Chapter Seventeen: Human Meat Buns

  After leaving Shu, they headed northwest for two or three days. The road was already sparse with human habitation, and in the desolate mountains and ridges, there was no path to follow.

  As the day approached dusk, Dabai had already rushed for two days and was thinking of finding a place to rest from the wind and rain. However, he saw several households in the distance. After walking further, turning over a hill, he was not far from those households, and saw a farmer sitting on a rock taking a break, with a worried face. Dabai walked over and said from afar: "Excuse me, sir, what is ahead? Is there a village or household where I can ask for some food as I am exhausted and hungry from traveling?"

  The sturdy man seemed to have been startled, seeing Da Yun was making a bow and greeting him. He hastily also nodded his head, and with a smiling face said: "Yes, yes, how could there not be? There's also an inn here, with good wine and food, I guarantee you'll be satisfied. Within a hundred miles around, only our place has some households, passing travelers all stop to rest their feet here."

  Dai Yuan muttered to himself, this guy was initially worried and full of anxiety, but how come he became so enthusiastic when he saw himself? Moreover, his words seemed like they were recited from memory. As the saying goes, "no courtesy is offered without a motive", could it be that he has an ulterior motive? Dai Yuan glanced at the man with his spiritual energy, but there was no starlight or demonic aura on him, just an ordinary person. Dai Yuan secretly laughed at himself for being overly cautious, thinking that this person lived here, maybe the guest house downstairs was his family's or relatives'.

  "Big brother, isn't your home just up ahead?"

  "That's natural," said the sturdy Han man. "My family has been fleeing here for generations, and I've heard old people talk about it for many years."

  The old man looked at the farmer again, with a honest and simple appearance, speaking without hesitation, but not like telling lies. The old man stopped asking questions and followed the farmer down the mountain, walking towards the houses below. The man walked alone in front, seemingly with some worries, but when he turned back to greet the old man, he was still very enthusiastic. The old man thought that people in the mountains rarely came into contact with the outside world, were mostly warm and hospitable, and liked to chat with outsiders.

  Two people walked down the mountain, one in front and one behind, and there were several households. Looking around, there were several mud-brick houses with vegetables, melons and fruits planted in front of and behind the houses, which was no different from ordinary farming families. Among the thatched cottages, there was a rather distinctive inn, which was quite inconsistent with these households.

  The old woman's face was hesitant, and the farmer shouted towards the inn: "Sister, there are guests who want to have a meal, why don't you come out to welcome them?"

  As expected, a village woman came out from inside and smiled at Da Big: "It's rare to have a guest in the mountains and fields, please come in quickly. Although our place is remote, we also have some wild flavors that can enter the mouth of a noble guest."

  He followed the village woman into the inn, only to find that there were no other guests inside. The village woman asked Da Ye to sit down and then went to the back to prepare wine and dishes. As for Hanzi, he didn't know where he had gone. Da Ye waited for a while, suddenly feeling very quiet, and couldn't hear anyone talking around him. He thought again, when he came to this place, the children and old people in the house should have come out to see what was going on, but why wasn't there anyone? And in such a remote place, why did they build such a big inn.

  Suddenly, he felt that this inn was also very strange. Earlier, from the outside, it looked a bit incongruous, but he hadn't paid attention to it at the time. Thinking of this, Dabai immediately stood up and wanted to walk out, but when he looked again, he was shocked to find that the door had disappeared. Knowing something was amiss, Dabai hastily walked to the wall, activated his magic, and struck with force. This palm strike carried flames, and he thought that with his hundred years of cultivation, he could easily break through the inn's wall with one strike. However, as soon as his palm hit the wall, the force behind it vanished without a trace.

  At this time, the entire inn shook slightly, and then it immediately turned pitch black. Looking around, the inn had become surrounded by eight walls, each with talismans carved on them. The talismans flickered, and Dai Yun felt his body weaken. He tried to circulate his magic again, only to discover that all his magic was frozen in place, unable to move even a little bit.

