Chapter 800: Flesh-and-Blood Trees and the Six-Faced Monster

By the evening of that day, they had already moved far away from the logging site they encountered at noon and arrived at this place that looked strange no matter how one viewed it.

The mountain forest here became gentle, and before the sun's afterglow fell below the horizon, Jier, who had the best eyesight, could even see the distant, gentle river valley area from the winding, gentle mountain forest ahead.

But the commoners did not have the ability to travel extensively at night, so as the sun was about to set, everyone had to prepare for today's camping.

Yet the overnight camping, which usually required no intervention or command from Jier, got stuck at a very important step—the lumberjacks equipped with logging axes had only just approached the Shulin beside the Shanglu when they were scared back by the terrifying scene at the edge of the woods.

"Wuwawa..."

Each of them was a sturdy young man, a bunch of guys who usually spoke loudly and ate and drank boisterously in the team, and looked like they would dare to swing their axes at bandits, yet at this moment, they were all walking in a panic with horrified faces, unable to even maintain the orderly formation of a logging team, and fled back to the Yingdi from the edge of the Shulin in a swarm.

The panicked appearance of these guys even made the commoners in the team think they had encountered a new wave of Bandit attacks, so everyone put down what they were doing and gathered together for safety.

Some of the quick-witted ones even shouted the names of their friends and relatives in the Armed Squad they knew, calling them over to protect everyone. More people, after being inspired, began to shout Jier's name or the name of Bata'er Jiaoshi according to their own judgment.

Amidst the pattering sound of horse hooves, Jier, riding the warhorse Tianxuecao, arrived a step ahead.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

Jier asked loudly. Seeing him arrive, the commoners here hurriedly shouted: "Knight! The group of people cutting wood ran back with panicked faces. Look and see if the bandits have attacked!"

Jier, riding on horseback, had the best line of sight. He saw the lumberjacks carrying axes and hiding in the unfinished simple tents a step ahead, and immediately rode over.

"What's going on? There are no bandits attacking, why are you so panicked? Everyone get out here, what does this look like! Even if someone is attacking, are the things you are holding in your hands and carrying on your shoulders just toys? Assemble! Lumberjacks, assemble! I will make those who are cowardly and hiding pay!"

Accompanied by Jier's loud shouting, especially after hearing his voice, whether they felt at ease or had regained their backbone, these lumberjacks who had caused part of the Yingdi's chaos still ran out.

They gathered in front of Jier's warhorse, looking quite embarrassed.

Many of these guys still had lingering fear on their faces, constantly turning their heads to look toward the direction of the Shulin where they had intended to log for firewood.

Jier noticed these people's small movements, so he stretched his neck while riding on horseback and followed their gaze toward there.

But there were no further discoveries.

It was getting dark, and Jier, who had no night vision, could not see anything more even if he used Divine Art to enhance his vision.

"Speak up, what exactly is going on? I need an explanation, otherwise, the food for all lumberjacks will be halved tonight!"

Jier said the above punishment with a cold face.

The lumberjacks, who had been eating their fill during this period, of course did not want to go hungry, so as soon as the Knight asked, this group of people started talking all at once. The scene was very chaotic because some people were still covered in cold sweat, and their speech was confused after being frightened.

"Stop, stop! What kind of nonsense are you all talking? Pick a sensible person to come out and speak alone!"

When Jier said this, the lumberjacks looked at each other and finally chose a lumberjack who was literate and could barely be considered half an intellectual to come out.

This person took a few steps forward and was about to kneel on the ground to speak, but was helped up by Jier, who jumped off his horse: "No need to kneel, just speak normally. I am not some Noble lord, I am one of our own."

This person was stunned for a moment, probably the first time in his life he had seen a Knight say such a thing, but he usually saw other people in the team talking to Knight Jier this way, so he understood. Especially since Jier also liked to help with logging before, and it was like that back then too.

"Alright, my lord, you're the boss."

Jier waved his hand, telling him to explain the matter quickly.

"It's like this, we were just planning to go there, the piece of Shulin along the road closest to the Yingdi, to log some firewood for the night. As a result, everyone didn't notice when we were far away, but once we got close to those woods, we discovered that the trunks of those trees were, were all red."

