Under a bright sun and a gentle spring breeze, a woman with a seductive figure, a girl sporting braids, and a petite, adorable child walked slowly along a mountain path.
This was the essential route to the Long River Mountains, the final flat stretch before entering the wilds.
If they had horses, this segment wouldn’t have been so tough.
“Why do we have to go on foot?” The Little Snake Demon flicked out her tongue and grumbled, “I’m beat!”
“Because no coachman is willing to venture into the mountains,” Ren Tan replied, wiping sweat from her brow. “And none of us three knows how to drive a cart…”
There was no need to elaborate on Yin Luan. One glance at the Little Radish Spirit’s tiny frame made it obvious she couldn’t manage. Ren Tan, the pampered Eldest Young Lady, had never learned the skill—she had always traveled to Nine Li City by carriage.
With no other choice, after the coachman halted at the last village and refused to proceed no matter how much extra they offered, the three women had abandoned their heavy cart and continued on foot.
This created a serious problem.
The amount of food they could carry had plummeted.
“I really want to eat some radish…”
“Why are you saying that to me?!”
Along the way, they spotted other teams, but everyone kept a wary distance.
Those bold enough to enter the mountains hunting treasure were no doubt skilled. Far from any city and beyond any law’s reach, a sneak attack could leave you dead with no one the wiser—not even anyone to bury you.
People cherished their lives; no one wanted to lose theirs before glimpsing the treasure.
According to intel the Little Radish Spirit had gathered through “certain channels,” they still needed to press dozens of li deeper into the mountains to find a secluded village isolated from the world. Only then could they learn more about the treasure’s location.
“I’m dehydrating!” The Little Snake Demon flopped into the shade and whined. “If only we had some juicy vegetables to replenish fluids!”
“Aren’t you done complaining yet…?”
The trek was grueling, indeed. Apart from Xiao Luo, who had spent years in the wild mountains, Yin Luan and Ren Tan both felt the strain.
Fortunately, after half a day’s hard march, a breakthrough came.
“It’s the scent of people!”
“…Have you taken up eating humans now?”
“No way! I mean the smell of a village!”
In these encircling peaks, only Little Snake’s otherworldly nose could pick up the trace of human settlement.
Following the scent, they discovered a modest village—barely more than twenty households, a hundred souls at most.
Its isolation rivaled Azure Mountain Village when the Little Snake Demon had first awakened there. Spotting outsiders led by a woman as enchantingly beautiful as a demon, the villagers’ suspicion far outweighed their curiosity.
Ren Tan soon settled the matter with coin.
The villagers pocketed more than they earned in a year, while the adventuring team gained shelter, beds, and meals. All were pleased.
“Are you headed to that village too?”
The young maiden serving them, noting their friendliness and generosity, opened up in conversation.
“Have you run into other teams?” Ren Tan asked.
“Yes, I glimpsed some from afar while gathering firewood up the mountain. They looked plenty dangerous, so I steered clear. Only once did I hear they were hunting that village that doesn’t exist…”
“Doesn’t exist? What do you mean?”
“It’s just what I heard from others… That village sometimes appears, other times it vanishes into thin air, like it was never there.”
Such a thing? A mirage? An illusion?
“Hard to say.” The young maiden shook her head at their theories. “Seems like some folks have made contact with the villagers and even brought out items. Sometimes people emerge from the village itself… For decades, tales of it have never truly faded.”
The mysterious mountain village’s existence was an enduring riddle.
But that was to be expected—if it were easy to find, the treasure would have been claimed ages ago.
The mountain folk were simple and honest. After taking the money, they offered their finest house to the visitors.
After a splendid night’s rest, the three prepared to depart once more, plunging deeper into the mountains.
Yet at dawn, the villagers’ frantic commotion halted Yin Luan and the others in their tracks.
“What’s going on?” The Little Snake Demon asked the young maiden they’d warmed to.
“S-something happened.” She was visibly shaken. “Da Zhuang—he went up the mountain at first light with a few others to chop wood, and they e-encountered a monster. It rammed him, gutting him open…”
It was no ordinary mountain beast.
The creature was blindingly fast, striking from nowhere and vanishing without trace, its strength immense. It barreled through, shattering tree trunks and boulders alike.
Da Zhuang had only been grazed, yet he perished instantly, his corpse a gruesome sight.
The companions who had entered the mountains with him were scared out of their wits. They turned tail and fled, vaguely hearing the sickening crunch of teeth tearing into flesh and bone…
“Did you not see what it looked like?”
Yin Luan inquired.
“Couldn’t see clearly,” the villager said, trembling. “It was too fast—ten times faster than the wild boars in the mountains. I only caught a glimpse from afar while running for my life. It seemed to have four legs…”
“And, and,” another person added, “I kept feeling like it had some intelligence to it. It must have spotted us long ago but didn’t charge right away. Instead, it herded us around, forcing us to flee everywhere while letting out this nonstop strange laughing sound. Da Zhuang twisted his ankle while running and that’s when it locked onto him…”
These people felt both guilt and sorrow.
They had supported their companion as they fled for their lives, but that monster kept toying with them, letting their inner terror devour them bit by bit until they had no choice but to abandon him and save themselves.
The few who were preparing to leave wore grim expressions.
“This has nothing to do with us,” Xiao Luo said in a low voice. “From their description, one collision and you’re dead. That’s no ordinary demon… We still need to conserve our strength to hunt for treasure.”
Those seeking treasure weren’t limited to human teams. Demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters were in on the hunt too—and in some ways, the latter were even more troublesome than the former.
Ren Tan pursed her lips, looking like she wanted to say something but holding back.
In a remote mountain village like this, even the Demon Subduing Division probably wouldn’t bother sending anyone…
Yin Luan pondered for a moment. Rather than responding to her two companions, she turned to the villagers.
“You all,” she said, “do you hope that I will eliminate that man-eating demon?”
The villagers were stunned.
They couldn’t fathom why this beautiful and alluring woman would say such a thing.
“It can’t hurt me and poses no threat to me, so I have no reason to take action against it on my own,” the Little Snake Demon explained. “Unless someone expects me to. I’ve eaten your food, so I have an obligation to respond to your expectations.”
The villagers exchanged bewildered glances, as if they couldn’t believe such a thing was possible.
After a long pause, the young maiden finally spoke up on behalf of the group, her voice soft.
“Is that really possible…? We don’t have much to offer as a reward.”
“I already said,” Yin Luan replied with a smile, “I’ve eaten your food, so I have an obligation to respond to your expectations. Of course, I don’t always fulfill them—it just so happens that I’ve run into this one.”
“Please save us,” the young maiden said devoutly, casting aside her hesitation. “Please save everyone in the village!”
The Little Snake Demon smiled and nodded.
“Very well.”