  At this time, only a buzzing voice came from the sky: "Immortal brother, this time we caught one with good moral integrity, and this bun is worth eating."

  Another person let out a shrill laugh, and then there was a commotion from above the house. The roof suddenly opened up with a hole, revealing an extremely large eye that looked inside.

  The giant's gaze startled Da Wei, and before he could think twice, two people appeared out of nowhere. One of them was the farmer, who didn't dare look at himself. The two men silently tied up Da Wei with a sturdy knot and clamped his hands with a pair of black wooden stocks. Then, Da Wei felt dizzy again, seeing himself being thrown out of something and heavily slammed to the ground. He saw a rat-like man holding a gigantic instrument that looked like a house, sneering at him.

  Dahai suddenly realized that he had fallen into a trap, the inn earlier was actually a kind of confinement tower. The rat-headed and rat-brained guy was clearly a mouse demon, and beside him stood a sinister-looking man in black clothes. The man in black smiled at the mouse demon and said: "Brother, lock this person up in the dungeon first, later we'll trouble you to make human meat buns, how about it?"

  The mouse demon nodded and shouted in a sharp voice: "You quickly go and lock him in the dungeon, and prepare the firewood for burning."

  The big man had his bundle taken off his body, and his short sword was also searched away. In the end, he was carried out by two men. He heard the black-clothed man laugh and say: "This person's cultivation is not low, if we eat this human meat bun, our Taoist practice can increase by a few more years."

  Dai Yun felt a chill in his heart, his face turned pale and he began to shiver. The two men carried him into an underground tunnel, walked down several flights of stairs, and arrived at a dungeon.

  Thrown into the dungeon, Da Yun only came to his senses after a while. He took a glance around and saw that in addition to himself, several other cells were also locked up with men, women, old and young, who looked like ordinary civilians, probably also caught by those two monsters.

  Dai Wei saw the cell he was in, this earth prison was just an ordinary iron fence, how could it hold a cultivator. Dai Wei thought and operated his magic power, but his face turned pale instantly. For some reason, Dai Wei's whole body magic power was suppressed in the Zi Fu, several times of forced operation failed to break through the seal, Dai Wei only then realized that his wrist was tied with a handcuff, which was a forbidden device specifically used to lock up the cultivator's magic power.

  Dai Wu looked at the shackles on his wrist, which seemed to be made of wood but were not actually wood. There were countless symbols etched onto its surface. He struggled for a few moments but was unable to break free. He then slammed the shackles against the wall, but they didn't budge even slightly. Dai Wu couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart - if he really couldn't use his magical powers, he wouldn't be able to escape from here. Was he truly going to become that rat demon's meal?

  Dai Yun reluctantly used all his might to mobilize the Fa power in his body, trying to break through the suppression. The Fa power in the Zi Fu had just left the Zi Fu several times and was suppressed back. Knowing that there was not much time left, Dai Yun's heart was burning with anxiety, and various thoughts were constantly turning in his mind. Suddenly, Dai Yun remembered the elixir left by Xiao Meng Daoist, and his heart moved instantly. At this point, he could only hope that the elixir's power was strong enough to help him break through the suppression, as for forming a Dan, it would have to wait.

  Thinking of this, Da Yi looked around and saw that no one was paying attention to him. He struggled to lower his head and raised his arm towards his mouth with great effort. Fortunately, the rope was not too tight, and after struggling for a while, the rope loosened a bit, allowing him to barely bite his elbow with his teeth. The red pill was hidden in his sleeve, and Da Yi spent some time biting through the sleeve before using his mouth to pick out the pill. He hastily swallowed it, and after a few gulps, it went down into his stomach.

