Paint Green Clothes [Crimson Fox]

The deer cries grew fiercer.

Zeng Xiaoyi trembled in the corner of the side room, huddled with two others, both laborers from the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.

They had no idea what was happening in the pawnshop, only that the outside world was terrifyingly dangerous.

The day before they hid in the Calligraphy and Painting Hall, a large number of guards had been temporarily pulled into the pawnshop, lying in ambush around the warehouse.

The oppressive atmosphere had lasted until tonight, when the pawnshop extinguished every candle and lamp.

Only the faint, half-hidden moon behind the clouds offered any light, but to mortal eyes, it was still pitch black—you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Zeng Xiaoyi pulled his blanket tighter. Early spring still carried the chill of winter, and the ever-present fear made him shiver uncontrollably.

"Xiaoyi, just hold out until daytime and we'll be fine. Don't worry too much."

The speaker was a man named Lu An. Though barely over twenty, he had been scraping by in the pawnshop for over a decade.

Zeng Xiaoyi couldn't help asking, "Brother Lu, what about Uncle Guan?"

Lu An sighed and reached out to touch the gaunt man on his right. A body already ravaged by the Death Sickness, yet inexplicably burning with fever.

When things go against reason, there must be something wrong.

Under the influence of Eternal Life, unless you were a child under five, it was impossible to contract something as mundane as a cold.

"I hope the sun comes soon. Tonight, I'm afraid we won't escape a big commotion."

Lu An sighed again, then moved to get another quilt for Guan Hai. But then he heard a creak—the wind had blown the window open.

A biting mountain gale howled in, scattering small objects across the room.

In the dead silence of the pawnshop, this noise was like a stone thrown into still water, echoing through the empty mountains in the dark.

Lu An signaled Zeng Xiaoyi to be quiet, then crept toward the window on tiptoe.

He tried not to expose himself to the opening, keeping close to the wall.

Zeng Xiaoyi watched Lu An nervously. Just as the latter was about to close the window, Lu An froze in place, his expression one of utter shock.

Zeng Xiaoyi couldn't help following Lu An's gaze out the window.

His pupils contracted.

A deer monster dozens of meters tall was crawling toward the warehouse. Countless arrows rained down in neat volleys, trying to stop the colossal creature from getting closer.

Hundreds of guards had black cloth over their eyes. Their eardrums had been pierced and hadn't healed yet, so their archery was pure instinct.

But by blocking sight and hearing, unable to perceive the deer monster, they seemed to avoid provoking its retaliation.

The upper body of the deer monster was covered in pure white, flawless fur.

It had branch-like antlers on its head, and at the tips hung fleshy tumor fruits. Dozens of eyes stared fixedly at the warehouse.

Compared to its relatively normal upper half, the lower half was far more bizarre.

The deer monster had no limbs to support its body—instead, it was entirely replaced by human hands, making its crawling movements awkward and difficult.

As it moved, the hands kept breaking, relying entirely on the Nectar Spiritual Energy radiating from the deer monster to heal the damage.

Behind the deer monster followed dozens of deformed human-faced deer.

The human-faced deer still suffered casualties from the arrow rain, but they felt no pain. Even with their guts spilling out, they kept climbing upward.

Zeng Xiaoyi shuddered. Even though he immediately shut his eyes, the image of the deer monster was already carved into his mind, impossible to erase.

Some unseen influence seemed to take hold.

Several human-faced deer broke away from the herd and charged toward the Calligraphy and Painting Hall.

Lu An closed the window and cursed under his breath. Now he understood why the steward had repeatedly warned them to hide.

Because once you knew what the deer monster looked like, you were marked.

"What do we do, Brother Lu..."

Zeng Xiaoyi's face went pale with fear. Lu An said gravely, "Take Guan Hai and get out of the Calligraphy and Painting Hall. Stay as far from the warehouse as you can."

