After Cultivating To Immortality, I Became the Demon Venerable's White Moonlight - Chapter 7

Late at night, dim yellow light spilled from the window of a house in Muyin Village.

The old hunter puff-puffed away on his dry tobacco pipe. Sitting opposite him was a young man who looked to be only about seventeen or eighteen. He was one of the jeering onlookers who had followed the young girl earlier that day.

“Uncle Jing,” the young man said with a trace of anxiety, “I saw Jia Ren sneaking out of his house all by himself just now. I reckon he’s heading up the mountain to hunt for that treasure!”

The old hunter’s expression remained indifferent. “Let him go then. If he can hunt down the treasure, that’s his own capability. You aren’t going yourself, so why are you so green with envy?”

“Hey, it’s not really about me. It’s just that if word gets out, the villagers will definitely have plenty to gossip about.” The young man struck a nonchalant pose.

Jing Quan raised his eyes. “Who’s gossiping? About what? Niu Er, speak clearly.”

“Just… the people in the village,” Niu Er scratched his head, acting as if nothing was amiss. “Didn’t you say it yourself? There’s treasure in the inner circle, and if anyone finds it, they’ll strike it rich. I’m just afraid that when the time comes, everyone will say Leader Jia listened to your words and went alone because he was afraid others would beat him to it.”

Jing Quan tapped his pipe against the table. “Everyone knows there are treasures deep in the mountains. I just happened to mention it the other day. But look at him, seeing everyone else head into the mountains, he couldn’t keep his pants on either. He didn’t even weigh his own capabilities.”

“No, Uncle Jing,” Niu Er said with a deadpan earnestness, “Leader Jia is on our side, we have to go help him. Haven’t you seen the people who went in recently? As long as they entered the inner circle, has anyone ever come back?”

Uncle Jing snorted through his nose. “They brought it upon themselves. Who’s going to help him? You? So many people went in a few days ago and didn’t come out, why didn’t you go help them?”

“Bah!” The young man spat a curse. “That bunch of fools! Before, they refused to listen to us and insisted on protecting the forest of the outer circle. They were so stubborn that even a team of oxen couldn’t pull them back. They deserved to die! Ultimately, it’s all because of that old codger of a village chief leading them, constantly blocking us from going into the mountains to hunt for treasure.”

“You’re always so good at talking a big game,” Uncle Jing showed a hint of disdain. “If you really went to look for the treasure, could you even find it?”

“I can’t find it, but don’t I have you to rely on?” Niu Er flattered him. “Only you, Uncle Jing, can take a trip through the inner circle and come back completely in one piece. We’ve all witnessed it!”

Uncle Jing smoked his pipe in silence, a faint trace of smugness appearing on his face.

Niu Er continued, “And Leader Jia, he… he’s one of us after all. We have to bring him back with us.”

Uncle Jing put down his pipe and said flatly, “Saving him is fine. But if I really bring him out of the deep mountains alive, the village chief will find it hard to command public confidence ever again.”

Niu Er said joyfully, “With just this one word from you, Uncle Jing, it’s better than anything! Once we hunt down the treasure and you come out, who will still listen to that old rogue?”

He then lowered his voice and asked, “Uncle Jing, can you secretly tell me, what exactly is that treasure, and what does it look like? Lest I don’t recognize it when I see it.”

Uncle Jing held the pipe in his mouth, the corners of his eyes crinkling into deep folds. “That treasure, speaking of it, tsk, is truly incomparably bizarre.”

He took another deep drag, a reminiscent look washing over his face. “It’s as white as a clump of snow, and as bright as a piece of gold under the sun, darting through the forest at lightning speed. With human speed, hmph, one could never hope to catch up to it.”

“Quick! Block him!”

Lin Wanying reacted with lightning speed. She immediately drew an array formation, chanting incantations under her breath.

The ground beneath their feet began to vibrate faintly. The gravel on the ground seemed to sprout legs, consciously gathering toward a single center. Small mounds of earth piled up together, accumulating into a hill, gradually forming a waist-high barricade.

This mud wall was built according to Jia Ren’s physical frame, like a thick suit of armor, encasing his entire body right up to his chest.

“Let me go! Who asked you to poke your noses into my business!” Jia Ren struggled relentlessly in the dirt.

