Chapter 809: Two People in the Cellar

Just when Jier felt that all the people in this Cunzi had fled, a Fruit Tree next to a dilapidated Farmer house in a remote courtyard near the center of the Cunzi caught his attention.

That Fruit Tree was normal, but its trunk had been smeared with a layer of red substance.

This discovery made Jier draw his Long Sword, while simultaneously tapping the arm of an Armed Civilian following behind him, then making a gesture for silence. The Armed Civilians nodded and one after another drew their respective weapons in a way that made no loud noise.

Jier had the people behind him spread out into a combat formation, then carefully observed the courtyard of this Farmer house once more.

Like most Farmer homes, the center of the small courtyard was a large, dilapidated house suitable for a family to live in; outside the house, besides a cellar entrance that every household had, there was an extra empty wooden chicken coop, as well as the Fruit Tree with the red trunk.

The Fruit Tree was blooming with white flowers, but the fragrance of the flowers, which should have been drifting in the air, was interfered with by the bloody stench coming from the trunk.

Jier glanced at the cellar entrance that was not covered with a Stone from the outside, his suspicious gaze wandering between the cellar and the Farmer house; after considering it, he stepped lightly to the house entrance, listened to the movement inside, and then raised his foot and kicked.

With a crack, the old wooden door was smashed directly into the house.

Following Jier's wave, an Armed Civilian behind him carefully threw the Torch in his hand into the house doorway.

In the illumination of the fire, Jier did not find any Monster parasites inside the house.

But he noticed that in the fire pit in the middle of the room, although the wood ash was extinguished, two bundles of dry grass stems that could be used to start a fire were placed on the open ground next to the fire pit.

"Someone? Or rather, traces of a Monster living here."

Jier exited the house and immediately strode toward the direction of the cellar.

"Surround this place!"

Jier shouted, then grabbed the recessed handle of the cellar lid, preparing to open it. Of course, he opened it with his left hand while his right hand held the Long Sword high, ready to give the Monster inside a fierce blow at any moment.

But when he pulled, he didn't pull this thing open.

This cellar lid was jammed from the inside; it looked like it could not be opened from the outside.

"Don't think this can stop a Knight!"

Jier muttered, then gathered strength in his left fist, filled his arm with Life Energy, and slammed it heavily toward the cellar lid.

With a boom, wood chips flew, and the not-very-thick wooden cellar lid shattered and flipped inward, collapsing inside.

At the same time, two wails came from the cellar, and the next moment, in the illumination of the Torch, a black shadow rushed out from the cellar, heading straight for Jier at the cellar entrance.

"I'll fight you Monsters to the death!"

The black shadow shouted loudly, full of a sense of desperation.

This took Jier, who was swinging his sword down, by surprise, and he barely managed to hold back his weapon. But he pulled back his strength, while the black shadow did not.

A flash of a blade, and Jier's abdomen was 'lightly' bumped, which made him curl his lip; the next moment, his left hand grabbed the black shadow that was attacking him.

With a grab and a toss, the black shadow was thrown by Jier onto the ground beside the cellar.

"Ouch! So painful!"

The black shadow wailed in pain, and as the firelight shone on it, it was discovered that the black shadow attacking Jier was a young man covered in dirt and dust.

The young man still wanted to crawl up to fight, but the next moment, amidst the flashing of blades and swords, metal weapons were held against the young man's neck. The Armed Civilians holding the weapons dared not be careless; each of them carefully blocked their own bodies with a Shield and kept their weapons pressed tightly against the enemy, one after another.

"My lord! Should we kill this Monster parasite?"

Someone asked, but before Jier could answer, the disheveled young man on the ground cursed loudly: "You're the Monster! You murderous Monsters are truly hateful!"

Jier looked at the person carefully, then said: "Take off your clothes. That Monster parasite will grow a strange face on the body. Take them off and let us see if you have really been parasitized by a Monster."

"Bah! You damn slug-like Monsters! Don't try to trick me! I'd rather die than have my body occupied!"

As soon as the disheveled young man finished speaking, he ignored the weapons pressing on his neck and shoulders and stabbed a small Dagger in his hand fiercely into his own abdomen.

"So painful, I won't let you wear my skin and use my face to deceive people even if I die... ugh..."

No one expected this young man to act as soon as he said he would; there was no hesitation in his action of harming himself.

"Stop him, and tie him up by the way, but be careful, don't touch him with your hands. If he is a normal person, the Priest will heal him; if he is a Monster, watch out for a sneak attack."

As soon as Jier finished speaking, an Armed Civilian kicked out and knocked away the small Dagger stuck in the young man's abdomen. The Dagger hadn't been inserted very deep, so the injury was naturally not heavy; although it was bleeding constantly, it looked like it would be fatal if left unattended.

