Chapter 1: Perilous Encounters in the Mortal World

  "You good-for-nothing, how many times have you broken dishes? Can't even do this simple thing right. What's the point of me supporting you? Get out!" A loud angry shout was heard, and a small figure suddenly flew out from the entrance of an old-fashioned tavern, rolling on the ground four or five times before stopping...

  People on the street took a habitual glance and then went back to their own business, doing what they should be doing.

  The little boy, only five or six years old, with a red face, hastily got up and walked quickly to the edge of the wine building door.

  With a tense expression, he occasionally raised his eyes to look at the master inside, hoping that he would be in a good mood and call him back soon. This time, he must behave well, carefully holding the plate, working quickly and efficiently, lest he get beaten up and have no dinner to eat tonight!

  But after waiting for a long time, he still didn't see the hotel master who had adopted him.

  As he thought about his life, the boy felt a pang of sadness and tears fell from his eyes. His name was Xiaodou, without a surname. Since he could remember, he had been sold back and forth by adults.

  Nor did he know what else they were doing, always letting him stay in one place for a while, doing some strange work, and then taking him to the market, putting a straw hat on his own head, and being led away by another person.

  Until the master of this restaurant brought him back to work one day, after several days, he finally had a chance to eat leftover meat from others. It was the first time in his life that he had eaten something so delicious, and from then on, he worked very hard, hoping to stay here for a while longer and have another chance to eat leftover meat from customers.

  Unfortunately, when he was crying uncontrollably, what he saw again was that kind of indifferent gaze!

  He was frightened and shocked. The hotel waiter walked out and looked at him with the same eyes as those who had sold him every time!

  He understood, he was no longer needed by people, and he would be sold again, then waiting for him was an unknown fate...

  On the streets where horse-drawn carriages passed by, Xiaodou looked at people in this world. Some men were sturdy and strong, doing hard labor for the landlord's family, while some women were gentle and elegant, selecting fabrics on the street to make clothes for their own families.

  Some wore official robes with large and intimidating swords at their waists, swaggering through the streets. Others were scholars, always dressed in white clothes, holding books in their hands, shaking their heads and swaying from side to side.

  There were also those people in the rivers and lakes, holding various strange-shaped weapons, often starting a fight to the death between two parties. Every time Xiaodou didn't dare to look at the bloody and violent scene, it was too scary...

  "How much is this kid?" A man in all black clothes, with a cold and fierce gaze, suddenly walked up to the hotel master and asked.

  The hotel master came forward with a gloomy face and said, "Sir, my own son is strong and can do any job. If it weren't for my mother being ill, I would never sell my own son. For my mother's medical expenses, I really..."

  "Shut up!" The man in black said with a look of impatience, "I've heard this a million times, can't you guys come up with something new for once? How boring. Just say how much money!"

  The hotel attendant suddenly smiled and said:

  "Old man, such good goods, I'll sell for fifty taels of silver. Ah, don't rush to leave, how about forty taels? Ah, old man, you're back, thirty taels and it's a deal! My old man, what do you say the price is? Alright, twenty taels and I'm selling at a loss! Old man, ten taels of silver will do, right? Even if you sell this kid's flesh, he'd be worth that much!"

  The man in black turned around and walked slowly after he spoke for fifty taels, all the way until he stopped speaking at ten taels. He suddenly turned around and came back, with a look of disdain on his face saying:

  "I'm being taken advantage of! You're selling it for just five taels of silver, aren't you? If not, I'll leave right now and never come back..."

  "Deal!" The hotel attendant suddenly interrupted the black-clad man's words, then gave Xiaodou a vicious glare, took over the five taels of silver, handed a paper to the black-clad man, and hastily walked away.

  The man in black stroked Xiaodou's head and then took him into a carriage, laughing heartily with great joy.

  "Humans are so stupid, my one and only price-haggling method always works like a charm to get the lowest price. Although I don't care about money, foolish people shouldn't think they can take advantage of me, I'm not the fool in their eyes!"

  As he spoke, he sat in the carriage, lifted his foot and kicked the horse's buttocks, and the carriage started to move.

  After entering the horse-drawn carriage, Xiaodou found that there were sixteen children of his size crowded inside. One slightly taller boy even said to him:

  "The master ordered me to tell everyone who comes in that no one is allowed to speak, not a sound is allowed to be made. If you don't want to go hungry at night, then you shouldn't speak either!"

  The little bean nodded obediently, then sat quietly to one side like the other children, not making a sound. Before long, the hustle and bustle of the street outside the carriage gradually faded away.

