His figure darted through the air, rising several meters in an instant. He swung the Ghost Head Saber in his hand and brought it down in a furious strike.
The enormous shadow that had swooped down from the eaves took a heavy blow. It let out a shrill scream and crashed to the ground.
The people nearby couldn't help crying out in alarm.
Th-this...
Ah, a monster!
The monster looked like a giant mountain ape, over three meters long and pitch-black all over. Its face was as white as paper, and thick liquid occasionally seeped from its blood-red eyes.
Sharp teeth showed in its mouth, and its breath reeked foully. Aside from its eyes and gaping mouth, its extremely long face had no other features.
Slain [Meridian Opening Early Stage · Mountain Ghost] — obtained 62 Assistance Points
"So this is what the Mountain God's messenger you've been worshipping looks like!" Old Qian shouted, trembling.
"This is a disaster, a disaster!"
A middle-aged man in an embroidered leather coat, who looked to be in his early forties, muttered under his breath.
Then he slowly stepped out from the crowd. His gaze fell on Su Ye before shifting to Old Qian. "You were the one who reported this to the authorities? You've caused a huge disaster. Do you know that?"
The middle-aged man in the leather coat turned to Su Ye and said coldly, "Since you're from the Demon Suppression Division, how could you be so reckless in handling this matter?"
"If you want to earn merit, go to some other town. We don't need you meddling here."
"That's right! Can you bear the consequences when the Mountain God comes to punish us?"
"If sacrificing a few irrelevant people lets us live in peace, why does someone always have to come along and cause trouble?"
The crowd shouted. Many hot-tempered people indignantly roared their accusations.
"We have the Mountain God's protection. We don't need the Demon Suppression Division worrying about us."
Su Ye ignored them. Looking up at the disheveled young man on the altar, he asked in a chilling voice, "Who is he? Where are his parents?"
For a long while, no one answered. Seeing this, Old Qian hurried to Su Ye and said respectfully, "Sir, his father died long ago. His mother caught a chill and passed away half a month ago. Now he's all alone, barely scraping by."
Su Ye looked at Old Qian and asked, "When did the sacrifices begin, and how many times a year do you make them?"
Old Qian hurriedly replied, "It's been half a year. At first, people kept disappearing from the town. Zhang, the wealthy landowner, said the Mountain God was angry and that the Mountain God had visited him in a dream."
"He said we needed to hold sacrifices. For the first three years, it was twice a month; after that, once a month would be enough."
The middle-aged man in the leather coat stepped beside Old Qian and quietly scolded him. "Old Qian, don't talk nonsense. This was all decided after everyone discussed it."
"Besides, that fool agreed to it himself."
The disheveled young man's muttering was clear to Su Ye, and he could hear the middle-aged man in the leather coat's quiet scolding just as clearly.
Su Ye's gaze turned sharp. He said coldly, "You traded one meal of meat for a life. Are you proud of yourself?"
Zhang, the wealthy landowner, was momentarily speechless, but voices rose from the crowd again.
"Stop meddling in other people's business! They agreed to it willingly."
"That's right, willingly."
"As long as we make sacrifices on time, we don't have to pay taxes to the government. The Mountain God will even summon rain and wind for us, ensuring good weather and bountiful harvests."
"What Mountain God sacrifice? This is clearly a cult. Zhang, the wealthy landowner, who proposed the sacrifices, definitely knows what's going on. He's right here—grab him and question him."
At that thought, Su Ye suddenly reached out with his right hand to seize Zhang's lapels.
"How dare you! You killed the messenger, and now you're even trying to lay hands on the landowner? Kid, we've put up with you long enough!"
"There are so many of us. Why should we be afraid of him, a mere brat?"
A burly middle-aged man spoke up, thumping his chest. "I've trained in martial arts too. I'll take on this junior from the Demon Suppression Division!"
"Ah Yin, don't act rashly. Let's all grab him together."
