Chapter 44: Treating Ancient Ferocious Beasts as Everyday Meals? And They Even Think It's Funny???
In the end, after hearing Pi Hou and the others describe the situation and learning that this outsider had not only tried to bully the little one but had also spoken disrespectfully about the Sacrificial Spirit, the expressions of the old village chief and the others instantly darkened.
"Outrageous!"
Especially Shi Linhu and the other burly men of Stone Village. Their anger flared sky-high, and the broad swords in their hands hummed as their grips tightened.
"He dared to disrespect Lord Sacrificial Spirit? And even tried to harm the little one?"
"A white-eyed wolf like this cannot be spared!"
"Kill him! Throw him into the Great Wilderness to feed the ferocious beasts!"
"Yes, kill him!"
For a moment, the murderous villagers gathered in greater and greater numbers. They had already begun surrounding him.
Tang Hao, who had just barely regained consciousness, was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body.
"No! Don't kill me!"
Looking at the villagers in front of him, each of whom seemed eager to tear him apart, Tang Hao finally realized how serious the situation had become.
To survive, the once arrogant Clear Sky Douluo actually performed an extremely humiliating act in front of the entire Douluo Continent.
With a thud, Tang Hao dropped to his knees.
Ignoring the intense pain from his broken leg, he desperately kowtowed toward the old village chief.
"Village Chief Grandpa, I was wrong! I really was wrong!"
"Slap! Slap! Slap!"
As if that were not enough, Tang Hao feared he might still be driven away. While kowtowing, he also began slapping himself across the face with both hands, each strike loud and resounding.
"I was blind!"
"I repaid kindness with enmity!"
"I'll never dare do it again. Please, let me stay in the village!"
"I'll do anything! Even if I have to serve like an ox or horse, just let me remain here!"
This time, Tang Hao was truly terrified.
Over the past few days, he had personally witnessed the horrors outside the village.
Even a casually passing mosquito was as large as a fist and could drain a giant elephant dry with a single bite.
If he were thrown out in his current condition, he would absolutely not survive the night.
However, facing his desperate pleas, the old village chief Shi Yunfeng simply shook his head coldly.
"Stone Village welcomes guests, but we do not shelter wolves."
"Leave. For the sake of the few days of work you did earlier, we won't kill you. But we will never allow you to stay."
"Throw him out."
As soon as the village chief gave the order, Shi Linhu, who had long been impatient, immediately stepped forward.
He grabbed Tang Hao by the collar, as if lifting a chick, and threw him out of the village.
"Don't! Don't abandon me!"
Seeing himself tossed out, Tang Hao no longer cared about the pain surging through his body. He hurriedly crawled forward with both hands and feet, staring pitifully toward the inside of the village.
He did not dare run, nor did he dare move far away.
Like a stray dog that had lost its home, he could only curl up outside the village, trembling, praying that no ferocious beast would notice him.
…
On the other side of the village entrance, after seeing Tang Hao thrown out, Qian Renxue hesitated for a moment before quickly walking forward.
"Greetings, elder."
She straightened her somewhat disordered clothes, suppressed the excitement in her heart, and gracefully bowed toward the old village chief, Shi Yunfeng, with perfect etiquette.
"My name is Qian Renxue. I have just arrived and do not understand the customs here. Thank you to that little brother for helping me earlier."
As she spoke, she glanced toward the little one in the distance, who had returned while holding his little milk jar.
Looking at the golden-haired woman before him, whose clothing was unusual but whose manners were refined, and noticing the faint willow leaf mark that had not yet completely faded from her forehead, Shi Yunfeng's expression softened considerably.
"No matter. Since Lord Sacrificial Spirit has granted you a blessing, it means you are a kind child."
After saying that, the old village chief nodded and spoke kindly.
"Come in. The nights in the Great Wilderness are very dangerous. You may stay in the village for a few days."
"Thank you, elder!"
Upon hearing this, Qian Renxue was overjoyed. She quickly bowed again toward the villagers of Stone Village.
…
Stone Village, inside the settlement.
After Qian Renxue stepped inside the village at the villagers' invitation, she was finally able to see the scenery within clearly.
From the outside, this place had appeared to be an ordinary, somewhat dilapidated primitive village.
Several stone houses were arranged in scattered order, with a few pebble-paved paths and stone mills and grinding wheels everywhere.
At first glance, it looked almost identical to the slums in the remote regions of the Douluo Continent, perhaps even more backward.
However, when Qian Renxue truly stood within the village and clearly saw the decorations on the stone houses and the paving beneath her feet, her pupils shrank violently. She froze on the spot.
"Th-this is…"
Passing by a stone house, Qian Renxue's gaze casually swept over a tattered piece of cloth hanging beneath the eaves to block the wind.
It was a purple beast hide. Though covered in dust and looking dirty, with even the edges torn in places,
In Qian Renxue's perception, the rag was still emitting a faint trace of lightning power.
And merely glancing at it caused her eyes to sting. In her mind, it was as though an ancient, ferocious beast bathed in a sea of lightning was roaring at her.
"This aura… a hundred-thousand-year soul beast? No… a hide even more terrifying than that?!"
Qian Renxue quickly looked away, clutching her pounding heart. Her mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg.
A hundred-thousand-year soul beast!
In the Douluo Continent, even her grandfather would fight to seize something like that.
Yet here, it was casually hung beneath the eaves as a wind shield?!
"What a waste… this is truly a waste of heaven's treasures!"
For a moment, Qian Renxue felt her heart bleeding.
But what she did not know was that this was only the beginning.
Because as she continued walking forward, the sensation under her feet suddenly became somewhat uneven.
Qian Renxue lowered her head.
"Hiss—"
In the next second, she was almost so shocked she nearly dropped to her knees.
The path beneath her feet was not paved with ordinary pebbles.
Instead, it was paved with round teeth, each as white as jade and emitting chilling cold energy.
Every single tooth was the size of a washbasin, and each still carried a terrifying remnant of a blood aura.
"These teeth… they absolutely belong to soul beasts above one hundred thousand years!!!"
Feeling the overwhelming blood aura rising from beneath her feet, Qian Renxue crouched down, trembling.
She reached out and touched a massive beast bone that had been placed along the roadside like a curb.
The bone felt smooth like jade. Inside, faint runic light seemed to flow.
"Soul bone… this is a soul bone!!!"
The moment she recognized the beast bone, a magnitude twelve earthquake seemed to erupt inside Qian Renxue's heart.
In the Douluo Continent, soul bones were a soul master's second life. In some cases, they were treasures even more precious than soul rings.
Any single soul bone appearing in the world could trigger battles among soul masters.
Powerful soul bones could even cause a Titled Douluo to personally intervene and fight for them.
Yet in this village, bones emitting the fluctuations of soul bones were casually laid across the ground for people to step on.
Some had even been worn down by constant trampling!
"My heavens… what I'm stepping on isn't a road."
Qian Renxue swallowed nervously, her entire body trembling. She felt as though she could barely move her legs anymore.
Because every step she took felt like trampling priceless treasures scattered across the ground. The feeling was unbearable.
"Big sister, be careful. There's a freshly skinned hide over there. Don't slip."
At that moment, a small child ran over and kindly warned her.
Qian Renxue followed the direction he pointed.
In the drying yard at the center of the village, several massive beast bones had been erected to form racks.
On them hung several freshly processed beast hides.
One of the crimson hides, though already separated from its body, still radiated terrifying heat. The surrounding air itself was being distorted.
Beside the hide, a pile of miscellaneous items was casually stacked like a small mountain.
—
End of Chapter