  Dai Yan settled himself, gathered his mind and sank into the Purple Mansion, using his heart fire to catalyze the medicinal power. At first, the medicinal power was not obvious, but after a while, it surged violently, like a stormy rain, and the Fa power in the Purple Mansion churned and foamed. Dai Yan drove the Fa power, constantly impacting and suppressing it, the Fa power was like a mighty wave crashing against the shore, wave after wave surging outward, yet despite this, it only left the Purple Mansion for a short distance before being suppressed back.

  Although he had taken the elixir, his eyes still didn't work, and Da Yi became more and more anxious. But the more anxious he was, the more chaotic and powerless his suppressed strength became. Suddenly, Da Yi realized that his own life was at stake, and if he didn't calm down, there would be no way out. Thinking of this, Da Yi's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately calmed down.

  After a moment of contemplation, Dajin gathered his spiritual energy and controlled his magical power. Not only did he stop bursting out of the Purple Mansion, but he also reversed the flow of his magic to converge within it. This principle is simple: when one wants to punch someone, they usually retract their accumulated strength before striking with force. After a brief moment, Dajin felt that the magical energy in the Purple Mansion had been condensed to an uncontrollable level. With a sudden burst, he reversed the flow of his magic again, this time bursting out of the Purple Mansion and flowing throughout his entire body.

  At this time, the magical instruments on Dahai's hands suddenly flashed, and his body's magic was suppressed again by a force. Dahai's heart moved, and he followed the momentum to condense his magic in the Zi Fu once more, using all his strength to condense it into a ball. Then, when the magic could no longer be condensed, he guided it to burst outwards again. After repeating this process several times, when the magic was once again condensed in the Zi Fu, suddenly, the condensed magic began to condense on its own. Dahai sank his mind into the Zi Fu to examine it and saw that a faint red magic was continuously condensing, finally transforming into a golden light that shone brightly.

  At this moment, Daxi suddenly felt an inexplicable force emanating from the Purple Mansion. With a low growl, a powerful surge of energy burst forth from the mansion, shooting straight towards him without any hindrance. The restrictive artifact let out a clear and crisp sound before immediately dulling and losing its luster.

  His body was filled with energy, his spiritual power greatly increased. He checked the Purple Mansion and immediately revealed an uncontrollable excitement. The formation of the elixir, this twist not only broke the seal but also unexpectedly crossed into the realm of forming the elixir. Looking at the dull seal on his wrist, he secretly thanked it, otherwise, he wouldn't have formed the elixir so easily. Of course, he still had to thank the owner of the seal properly. Thinking of this, a rare hint of ferocity flowed out from Dai Yun's eyes.

  Dai Yun was about to use his magical powers to remove the shackles and ropes from his body when he heard the sound of two people walking heavily outside the dungeon. Dai Yun recognized that one of them was the farmer, so he thought for a moment before sitting back down and pretending to be asleep. After a while, the farmer and another person entered the dungeon. Someone in the dungeon called out repeatedly, and a woman began to sob quietly. An old man shouted loudly: "Xiao Wu, you can't help the demon harm people again!"

  The farmer just smiled and said: "Yes, don't worry, the two immortals have already promised me that as long as you help them with a few more days of chores, they will let all of you go."

  The farmer comforted him a few more times, and was urged by another person. The two walked to the dungeon where Dayan was located, opened the gate and came in. It seemed that the two were going to take people out to clean up. Dayan did not struggle either, letting the two carry himself.

  The two of them carried the big guy out of the dungeon and threw him somewhere. The two of them discussed going to fetch water and burn firewood separately. The big guy took a look, only to see that there was already a large stove set up in this place, with several large steam baskets on top. The big guy activated his magical powers, breaking the restrictive device and the ropes on his body, and stood up. One of them had not walked far when he turned back to take a look, opened his mouth to shout, but the big guy waved his hand, and a flash of flame appeared on his hand, shooting a stream of fire straight at that person's chest. That person silently fell to the ground, and upon closer inspection, a large hole had already been burned into their chest.

  He glanced around and chased after the farmer with a cold face.