"Right! Offer him to the Mountain God. Maybe we'll get a chance to enter the Golden Land too." The crowd chimed in one after another.
The Golden Land.
The furious crowd surged toward him. Su Ye silently repeated the words "Golden Land" to himself, then suddenly swung the Ghost Head Saber in his right hand.
The villagers had clearly been brainwashed. There was no point in saying more; only a beating would bring them to their senses.
Bang!
With a muffled thud, the martial artist who had spoken moments earlier flew away even faster than he had charged in. His body shot out like a cannonball, smashed through several wooden walls, and stuck fast against a thick tree trunk, motionless.
The sight left everyone present aghast, but Su Ye showed no sign of stopping. His blade flashed again, and several figures before him were torn apart before they could react.
"Run! This man's gone mad!" the crowd cried out.
The scene horrified the crowd. They had never imagined the man before them would be so ruthless and decisive. The timid ones stood frozen in place, unsure what to do.
"Run! What are you waiting for?" A fat woman shoved the person behind her with all her strength and shrieked.
Without breaking stride, Su Ye swung the Ghost Head Saber in his hand. It cut through the crowd like a scythe through wheat, reaping these wicked people in wave after wave.
In the night sky, countless figures tumbled to the ground like dumplings dropping into a pot.
Ah...!
The screams of snapped tendons and broken ribs, the wails of crushed organs—they made the crowd behind them tremble all over.
Some people turned and fled, while others fell to their knees together, begging again and again.
"Don't kill me!"
"It was all Zhang, the landowner's, doing!"
"Sir, we were deceived too!"
Su Ye ignored them. He grabbed Zhang, the landowner, and turned to leave. Seeing this, Old Qian hurriedly asked, "Sir, do you have somewhere to stay?"
He motioned for his three sons to carry the two children on their backs, then hurried over to Su Ye.
"Sir, come with me."
Inside Old Qian's thatched hut, Su Ye tossed Zhang, the landowner, heavily onto the floor. Now only the two of them remained inside. He raised the Ghost Head Saber and laid it against Zhang's fat neck.
"I ask, you answer. If anything you say is untrue..." Su Ye's gaze was icy, and the huge blade in his hand swayed ever so slightly. Then he asked coldly, "Where is that Mountain God, and what's the story with the Golden Land?"
Cold sweat streamed down Zhang's plump cheeks. His voice trembled as he said, "I wouldn't dare deceive you, sir."
"The Mountain God is just a pretext. It was my wife who secretly ordered the sacrifices."
"She said Yunzhou would sooner or later fall into the hands of Demonic Beasts, so she was making plans in advance."
"As for the Golden Land, it has another name: the Nether Abyss Demon Court."
"Why do you call the Nether Abyss Demon Court the Golden Land?" Su Ye asked.
"To explain the whole story, well... that's a long tale, like a child without a mother."
From Zhang's account, Su Ye learned that he was involved in smuggling. Yunzhou bordered the Nether Abyss Demon Court, with the closest point only a few hundred li away. The only thing separating them was the Wushan Mountains.
Many humans lived within the Nether Abyss Demon Court, occupying more than sixty percent of its territory. They not only paid no taxes, but also had Demonic Beasts summon wind and rain for them, guaranteeing their annual harvests. The price was merely sacrificing some of their own people each year.
To ordinary people in Great Xia, that was no different from a paradise beyond the mortal world.
One had to know that the two annual taxes Great Xia collected, in spring and autumn, were enough to drain ordinary families of all they had. If fate turned against them—if they fell ill or disaster struck—it was like the final straw that broke the camel's back. In a year of famine, there was practically no hope of survival.
On the road from Linshan County to Yunzhou City, Su Ye had learned something about how the people of this world survived. It wasn't that starving corpses littered the land.
But it wasn't much better. Going hungry was an everyday occurrence, and simply scraping by was already a blessing.
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