled with the crowd.

"H-help me!"

Cries for help echoed from behind him.

Lu Changyuan glanced back and saw a man with a severed leg looking at him with pleading eyes. The limb was a mangled mess of flesh and bone, bitten off by one of the monsters.

"Please... take me with you."

BOOM!

Before Lu Changyuan could react, one of the giant mouths swallowed the man whole.

Lu Changyuan didn’t hesitate for another second. He turned and bolted. The wind whistled past his ears, mingling with the grating gasps and the squelching of slime from the monster behind him.

An unknown amount of time passed. Lu Changyuan’s breathing grew ragged, his chest burned as if seared by fire, and his legs felt as if they were filled with lead. His pace faltered, and he began to stagger.

THUD.

Lu Changyuan tripped and fell before a massive boulder. He had seen something else up ahead.

’I can’t escape.’

The giant maws were still closing in from behind, but now another shadow was slowly descending from the branches of a dead tree before him.

It was a monster with the face of a cat, its mouth stretched into an unnatural grin that revealed a pair of sharp fangs. Below its neck, however, was the long body of a snake. Its Scales scraped against the tree trunk, producing a soft RUSTLE.

A high-pitched, piercing shriek forced its way from the cat-faced monster’s throat, as if it had been lying in wait for Lu Changyuan.

Lu Changyuan’s lips twitched, but a bitter smile never had the chance to form.

The monster was already in motion, diving down so fast it left an afterimage.

THUD!

His body rolled out of the way before his mind could even register the attack. Sharp pain lanced through him as he landed on dry twigs and gravel. A cold, stabbing pain shot through his left leg, and hot blood gushed out, quickly soaking his gray clothes.

Lu Changyuan looked down and saw a claw mark deep enough to expose bone.

His leg was injured.

’An injured leg means no escape.’

A gust of wind kicked up.

It was a foul wind stirred up by the cat-faced monster as it slithered about. The creature was no longer in a hurry to kill him. Instead, it became a gray, indistinct blur, darting around Lu Changyuan.

New gashes opened up all over Lu Changyuan’s body. The monster was toying with him like a cat with a mouse. Lu Changyuan swung his arms, trying to catch the creature, but he only grasped at empty air.

He was losing blood fast. His strength drained away from his wounds along with the warm liquid. His vision blurred and faded to black as a ringing filled his ears.

Finally, Lu Changyuan collapsed onto the damp earth.

The cat-faced, snake-bodied monster let out a derisive hiss and stopped before him, its vertical pupils glinting with cruelty.

It had grown tired of the game.

The monster reared up its front half. A shriek, higher and more piercing than any before, erupted from it as it took aim at Lu Changyuan’s throat.