Chapter 420 - 213: A Saint’s Manifestation in the Mountain Village

Chapter 420: Chapter 213: A Saint’s Manifestation in the Mountain Village

「Qingshui Stream.」

From a cliff hundreds of feet high, a clear stream trickled down the smooth rock face. It splashed against the jutting stones below, atomizing into a fine mist that filled the air.

At the base of the cliff lay a deep, turquoise pool. Due to the drought, its water level had dropped significantly, leaving a gap of nearly ten feet between the surface and the bank. The aquatic plants along the edge were all left exposed.

On a giant rock by the side of the pool, the mangled carcass of a spotted deer lay torn to shreds.

Forty to fifty young girls in coarse-spun clothes were gathered in small groups on the grass near the giant rock. Each group had lit its own bonfire and was roasting the deer meat.

From a distance, they looked just like a group of farm girls having an autumn picnic by the water, roasting meat over open flames.

But this was clearly no picnic. There was no laughter, no cheerful chatter, no playful games.

Every girl wore a grief-stricken expression. Their eyes were dull and lifeless, filled with despair as they ate the roasted meat in their hands purely on instinct.

Before one of the bonfires, a girl of twelve or thirteen with a still-childish face held a piece of roasted deer meat, staring blankly into the distance.

An older girl of fifteen or sixteen, who had gone to collect water in a lotus leaf, walked back carefully cupping her hands.

"Xing’Er, why aren’t you eating?" the older girl asked.

The younger girl, Xing’Er, replied with a choked voice, "Xiuxiu, I can’t eat."

Xiuxiu said, "You have to eat. Even if you don’t have an appetite, you must. Otherwise, that flower-faced monster will eat you first."

"Here, drink some water first. Then eat."

As she spoke, she handed the water over.

Xing’Er’s first instinct was to burst into tears, but she forced herself to hold it back.

Because the ones who cried the loudest were always the first to be eaten by the flower-faced monster.

Xing’Er’s playmate, Xiao Qiao, had been taken first and eaten up on the cliff precisely because she couldn’t stop crying.

If you didn’t want the flower-faced monster to eat you first, you couldn’t cry.

Besides those who cried, those who refused to eat were also likely to be taken first.

Two girls from a neighboring village had refused to eat until they fainted from hunger. They, too, were taken and eaten first.

"I’ll eat."

Xing’Er drank some water, then forced herself to start eating the roasted meat.

Xiuxiu sighed and picked up another piece of roasted meat for herself.

Seeing this, the other girls also began to drink water and eat their meat. No one wanted to be the next one taken.

It was the instinct to survive. Even one more moment of life was worth fighting for.

However, in a situation where any of them could be snatched away and eaten at any moment, the fragrant roasted meat tasted like sawdust in their mouths.

When Chen Cheng arrived, this was the scene that greeted him: a group of young girls, all frowning as they silently ate.

When Chen Cheng emerged unexpectedly from the woods, all the girls froze, stunned.

No one spoke. A complete silence fell over the clearing.

The initial shock in the girls’ eyes as they looked at Chen Cheng quickly turned to pity and sympathy.

They knew all too well how powerful the flower-faced monster was.

The villagers’ cleavers and sharp arrows had struck its body to no more effect than a tickle.

The monster, on the other hand, could snap their cleavers with ease, smash their homes to rubble, and shatter massive, solid boulders.

It could even leap up this cliff, hundreds of feet high, as easily as if it were walking on level ground.

’This Lord Official before them might have a dignified bearing and look like a Martial Artist, but how could one man possibly stand against such a tyrannical Demon Beast? He probably wouldn’t even have a chance to escape.’

’He was as good as dead, just like them.’

Seeing the girls’ reactions, Chen Cheng sighed softly. Then, he put on a gentle smile and asked, "Where is the Ghost-faced Mountain Demon?"

No one answered.

They were all dead women walking. What was there to say?

Chen Cheng frowned. Just then, however, one of the girls pointed a finger toward the top of the hundred-foot cliff.

"So, it’s up on the cliff." Chen Cheng nodded slightly. "What’s your name?"

"My name is Lin Xiu, Lord Official..." Lin Xiu had wanted to urge the man to flee for his life.

’The chances of escape were slim, but it was far better than seeking out the flower-faced monster and throwing his life away for nothing.’

But Lin Xiu stopped mid-sentence, her mouth falling open as she forgot what she was about to say.

Because she saw Chen Cheng leap straight up into the air, clearing dozens of feet in an instant, and then shoot rapidly toward the top of the cliff.

’He was even faster than the flower-faced monster!’

In that instant, the light returned to Lin Xiu’s eyes.

And not just hers. The other girls’ faces all showed shock, which quickly morphed into wild joy.

The light of hope had been rekindled in all their eyes.

...

「On the clifftop.」

When he saw the Ghost-faced Mountain Demon, Chen Cheng was momentarily taken aback.

The beast did indeed have a large, garishly patterned face of alternating red and green. It was currently lying on its back atop a giant rock.

Its abdomen was bulging, and below it, a massive member, crimson as blood, nearly three feet long and as thick as a man’s arm, was held high!

An extremely tyrannical Qi Blood Power emanated from its body.

With every breath it took, its bulging abdomen slowly flattened, while its member swelled even larger, emitting an incomparably powerful aura.

To one side lay a girl of about thirteen or fourteen. Her face was ashen, and two puncture wounds were visible on her neck. All the blood had already been drained from her body.

Demon Beasts are born of the natural world, endowed with extraordinary gifts and inherently tyrannical strength.

Some Demon Beasts carry an ancestral inheritance in their bloodline, possessing various innate Dharma Gates for Cultivation to strengthen themselves.

This Ghost-faced Mountain Demon was draining the blood of young girls and assuming the Yang Dingtian Technique. It was clearly in the middle of its Cultivation.

As its member had gradually swelled, the Ghost-faced Mountain Demon’s Cultivation was reaching a critical stage, and it let out a series of strange grunts.

Chen Cheng’s sudden appearance had disturbed its Cultivation!

"GYA GYA GYA GYA!"