Jier frowned: "What of it? The Saint Hors Kingdom has been founded for less than a hundred years, and it is very common for this area to have some special types of trees. Not to mention trees with red trunks, I have even seen large trees that get angry and attack Human beings. You wouldn't be scared by just this, would you?"

Facing Jier's look of contempt, the lumberjacks nearby disagreed: "My lord, it's not just that!"

"Yes, it's so terrifying!"

"What red, Tike, what are you talking about? That's not red, it's all red Viscera smeared all over the tree trunks!"

As soon as Jier heard this, he realized. These lumberjacks were not fledglings who had never fought head-on with those bandits; general situations would not scare them. So Jier looked at Tike, who was talking to him, and raised his chin, signaling for this person to continue.

"Yes, yes, my lord. Just as the brothers said, at the time it only looked like red trees from afar. After everyone walked over and looked, we discovered that it wasn't red bark at all; there were large patches of Viscera growing on the trunks, and even internal organs! Every single tree was like that, every tree at the edge of the Shulin was like that! It was very scary. Everyone was already frightened, and then several guys covered in Viscera suddenly popped out from behind the trees and roared at everyone, so everyone fled back to the Yingdi."

While speaking, this person gestured and danced, imitating the movements of the Monster roaring at them. Several lumberjacks around were even so scared that they threw their axes and squatted on the ground holding their heads.

Jier sneered a few times, reached out and pointed at these lumberjacks, and walked a few steps confidently: "What are you afraid of! It's just a few Monsters, I've killed plenty of Monsters, it's nothing. Besides, the strangeness here isn't necessarily just caused by Monsters."

After kicking the cowards squatting on the ground holding their heads a few times, Jier then rode Tianxuecao and said to the commoners gathering around: "Don't be afraid, it's just a few mere Monsters, I will go cut them down right now. Everyone should eat, and those who should be logging, follow me! This time, I will lead the team over."

Soon, except for some cowards who really didn't dare to come out again, the other lumberjacks lit Torches and followed behind the fully armed Knight Jier, walking quickly toward the previously selected logging area.

Jier did not put Horse Armor on Tianxuecao, but he himself was fully armed. He lowered the steel Faceplate, and the world was divided into two parts, and the person also became different from usual.

The crowd walked quickly, and Jier was riding a horse, so after a while, they arrived at the edge of the Shulin along the road closest to the Shanglu.

Before getting close, he smelled a faint bloody scent, mixed with the disgusting smell of rotten internal organs.

"M-my lord, it's just ahead."

The lumberjacks tremblingly pointed at the stretching Shulin that became increasingly gloomy and terrifying in the night ahead. When everyone smelled this bloody scent and approached the Shulin, this Shulin, illuminated by the Torches, finally appeared before Jier's eyes.

In the bright firelight, the Shulin ahead was indeed very strange. The first thing that caught the eye was the bright red trunks, which were indeed covered with smeared Viscera and stuck-on internal organs, just as the lumberjacks had said.

At a rough glance, it was very visually shocking.

People who had not done any mental preparation might even vomit on the spot if they suddenly saw this thing.

However, Jier looked carefully again and found that only the outermost layer at the edge of the Shulin was smeared with red blood and Viscera, while the other trees further inside were just broad-leaved trees common to the local Shulin.

Even for these scary trees on the outermost edge, only the trunks were carefully smeared with Viscera and internal organs; in slightly higher places, the branches and leaves of the trees were still in their original state.

Looking left and right, Jier even laughed out loud.

It turned out that not even every trunk in the outermost layer could be smeared with fresh blood and Viscera. It was estimated that considering this part of the Shulin was closest to the Shanglu, this piece of Shulin had been artificially 'processed'.

Places slightly further away that were not important remained as they were.

"What are you afraid of? It's just some crude scare tactics. Come, who will give me an axe?"

Jier jumped off Tianxuecao, turned around, and reached out to the lumberjacks behind him.

The next moment, several axes were handed over. Jier chose the one that looked the sturdiest, carried it directly on his shoulder, and strode forward: "Watch closely, there is nothing to be afraid of. These are just some scary things made by local bandits."

