Food gives me an entry, I will be invincible if I stay alive

Chapter 218 The Cage, Three Types of Villagers

Halfway up the hillside, on the treetops.

Asheng shrank back into Chen Xu's arms in terror. At the same time, in the village at the foot of the mountain...

On the north bank of the mighty Yellow River, a magnificent temple with carved beams and painted rafters stands.

The temple complex was magnificent, with its many halls and pavilions, upturned eaves and corners, and splendid decorations.

Such a conspicuous building naturally stands out as much as it does in this remote little village.

The puppet soldiers ventured deep into the village and, without much investigation, spotted the temple at a glance.

Chen Xu's mind was divided. He directed the Taoist soldiers to circle around to the front of the temple. When they looked up, they were immediately struck by the words on the temple's plaque:

River God Temple

What's astonishing isn't the "River God," but rather the intricate strokes of the three characters themselves, resembling the movement of dragons and snakes, imbued with a mystical power that seems to connect with heaven and earth.

Although Chen Xu only glanced at the Daobing from afar, in that instant, it was as if he saw a great river rushing towards him.

Its origin is unknown, yet it seems to have come from the beginning of time.

That was countless ages ago, when wind and rain converged, mountains and rocks crumbled, and a long river was carved out from the depths of the earth.

Through long storms and the changing seasons, countless figures toil by the river, irrigating the fields, their spirits accumulating through the cycle of life and death, prosperity and decline...

The divine and spiritual being is the "River God".

A profound sense of awe descended upon Chen Xu.

He could almost feel that because of this single glance, that mysterious and irresistible power was about to leap out of the air and crash into him!

The calamity arising from emptiness is already a spontaneous reaction, initiated on its own.

However, this time the calamity and the empty light turned out to be a mishap.

It's not that Jieyuan Kongzhao failed to defend against this strange collision, but rather that in the instant the other party crashed in, lightning flashed and a meteor fell from the sky—

That indescribable, divine power inexplicably vanished into thin air and disappeared on its own!

It's like you've used all your strength and are waiting for the opponent to unleash a powerful attack, but the opponent suddenly falls down halfway through releasing the attack.

boom!
The disappearance of that invisible force was silent, yet Chen Xu seemed to hear a mournful cry from the distant past.

woo-

The ancient sound faded away, and looking ahead, the "River God Temple" was still the same River God Temple.

The strokes of the three characters on the plaque remained the same, but the strange sense of awe from before was gone.

Only a strange divinity seems to still linger among the inscriptions on the plaque.

This extended to the entire temple, causing the puppet soldiers standing not far from the temple to hesitate for a moment, and they dared not directly sneak into the temple.

But it was impossible not to infiltrate. Chen Xu guessed that if Wei Yuan was really in danger and trapped in this village, he probably wouldn't go anywhere else.

There's a 90% chance it's in this river god temple!
Just as Chen Xu was secretly pondering how to command the Taoist soldiers to infiltrate the temple, little did he know that in the deepest part of the temple, in a dark room, an old woman with wrinkled skin and white hair was leaning over a bronze bowl, looking inside.

The copper bowl was filled to eight-tenths full with clear water.

But through the reflection in the clear water, the old woman saw a scene from her vantage point.

That was the scene of Chen Xu and A Sheng hiding in the treetops.

The specific perspective of the image seems to be that of A Sheng himself.

At that moment, Asheng was nervously huddled in Chen Xu's arms, his voice trembling with fear as he said, "Big brother, it's so scary, what should we do?"

Of course, at this moment, the old woman could not hear the sound coming from inside the bronze bowl; she could only see the image and judge the dialogue by the lip movements of the people in the image.

The scholar in the green robe raised a hand, hesitated for a moment with a slightly awkward expression, and then gently placed his palm on A Sheng's head.

As if patting him reassuringly, Chen Xu said, "Don't be afraid, just wait a little longer."

What are you waiting for?
In the woods, Mancang lay sprawled on the ground, limbs gone, resembling a maggot, only his head and torso remaining. The head seemed to be screaming in agony: "Help! Help me, ah—"

Chi Chi Chi!
His abdomen was ripped open from the inside by a pair of bloody little arms, and then a strange blue head emerged from it.

The thing had no hair, but its head was covered with brownish-brown scales.

It opened its small, blood-red mouth, full of sharp teeth, and began to gnaw at Mancang's belly.

While gnawing on its body, it slowly stretched outwards.

From its blue head to its scaly shoulders, to its chest covered in strange patterns...

Little by little, just a little bit.

In such a situation, who can say it's not terrifying?
The villagers surrounding them were so frightened that their legs were spinning.

Strangely, despite their panic and fear, not a single person turned and ran away in the face of this situation.

They simply stood around in fear, keeping a respectful distance.

They discussed amongst themselves, "The jade baby has been born, and Mancang won't survive, but this jade baby isn't even full-term yet, what should we do?"

"The old woman said that for a baby less than a month old to fully develop its body, someone has to donate unclean blood, otherwise we..."

"What do you mean 'we'? If you want to go, you go! I... I just donated my blood not long ago, I can't go!"

The speaker was a villager who was exceptionally thin.

Chen Xu had previously observed that these villagers could be roughly divided into three categories.

One type is extremely thin, as if they might die at any moment, yet they possess extraordinary strength.

One type is characterized by a bloated belly, a large head and ears, and the appearance of someone pregnant.

Others have flushed faces, as if there's a furnace inside their bodies, as if it's about to emit smoke.

In addition, there were the elderly people with white hair that Daobing saw in the village...

Leaving aside the village elders, the three types of villagers before him were all strange. Only Ah Sheng in his arms seemed to be the only normal one.

Ah Sheng tugged at his clothes and pressed himself tightly against him.

Despite his comforting words, she still trembled and asked, "Big brother, how long do we have to wait? Will we ever be able to escape from here?"

He moved closer and closer, burying his face in Chen Xu's chest, so Chen Xu couldn't see that the expression on his face was completely different from the fear in his tone.

His voice trembled with panic, but his face, though concealed, was full of excitement and agitation.

Equally excited was the white-haired old woman hiding deep within the river god temple.

The old woman leaned forward, her wrinkled face almost touching the surface of the water in the copper bowl.

She seemed to be inhaling something with rapt attention across the water.

"Such pure and vibrant life force, such vigorous blood and energy, and... and the aura of a great scholar!"

The old woman closed her eyes slightly, muttering something in her sleep, her tone gradually becoming frantic.

"It's not easy, it's really not easy, that someone like this has actually managed to break into our Hexi Village."

"Should we eat now? Or should we wait and find out his background first? After all, someone like him is probably not an ordinary person."

"No, no, I can't wait any longer, I can't bear it..."

She suddenly opened her eyes, and before she knew it, a pair of fair hands, so different from her wrinkled skin and white hair, were stuffed into her mouth.

The old woman crunched and started gnawing on her own palm.

Opposite the bronze bowl, on the table, was an iron cage covered with blood-red runes.

(End of this chapter)