Why Did You Take So Long to Get Here?
Just as the three were about to set off to cross the mountain, a muffled boom suddenly came from not far away.
It sounded like a heavy object crashing to the ground, or like a herd of hooves trampling the earth.
Immediately afterwards, screams echoed through the air.
"Oh no! It's a monster!"
Xiao Tianqi's expression changed drastically, and before he could finish speaking, he had already dashed off in the direction from which the sound came.
Lu Feng and Su Ying exchanged a glance and simultaneously activated their movement techniques to follow.
A moment later, the three arrived at a relatively gentle hillside.
The sight before him made Lu Feng pause involuntarily.
The entire hillside was trampled beyond recognition; trees were broken, grass was uprooted, and blood stained the soil dark red.
Several tattered tarpaulins were torn to shreds and scattered in the pool of blood.
Dozens of second-tier bull demons were rampaging across the hillside.
"Hateful!"
Lu Feng's eyes instantly turned red.
He drew his Ink-Sunken Saber, let out a roar, and charged into the bull demon horde like a black lightning bolt.
The Ink-Sunken Saber already weighed over a thousand pounds, and under his full Hua Jin Perfection, it became unstoppable.
Wherever the blade passed, the bull demon's horns and head were cleaved in two.
One slash, one kill; swift and clean, not even a scream could escape their lips.
Some bull demons tried to tough it out by relying on their thick hides, but in front of Ink-Sunken Saber, their defenses were as fragile as paper.
[Ding! Successfully slayed a second-tier bull demon, gaining 10,000 Demon Points]
[Ding! Successfully slayed a second-tier bull demon, gaining 10,000 Demon Points]
[Ding! Successfully slayed a second-tier bull demon, gaining 10,000 Demon Points]
The system notifications went on and on, but Lu Feng ignored them.
He just wanted to kill all these beasts.
Before long, there wasn't a single bull demon standing on the hillside anymore.
On the other side, Xiao Tianqi instructed Su Ying, "Go and see if there are any other survivors. These people shouldn't be here; something's fishy."
Su Ying responded and left, her figure darting swiftly through the mountains and forests.
Lu Feng sheathed his sword and went to Xiao Tianqi's side.
Xiao Tianqi was squatting on the ground, fiddling with a torn piece of cloth.
His fingers traced the texture of the fabric for a moment, then he picked up a loose shoe and examined it, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.
"Sir, have you made any discoveries?" Lu Feng asked.
"This place is the border between Yunzhou and Central Province, so it's not surprising to see monsters here. But this group of people shouldn't be here."
Xiao Tianqi stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and looked somewhat solemn.
"The tools these people use and the fabrics they wear are all from Yongzhou. Yongzhou is tens of thousands of miles away; ordinary people couldn't possibly have traveled this far. Yongzhou... something terrible is about to happen."
Lu Feng's heart skipped a beat.
Based on just a few rags and a shoe, they deduced where these people came from and concluded that something had happened in Yongzhou.
His insight far surpassed that of anyone he had ever met.
He suddenly remembered that he had come all the way from Lin'an City to where he was now, and although he had experienced many battles, he had never thought about the problem from these details.
Compared to someone like Xiao Tianqi, he still has so much to learn.
Where is Commandant Su?
Lu Feng looked around but didn't see Su Ying.
"I told her to go find the survivors, and we'll go too."
The two searched along the hillside.
Occasionally, one could see the corpses of a few second-tier bull demons, all killed with a single, clean strike, clearly the work of Su Ying.
Before long, the two saw two figures standing opposite each other amidst the mess ahead.
Su Ying stood there, facing a gaunt old woman.
The old man looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with gray and disheveled hair, and bloodstains on his face.
She stood hunched over opposite Su Ying Su Ying, staring intently at her with her cloudy eyes, muttering something incessantly.
Lu Feng walked closer and then he heard what the old man said.
Why did it take you so long to arrive!
The old man's voice was hoarse and shrill, like scratching a stone slab with fingernails.
"If you had come sooner, my husband and my son wouldn't have died!"
"It's all your fault! You're the ones who killed my son!"
You bunch of demons!
Su Ying stood there, her hands hanging at her sides, her expression somewhat helpless.
She opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.
The old woman in front of him was just an ordinary woman, with no cultivation and posing no threat; all her strength was used to roar.
Faced with such accusations, she didn't know how to respond.
The old man became more and more agitated as he spoke.
"Why can't demons and humans coexist? All they want is a little territory and some food! Can't you even meet these most basic needs?"
Why do you insist on surrounding and killing them? Why?
"You weren't there when we needed you most! We've fled everywhere, so far away, but you still haven't shown up!"
"Now look what's happened! Our home is gone! Everyone's dead! And here you are!"
"You demons! You're the ones who killed my husband and my son!"
The old man's last few words were indistinguishable as either crying or shouting.
Her body was trembling violently, her eyes were sunken, and there were no more tears left, only a deep resentment shining through her bloodshot eyes.
Su Ying took a half step back under that gaze.
She wanted to explain something, but the words stuck in her throat.
Because she knew that any explanation would seem pale in comparison to someone who had just lost everything.
Just as the old man roared at its most intense moment, a burst of True Essence shot out from behind Lu Feng, piercing the old man's forehead with pinpoint accuracy.
The old man's roar abruptly stopped, the resentment and madness in his eyes freezing at the last moment. His body fell straight backward, crashing onto the muddy ground with a dull thud.
Lu Feng turned his head. It was Xiao Tianqi who made the move.
Su Ying was stunned.
She looked at the old man's body on the ground, then at Xiao Tianqi, her expression shifting from shock to disbelief:
"Uncle Xiao, why... why..."
"What, you think I did something wrong?"
Xiao Tianqi withdrew his hand, his tone indifferent.
"She's just an old woman! A poor soul who just lost her whole family! She's just unable to accept it, that's why she's talking nonsense..."
"How could you..."
Lu Feng.
Xiao Tianqi ignored Su Ying's words and instead turned his gaze to Lu Feng.
What do you think?
Lu Feng remained silent for a moment.
He looked at Xiao Tianqi, his tone calm and without any hesitation:
"I think Lord Xiao did nothing wrong."
Su Ying turned her head abruptly, looking at Lu Feng in disbelief:
"What did you say?"
"The most terrifying thing is never monsters, but the human heart."
"No matter how ferocious the monsters are, they only eat human flesh and blood. But if someone speaks up for the monsters, making it seem justifiable for them to eat people, and portrays those who resist as heinous criminals, then that is what truly destroys the human race's chance of survival."
He paused, then looked at Su Ying.