While they were busy with this, Jier turned his head to look into the pitch-black cellar and said in a loud voice: "Do you want me to go in and invite you? Come out!"

There was a rustling sound in the darkness, and then a similarly young voice asked tremblingly: "Are you guys really Monsters or not?"

"What do you think?"

Under the illumination of the fire, Jier was wearing a set of thick Metal Armor and holding a Long Sword whose blade emitted a glowing white light; anyone with a little bit of sanity would not mistake him for a skin-bag parasitized by a Monster.

"May I ask which lord you are? Are you the Lord of the manor?"

The person inside was still indecisive, so they asked one more question to confirm the identity of the people outside.

"I am not the local Lord, but a young Knight passing through this area with some people. Although I am not from here, I order you, come out!"

Scolded by Jier like this, the person hiding inside the cellar crawled out hesitantly.

Seeing that this person was slow, Jier pulled the person out and threw them to the side as well, letting the two young men keep each other company.

"Qiaoyi! Qiaoyi!"

The young man who came out later saw his companion was injured and immediately pounced on him, using his hands to press on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Jier waved his hand, signaling his men to step back a few paces and surround the two in a perimeter.

The injured young man who might be called Qiaoyi had a few loops of Rope simply put on him, so he was curled up and it was difficult to stop the bleeding on his abdomen. Just as the young man who came out later was about to untie the troublesome Rope on his companion, Jier warned: "Stop! In a situation where your identities cannot be determined, the Rope on your bodies cannot be untied! Don't save him, he won't die in a short time anyway. Someone, tie him up too."

As soon as Jier finished speaking, a lasso was thrown onto the young man; as the Rope was pulled in, the circular Rope tightened fiercely, binding the young man's arms and body together.

"What are you doing! What are you doing! We are not Monsters, we are not Monsters! Let me go, I beg you, let me go!"

Jier snorted, turned around and pointed at the Fruit Tree beside the house, where the place on the trunk smeared red with flesh and blood looked quite evil and eerie under the light of the Torch.

"What is this! Don't tell me you two have nothing to do with this thing? I know this is what the Monster parasites lurking nearby like to do."

The uninjured young man immediately shouted: "That was done to fool the Monsters! We are not Monsters, we only did this so that the Monsters wandering nearby wouldn't approach the Cunzi."

"Is that so? How stupid must a guy be to be fooled like this?"

"Really, please believe us, my lord, we didn't lie. Those Monsters are just like that; we observed for a long time before discovering this characteristic! With a trunk smeared with flesh and blood present, the surrounding Monsters will only think that their companions are in control here, and they won't come over to scout anymore!"

The young man explained anxiously, but these words, which seemed to have some logic, did not make Jier relax his vigilance.

He turned to an Armed Civilian and said: "Go, invite Bata'er Jiaoshi who is waiting outside the Cunzi. Also, before every house in the Cunzi is checked, don't let everyone enter the Cunzi."

"Yes, Sir Knight!"

The Armed Civilian who had been ordered shouted, then turned and walked quickly toward the outside of the Cunzi, which was illuminated by a large number of Torches.

By this time, it had been dark for a little while; although one moon had already risen in the sky, the darkness still shrouded the earth as it always did.

No matter how the bound young man explained or spoke, Jier stood to the side holding his Long Sword; before the Priest came to judge the identities of the two, he let the words of the two young men go in one ear and out the other.

Soon, more than a dozen messy footsteps walked quickly toward this side.

Bata'er Jiaoshi, carrying the Amber Metal Long Staff, walked at the very front of this group of people. As soon as he entered the yard of this Farmer, he said to Jier, who was holding a sword: "Warrior Jier, you want me to check these two, is that right?"

Jier turned, lifted his Faceplate, nodded, and said: "Yes, sorry to trouble you, stay safe."

The Priest confidently raised the Long Staff he was carrying: "Rest assured, with it here, it will be fine."

After walking over, Bata'er Jiaoshi, wearing a set of armed Priest equipment, approached the two captured young men. As soon as the young man saw that the person who came was a Priest of the Agricultural God Church, he immediately wiggled a few times on the ground, barely knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to Bata'er Jiaoshi: "Lord Priest, Lord Priest, please save us, please save my companion, he has lost so much blood."

Bata'er Jiaoshi glanced at the other young man lying on the ground nearby, and seeing the amount of blood flowing from the other party's wound, he waved his hand easily: "Rest assured, losing this much blood won't kill anyone. I will check you first."

