Gathering II

This is a valley more than 400 miles away from Wushan Prefecture, which is also filled with miasma.

There is a small village built with white earthen walls in the valley.

This place is isolated from the outside world, and the hundred or so people in the village live a self-sufficient life by hunting, farming, gathering and raising livestock.

Because of its remote location and the protection of natural poisonous miasma, even the Red Turban Thugs found it too troublesome to enter and loot this village called White Melon.

In the village, villagers with faces as white as if they had been painted were gathered in front of a house, banging on wooden clappers.

"This year, it's Xiao Rong's family's turn." The village chief leading the group was a wrinkled old man with a sinister look in his eyes.

He leaned on a cane, his back was slightly hunched, and he wore a loose, ill-fitting gray-black robe.

The robe was embroidered with all sorts of human faces in red thread. Crying, laughing, angry, joyful. Old, young, male, female, you name it.

It looks like a priest's robe that has been passed down for a long time.

"It's their turn this year. They can't use prey to offset the loss anymore, otherwise the Stone God will be angry, and no one will be able to protect the village!"

Why aren't they out yet?

"Wait a little longer. Xiao Rong's family is sensible, and the couple are reasonable. They will come out," the village chief said slowly, calming the somewhat impatient villagers around him.

Inside the house.

Two middle-aged people with simple faces were holding their two children, trying to hold back their tears.

"As soon as I open the door, you all run out of the valley along that path. Tong'er, do you understand?"

The man whispered some words of advice in his eldest daughter's ear.

"Dad will remember!" The eldest daughter Tong Tong, had red eyes, as if she knew what was about to happen.

On the contrary, the youngest daughter, Xi Xi, was only five years old and didn't understand anything. She reached out her hand in a daze, wanting to wipe away her mother's tears.

"Mother, don't cry."

"Don't cry, Mom. Run faster in a bit, and then your parents will come looking for you. Remember, Xi Xi, be good and listen to your sister." The woman's tears still flowed uncontrollably.

"Remember, don't make a sound while running. Go out through the back dog hole, keep running, and don't look back!" the man instructed again.

"Yes!" The eldest daughter, Tong Tong, nodded vigorously, but at only nine years old, she probably had no idea what might happen next.

After tidying up her daughter's clothes, the woman forcefully pushed the two children toward the back door.

"Go! Get out of the cave, and don't look back! Whatever you do, don't look back!! Keep running!"

The two children held hands and walked to the back door, then bent down and crawled through the dog hole one by one.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, the two children stopped and turned around, wanting to take one last look at their parents.

"Go! Go quickly!" The woman lay prone at the cave entrance, waving to them in a low voice, tears streaming down her face like broken beads.

"Hurry up!" The older sister, Tong Tong, pulled her younger sister up and turned to run towards the misty slope of the valley.

Suddenly, a banging sound came from the house behind.

With a crash, the door was smashed open.

"Where is she?! Xiao Rong's daughter, she should be serving the Stone God!"

"Village chief, our two children are still sleeping in the inner room. It's not too late to go after they've had a good rest, right?" the father's voice came from inside.

Hearing the noise, the two children couldn't help but slow down and stop, turning back to look at their house.

Looking down from the hillside, one could see inside the house, the father still talking to the village chief, his attitude obsequious and humble. The others around remained silent; in this crucial moment, no one dared to make a sound.

The mother of the two girls noticed that her children were not moving. Anxious, she hid by the wall and waved to them, urging them to leave quickly.

Tong Tong stood there, wanting to leave, but her feet seemed rooted to the spot and she couldn't move at all.

She missed her parents, the warm, clean bed at home, and the gentle songs her mother sang to her while holding her. She missed her father making her little wooden dolls with a knife.

If I leave, all of this may be gone.

"Let's go!!" Mother waved her hand silently and forcefully, constantly looking towards the front of the house.

"Sister, why don't Father and Mother come with us?" the younger sister Xi Xi suddenly asked.

"They'll be here later," Tong Tong whispered. She squeezed her sister's hand.

"Don't be afraid, your sister is here, your sister is here."

"Sister, is that a wolf?" Xi Xi suddenly asked, her voice trembling.

Tong Tong suddenly turned around and looked up at the top of the slope.

There were green-eyed wolves with gray-black fur, running rapidly from the grass Woodland towards them.

"Don't be afraid. Your sister is here!" Tong Tong pulled her younger sister behind her and, imitating her parents, shielded her with her body.

But Xi Xi kept swallowing her saliva as she backed away.

Suddenly, Xi Xi tripped and fell backward, cutting a bloody gash on her calf.

Wow! She couldn't help but burst into tears.

'Not good!!'

Tong Tong paused, then turned around to look.

Really.

Bang!

A muffled thud came from the house behind.

"The offerings have run away! Xiao Rong's family, how dare you break the rules!!" The village chief's angry voice echoed from afar.

"It's in the Back Mountain, hurry and chase after it!"

"Run!!" came the screams of the parents.

Tong Tong had no idea how to run and could only stand there blankly. She watched as the pack of wolves rapidly approached them, accelerated, and pounced.

