Instead of rejoicing at Shen Ming's words, the Village Head looked utterly terrified. He hurriedly waved his hands and lowered his voice, his tone steeped in fear:
"No! Absolutely not, Master Shen! If we anger the Green Snake Lady and she learns we've harbored disloyal thoughts, we... we cannot bear the consequences!"
Seeing such cowardice, Shen Ming felt a nameless fury flare in his heart.
He remembered his colleagues who had died horribly along the road, remembered the innocent people devoured by demons. Looking at these villagers whose backs had been broken by fear, he felt both anger and sorrow.
"You... are you truly willing to offer up your own children's lives to a demon, generation after generation?!"
Furious at their refusal to stand up for themselves, Shen Ming declared, "I'm going to speak to them today, no matter what!" With that, he turned to head toward the eastern end of the village.
"Stop him! Hurry, stop Master Shen!" The Village Head was frightened out of his wits and shrieked at the surrounding villagers.
The villagers who had been sitting around the bonfire like wooden carvings and clay statues reacted swiftly now.
Several sturdy men immediately rose and silently blocked Shen Ming's path.
More villagers slowly gathered around, forming a thick human wall without a word. They kept their heads lowered, not daring to meet Shen Ming's eyes.
"You... you!"
Shen Ming's chest heaved violently. His saber was halfway out of its sheath, yet he could not bring himself to draw it any farther. His internal injuries, still unhealed, worsened again as rage assailed his heart.
Without the support of the earlier spell, he swayed on his feet. At last, he said bleakly, "Ignorant! Such fools!"
A complicated expression flickered across the Village Head's face.
He instructed someone in the