The deer cries grew ever more intense.
Zeng Xiaoyi cowered, trembling, in a corner of the side room. Two others were in the room with him, both menial workers from the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.
They had no idea what had happened at the Pawnshop. They only knew that the outside world was incomparably dangerous.
The day before they had hidden in the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, a large number of guards had been temporarily transferred to the Pawnshop, lying in ambush around the warehouse.
The oppressive atmosphere lasted until that night, when the Pawnshop extinguished every candle once more.
Only the Waning Moon, flickering in and out behind the clouds, offered a faint trace of light. Yet to ordinary human eyes, it was still so dark they could not see their own outstretched hands.
Zeng Xiaoyi wrapped himself tighter in his blanket. Early spring still carried winter's biting cold, and coupled with the fear clinging to him like a shadow, it made him shiver uncontrollably.
"Xiaoyi, as long as we hold out until daylight, we'll be fine. Don't worry so much."
The man speaking was called Lu An. Though he was barely in his early twenties, he had already scraped out a living at the Pawnshop for over ten years.
Zeng Xiaoyi could not help asking, "Brother Lu, then how is Uncle Guan?"
Lu An sighed and reached toward the gaunt man on his right. His body had clearly been utterly eroded by Death Sickness, yet for some inexplicable reason, he had broken into a raging fever.
When something was amiss, there had to be a monster lurking behind it.
Under the effects of Eternal Life, unless one was a child under five, it was impossible to develop a stubborn illness like a cold.
"Let's hope the sun rises soon. I'm afraid we won't escape a huge disturbance tonight."
Lu An sighed, then rose to find another quilt for Guan Hai. Just then, with a creak, a violent gust blew the window open.
Piercing mountain winds howled in, scattering the room's small belongings across the floor.
In the Pawnshop, where all sounds had fallen silent, such commotion was like a stone cast upon water, spreading through the night toward the empty mountains.
Lu An signaled Zeng Xiaoyi to keep quiet, then crept toward the window on tiptoe.
He tried not to expose himself beyond the window, keeping close to the wall instead.
Zeng Xiaoyi watched Lu An nervously. Just as the latter was about to shut the window, Lu An froze in place, his face filled with extreme shock.
Unable to resist, Zeng Xiaoyi followed Lu An's gaze and looked outside.
His pupils contracted.
A ten-meter-tall Elk Monster was crawling toward the warehouse. Countless arrows descended in orderly volleys, trying to stop the colossal thing from approaching.
Several hundred guards had black cloth tied over their eyes. Their ruptured eardrums had yet to heal, and they relied entirely on instinct to draw their bows and fire.
Yet once their sight and hearing had been blocked, and they could no longer perceive the Elk Monster, it seemed they truly would not provoke its retaliation.
The Elk Monster's upper body was covered in flawless snow-white hairs.
Tree-branch antlers rose from its head. Fleshy Tumor Fruits hung all over the branches, while more than a dozen pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly at the warehouse.
Compared with its relatively normal upper half, its lower half was even more bizarre and unfathomable.
The Elk Monster had no limbs to support its body. In their place were countless human hands, making its crawling movements somewhat difficult.
As it advanced, those human hands continually snapped apart, relying entirely on the Nectar Spiritual Energy radiating from the Elk Monster to mend their injuries.
At the same time, dozens of deformed Human-Faced Deer followed behind the Elk Monster.
The Human-Faced Deer still suffered casualties beneath the rain of arrows, but they did not fear pain. Even with their guts spilling from their bellies, they continued climbing upward.
Zeng Xiaoyi shuddered. Even though he immediately squeezed his eyes shut, the image of the Elk Monster had already been branded into his mind, impossible to erase.
It seemed that some unseen influence had taken root.
Several Human-Faced Deer broke away from the herd and charged madly toward the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.
After shutting the window, Lu An cursed under his breath. He finally understood why the manager had repeatedly warned them that they had to hide.
Because once you knew what the Elk Monster looked like, it would set its sights on you.
"What do we do, Brother Lu...?"
Zeng Xiaoyi's face turned deathly pale. He heard Lu An say gravely, "Take Guan Hai and leave the Calligraphy and Painting Hall. Get as far from the warehouse as possible."
