Chapter 4: Robbing the Landlord

  "With your robust physique and bold courage, where can't you find food? Why do you still need to go to the village to rob things to eat?"

  Li Xiao asked cautiously, the huge body of the Nian beast was right next to Li Xiao. Although its appearance was terrifying, when the time came, the Nian beast could pat its butt and leave, but Li Xiao had to stay behind and face the wrath of the entire village.

  The Nian beast stopped upon hearing this and tilted its head to look into the distance.

  "You think I'm willing to, it's too humiliating. In the past, I was a little overlord in the mountains, no one dared to provoke me, let alone these unpalatable grains, even if they were the elixirs of demons and beasts, I could swallow several at once. But somehow, a powerful old cow appeared in the mountain where I lived, that guy's strength was too great, I couldn't beat it, so I had to run over here to make a living."

  Li Xiao felt more and more uneasy as he listened. There were rumors of the Year Beast, but unexpectedly, even the Demon Beast and Demon Dan had appeared? What kind of world was this?

  "Hey, kiddo, what's wrong with you? You're not scared silly, are you?"

  The loud roar of the Nian beast shocked Li Xiao awake, and he immediately became wide awake.

  "Cough cough, no, no, I've just never seen any strange beasts before. Could it be that this world really has monsters?"

  Li Xiao asked rhetorically, if it were really so, then this world would be wonderful.

  "Cut it out, kid. It's not that I'm not teaching you because of your age, but you really are too inexperienced. A demonic beast is nothing, just a low-level creature with some minor magical abilities. If I weren't still underage, I could take on ten of them! The truly formidable ones are the great demons, who have cultivated human form and blend in with the world of cultivators. Those are the absolute top-notch individuals."

  The Nian beast had a disdainful look on its face, but it made Li Xiao understand many things.

  It turns out that this Year Beast is just a child, not yet an adult, no wonder it's different from the legendary one. The real Year Beast has flames-colored fur, absolutely won't be like this guy in front of me, who is green all over.

  But Li Xiao was also shocked by the world in the mouth of the Year Beast, cultivating immortality. In his previous life, it was just a legend, the only way to reach the ancient mythological heaven. Cultivators have the power to transcend the world, turning stones into gold, controlling earth, water, wind and fire, possessing all sorts of incredible magical powers, actually existing in this world!

  "Hey kid, I can tell you're a practitioner's son, why are you looking so clueless?"

  The Nian beast gently shook its head, but it startled Li Xiao into a jump.

  "Are you talking about me? I'm just an ordinary person, how would I know any cultivation methods..."

  Li Xiao shook his head, but the Year Beast remained silent, and with one claw, it slapped Li Xiao!

  Li Xiao was shocked. This paw, which was even thicker and more solid than a bear's palm, would surely be fatal if it hit him. It could probably crush his chest!

  He hastily got up and tried to dodge, but a terrifying force had already reached his chest, and an unmatched impact sent Li Xiao flying out!

  An unimaginable severe pain came from the chest, but Li Xiao felt that there was a faint power in his body. Just now, when he was enduring the attack, it actually dissipated a thread of force coming from the chest and directed the beast's claw power towards the ground. Otherwise, relying on his own body, it would be impossible to withstand this claw's power.

  At the same time, that subtle force was also nourishing and repairing Yehe's wounded place. Yehe even felt that in the injured place, another weak force was born, a completely new force that merged with the previous subtle force to quickly repair Yehe's injured body.

  "Kid, you've felt it, right? Although this power is small, but after all, it's already there. It means you've already stepped into the threshold of a cultivator and have the qualifications to converse with an old man like me. Otherwise, why would I help you save your father?"

  The Nian beast was right, in its eyes, the ordinary villagers who couldn't cultivate were just low-level creatures like ants or livestock. Only cultivators like Li Xiao, no matter how weak their strength, had entered this circle and became intelligent life forms with equal dialogue qualifications.

  "Your power is too weak. If you can strengthen it a bit, maybe you can help me defeat that old cow and let Old Master Yan continue to rule this land!"

  One man and one beast soon entered the center of the village, where wooden houses were densely packed, and there were many villagers' homes.

  "Alright, kiddo, it's up to you now. Try to get some more food for old man like me, I'll be looking for a place to sleep soon."

  Originally, to conserve energy, the Year Beast would ravage villages every year, and after obtaining a large amount of food, it would find a secluded place to hibernate, so as not to waste too much energy and be unable to survive the year.

  Although the beast didn't say it directly, Li Xiao roughly understood that this beast must have been hunted by the old cow in its mouth and didn't dare to show up, otherwise how could it not even get a bit of food?

  "Cough, cough, fellow villagers, elderly uncles and aunts, I am the second dog of the Old Yuan family. This time, we have caught the Year Beast, please come out and take a look."

