A Man-eating Lair
After knocking for a while, just as Jiang Yimian thought she might be mistaken, the door opened from the inside. It was an old woman of sixty or seventy years old.
The woman sized up the group before her, her voice hoarse as she said, “You can’t go this way. If you want to cross the mountain, you have to take a detour.”
Saying this, she was about to close the door.
Jiang Yimian stopped her, smiling and saying, “Old woman, could we have some water? We’ve been traveling for several hours, and we’ve run out of water.”
The old woman glanced at Jiang Yimian. Seeing that this young girl was fair-skinned and her smile was like a flower, she couldn’t help but be stunned.
She then looked at the men behind her. The man in the lead had a handsome appearance, strong brows and bright eyes, a tall and straight figure, and he didn’t look like an ordinary person.
Although the others looked rather serious, they didn’t look evil.
She nodded, calling towards the house, “Old man, we have visitors.”
Having said that, she went into a somewhat dilapidated thatched hut nearby, which looked like a kitchen.
Jiang Yimian and the others didn’t rashly enter, but waited outside.
She also took the opportunity to look around. Not far away were a few earthen houses that could barely be considered intact. Because they were covered by waist-high weeds, she hadn’t noticed them at first. They also seemed to be inhabited.
After a while, an old man with gray hair came out of the house. He was hunched over, and a two or three-year-old child was following behind him.
The child had dark yellow skin and a thin, bony little face that made his eyes look very large. He was curiously looking at everyone.
The old man looked at the group before him and asked doubtfully, “Why are you coming here? Where are you going?”
This place is quite remote. Except for the occasional carriages going to the estate at the foot of the mountain every now and then, almost no one comes here.
Let alone to their desolate village.
This was the first time he had seen so many strangers.
Jiang Yimian smiled and tentatively asked, “We lost our way and accidentally came here. Old grandpa, do you know how to get up the mountain?”
Upon hearing this, the old man immediately frowned and said coldly, “You can’t go up the mountain. I advise you to leave immediately, otherwise, if you lose your life, no one can save you.”
With that, he pulled the child behind him and went straight into the house.
Jiang Yimian and Lu Cijian exchanged glances.
“He certainly knows the situation on the mountain,” Lu Cijian said coldly, but with certainty.
They had originally thought that the people in this desolate village didn’t know about the mountain, but it seems that’s not the case.
The old woman also came out of the kitchen, holding several bowls of water. Seeing that everyone was still standing outside, she smiled and greeted them, “What are you all standing there for? Come in and have some water! It’s rare for anyone to come to our broken village.”
Jiang Yimian responded and followed her into the house.
That old man glared at them before grumbling, “Drink the water and leave quickly. That mountain is not a place you should go.
Don’t talk nonsense when you leave, or you’ll risk your life.”
Jiang Yimian immediately became interested. She sat down at a table nearby and curiously asked, “Old grandpa, why won’t you let us go up the mountain? What’s on the mountain?”
Lu Cijian also sat down, his eyes holding a hint of inquiry.
The old man didn’t speak, but stared at these two young people with extremely good looks and extraordinary bearing, hesitantly saying, “Who are you? You don’t seem to be just passing through.”
This place is so remote, unless they came here intentionally, there’s no way they’d pass by.
Especially with the rumor of fierce beasts eating people in the mountains, if they’d inquired in the city, they wouldn’t have come here.
Unless they didn’t want to live, or they were foolish and came to die.
He didn’t think these people were foolish, but they had indeed come to die, which puzzled him.
Lu Cijian nodded and said calmly, “We’re not just passing through. Do you know what’s going on up on that mountain?”
Jiang Yimian added, “Don’t worry, old grandpa. We’re not bad people. We just want to rescue someone. We heard that many people have been captured there.
My father might be inside.”
The young girl’s mood was somewhat low, but her words held a hint of expectation, as if she hoped to learn something about the mountain from him.
He felt a little soft-hearted and unconsciously thought of his own son.
He didn’t know whether he was dead or alive.
The old woman beside him instantly reddened her eyes, her hoarse voice tinged with sobs, “Girl, that place is a den of devils that eats people. Don’t go there.
If your father knew you were risking your life to save him, he certainly wouldn’t agree.”
She had already witnessed so many people die, she couldn’t just watch these people go to their deaths.
Before, they were helpless, but now that these people have found them, she couldn’t let them take the risk.
The child, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, began to cry when he saw his grandmother crying, “Grandma, Grandma, don’t cry. Will you play in the mud with Xiao Bao? Don’t cry.”
The child cried aggrievedly, and the old woman quickly responded, picking up Xiao Bao and leaving the house.
The old man, who hadn’t spoken, sighed, his head bowed as he said helplessly, “Ask whatever you want to ask. I don’t know much.
There are people watching everywhere on that mountain. You won’t be able to get up there, and there’s an estate at the foot of the mountain. Anyone who approaches will be driven away.
If you try to force your way in, there’s only one way out: death.
You won’t be able to get in. Even if your martial arts skills are superb, you won’t be able to get in.”
Wang San nodded beside them, saying it was much the same as what they had observed.
He lowered his voice and whispered, “This place is very strange. It must have been strictly warned about. There are many powerful people there. We’ll have to work hard to get in.”
Jiang Yimian thought for a while before asking, “How many people are still left in this village?”
When she arrived, although she hadn’t seen anyone else, she could sense some faint auras, indicating there were still quite a few people.
The old man casually said, “There are four families, about a dozen people. They’re all old people and children. They won’t live for long.
Let me tell you, the people on the mountain are not easy to mess with. Even if you can get up there, you’ll be shot dead, and there’s no chance of returning alive.
Don’t think that because you have a few people who know martial arts, you can go anywhere. Everyone on that mountain knows martial arts.”
Jiang Yimian raised her eyebrows and curiously asked, “Old grandpa, have you been up there?”
The old man gave a wry smile. “If I had been up there, I’d be dead already. How could I still be alive?”
At the thought of the tragic events of that year, he couldn’t help but shiver.
Jiang Yimian was about to ask more, but Lu Cijian pressed her wrist, calmly saying, “Since you’ve never been up there, why do you know how powerful the people on the mountain are?
Or did you go up there for some reason, witnessed those people killing, and fled in terror?”