Jier walked fearlessly into the edge of the Shulin. Under the illumination of the many Torches behind him, he stood sideways, not caring about the logging stance that needed to be considered when logging, and raised his axe, ready to swing it horizontally.

"Roar—"

Suddenly, from the shadow of a blood-red trunk not far away, a guy covered in bloody Viscera rushed out. This person not only had a horse head on his head, but his chest also had several human faces growing on it. Even more bizarrely, these human faces actually made huge roaring sounds at the same time as the horse head on this person's head.

Tianxuecao was startled, immediately raised its front hooves, and ran to the side, as if the strange thing that suddenly appeared in front had startled it, especially the horse head that could roar.

And the lumberjacks were even more panicked. Although Jier himself was present and no one turned and ran, they still made chaotic shouts, and then a group of men gathered together.

Jier, however, gave a cold snort, and the axe he had been using to chop trees was swung around and flung toward the head of the guy who was roaring.

"What are you howling for?"

The axe whistled through the air, seemingly catching that guy by surprise, and the words he had been about to speak were swallowed back into his stomach.

Puchi—

The whistling, spinning axe struck the front of the horse head on that guy, but other than eliciting a strange cry from the Tianxuecao nearby, the guy didn't seem to be injured.

Jier had anticipated this, however; his right hand brushed against his left waist, and he immediately flung out his own Hunting Sword.

The white light on the blade was like a white ribbon of light connecting Jier to that strange guy, and after lingering in everyone's eyes for a mere instant, it stabbed into a human face on the opponent's chest.

Unlike the previous attack with the axe, the long sword seemed to carry immense force, directly carrying this strange guy who had suddenly appeared and slamming him heavily into the blood-red tree trunk he had just been dodging behind.

Thud, the long sword seemed to penetrate part of the tree trunk, pinning the guy to the tree by his chest.

"Ugh-wah—"

"Ptui, ptui, ptui..."

"Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh."

To Jier's surprise, the other human faces on the chest of the guy pinned to the tree trunk were still emitting nonsensical, strange cries, which made Jier feel strange.

Because during the previous interrogation of the 'Iron Bucket' Bandit captives, those guys had actually provided various pieces of intelligence regarding the last Bandit Group in the area—the 'Hanging Ghost'.

Among the three Bandit groups, the people of the 'Iron Bucket' Bandit Group were the most normal, most like the bandits found everywhere else, while those 'Dead Spot' people, because their leader was a well-known mercenary, were fewer in number but better at fighting.

Only these 'Hanging Ghost' people acted strangely; although they also engaged in the work of robbing pedestrians and Caravans on the Shanglu, it seemed their primary goal was to abduct people. Not only that, according to the interrogated bandits, they had heard that recently, the 'Hanging Ghost' people had been putting their manpower and most of their energy into Yemei Town, located in the river valley plain ahead along the Shanglu.

Even though the Yemei Town ahead had absorbed the populations of the villages near the town and was quite strong, these 'Hanging Ghost' people still coveted it and had launched several attacks specifically to abduct people.

However, Jier also noticed that in the words of the interrogated bandits, although this 'Hanging Ghost' gang acted strangely, they were still ordinary Humans, but this guy before his eyes was quite bizarre and strange.

With his chest pierced and pinned to the tree trunk by the long sword, an ordinary person would already be critically injured and dying, but those human faces on this strange guy's torso were each quite active, not at all like a normal Human.

"Hoo."

Jier let out a breath to settle his thoughts, then turned around and whistled to call the Tianxuecao over.

Afterwards, he beckoned to the Lumberjacks huddled together behind him: "What are you afraid of? Come over, all of you, and see what exactly is going on with this guy."

After saying this, he strode toward the strange guy.

The Lumberjacks looked at each other, then cautiously huddled together and edged forward. To say they weren't afraid would be a lie, but the curiosity in their hearts was impossible to suppress; after all, since the Knight Jier had gone up, they had no reason not to dare to approach.

Jier strode to within a step of this guy, looked the strange guy up and down, and after confirming that the Lumberjacks behind him had approached, he raised his hand and backhanded the large horse head on the guy's head.

As a result, this strike from Jier knocked the horse head perched on the strange guy's shoulder right off.

It revealed a human face underneath, stained with blood-red flesh and blood all over its head and face.