  Li Xiao let out a loud roar, but it was based on the memory of Er Gou in his mind, which was the language of this world. The wild beast couldn't understand it at all, otherwise it might have slapped Li Xiao to death with one paw.

  In a villager's wooden house, an old couple was waiting for the arrival of the Year Beast in their room with trepidation.

  "This sounds like Er Gou's voice, is this kid scared silly? He actually said he can catch the year!"

  "Alas, let's just forget it, it's too dangerous outside, who knows when something will happen."

  In cases like this, it happens in every villager's home. The year beast is absolutely a ferocious and evil beast for them, which can't be easily subdued by humans, let alone the two dogs they've raised since childhood.

  "Roar——"

  At this moment, under Li Xiao's intention, the Year Beast let out a heaven-shaking roar, causing the entire village to shake, and even more so, terrified cries were heard from the wooden houses.

  "Fellow villagers, have you all heard? It's really me who caught the Year Beast. Just now, I made this beast let out a cry. Everyone, please believe me, come and take a look!"

  As the Year Beast roared and Li Xiao blew his conch shell, some of the bolder ones finally emerged with lanterns in hand.

  "Hey, everyone look, it's really Second Dog, he's standing with the Year Beast, nothing's wrong!"

  As the villagers' cries of surprise rose, everyone walked out of the wooden house, and some even grabbed their tools, such as choppers and carrying poles, wanting to take revenge on that Year Beast guy.

  Li Xiao saw this and immediately knew it had gone too far, desperately holding back a few of the most excited people.

  "Second Dog, you're really something, actually managing to catch this beast. Don't block my way, I'm going to chop it up alive and make it pay for daring to destroy our village!"

  "Split it! It must be split!"

  The crowd was stirred up, and the Year Beast also saw that something was wrong, looking at Li Xiao.

  "Hey kid, what are these little things doing with weapons? Are they trying to attack the invincible old master?"

  The Nian beast didn't even spare a glance, but Li Xiao was shocked and covered in cold sweat.

  "Villagers, everyone quiet down, listen to me, listen to me!"

  Under Ye He's thunderous roar, everyone finally regained some of their sanity.

  "Go on, Second Dog, since you were able to catch this vicious guy, you're the hero of our village, just speak up!"

  "That's right, Er Gou, you really are a hero."

  "What a true hero."

  "Indeed, heroes emerge in youth..."

  The villagers' words made Li Xiao somewhat guilty. In order not to cause conflict, Li Xiao hurriedly explained:

  "Everyone listen to me, it's like this. Although I caught the Year Beast, but this guy is too powerful, and I still haven't found a way to thoroughly defeat it..."

  As soon as this sentence came out, it suddenly made everyone change color, and one by one was shocked, about to hide back in the house again.

  "Don't be afraid, everyone. Listen to me finish speaking. Although I couldn't thoroughly defeat it, I made a deal with it. As long as we all chip in some food for it, it will guarantee that it absolutely won't harm anyone in our village. Moreover, every year at this time, it will come to our village to lend us a hand."

  There was no way out, in order to compromise on both sides, Li Xiao had no choice but to lie.

  The villagers stopped in their tracks as soon as they heard this, and an awkward silence fell over the scene.

  "Two dogs, it's not that we're unwilling to contribute food, but yesterday the tax collector from the Wang family came and took away almost everything edible. What little we managed to hide will barely be enough to last us through winter, really can't scrape anything together."

  In previous years, those who collected taxes would wait until after the New Year to come, but in recent years, the Nian beast has been rampant. When those lackeys came to collect taxes, many things had already been eaten by the Nian beast, and they were also helpless. That's why today they are coming ahead of time, on the eve of the New Year, to collect taxes.

  Now every household's grain is very scarce, let alone gather some food, even their own survival has become a problem.

  "Damn the royal family, damn those dog legs!"

  Li Xiao's right hand clenched into a fist and slammed heavily onto the palm of his left hand. After experiencing what happened yesterday, Li Xiao had already learned about the cruelty of those lackeys, who were absolutely more inhumane than the Year Beast. Without food, not only was it difficult to deal with the Year Beast, but even the villagers' survival became a problem.

  Having no choice, Li Xiao briefly explained the situation to the Nian beast.

  "What did you say? Which turtle egg dares to snatch Grandpa Nian's things, isn't it tired of living?! You little boy lead the way for Grandpa Nian, and these guys, Grandpa Nian will settle them all at once!"

  The Nian beast's words gave Li a sudden idea, and indeed it wasn't bad!

  If we use the power of the Year Beast to overthrow the entire royal family, it will be a hundred benefits and no harm to the whole village! At the same time, we can also avenge yesterday's whipping, which is truly a double gain!

  "Old Zhao, do you know where the Wang family is? If all else fails, I'll take the Year Beast with me and rush to the Wang's house, and we'll snatch back everyone's grain!"

  Thinking of this method, Li Xiao's blood rushed to his head, and his heart was surging with excitement!