Chapter 3: The Mighty Old Man

  Li Xiao took advantage of the night and hid behind a broken wooden board in the house after hearing the roar of the Year Beast.

  The blue-haired Year Beast puffed out a hot breath from its large nostrils, and with a body more robust than a lion's, it jogged over, passing directly by Li Xiao and Old Yuan.

  At this time, Li Xiao's heart was hanging in his throat, and he didn't even dare to take a deep breath. The beast only slightly swept over the broken house, as if it hadn't seen anything suspicious, and then left directly.

  Li Xiao's tense heart had just relaxed a bit, but the robust Year Beast stopped in its tracks again. Its nose twitched slightly, and its massive body turned around, unexpectedly causing Li Xiao's heart to tighten up once more.

  The year beast ran towards Old Yuan's direction, its thick nose seemed to be sniffing something. Li Xiao silently thought it was bad, the year beast must have smelled the bloody smell on Old Yuan's body, that's why it turned back.

  As the Year Beast drew closer and closer to Old Yuan, it even got very close to Li Xiao. Li Xiao bit his teeth, grabbed a wooden stick and jumped out from the broken wooden board, startling the Year Beast back three steps, allowing Li Xiao to stand firmly in front of Old Yuan.

  "Roar——"

  The Nian beast was apparently enraged by Li Xiao's actions, and let out a thunderous roar from its mouth, causing Li Xiao's ears to ring and his head to feel dizzy. The Nian beast's voice was truly astonishingly loud.

  Li Xiao's legs were trembling, let alone the ferocious beast in front of him was said to be a Year Beast, even if it were a lion, standing alive and well in front of an ordinary person, that person would still be scared silly!

  Li Xiao didn't know where he got the courage from, relying on a mouthful of hot blood in his chest, he picked up a wooden stick and blocked Old Yuan's way. Now, watching the giant Nian beast at close range, he found that its facial features were somewhat different from those of a lion. That wide nose, on the other hand, looked like the legendary Qilin.

  Ferocious claws, blood-stained mouth with faintly visible fangs, all told Li Xiao that the guy in front of him was not easy to mess with.

  The Nian beast did not expect that under its own roar, Li Xiao would stand still in front of it, not moving at all. It didn't know that Li Xiao's legs were trembling completely and he had no ability to move.

  Gradually closing in on Li Xiao, the beast's face was ferocious. At this moment, let alone Li Xiao, even if it were a giant elephant from his past life, he would probably be startled and flee immediately without any thought of resistance. This gigantic beast, whose height was almost equal to Li Xiao's, had a savage appearance that thoroughly frightened him, causing cold sweat to drip onto the ground. Although his mind told him to remain calm, it was clear that he had been scared stiff.

  "What's going on? A big boss like you can't even intimidate him..."

  The Nian beast muttered a sentence to itself, and instantly made Li Xiao almost drop his jaw!

  Due to the Year Beast's vocal cords, the voice sounded like a scream, but for Li Xiao, who had lived for twenty years in his previous life, this voice was forever etched in his memory as the Mandarin Chinese of his past life!

  "Wow, you can talk after all, sir..."

  Li Xiao said, finishing the sentence, almost wanting to slap his own mouth. The legend of the beast in its past life was not enough? Cruel, evil, and vicious, weren't these all its characteristics? Now chatting with it, wasn't that just asking for death?

  "Hmm, young one, you can actually communicate with Old Master Year? Not bad, not bad. After all these years, no creature has been able to understand Old Master Year's words. You young one truly have great prospects ahead of you."

  The monster said, squatting there in a very human-like manner, even using its claws to pick at the remaining bits stuck between its teeth!

  This scene made Li Xiao's eyes twitch, this guy really didn't have any awareness of being a legendary ferocious beast!

  But Li Xiao wouldn't dare say such a thing even if you killed him. Although facing a creature that could talk made his timid heart feel slightly better, having a being stronger than a lion crouching in front of him, with its exaggerated claws reaching into the bloody mouth that could swallow his entire head in one bite, to pick at teeth that looked like they could crush stones, if you could still remain calm, then that would be truly impressive.

  Li Xiao's heart was racing, the scene in front of him was simply unbelievable, the legendary fierce creature was actually squatting beside him, and it was even chatting with him, just like a dream.

  "This...this...Lord Year is overpraising me, I don't know what Lord Year has come out for this time..."

  Li Xiao almost slapped himself in the face again after asking.

  It's really a case of "which pot doesn't open, lift which pot". On this New Year's Day, what else can the beast do? Now that everyone's emotions have just stabilized a bit, they're still rushing to the muzzle, and even if they die, they can't blame others.

  The careless Ye He's surprise and regret, Nian Beast is very calm:

  "What can an old man like me do? It's just that when it's time to eat, I come to the village and take a walk around. Conveniently, I bring some food that the villagers have respectfully given to me."

  The monster shamelessly claimed that the things it had robbed were given by the villagers as a tribute.

  "I see, may your journey be smooth and wish you a safe return with full load."

  Li Xiao was taken aback and, fearing he would say something wrong again, wanted to get rid of this plague god. However, the Year Beast's eyes rolled around, its nose twitched slightly, and it opened its bloody mouth, revealing a strange smile.

  "Hey, kiddo, you're not bad, but how can you hide food? Under the bright eyes of Old Man Year, pulling off these little tricks is just being clever for nothing."

