The salty tang of the sea breeze had yet to fade from their clothes when the Shrek Nine Monsters arrived at a small mountain village west of the Heaven Dou Empire. The sun was sinking, staining the village's earthen houses a dark yellow. Yet the settlement, which should have been filled with curling cooking smoke, was so quiet that only the rustle of wind through dead grass remained—not even a dog barked.
"Something's wrong." Holding Xiao Wu's true body, Lin Zhixia quietly spread out her Star Breath Perception. There was not the slightest Spirit Power Fluctuation from any living person in the village. Only the beams of several houses still bore charred marks, as if they had just suffered a calamity. She stopped and frowned at Tang San beside her. "This village looks like it was ransacked. There isn't a single villager left."
Tang San had noticed the anomaly long ago as well. He raised a hand to signal the group to stop, his gaze sweeping over the tightly shut village gate. "Teacher stayed in town to handle supplies, so we shouldn't rush in. Chenxiang, you're fast. Go into the village and scout ahead. Stay hidden."
Bai Chenxiang immediately agreed. Her pink-clad figure flashed, drifting into the village entrance like a wisp of smoke. She followed the earthen walls for the time it took to drink half a cup of tea when she suddenly heard faint sobbing from behind a haystack. Pushing aside the dry grass, she found a little girl of five or six curled up inside. Her patched clothes were ragged, her face was grimy, and she clutched a tattered cloth doll tightly to her chest.
"Little sister, don't be afraid. I'm here to help you." Bai Chenxiang softened her voice and slowly crouched down. The little girl