The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 497

"Exterminate demons? I'd like to see whether you so-called righteous people can destroy me, this demon, or I can destroy you."

Hearing Ren Woxing's words, Ren Yingying's face remained expressionless, but her heart sank.

She didn't have high hopes for the upcoming big battle.

……

"Brothers, did you also come to Mount Hua at the invitation of the proclamation?"

At the foot of Mount Hua, a man from the martial arts world looked around and shouted loudly.

"Not bad!"

A man responded, "Alliance Leader Yue has issued a proclamation vowing to eliminate the Demonic Sect, this scourge that plagues the martial world. How can we stand idly by?"

At this time, the foot of Mount Hua was packed with people. There were already thousands of martial arts practitioners gathered at the foot of Mount Hua, and this number continued to increase over time, with more and more martial arts practitioners coming from all over the world to participate in this demon-slaying conference.

"Everyone!"

A disciple of Mount Hua, looking at the large group of martial arts practitioners, said loudly, "Thank you all for coming from afar to help us. My master has prepared a place for you to rest. Please follow me and do not disturb the villagers. We are very grateful."

Not long after Yue Buqun issued his proclamation, people from the martial arts world came to join him, and their numbers continued to increase. Yue Buqun had the foresight to anticipate this situation and had set up tents in advance in a place far away from the county town.

"It's easy to talk about."

The martial arts practitioners echoed their agreement and followed the Huashan disciple away.

"This young hero is handsome and has an extraordinary demeanor. He truly deserves to be a disciple of the Huashan Sect."

"Yes, the Huashan Sect is a prestigious sect, and its disciples are far beyond our reach."

Many people praised this Huashan disciple, making Shu Qi feel embarrassed.

"Where."

Shu Qi said shyly.

"Oh, right, Ning Yan... uh, where is the great hero Jiang from Guanzhong? Why isn't Jiang here?"

Someone mentioned Jiangning.

"We have long admired Master Jiang, but unfortunately we have never had the chance to meet him. If we are fortunate enough to meet him today, our trip will not have been in vain."

"Yes, young hero, may I ask where Master Jiang is?"

Shu Qi wasn't surprised by the questions from the crowd, as it wasn't the first time he'd been asked this.

"My junior brother is currently dealing with a strange matter."

Everyone looked at each other in shock when they heard this.

"Something strange?"

……

At this moment, Jiang Ning frowned, looked at the surrounding villagers, and asked again to confirm.

"Are you saying that a monster several dozen feet long attacked your village? And ate several of your village's cows, as well as countless chickens and ducks?"

Chapter 677: Strange Beasts

"Yes."

The villagers who were asked nodded repeatedly.

"That night I went out to pee and noticed some noise in my cowshed. When I went over to take a look, oh my god, there was a huge black thing eating my cow. It scared me. It noticed me and I thought it was going to eat me, so it crawled away."

The villagers spoke while gesturing.

Other villagers also shared their experiences, creating a noisy scene.

Seeing the chaotic scene with all sorts of conflicting accounts, Jiang Ning directly questioned the villager who had first discovered the monster.

"Did you get a good look at what that monster looked like?"

The villager shook his head upon hearing this: "It was too dark to see clearly. The thing was all rolled up. At first, I thought it was a bear, but then it crawled away. It was quite long. I guess it was a snake."

snake?

Jiang Ning frowned upon hearing this.

Are there snakes that are over ten feet long?

"No, no!"

Before Jiang Ning could speak, another villager retorted.

"That thing is tall and big, it can't be a snake. Snakes don't have legs, it has four legs!"

Ok?

Jiang Ning looked at the villager.

This villager is from another village. I heard that his family also encountered a monster and he was called in for questioning. At the same time, there were villagers from several other villages.

"What do you say."

The villager said, "I found it when I got up to pee in the middle of the night. The monster was hiding in my shed, eating the chickens and ducks inside, one after another. At first, I thought it was a bear. I picked up a stone and hit it to scare it away, but when it came out, it startled me. It was so tall and so big."

The villager spoke while gesturing, which made Jiang Ning frown.

According to the villager's description, the monster was nearly eight feet tall, or about two meters, and more than four meters long. It was a colossal creature, completely different from what the previous villager had described.