  That obvious bloody smell couldn't deceive the Year Beast's nose, Li Xiao panicked, this kind of ruthless beast that kills people without blinking an eye, in the legend of its previous life, eating humans was just a small matter, if it really had a craving for its own father, no one could stop it.

  "Sir, he's not food, that's my father. He's badly injured and is resting right now. Please spare his life, sir."

  Li Xiao's expression suddenly changed, and he hastily begged.

  The Nian's nose twitched again, and its copper-bell-like pupils contracted.

  He stretched his neck forward and took a look, startling Li Xiao greatly, once again holding Old Yuan behind him, gripping the wooden stick that had fallen down tightly.

  "It seems to be true, so let's put it this way, Old Master Ye won't take advantage of you. As long as you help Old Master Ye with something, I'll also be willing to do a good deed and save your father."

  The Nian beast's head shook once and then retreated. Li Xiao was taken aback at first, but then his heart filled with great joy.

  "Thank you, Master Nian, thank you, Master Nian! As long as you can save my father, I'll be willing to help with anything!"

  Although the beast in front of him looked ferocious and terrifying, its tone didn't seem to be as cruel as the legend said.

  "First find an old man like me a container."

  The Nian beast's eyes showed a hint of excitement, to be honest, perhaps for the Nian beast, saving people was not necessary at all. However, from birth until now, there has been no creature that looks like it, nor any creature that can understand its words. Now, finally meeting someone who can, how could it not feel excited?

  Li Xiao searched the ruined house for half a day and finally found an earthenware water tank made of mud, but it was smashed to pieces with only half of it intact.

  When Li Xiao held up a water tank about one foot wide in front of the Nian beast, the Nian beast with its whole body covered in green fur almost vomited blood!

  "I'm going, you little brat, you're too much! Old Master Ye only wanted you to find a small cup, but you actually found this big one. Are you trying to kill me?"

  Li Xiao nodded repeatedly in response, not daring to utter a single word of retort.

  The Nian beast didn't speak again, but coughed several times, and suddenly a mouthful of green liquid spurted out, falling into the broken water tank.

  "Alright, take this and give it to your father to drink."

  The Nian beast seemed dizzy and shook its head.

  Looking at that small green thing, Li Xiao's face turned a bit green, and he asked in a low voice:

  "Is this... your phlegm, Year Elder?"

  At this thought, Li Xiao suddenly felt a little nauseous, even though he was still hungry.

  "You little brat, do you want to die?! This is my blood, the Great Master's blood! Even a single drop would be enough to save your father's life. And yet, I let out so much for him, it's more than enough to revive his vitality and restore his youth!"

  The Nian beast was enraged with shame, this little guy in front of it actually treated its precious blood as phlegm, simply unbearable, a humiliation that cannot be tolerated!

  "This...this blood is blue?"

  Li Xiao also felt that the Year Beast's emotions were a bit off, but the thing in the water tank was too strange, a greenish thick liquid, just this point, if it was said to be life-saving spiritual blood, it seemed more like poison.

  "That's enough! If you continue to talk nonsense, I'll take back your freedom!"

  The Nian beast moved with true anger, its throat bursting forth, almost blowing Li Xiao's small body flying out!

  Li Xiao shuddered and didn't dare doubt the Year Beast's words anymore. If it really wanted to harm him and his father, even if he had ten lives, they would have been digested by now.

  Carefully lifting the simple canopy, according to the words of the beast, this thing is certainly better to drink more, anyway Li Xiao doesn't plan to drink it himself, and poured all of it down his cheap father's throat.

  "Cough, cough—"

  In a moment, Old Yuan coughed and Li Xiao hastily helped him up and patted his back to help him catch his breath.

  Old Yuan slowly opened his eyes, obviously waking up. His eyes saw Li Xiao and suddenly revealed a smile:

  "Second Dog, are you okay?"

  "It's nothing, I'm fine, just a bit tired! Now I'll go to the village to find something to eat, you lie down and rest well."

  Li Xiao looked at Old Yuan recovering his health and suddenly revealed a smile.

  "No way, you're just a kid, where can you find something to eat? I'll go instead."

  Old Yuan lifted the canvas cup, and just as he was about to get up, this old man, although not Li Xiao's biological father, still conveyed a deep concern that Li Xiao could feel.

  Thinking of Old Yuan's desperate defense yesterday, Li Xiao's nose turned sour and he supported Old Yuan.

  "It's better I go, Er Gou is no longer a child, you can rest assured."

  Under Li Xiao's persistence, Old Yuan lay back again, his pale face revealing a hint of a warm smile as he nodded at Li Xiao.

  Li Xiao walked out of the tent, made a "hushing" gesture towards the Nian beast, and beckoned it to leave the tent and run towards the village. Only when they had walked a distance away did Li Xiao shout at the Nian beast:

  "Thank you, thank you so much! I don't know what Master Yan wants me to do?"

  Li Xiao suddenly remembered that there was still one thing he had promised to do but hadn't done yet.

  "Heh heh."

  The Nian beast revealed a sly smile.

  "It's nothing, just help me get this year's tribute back."

  This sentence made Li stunned, taking the beast to eat food with guns, after eating the beast can pat the ass and leave, but afterwards it's easy to imagine how the villagers will greet themselves.