The other two, Yi and Fang, breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Wanying wiped the sweat from her brow. “He won’t be able to escape now.”

However, seeing Jia Ren still struggling frantically, the three of them were deeply vexed about how to bring him back to the village.

Yi Qinglan pondered, “Why don’t we tie him up and slowly drag him back…”

“What kind of crazy talk is that!” Jia Ren was beside himself with rage. “How am I getting in your way? Why are you treating me like this?”

Jia Ren became visibly infuriated, veins bulging across his forehead.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

Jia Ren’s face flushed red, and his arms had already broken out of the mud wall. He pushed hard against the perimeter Lin Wanying had established with his fingers, trying to break free.

In the eyes of the trio, Jia Ren’s behavior had become extremely bizarre. His expression was abnormally frantic, exaggerated beyond that of an ordinary person. The strength in his hands was extraordinarily immense, to the point that he actually managed to breach the mud wall in several places.

Lin Wanying immediately restarted the array to reinforce the mud wall, but it was already too late.

With a roar of fury, Jia Ren forcefully broke free from the pile of earth. He dashed into the forest at a speed unattainable by regular men, quickly vanishing from sight.

“What do we do now?” Fang Shuyue looked anxiously at her two senior martial sisters.

Yi Qinglan immediately directed, “Wanying and I will give chase to see what kind of scheme the demon is trying to bewitch the villagers into doing. Shuyue, you head back to the village to inform the chief, and have him send people into the mountain to look for him.”

“If we’re quick enough, there might still be a turn for the better.”

Without another word, Lin Wanying followed Yi Qinglan into the forest.

Although Jia Ren was mostly likely being deluded and manipulated by a demon, his mind remained lucid, and he possessed excellent judgment. He truly lived up to his reputation as a hunter born and bred in Muyin Village. Following the familiar paths into the forest, his feet moved like the wind. Like an agile monkey, he darted through the woods with a clear destination in mind.

Since the two of them had followed him into the mountain, nearly an hour had passed without them realizing it.

At first, the outer edge of the mountain forest was relatively sparse, and the mountain paths were quite clear and manageable. As they went deeper, the forest grew denser and denser. Shrubbery crisscrossed beneath their feet, covered in moss, making it incredibly difficult to trek. A thick fog gradually rolled into the forest, and visibility dropped lower and lower.

“Senior Sister, don’t you think this fog is a bit strange?” Lin Wanying noted. Ever since the fog rolled in, the surrounding birdcalls seemed to have vanished, leaving behind an eerily quiet atmosphere.

Suddenly, Jia Ren turned his head to look back from afar, seemingly right in their direction.

Lin Wanying and Yi Qinglan hastily hid behind an exceptionally thick tree.

But a moment later, when the two stepped out from behind the tree, Jia Ren’s figure was already nowhere to be seen.

The two rushed forward in pursuit, but the space ahead was entirely empty. Only the shadows of the trees intersected, blurred within the fog like they had stepped into the netherworld.

“This is bad. He must have realized we were following him and shook us off on purpose,” Lin Wanying stamped her foot in frustration.

After tracking him for so long only to end up with nothing, the two couldn’t help but feel a wave of discouragement.

Suddenly, Lin Wanying’s foot sank deep into the mire. Frowning, she exerted quite a bit of effort to pull her foot out of the mud, grabbing onto Yi Qinglan. “Senior Sister, we can’t go on like this. Why don’t we head back first, consult with the village chief, and then decide on our next move?”

Yi Qinglan, however, replied, “Right now, I’m afraid we don’t have the luxury of turning back.”

Lin Wanying looked back, and a cold sweat broke out across her spine. They were now roughly at the border of the inner circle of Muyin Mountain. The surrounding tree shadows loomed ominously, and the dense canopies wove into a giant net that enveloped them overhead. Looking back at the path they came from, it already looked identical to the surrounding scenery, making it impossible to discern directions.

Earlier, the distant roars of wild beasts would occasionally drift over, and sometimes they could feel some animal scurrying past their feet, giving them a fright. However, the deeper they went, the thicker the fog became, and the mountains grew uncannily quiet.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already placed a honey scent tracker from a Guide Bee on myself before we came,” Yi Qinglan said. “Shuyue and the others will definitely be able to find us.”

“Ah!!”