"After I hit the monster with a rock, it moved towards me twice. The noise was huge, thump thump, it scared me to death. Luckily, it didn't come any closer and left on its own."

Jiang Ning asked, "Did you get a clear look at it?"

"No."

The villager also shook his head.

"I was terrified. I didn't expect it to be so big. I didn't dare to chase after it when it left. Anyway, it was definitely not a snake. It had four legs!"

"wrong!"

The villager retorted, "It's definitely a snake. It's so long, it can crawl incredibly fast, and it doesn't have legs!"

"wrong."

Another villager chimed in, "It's not a snake. Xie San and I both thought the monster had legs!"

"No, it doesn't have legs!"

"You're wrong, it has legs!"

"It has legs!"

"It has no legs!"

"Have!"

"no!"

Listening to the villagers arguing about whether the monster had legs or not, and no one being able to describe what the monster looked like, at least one thing was certain: the monster only moved at night and basically didn't come out during the day.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ning asked, "When was the last time you discovered a monster?"

"Eight days ago."

"Half a month."

"last month."

"Five days ago."

The villagers said one after another.

They were all villagers from several nearby villages, and the times they witnessed the monster's activity differed. Jiang Ning confirmed the monster's activity five days ago based on the most recent time.

Jiang Ning continued, "After the monster appeared in your village, did you find any villagers missing or injured?"

"That's not true."

"No."

The villagers all shook their heads.

"It's quite strange."

One of the villagers said, "Although that monster ate our livestock, I've never heard of it eating people."

“That’s right, that’s right. We’ve never heard of anyone being eaten in our village.”

They move at night and eat poultry but do not harm people.

Jiang Ning thought to himself.

"Hey."

An old man sighed and said, "Actually, if that monster doesn't hurt people, it wouldn't be a big deal if it ate some livestock. The main problem is that everyone is afraid."

"Yes."

Other villagers chimed in, "In previous years when the harvest was good, which village hadn't lost a few chickens or ducks? We'd just curse and move on. But now everyone's harvest is bad, and last year we even suffered from floods. Every household is tightening their belts. And now this monster has appeared, eating our chickens and ducks, and even a few of our oxen have been eaten. Who can stand this? What scares us even more is that we don't know if it will eat people. It's not eating people now, but what if it does in the future?"

Nobody wants to be eaten by monsters in the middle of the night or on the street; everyone is terrified.

Listening to the villagers' words, Jiang Ning frowned slightly and said, "I'll go to the scene first and see which families in this village have been affected?"

As soon as the Jiangning dialect was spoken, several villagers raised their hands.

"Me me me."

"And my family too."

Jiang Ning looked at one of them and said, "Take me to your home."

"no problem."

The man nodded repeatedly and then led the way, with Jiang Ning following behind, and the other villagers all followed.

"This is it."

Upon arriving at the villager's home, the villager led Jiang Ning directly to the cowshed.

"My cow was eaten."

The villager said with a bitter face.

His family was relatively well-off; they owned an ox for plowing, but the ox was gone, and he was worried about how to report the matter to the authorities.

Under the Ming Dynasty law, it was strictly forbidden for ordinary people to slaughter oxen. There was also a registration system for oxen. If an ox died or disappeared without a plausible reason, the government would hold the perpetrators accountable.

Jiang Ning entered the cowshed and looked around. He did find some marks on the ground. These marks were long and winding, and looked a lot like the tracks of a snake.

At this point, the other villagers also started discussing it.

"Look what this thing left behind?"

"It's definitely a snake."

"It's definitely not a snake."

The villagers were talking amongst themselves, and Jiang Ning turned to look at that villager.

"Where did you finally find it to go?"

"Over there, over there."

The villager quickly pointed in a direction.

Jiang Ning looked in that direction and saw it was the Qinling Mountains.

"Okay, I see."

Jiang Ning nodded and said nothing more.

There were too few traces here to see anything, so he decided to visit the other villages as well.

The villages at the foot of Mount Hua are not far apart. When we arrived at the home of a villager in another village, we found a similar situation, but we could clearly see the footprints of a large wild animal on the ground.

"See, I told you it had legs, didn't I?"

The villagers who witnessed this scene shouted.