Chapter 6: Villagers

Meng Yifan was somewhat hesitant; Meng Dayong was absolutely sincere toward him, and for his sake, Meng Dayong could even sacrifice his own life, yet Meng Yifan was still not prepared to reveal the matter of the Game Panel.

It was not that he did not trust Meng Dayong, but Meng Yifan understood the principle that possessing a treasure can lead to trouble; the matter of the Game Panel had to be kept secret. This world had high-grade Martial Artists and mysterious Immortal Masters; if they were to learn of the Game Panel, Meng Yifan would surely invite a fatal disaster upon himself.

To keep a secret, the best method was to keep it locked within one's own heart and tell no one.

"Father, last night I had a strange dream. An old immortal with a transcendent air appeared in my dream. He touched my head and said, 'In Heaven, the White Jade Capital; Twelve Towers and Five Cities. The Immortal strokes my crown; I receive the secret of Long Life.'"

"White light flickered from the old immortal's palm and transmitted into my body. I felt my body become very light, as if I were about to fly, and then I suddenly woke up in a start, only to find there was no old immortal at all; it was just a dream."

"But I tried practicing just now, and unexpectedly, I succeeded in practicing the Bull Strength at once and even broke through to a First Grade Lower Stage Martial Artist. I don't know how this happened either."

Meng Yifan fabricated a mysterious old immortal. In this world, there truly were Immortal Masters, and in the myths and legends passed down among the common folk, there were many stories of immortals transmitting techniques in dreams. The story Meng Yifan made up was not particularly outrageous.

"Yifan, this is an Immortal Fate! That old immortal must be from an Immortal Cultivator sect in the White Jade Capital. He touched your head with white light from his palm; he must have been using immortal power to perform Washing Marrow and Cutting Sutras for you, Reborn and Transformed."

"Haha, I never expected you to be fortunate enough to be favored by an Immortal Cultivator and have hope of walking the Long Life Avenue. That old immortal didn't take you to cultivate immediately; he likely had urgent matters to attend to at the time, or perhaps you still need to experience the tempering of the mortal world to hone your character. The old immortal will surely come to find you again in the future."

Meng Dayong was incredibly excited and even filled in many details himself. He had served as a soldier in the Divine Machine Battalion and had once seen an Immortal Master from the Imperial Observatory descend to subdue a demon.

In a sky that had been perfectly clear, that Immortal Master raised a hand, and the sky instantly became covered in dark clouds. Then, the Immortal Master pointed a finger, and a bolt of Thunder several dozen zhang long descended from the sky, blasting a great demon comparable to a Third Grade Martial Artist into charcoal.

In the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty, Immortal Masters were transcendent and detached. Even the Martial Emperor himself, when wanting the National Teacher of the Imperial Observatory to cast a spell to bring rain, had to humble himself and personally go to request it. From this, one could see how high the status of the Imperial Observatory was.

"That's possible." Meng Yifan hurriedly nodded. Anyway, in the future, whenever his cultivation made rapid progress, he could attribute it all to this old immortal.

"Father, let's stop talking about the old immortal for now. Hurry up and roast the meat; I'm starving to death," Meng Yifan said.

Meng Dayong smiled, then skillfully began to roast the bear paws. Soon, he had roasted the bear paws to a golden yellow, sizzling with oil. A fragrance wafted out, making Meng Yifan's appetite stir and his mouth water.

Before long, the bear paws were roasted. The father and son of the Meng family each took five pairs of bear paws and, not even caring that it burned their mouths, began to gnaw on them directly.

On Earth, to eat a single bear paw would cost at least ten thousand, and ordinary people really couldn't afford it. Moreover, many of those bear paws were farmed, and the taste was just average.

The bear paws here were different; each one was as big as a cantaloupe. Because they had been enlightened by the Tiger Demon, the Big Dog Bears understood some methods of swallowing starlight and moonlight, causing these Big Dog Bears to contain a faint amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi in their bodies. If humans ate such bear meat often, they could increase their strength through subtle influence.

Meng Dayong's barbecue skills were quite good. Although he only added some salt, chili, and other seasonings, the bear paws were still roasted crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, very delicious. He didn't know if it was because they had been hungry for too long, but Meng Yifan felt the roasted bear paws were simply a delicacy of the human world, better than any food he had ever eaten on Earth.