Amidst the dead silence, a sudden thud rang out, followed by the startled cry of a woman not far away.

There’s someone else in these mountains besides Jia Ren?

The two immediately rushed toward the source of the sound. It wasn’t until they reached the foot of a tree that they could clearly see the woman’s face.

“Zhong Ying?” Yi Qinglan conjured a flame to disperse the dense fog. She saw a hunting net hanging above an exceptionally large, thick tree, and trapped inside the net was none other than the young girl who had stumbled in front of the village chief’s house earlier that day. Beneath the hunting net lay some small bows and arrows, which must have been the hunting gear she brought into the forest.

Did Jia Ren set traps all along the way as he walked through the forest?

“Ahhhh, monsters! Monsters!”

The moment Zhong Ying saw the flame rising from Yi Qinglan’s hand, she trembled all over, swaying back and forth inside the net. She was already somewhat afraid of heights, and having accidentally stepped into a trap in the forest, she was now completely disoriented.

“Don’t be afraid, we are not monsters. We’ll get you down right away!” Lin Wanying reassured her.

“Monsters stay back! Don’t come over here!” Zhong Ying didn’t register a single word, her voice laced with tears.

Yi Qinglan drew her sword and swung it upward. A cold flash of light passed, and the hunting net was sliced open instantly. The sword then automatically flew back into her hand.

Lin Wanying stepped forward quickly to catch her. Zhong Ying curled up obediently in her arms, her eyes still tightly shut.

On a patch of cleared ground chosen temporarily, a cluster of fire sprang up from nowhere, illuminating their field of vision.

Zhong Ying sat on the ground with her arms wrapped around her knees. Watching the ball of fire float weightlessly in front of the three of them, she still found it hard to believe.

“Are you… truly cultivators? You’re not lying to me?” Zhong Ying sniffled, a look of hesitation still lingering on her face. “You’re not… you’re not monsters in disguise, right?”

“Of course not. We cultivators exist to slay demons and eliminate monsters,” Lin Wanying smiled.

Yi Qinglan looked at her messy hair and couldn’t help but reach out to pat her head. “Are you really that afraid of monsters? With such small courage, how did you dare to sneak into the mountains all by yourself?”

“I’m not a coward!” Zhong Ying yelled back defensively, but then, as if remembering something, she shrank back slightly. “But… but there really is a monster in the village.”

A demon in the village?

Lin Wanying urged, “Speak clearly!”

Seeing the sudden solemnity in their expressions, Zhong Ying’s heart tightened as well. Summoning her courage, she said, “Fine, since you say you can kill monsters, I’ll tell you for now.” She then began to recount the story.

“The strange occurrences started when that woman appeared. Oh, that woman is… is my stepmother.”

Mentioning her caused Zhong Ying to shudder involuntarily, as if she was terrified.

“A month ago, my mother and I went back to visit relatives, leaving my father home alone. When my mother and I returned, we found an extra person in the house, a woman. She looks like,” a look of disgust surfaced on Zhong Ying’s face, “the kind of appearance that every man in the village would like.”

“That woman claimed her name was Chun Yan, and that she had come from afar to visit relatives. She said she accidentally took the wrong path, made a long detour, ran out of travel money, and wanted to lodge for a night. Seeing how pitiful she was, my father took her into our home. Who would have thought that this one night of lodging would turn into several days? My mother told him multiple times to make her leave, but my father didn’t take it seriously at all.”

“I know why my father acted like that,” hatred pooled in Zhong Ying’s features. “Before this, he only listened to my mother. Even though he’s a tall, robust man who commands respect from everyone in the village, if my mother told him to go east, he wouldn’t dare go west. Ever since that woman came, his personality completely changed, and he only listens to her. My mother once said that fox spirits are best at turning into beautiful women to bewitch people. So, that woman must be a fox spirit!” Zhong Ying gnashed her teeth.

Lin Wanying offered gently, “Is it possible that… your father just has a weakness for beauty, and that’s why…”

“Impossible!” Zhong Ying said decisively. “My father only became like that after eating the food she cooked!”

“Food?” Yi Qinglan asked curiously.

“Yes, the food,” Zhong Ying began to tremble again. Yi Qinglan rested a hand on her shoulder, and after leaning against her for a moment, Zhong Ying continued, “That woman is an excellent cook, and everyone in the village praises her dishes. My father was bewitched precisely because he ate her food.”