The sharp fangs seemed to still be dripping with saliva as they drew closer and closer to the two girls. Thud! The wolves pounced hard on the ground beside the two little girls, then one after another, frantically bypassed them and ran towards an open area of the village.

They are like river water encountering rocks, naturally splitting into two streams, continuing to rush forward.

Soon, all the dozens of wolves ran past.

Only then did the two children slowly realize what was happening. They discovered that the wolves didn't seem to be hunting at all, but rather... fleeing for their lives!

With a whoosh.

The bushes in the woods slowly parted, and a person emerged from them.

A red-robed man with bloodshot eyes and dark pupils.

Under the moonlight, the mournful howls of wolves rose from afar.

The man's eyes darted around, landing gently on the two children holding hands.

"Looks like we've found the right place." He smiled slightly.

Bang! Suddenly, the back door of the little girl's hut was violently smashed open, and a group of burly men carrying various farm tools Carrying Pole shouted and chased after them.

"Seize the sacrifice!! Or we'll all die!!"

"Don't let them get away!!"

"It's right ahead!!"

A group of people, their faces contorted with rage, charged toward them, shouting and yelling.

"It seems these are all believers." The blood-eyed man's expression remained unchanged. "Find the Statue, and forbid anyone from reading any of the scriptures. As for the god's followers, one of them, me, is enough."

"Yes, Abbot."

Suddenly, a group of voices rang out.

Suddenly, the mist behind the man dissipated, and streaks of blood rose into the air, like giant blood-red birds, swooping down on the oncoming villagers of White Melon Village.

The rules of the Human Immortal Temple: Ordinary people are not allowed to be harmed, but enemies can be dealt with at will.

These experts who stayed in Wish Woman Canyon were getting tired of eating pig's blood every day, and now they finally had the opportunity to change their taste.

Zhang Rongfang didn't even glance at the ordinary villagers, but instead looked at the two children standing blankly in front of him.

"I like children," he said with a smile, stepping forward and skillfully taking two Wooden Puppet from his pocket.

"Here, one for each of you, take them and play with them."

Two Wooden Puppet were forced upon Tong Tong and Xi Xi. Zhang Rongfang ignored them and instead looked towards the village.

He found this secluded Remnant God Village. Here, a deity called the Stone God was worshipped.

He had found the record in the ancient books and thought that the place had been completely abandoned.

But when I got here, I discovered that there were still people living here.

The villagers were like white straws, falling down as soon as the Bloody Figure charged at them. After several rounds, no one in the area could withstand even a single blow.

Several disciples of the Human Immortal Temple grabbed villagers and began to slowly savor them.

The remaining blood-red figures took to the air, laughing excitedly, and pounced into the depths of the village to hunt the remaining villagers.

Zhang Rongfang shook his head slightly. He had actually arrived a while ago, but had been observing the situation, so he hadn't shown himself.

He discovered that the people in this village seemed to be somewhat neurotic, extremely prone to emotional outbursts, and also had a custom of using living people to worship Stone God.

The so-called sacrifice was actually a result of food shortages in the village. The sacrifice involved offering the brain marrow to the gods, while the rest of the body was shared among the villagers.

"A den capable of breeding such evil deeds will surely breed new evils in the future."

Zhang Rongfang sighed softly. He recalled his first encounter with the Blood God; wasn't the Blood God Pirates the same? "Such an evil lair deserves to be completely wiped out by my Human Immortal Temple."

Ignoring the disciples who were still greedily sucking blood not far away, he leaped into the air, his wingsuit unfolding under his arms, like a huge blood-red bat, gliding down the slope towards the village.

"Punishing evil and promoting good—this is the Human Immortal Path! The Human Immortal Path!"

Whoosh! While still in mid-air, Zhang Rongfang suddenly felt dizzy, but instantly regained his senses.

All he could see was a gray-white mist, completely obscuring the outline of the village.

"Doubtful Cloud Mist!?" Zhang Rongfang's expression remained unchanged. He landed and stood still.

Directly ahead, a colossal humanoid figure, five meters tall, was slowly emerging from the mist.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The fog parted to both sides.

A huge stone figure made entirely of White Stone was revealed.

The stone figure has a broad face and half of a male human body with a face full of pain.

His upper body emerged from the stone man's forehead, with slender arms, and let out a painful scream at Zhang Rongfang.

"I am Gu Tali!! The Stone of Life! The Stone of Greatness! The Stone of Pain!!"

"Feel me! Face me!! Surrender to me!! Believe in me!!!" the stone man roared deafeningly.

The sound waves vibrated so much that the surrounding ground trembled.

Zhang Rongfang raised his head, looked directly at its face, and smiled.

"Your followers are almost all dead."

"A believer?" Upon hearing this, the stone man suddenly trembled, as if he had sensed something as well.

He immediately raised his hand in anger and punched Zhang Rongfang!

"Damn it!!!"

"They're all dead, and I'm the only one who's seen you," Zhang Rongfang said with a smile.

Whoosh!

The enormous fist stopped in mid-air, only half a meter away from him.