The father and son of the Meng family didn't speak, just wolfing down the roasted bear paws. Soon, all five pairs of bear paws were eaten, and the two of them were only half-full. Meng Yifan wanted to eat more roasted bear meat, but Meng Dayong shook his head and said, "We two have both been hungry for too long; we shouldn't eat too much. Let's wait for our stomachs to digest it, then we'll continue eating."

Although Meng Yifan still wanted to eat, he was not an unreasonable child. He forced himself to stop looking at the bear meat. With these five Big Dog Bears, the two of them wouldn't have to worry about food for the next month.

Just as the Meng father and son sat down to rest, the villagers of Qinghe Village gathered around.

A burly man with a scar on his face saw the bear carcasses in the Meng family's courtyard, his expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Meng Dayong, you are foolish! These Big Dog Bears are all subordinates of that Flying Tiger Demon. They come to eat people, and we cannot resist; otherwise, we will be slaughtered. In the neighboring Liu Family Village and Shuanghe Village, people resisted and were slaughtered. You, oh you, you have really caused a disaster."

"That's right, Meng Dayong, you are going to bring a catastrophe upon our village."

"The beasts under the Flying Tiger Demon cannot be killed. What are we to do now?"

"It's over, the people of Qinghe Village are surely all going to be eaten by the demon."

Meng Dayong did not feel he had done anything wrong. That Big Dog Bear came to his house to eat the two of them; did that mean they weren't allowed to resist?

He gripped his Mountain Opening Blade, stood up, and said loudly, "What do you mean they can't be killed? That demon used demonic arts to seal off Qinghe Village; it clearly treats us all as pigs to be raised. Rather than being picked out and eaten slowly by the demon, it's better to fight it to the death."

Meng Dayong's words were resonant and forceful. More than half of the villagers had their fighting spirit ignited, feeling that what Meng Dayong said also made sense. Rather than slowly waiting for death, it was better to take advantage of the fact that they still had strength and put up a fight; at least they wouldn't die so spinelessly.

Qinghe Village was near Jiguan Mountain, and the local customs were fierce. The men in the village, during the slack farming season, basically all went into the mountains to hunt. In the past, the beasts on the mountain were their food; now, it was the other way around, with the beasts treating humans as food and even keeping them penned up with mist. As long as a man had any hot blood in him, his heart was filled with a cavity of rage, wishing he could fight the demon to the death.

The scarred man frowned and said, "That Flying Tiger Demon clearly doesn't want to eat all the people of Qinghe Village so quickly. Our group can still live for a long time; perhaps we can wait for rescue from the government. But because you killed the Flying Tiger Demon's subordinate, we might all die soon. This is all caused by you. Even now, do you still not admit you were wrong?"

"That's right, Meng Dayong, you have ruined us."

"Tie up the Meng father and son and hand them over to the Flying Tiger Demon; perhaps we can live for a long time."

"Yes, let's do that. They caused the trouble, so they should be the ones to bear the Flying Tiger Demon's wrath. Why should we be implicated?"

A small half of the villagers stood on the side of the scarred man, one after another stepping out to accuse Meng Dayong of not having the right to kill the Big Dog Bear.

Meng Dayong was so angry he laughed. The scarred man 'Zhang Cheng' and his group were greedy for life and afraid of death. To survive, the practice of exchanging children to eat began with them; some kind families were unwilling to hand over their own children, and Zhang Cheng would lead people to snatch them directly.

Toward his own villagers, he was ruthless, yet he was servile in the face of demons. Meng Dayong had always looked down on such people and disdained to associate with them.

Zhang Cheng and his group would do anything to live a little longer. Now, to linger on for a while, they actually wanted to hand over his father and son. Did they think the two of them were easy to bully?

"Get lost! Whoever dares to step one foot into my courtyard, I will hack him to death!" Meng Dayong waved his Mountain Opening Blade, causing the air to whistle.

Zhang Cheng retreated a step in fear. He was only a First Grade Intermediate Martial Artist; in a one-on-one fight, he was truly no match for Meng Dayong. But he wasn't stupid; they had strength in numbers and had no reason to fear the Meng father and son.

Zhang Cheng raised a large hammer and shouted, "Brothers, Meng Dayong did something wrong but refuses to take responsibility, wanting to get us all killed. Tell me, what should we do?"

Thirty or forty villagers who often followed Zhang Cheng also raised their weapons and shouted loudly, "One person does the deed, one person bears the responsibility; why should we be implicated?"

"That's the logic! Brothers, tie up the Meng father and son. If they dare to resist, break their hands and feet!" Zhang Cheng shouted, and the thirty or forty villagers prepared to swarm forward.