Of All People to Provoke, He Had to Pick a Sichuan-Chongqing T. Rex

Bang!

The door was kicked open, and seven or eight people rushed in, carrying sacks and ropes.

The old man who had led Gu Yuan and the others into the village was at their head.

Gu Yuan and the other three had been drugged unconscious and lay slumped over the table, showing no reaction.

The old man glanced at them and snorted coldly.

"I already warned you, but you wouldn't listen. Now be good and serve as offerings to the mountain god."

"Tie them all up and put them in sacks. At midnight, we'll offer them all to Lord Mountain God in the sacrifice."

The rough-looking men stepped forward and tied Gu Yuan and the others up with weighing knots. They worked with practiced ease, as though they had done this many times before.

"Hey, this woman's a lot prettier than my wife."

A lecherous look appeared on one man's face, and he took the opportunity to reach for Lu Ling's cheek.

"Ow! What bit me?"

"Fuck! Where did that damned beast come from? What rotten luck!"

The man stomped the centipede at his feet to death.

"Laosi, that's enough. We don't know where these people came from, so don't cause unnecessary trouble," the old man warned. "Lock them up separately in the dungeon and keep a close eye on them. Nothing can go wrong with tonight's sacrifice to the mountain god."

"Got it, boss."

"Don't worry. That drug was left by the medicine peddler last time. It's strong stuff-even a sixth-rank martial artist would drop!"

As his voice faded, the sack was pulled tight.

Gu Yuan quietly opened his eyes.

Mountain god... sacrifice... There's something very strange about Nine Geese Village.

When we entered the village, the fields were barren, and the hunting gear and sickles were piled in a corner, rusty and long neglected. Those are the things they rely on to survive, yet the villagers have discarded them like worn-out shoes... What on earth do they live on?

Mountain god... Hmph, what a good act!

Gu Yuan felt himself being set down, then heard a door being locked and footsteps. Soon, everything went quiet.

True essence sliced through the sack, revealing pitch darkness.

Scorching Yang Flame.

A flame of true essence ignited at his fingertip, lighting the surroundings.

Only then did Gu Yuan see that the cell the old man had mentioned was merely a cellar, with moldy grain piled in one corner.

I'll regroup with the others first.

The lock on the cellar door was so flimsy that it opened with a gentle push.

Gu Yuan poked his head out.

He looked around and spotted two familiar figures.

"Brother Gu."

"Brother Gu."

Lu Ling possessed medical gu techniques, so a mere knockout drug naturally couldn't affect any of them.

But to uncover the village's secrets, Gu Yuan had decided to play along and see what the villagers were really up to.

Now, however, something seemed to have gone wrong...

"Where's Miss Lu?"

Gu Yuan's expression changed slightly.

"Maybe that Laosi they mentioned took her away?" Lu Zhaoming guessed.

Shangguan Weiming was somewhat curious. "She's your sister, and someone took her away. Why does it seem like you're not worried at all?"

"..."

"Actually, I'm more worried about that fellow called Laosi right now..."

Nine Geese Village was small, and with Gu Yuan and the others' skills, they had no need to worry about being discovered.

Before long.

They arrived outside a dilapidated thatched hut at the edge of the village that looked as though no one had cleaned it in a long time.

They could faintly hear a woman "roaring" inside.

"With that sleazy face of yours, you dare lust after me?"

"Who gave you the nerve?!"

"I'll kick you to death!"

Bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!

"G-granny, spare me... I won't dare do it again... Ow!"

"See? I told you. If we'd come any later, this guy might have been dead," Lu Zhaoming said, spreading his hands.

"..."

Gu Yuan pushed the door open and went inside.

"Ah!"

Lu Ling seemed startled. She hurriedly pulled the sole of her shoe away from Laosi's face and said somewhat awkwardly,

"Um... Brother Gu, how did you get here so quickly?"

"Th-this guy seems to have something wrong with him. He kept slamming his face into the sole of my shoe, and I couldn't kick him away. He scared me to death."

Gu Yuan looked at Laosi, whose face was swollen like a pig's head, and sighed inwardly.

Of all people to provoke, he had to pick a Sichuan-Chongqing T. Rex. Serves him right...

"I'm glad you're all right, Miss Lu."

"Brother Gu, I'm fine. I was just a little frightened." Lu Ling ran over to Gu Yuan's side, looking pitiful, like a frightened little white rabbit.

Laosi: ???

You clearly weren't acting like this just now!

Shangguan Weiming opened his mouth.

Women really are good at changing faces...

For some reason, he felt a little envious of Gu Yuan.

Why don't I get treated like that?

I'm still not handsome enough...

Gu Yuan coughed lightly twice. "Miss Lu, you've had a fright."

"It's all right. With you here, Brother Gu, Ling'er isn't afraid."

Lu Zhaoming: ...

Gu Yuan stepped forward and put his foot on the man called Laosi. "I hear you like slamming your face into the soles of people's shoes?"

"Wh-who are you people?"

"Who we are isn't important to you. What you say next is."

Bang!

Gu Yuan stomped on a stone beside him, shattering it. It was as big as a head.

"Gah-!"

Laosi's face turned deathly pale.

"Answer my questions obediently. If you tell so much as one lie, your head will end up just like that stone."

"M-my lord... I'll tell you everything I know... everything I know."

Laosi swallowed, his eyes full of terror.

"What's your name?"

"Z-Zhu Laosi."

"What do you mean by this mountain god and sacrifice?"

Zhu Laosi trembled as he said, "Lord Mountain God is a deity in Nine Geese Mountain. Offering sacrifices to the mountain god earns us divine blood. Drinking it strengthens the body, prolongs life, and makes one immune to all poisons..."

Gu Yuan frowned. "Miss Lu, sorry for the trouble, but could you examine him?"

"All right, Brother Gu." Lu Ling released a gu worm, which bit Zhu Laosi's arm.

A moment later, black qi rose from the gu worm's body, and it dissolved into a puddle of pus.

"This is... evil corruption!"

Lu Ling cried out in alarm.

"Brother Gu, his body has already been ravaged by evil corruption. He has ten days left to live at most."

"Impossible! What evil corruption? What nonsense are you talking about? This is Lord Mountain God's blessing! I, Zhu Laosi, will live to be a hundred!"

Bang!

Gu Yuan stomped Zhu Laosi's raised head back down.

"Where do your offerings come from?"

Zhu Laosi struggled to speak. "Passersby like you, of course."

"If we hadn't appeared here today, what would you have used as offerings?"

Zhu Laosi said in a trembling voice, "Old Sixteen's family just had a baby girl... and Old Nine's child is three this year. They make a pair..."

Gu Yuan's pupils contracted sharply!

"Beasts!"

"Bastards!"

"Scum!"

Shangguan Weiming and the Lu siblings shouted angrily.

Gu Yuan took a deep breath and said coldly, "How long have these sacrifices been going on?"

A strange chill rose in Zhu Laosi's heart, as though his whole body were lying in an ice cellar.

"Tw-two years..."

Two years... How many children must have died at the hands of these beasts?!

"Do you know the Heavenly Calamity Sect?"

Zhu Laosi shook his head blankly.

"M-my lord... I've told you everything I know. You should let me go now, shouldn't you?"

Gu Yuan's face darkened, and he said in a cold voice,

"If I let someone like you go, how could I face those children?"

"You deserve to die!!"

Bang!

He brought his foot down, and Zhu Laosi was reduced to a pool of blood and gore...