Yi Qinglan pondered aloud, “Perhaps something that controls the mind was put into the food, which allowed her to bewitch your father.”

“I detested her from the very moment she arrived, so I never touched her cooking. But… but my mother,” Zhong Ying began to sob, “One day, after she ate the food that woman made, she fell ill. From then on, she never… she never…” Before she could finish her sentence, Zhong Ying buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly.

Seeing how young she was to have experienced such a massive tragedy, the two cultivators felt an immense surge of sympathy and rushed to comfort her.

After crying for a while, Zhong Ying wiped her tears and continued, “With my mother gone, she became my father’s newly wedded wife, occupying the room that originally belonged to my mother. My father wasn’t a cold and heartless man to begin with, but after my mother died, he didn’t shed a single tear and spent all his time revolving around that woman.”

“I hated her to the core, so I wanted to steal some of her things to sell. That day, I thought she wasn’t around, but just as I was about to enter, I heard a strange noise inside the room. I quietly poked a hole through the paper window, and that’s when I saw the scene inside.” Zhong Ying wrapped her arms tightly around herself, her voice shaking. “She was facing the mirror, doing her makeup, but I clearly saw that her face in the mirror wasn’t human at all, it was a whole piece of dried tree bark! As she brushed her hair, pieces of leaves kept falling out, looking exactly like a tree shedding leaves in autumn.”

Hearing this, Yi Qinglan and Lin Wanying blurted out simultaneously, “Could it be a tree demon?”

“I… I don’t know,” Zhong Ying continued. “Since my mother’s passing, my father became even less human. He spent all day muttering to himself, saying he needed to go into the mountains to find some legendary treasure. In all my years growing up, that was the first time I ever heard him say such words. Although we’ve always had legends about treasure in the deep mountains, it’s just a legend after all, no one has ever seen it with their own eyes! So I think the monster must have whispered sweet nothings into his ear to make him lose his mind. Until one night, my father finally took advantage of the darkness to enter the mountain, and he hasn’t returned since.”

“Later on, anyone who ate her cooking would clamor about going up the mountain to seek the treasure… But including my father, not a single one has ever come back.” The girl spat in anger. “It’s infuriating how she uses her beauty and silver tongue to curry favor from all the men in the village. No matter how much I talk until my throat is dry, nobody believes me.”

Yi Qinglan said, “If that’s the case, then everything makes sense. Perhaps the item the demon needs is inside the mountain, but because the treasure is difficult to find, she manipulates the hunters’ bodies to go in and search for it on her behalf.”

Lin Wanying asked, “Then why did you appear in the mountains tonight? Were you following Jia Ren too?”

Zhong Ying looked exhausted. “That useless Jia Ren, when I saw him during the day, I knew he would definitely enter the mountain tonight. Because I saw with my own eyes that he ate the tsamba made by that woman today, and he was even smiling about it! I wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.”

Zhong Ying clenched her fists. “My father never allowed me to hunt or enter the mountains since I was a child, saying it was something only men could do. But even though I begged from the head of the village to the end of the village, not a single man was willing to go in and save him, citing some ancestral warning that the deep mountains are forbidden and offer no return. This time, I won’t rely on anyone else. I will save my father myself!” As she spoke, tears glistened in her eyes again, and she wiped them away with her sleeves.

Hearing the truth behind the matter, Yi and Lin couldn’t help but fall into a temporary silence.

“This demon has truly brought endless harm upon people…” Yi Qinglan struck the ground fiercely with her fist. However, there was one sentence she kept to herself, those hunters who were manipulated by the demon to enter the mountains, even if they were fortunate enough to find the treasure, were likely facing grim prospects by now.

“Don’t worry, we will definitely help you rescue him.”

“Actually… actually, I know my father might have left behind some clues,” Zhong Ying said. “When he hunted in the forest, he would often leave marks along the way to prevent getting lost.” Saying this, she reached out to touch the trunk of a nearby tree. “Look, a mark just like this one.”

On the tree, four cuts had been carved with a knife, forming a diamond shaped pattern. Seeing the young girl blankly caressing the carved mark, Yi Qinglan knew she must be thinking of her father again.

“Perhaps we can follow these markings to find him.”