When Lu An saw Zeng Xiaoyi not moving, he snapped, "Did you hear me?!"

"Brother Lu, look at Guan Hai."

Zeng Xiaoyi pointed at Guan Hai in shock. The man's body was filled with the sound of bones cracking, and a thick stench of rot filled the room.

Guan Hai let out a hoarse roar, tore off his clothes, and revealed his abdomen—most of it already rotted away from the Childhood Stage Death Sickness.

Then, a human-bone-like horn sprouted from the top of his head. His limbs hit the floor, and dense fur grew all over his skin.

In a matter of moments, Guan Hai had transformed into a four-legged human-faced deer.

It wasn't just Guan Hai. All the laborers in the pawnshop with severe Death Sickness were turning into human-faced deer at the same time.

With the situation upon them, Lu An instead calmed down. He smiled bitterly and said, "Zeng Xiaoyi, looks like we two brothers are going to die here."

Zeng Xiaoyi struggled to get up, but his legs had already gone limp.

The human-faced deer slowly took shape. Guan Hai's face appeared on the deer's head, twisted in a terrifying, hideous expression, his eyes full of greed.

"Eat, eat, eat..."

The two of them were left with nothing but despair.

With Eternal Life, death was a luxury; they would likely be devoured alive.

BANG!!!!

Just as Zeng Xiaoyi and the other were stunned, the Human-Faced Deer suddenly exploded into a pulp of flesh, splattering them with blood and bone fragments.

They then noticed that specks of dust were floating in the room, appearing from nowhere.

Li Mo stood shirtless in the moonlit corridor, the Crimson Fox Tattoo on his left arm seeming ready to leap out of his skin.

He put away the Spirit Tablet, having just received information from the Pawnshop through it.

Killing one Human-Faced Deer earned him a Mid-grade Spirit Stone.

The cultivators hidden in the shadows were already stirring with greed.

Men die for wealth, birds die for food.

Cultivation was built on resources. Facing the Human-Faced Deer did carry risk, but as long as the Three Dantians were unharmed, with the Eternal Life constitution, even death was a luxury.

Guan Hai's corpse began to writhe, his flesh and blood showing signs of reassembling into a Human-Faced Deer.

Under the incredulous gazes of Zeng Xiaoyi and the other, Li Mo pulled out a Miasma Silk Thread and directly sliced the corpse into over a dozen pieces.

BOOM!!!

The wall collapsed with a roar as three Human-Faced Deer charged in, their target aimed straight at the two servants.

Li Mo lashed out with the Miasma Silk Thread. The Human-Faced Deer sizzled as a large chunk of flesh was cut away, the wound corroded by spiritual power.

But the Human-Faced Deer born from the Elk Monster were different.

They actually possessed Nectar Spiritual Energy, forcibly healing their injuries as they tirelessly attacked Zeng Xiaoyi and the other.

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 agilely charged at the Human-Faced Deer, placing his right hand on the searing tattoo as the blood in his entire body began to boil.

"Fox."

Li Mo made a strange hand gesture, which cast a shadow on the wall in the moonlight, forming a silhouette like a fox's head.

The Crimson Fox Tattoo vanished.

His flesh rapidly shriveled, and the spiritual power in his Middle Dantian was drained dry.

From the shadows, a two-meter Crimson Fox emerged, biting off the head of one Human-Faced Deer with force, driving the others into greater frenzy.

The Crimson Fox was temporarily formed from Li Mo's flesh and blood and spiritual power, emitting a thick red smoke like mist.

[Starting tomorrow, we'll be on the recommendation list. I hope the Esteemed Readers will keep reading diligently, or else Your humble author might have to drink the northwest wind.]

Thank you to Da Da Da Da Da Guai Guai, I Am Four Eyes, Sima Xianqing, I Am Super Invincible Cong Ge, AI Learning Machine, Book Friend 20180224125156055, and Hiding in the Corner and Injured for their tips.