The young man, after all, had little experience; he looked blankly at the Priest of the Agricultural God using the dim Gems at the tip of the Long Staff to touch his head, which made his face full of fear.

The dim light on the Gems spread to the entire body of the young man kneeling on the ground at an extremely fast speed, and subsequently, under the gaze of everyone around, the young man's movements became slow, and he was even 'stagnated' in time.

Jier narrowed his eyes as he watched this scene, pondered for a moment, and felt that this kind of weapon and the power upon it might have some effect in small-scale battles, but once the number of people and the scale of the battle increased slightly, the effect that this kind of weapon and power could produce would not be great.

This could perhaps also show from the side how the weakness of the Agricultural God Church in the upper echelons came about.

After all, the water in this world is very deep; if the Priests under the Agricultural God generally only have this kind of power, it is inevitable that the Agricultural God Church would be insufficient in terms of military force.

After slowing down the young man, Bata'er Jiaoshi then confidently reached out to touch the young man shrouded in the dim light.

Still at the top of the head, the Priest covered his hand in the young man's messy hair, the cyan Divine Power of the Agricultural God gathered in his hand, and then he probed into the young man's body to carefully check whether the young man had been parasitized and controlled by the parasitic seeds of the Flesh Demon.

This was a meticulous job, so Bata'er Jiaoshi checked very carefully, and Jier was also very patient. Someone nearby reminded Jier that a large group of people was waiting outside the Cunzi, and Jier waved his hand and said: "Don't be anxious, waiting a little longer is not a problem. Hmm, like this, let the long-haired lynx Beast at the end of the team spread out to conduct reconnaissance outside the team and the Cunzi."

"Yes, Sir Jier!"

Immediately, someone holding a Torch took the order and left here.

After waiting for a while longer, Bata'er Jiaoshi withdrew his hand and nodded to Jier: "This young man is fine, except for being a bit weak because he hasn't had enough to eat for a long time, there is no problem. In addition, this young man is still a believer in the great Agricultural God, so Warrior Jier, is it okay for me to untie the Rope on his body?"

Jier spread his hands: "The believers in the team are under your command, do as you please, then the other one."

Bata'er Jiaoshi used his Long Staff to touch the young man who believed in the Agricultural God again, withdrew the portion of power that had slowed down the young man with magical power, and then, amidst the young man's full face of confusion, personally untied the Rope on the other party's body.

This made the young man gratefully kowtow to Bata'er Jiaoshi repeatedly, but the Priest quickly stopped this action: "My power all comes from the great Agricultural God; please direct this gratitude and reverence to our God."

"Yes, yes, yes, you are right, sir, you are right. By the way, please save my companion. During the time we were hiding in the Cunzi, it was Qiaoyi who risked danger to find food for us in the Cunzi and nearby."

After saying this, Jier looked at the two young men's bodies; sure enough, although the young man who believed in the Agricultural God was wearing old Linen Cloth clothes, they were still relatively clean, while his injured companion was covered in dirt.

"I will save him after I finish checking, rest assured, this little injury, I can heal it in half a night. As long as he hasn't been parasitized by a Monster."

After Bata'er Jiaoshi finished speaking, he picked up the Long Staff placed on the ground and lightly touched the other young man lying on the ground.

Just like before, after being slowed down by the dim light, the Priest covered the top of the young man's head with his hand full of the Agricultural God's Divine Power.

Perhaps because he had the previous experience, this time Bata'er Jiaoshi's inspection speed was much faster; in less than a minute, he withdrew the dim light used for safety-slowing.

"How is it?" Jier asked.

The Priest didn't turn his head, nodded, and while untying the clothing on the young man's abdomen to prepare for treatment, he said: "Also no problem, except for the physical discomfort caused by long-term hunger, this young man is very healthy."

After having these words from Bata'er Jiaoshi, Jier breathed a sigh of relief, grabbed the young man who was kneeling on the side watching the Priest's treatment, and said to Bataer: "You save the person first, I will continue to check the safety in this Cunzi. Also, ask these two some things on the way."

The Priest waved his hand, signaling Jier to do as he pleased.

Then Jier pushed the somewhat reluctant young man and walked out of the yard, while beckoning for the people he had brought earlier to follow.

"Introduce yourself, and then tell me, what exactly happened here?"

Jier raised his glowing Long Sword and pointed at the surroundings.

"You should be a local, so the people in the nearby Cunzi, as well as the parasitic Monster wandering in the mountains and forests and surroundings, and how exactly did you two know that smearing flesh on tree trunks would keep the Monsters from approaching? Answer my questions one by one."

Facing Jier's questions, the young man's hands were twisted together nervously, his face full of difficulty.