  It turned into a gust of wind, a dark night, and a bumpy carriage, with flickering ghost fires and mournful wailing cries...

  Suddenly, the black-clad man's voice rang out: "You little fools, quickly roll down from Ben Zuo!"

  The children rushed out of the carriage, took a closer look, and were shocked to find that they were in a dark and gloomy forest!

  The surrounding mountains and forests are filled with dark green small flowers, emitting a terrifying dim light. Under the flowers, the ground is littered with scattered human bones, as if it were a legendary burial mound!

  But the most frightening thing was that black-clad man, who had transformed into a pair of eyes emitting green light, with a huge mouth full of sharp fangs occupying half of his head, and his face covered in dark green scales!

  Ah! His lower body, two legs were gone, turned into a big snake's tail, shaking constantly, and he was also laughing wildly towards the sky!

  There were seventeen kids. Twelve of them fainted on the spot, and three covered their faces with their hands, not daring to look again. Among these three was Xiaodou.

  There were still two slightly larger children who cried out in a loud voice, turned around and ran down the mountain. Xiaodou didn't know what happened to them, only knowing that the black-clothed demon person chased after them, and soon came back with a face full of blood, shaking his snake tail.

  The black-clothed figure stopped in his tracks and looked at the children who had fainted and were now regaining consciousness, saying in a gloomy tone:

  "Foolish human fools, whoever dares to escape will be eaten by me first. Don't blame me, it's you humans who abandoned yourselves. I bought you back with silver, just like how your kind buys us back to eat our flesh. It doesn't violate the iron rules of cultivation. Come on, follow me back to the mountain cave. Since I'm full today, you can live for another day, hahaha..."

  Xiao Dou and those wretched children all followed the black-robed demon into the deep cave with a look of fear on their faces.

  As they walked to the center of the cave, they found three girls about their age busily wiping down everything in the cave with nimble hands and feet, doing some chores that he was very familiar with but always did poorly.

  The black-clothed demon smiled with satisfaction and said, "Not bad, very clean, okay, little Guo, take them to the west cave to rest, then find something for them to eat. If they're too hungry, it won't be good!"

  A little girl nodded obediently and said: "Yes, sir. I'll take them to the West Cave now. Please follow me this way."

  The children saw such a gentle sister and immediately followed her to a cave on one side.

  In this narrow and low branch cave, Xiaodou followed all the children to stand beside a little fruit sister, surrounding the bonfire, roasting potatoes with branches, swallowing them half-cooked and blackened, just to stop their stomachs from growling.

  They were so frightened that they couldn't taste anything, and then everyone was led by a smaller child to cry loudly, and then they all fell asleep dazedly.

  The next day, the fifteen little guys led by Xiaoguo's sister came to the central cave again. The black-robed man in the middle of the upper seat now had sharp fangs and a large mouth, with his long tongue flapping around.

  Suddenly, the black-robed demon's mouth opened wide, a gust of dark wind howled, and a giant snake tail coiled up a little girl.

  He stuffed everything from head to toe into his mouth, chewing with a crunching sound, except for the girl's heart, all other internal organs were thrown aside covered in blood, and then he only ate her body parts!

  These children were immediately frightened out of their wits, almost all of them bursting into tears, the scene was extremely chaotic. However, these children were trapped in the middle of the cave by a gust of dark wind casually released by the black-clothed demon!

  When the black-robed fiend had swallowed the last of the little girl's feet, he wiped his bloody mouth with the back of his hand and fixed his poisonous green gaze on another lovely boy!

  With just one glance, the little boy was so scared that he wet his pants and cried non-stop, almost to the point of fainting!

  The black-clothed weirdo said with an angry face: "Originally, I thought he was the tenderest, and of course, good things should be eaten first. But how can this stinky thing be eaten? Nasty! Little Mei, take him down to wash him clean, and we'll eat him tomorrow...".

  Unfortunately, the black-clothed woman's gaze was directed straight at Xiaodou!

  The little bean was stared at by this demon's eyes and all his body hair stood on end!

  As expected, the big snake tail rolled up the small bean mercilessly and placed it on its own head, with its dark mouth about to swallow him!

  Suddenly, Xiaodou saw out of the corner of his eye the little boy who had been so scared that he wet his pants.

  He was shocked, really shocked - what's going on!

  He should have died but is still alive, why should he become a scapegoat?

  He should have been able to live for another day, was it just because he peed his pants?

  Little Bean's anger suddenly surged and he came up with a clever idea. Just as the monster was about to swallow him, he used all his might...

  "Pffft..." A foul and smelly odor spread throughout the entire cave...