Fate Brings Its Own Ties

Ma Tian glanced at Hu Xiaocao, a look of distaste appearing in his eyes.

"You're picky about everything, aren't you? This child's hair is like straw, and she's tiny too. Anyone could tell she's malnourished. She won't fetch much money at all."

Yang Cheng shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. Pretty ones have their destinations, and ordinary-looking ones do too. Either you break their legs and make them beg, or you sell them overseas. Isn't that just perfect?"

After women and children were kidnapped and sold, they were either sold in the deep mountains to old bachelors as wives, or passed on to others and smuggled abroad.

Yang Cheng and his group had extensive connections. They had channels not only within the country but overseas as well. Some of the methods used abroad were even more cruel and bloody.

Harvesting kidneys and selling organs was considered one of the more merciful options. There were also methods that made people wish they were dead.

To attract attention, certain underground black-market performances overseas stopped at nothing. The most famous was the "person in a bottle"—stuffing a living person into a bottle.

There were also "animal people" and the like. The methods were extremely bloody and utterly horrific. Since people were not born that way, they had to endure tremendous pain.

It was entirely possible for someone to die from the pain during the process because of the harsh conditions and lack of proper facilities.

There were even pedophiles who had children trained from a young age.

In short, human traffickers deserved a thousand deaths. This trade was terrifyingly dark.

Ma Tian nodded. "You've got a point. Once it gets a little darker, we'll transport her out."

Perhaps they had been speaking too loudly. Hu Xiaocao groggily opened her eyes and discovered that she was in the deep mountains, surrounded entirely by strange men.

She tried to sit up, but the effects of the drug had not completely worn off. Her hands and feet were limp and powerless.

"Who are you?"

Ma Tian turned toward the sound and met a pair of dark, glistening eyes. "Yang Cheng, what did you do? She's already awake?"

Yang Cheng gave a sly laugh. "I must've acted too hastily earlier. There wasn't enough sleeping drug on the rag, so she woke up now. But it's nothing serious."

Hearing this, Hu Xiaocao's eyes widened. She quickly realized what kind of people stood before her.

Child traffickers!

"Help! There are bad people here!"

Hu Xiaocao shouted loudly, hoping someone would notice her.

But dusk was already approaching. Smoke was rising from every household's chimney, and no one would come up the mountain at this time.

Besides, they were near the center of the mountains, and Hu Xiaocao's voice was so faint that even ordinary passersby would not have heard it.

"Little girl, stop shouting. No one's coming to save you in these deep mountains and old forests."

Yang Cheng and the others were clearly no good. They were especially impatient with the child's cries.

"Slap!"

Ma Tian gave her a vicious slap and snarled, "Shout again and I'll sew your mouth shut!"

Hu Xiaocao's head was knocked to the side, and the left half of her face immediately swelled up. It was clear how much strength he had used.

Tears quickly welled in her eyes, but because of Ma Tian's threat, she bit her lip and refused to cry out, only whimpering softly.

There truly would be no one coming to these deep mountains and old forests—but snakes would.

Ye Qin had come out a little earlier than usual today. Although the sky was still somewhat bright, a thin crescent moon had already climbed into view.

From a distance, it looked as though it were hanging from the treetops.

That was how summer was. By the time the sky was completely dark, it would already be around seven or eight o'clock.

Just as he was preparing to cultivate, he heard cries carried on the wind. Ye Qin straightened up, his forked tongue flicking continuously.

"This voice sounds familiar. Is it that girl's? But why did she suddenly come up the mountain at this hour?"

He had at least interacted with Hu Xiaocao before, so Ye Qin was fairly familiar with her voice.

Besides that, he also smelled several unfamiliar scents.

"Something feels wrong."

Ye Qin turned around and crawled toward the source of the voice and the scents.

It was not that he liked meddling in other people's affairs. It was simply that the girl had accidentally witnessed him cultivating and then mistaken him for the Mountain God.

She had even offered sacrifices to him and built a small temple for him at the foot of the mountain. Every day, without fail, come rain or shine, she worshiped him. Her devotion could be called absolute.

This was equivalent to establishing an incense offering.

The so-called incense offerings could not actually be used for cultivation. According to Taoist teachings, they were merely a medium through which mortals communicated with deities, as well as a medium through which deities enjoyed offerings in the human world.

Thus, incense offerings were actually of little use to Ye Qin, and these offerings meant little to him as well. They would only have any practical effect if he became extremely hungry and ate some of the tributes.

But all things under heaven had their own ties.

Just as he had first embarked on cultivation through the "Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Inner Elixir," that had been a tie of fate.

And when the little girl saw him, mistook him for the Mountain God, and sincerely worshiped him, that too was the tie between him and the little girl.

There were unseen causes and effects at work. No matter what, Ye Qin had accepted the little girl's offerings and received her kindness. If he turned a blind eye to this, it might harm his state of mind.

Ye Qin believed in acting with a clear conscience. He was not some great philanthropist who wanted to help with everything, but neither was he cold-blooded and heartless, able to remain unmoved.

Meanwhile, Hu Xiaocao was still desperately calling for help. She glared at Yang Cheng and Ma Tian, but her malnourished face made her fierce expression look utterly lacking in intimidation.

"I'm warning you! Grandpa Mountain God will protect me. If you don't let me go right now, Grandpa Mountain God will definitely punish you!"

"You're young, but you sure know how to spout nonsense. You really think we'll be afraid? Even if there were a Mountain God, he'd have to kneel down and call us Grandpa when he came!"

Yang Cheng and Ma Tian merely laughed, their faces full of disdain.

Their insolent words made Hu Xiaocao's face flush red with anger. She howled, "Just you wait! You bunch of villains—Grandpa Mountain God definitely won't stand by and do nothing!"

Seeing how serious Hu Xiaocao looked, Yang Cheng and Ma Tian did not take her words to heart at all. They even suspected that something was wrong with her head.

"This girl already looks ordinary. If there's something wrong with her brain too, she'll be even harder to sell."

"An idiot would be great. Easier to control."

The traffickers spoke in the most ordinary tones, but the things they said were utterly devoid of humanity.

No one noticed that a pair of beastlike pupils was glowing faintly in the grass.

Ye Qin stared expressionlessly at the group of traffickers.

Ma Tian seemed to sense something. A chill inexplicably swept over him from behind, and the corner of his eye caught a fleeting shadow.

"What was that?"

The others were startled by him too and followed his gaze. Cold beastlike pupils flashed and vanished, followed by a bright red forked tongue.

The creature quickly disappeared into the grass without a trace. All they saw was a section of emerald-green tail. Judging by its size, it did not seem particularly large.

Yang Cheng also saw the snake and could not help rolling his eyes. "It's just a snake, and a nonvenomous one at that. Look how badly it scared you."

Ma Tian scratched his head. "That snake was completely silent. Where did it come from?"

The snake posed no threat to them, so no one paid it any mind.

They simply assumed it had happened to be passing by.

Besides, the things most abundant in these deep mountains and old forests were snakes, insects, rats, and ants.