When Lu An saw that Zeng Xiaoyi did not move, he could not help barking, "Did you hear me?!!"
"Brother Lu, look at Guan Hai."
Zeng Xiaoyi pointed at Guan Hai in shock. Bones cracked throughout Guan Hai's body, and a thick, fishy stench filled the room.
Guan Hai let out a hoarse roar and violently tore off his clothes. The abdomen exposed beneath them had already rotted away by more than half due to Childhood Stage Death Sickness.
Then enormous horns shaped like human bones sprouted from the top of his head. He dropped onto all fours, and dense hairs grew across his skin.
In the span of moments, Guan Hai transformed into a Human-Faced Deer that walked on four legs.
It was not only Guan Hai. Throughout the Pawnshop, menial workers with severe Death Sickness all transformed into Human-Faced Deer without prior agreement.
With the danger upon them, Lu An instead calmed down. Smiling bitterly, he said, "Zeng Xiaoyi, looks like we brothers are going to fall here."
Zeng Xiaoyi struggled to crawl to his feet, but his legs had already gone limp.
The Human-Faced Deer gradually took shape. Guan Hai's face appeared atop the deer's head, twisted into an exceptionally savage and horrifying expression, his eyes brimming with greed.
"Eat, eat, eat..."
The two men had nothing left but despair.
With Eternal Life, death was a luxury. More likely, they would be eaten alive.
Bang!!!!
As Zeng Xiaoyi and Lu An stood frozen, the Human-Faced Deer suddenly exploded into meat paste, blood and shattered bones splashing all over them.
Only then did the two discover that specks of dust had somehow begun floating through the room.
Li Mo stood bare-chested in the corridor bathed in moonlight, the Crimson Fox Tattoo on his left arm seeming ready to leap from his skin.
He put away the Spirit Tablet. He had just received a message from the Pawnshop through it.
Kill one Human-Faced Deer and receive one Mid-grade Spirit Stone.
The cultivators hidden in the darkness were already stirring restlessly.
Men died for wealth, birds died for food.
Cultivation rested upon resources. They would indeed face risks against the Human-Faced Deer, but as long as their Three Dantians were unharmed, death was still a luxury with the constitution granted by Eternal Life.
Guan Hai's corpse began writhing, its flesh and blood showing signs of piecing itself back together into a Human-Faced Deer.
Under Zeng Xiaoyi and Lu An's incredulous gazes, Li Mo drew out a Miasma Silk Thread and directly sliced the corpse into more than a dozen pieces.
Boom!!!
The wall collapsed with a crash as three Human-Faced Deer burst in, targeting the two menial workers.
Li Mo flicked the Miasma Silk Thread. The Human-Faced Deer crackled as a large chunk of flesh and blood was sliced away, while spiritual energy corroded their wounds.
But the Human-Faced Deer bred by the Elk Monster were different.
They actually possessed Nectar Spiritual Energy, forcibly restoring their injuries before tirelessly attacking Zeng Xiaoyi and Lu An again.
Li Mo wrapped the Miasma Silk Thread around the Human-Faced Deer's limbs, but it only delayed them for a few breaths.
Seeing this, he darted flexibly toward the Human-Faced Deer, pressing his right hand against the scorching tattoo as even the blood throughout his body began to boil.
"Fox."
Li Mo formed a strange hand seal. Cast by the moonlight onto the wall, it formed a shadow resembling a fox's head.
The Crimson Fox Tattoo vanished.
His flesh and blood rapidly withered, and the spiritual energy in his Middle Dantian dried up with it.
A two-meter Crimson Fox crawled out of the shadow and viciously bit off one Human-Faced Deer's head. The remaining Human-Faced Deer became even more frenzied.
The Crimson Fox was temporarily formed from Li Mo's flesh and blood and spiritual energy, emitting red smoke like thick fog.
Starting tomorrow, this will be getting recommended. I hope you honored readers will keep following along, or your humble author may have to go drink the northwest wind.
Thanks to Da Da Da Da Da Guai Guai, I Am Four Eyes, Sima Xianqing, Super Invincible Brother Cong, AI Learning Machine, Book Friend 20180224125156055, and Hiding in the Corner and Injured for the rewards.
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