"Hmph, just as I thought. A fake head, that's all. See that? Although this thing is a real horse head, it's just something worn on the head to scare people."

Jier kicked the horse head that had fallen to the ground; this thing wasn't a fake made of cloth or a wooden frame, but the severed head of a real horse—no wonder the Tianxuecao had been startled just now.

While Jier was saying these things to put the Lumberjacks at ease, he felt a sense of doubt in his heart, because although this person was just wearing a horse head to 'scare people', there were no slits or holes on the neck of the horse head for observing the outside world.

This person was wearing a real horse head, so how could he see things outside?

He immediately raised his head to look at the person before him; although this person's face was covered in fresh red flesh and blood, through the bloodstains, one could see that underneath, it was actually an old guy of forty or fifty.

At this moment, the person was glaring at Jier, his teeth quite white and sturdy, gnashing with a clattering sound; it seemed the sword that had pierced his chest, while a heavy blow, was not fatal.

Jier realized at once that this person was no longer an ordinary person.

The pain and weakness an ordinary person would feel after being wounded—this guy, no, this Monster, had none of it.

Especially on the chest and abdomen of the opponent's bare upper body; apart from the human face in the center that had been pierced by the sword and had gone quiet, the other four faces growing on the left chest, right chest, left abdomen, and right abdomen were still quite spiritedly emitting nonsensical, chaotic roars.

"Quiet!"

With four consecutive slaps—*pa, pa, pa, pa*—Jier raised his hand and slapped each of these roaring, strange human faces.

Whether it was because Jier had used his full strength or because it was the first time they had been treated this way, these four faces were stunned and, for a moment, actually went quiet, not daring to roar or babble nonsensically anymore.

"Very good." Jier looked at the face of the main subject, reached out with his left hand to pinch the opponent's chin, and forcefully lifted it up, making the opponent's eyes meet his own Steel Face Mask.

"Tell me, were you the one scaring my team of Lumberjacks just now?"

The opponent's mouth spread open, seemingly smiling, and then he mixed saliva with the blood he vomited, trying to spit it all over Jier's face.

But Jier, holding his chin, had been guarding against this move; he applied force directly, causing the guy's mouth to deform, and the saliva and blood he had been brewing ended up choking his own trachea instead.

If this person still had an original human trachea, that is.

"Hmph, behave!"

Jier made a fist with his right hand and delivered a heavy punch to the human face on the guy's left abdomen, directly deforming the face on his left abdomen; the blood flowing from the wound, however, was abnormally purple.

The other three faces that had been quiet let out screams, but as soon as Jier raised his hand again, they went quiet once more. They seemed quite sensible, much sharper than most people Jier had seen.

The human face on the left abdomen was struck, and this guy, who had originally been tight-lipped and refused to communicate, seemed to be in pain too; at least from the frowning expression that appeared for the first time, one could see that this guy was not unafraid of pain.

"You... you ask... then."

The speech was intermittent, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.

Jier grabbed the opponent's head, pulled him over to look him in the eye, and asked: "Are you a member of the 'Hanging Ghost' Bandit Group?"

"Hang... ing Ghost? That... is... what outsiders, people... outside the Cunzi... call us."

This person spoke slowly and intermittently.

However, Jier listened intently, and seeing that he was much more honest, Jier continued to ask: "So that's it. What do you call yourselves? And how did you end up in this state? Does it feel good? Uh, does it feel good?"

Jier clamped the opponent's chin and neck with his left hand, while his right hand extended two fingers to pinch the nose of a human face on the opponent's left chest, twisting it hard from side to side, causing that human face to open its mouth and wail in pain.

A slight look of pain also appeared on the face of this 'Hanging Ghost' bandit.

The Lumberjacks behind Jier stared with wide eyes; they never expected that the strange, terrifying human bandit who looked so monstrous in their eyes would be bullied like this by the Knight Jier.

They looked at each other and felt that they should hurry up and chop wood; if they delayed the wood-chopping, they didn't know if the Knight Jier would punish them the same way.

After all, the Knight's fist looked heavy, and at this moment, he was twisting a nose, and the nose on that face was about to be twisted off by the fingers protected by the steel armor.

It looked quite painful.