Chapter Fifty: Soul-Shattering Cliff

  That thing suddenly wrapped around my body with vines, and a pair of hands still managed to fight with the village chief in front of me, but because of the restraint on my body, the movement was far from as swift as before.

  The village head chopped one knife after another, but they all dodged. However, the rattan strips wrapped around my body were getting tighter and tighter, and I was about to faint...

  In the midst of the crisis, the village chief's hoarse voice was faintly heard shouting, "You little brat, are you still a virgin? If so, hurry up and pee for me!"

  The village chief asked me to pee? In the midst of urgency, where can I pee? I struggled to turn my head and look at the village chief, seeing that he was drenched in sweat, and the weapon in his hand had clearly slowed down.

  No good, the village chief's physical strength is almost gone! Are we going to die at the hands of this thing tonight? Despair and fear instantly swept across my entire body!

  Just as I was waiting for death with my eyes closed, a sharp and fine voice suddenly came from the dense forest, "Two fools, this thing is a mountain goblin in the mountains. It can't be beaten by hard fighting. You need to use fresh blood on your middle finger..."

  That sound suddenly rang out, and not only did I hear it, but the village chief also heard it. His body stiffened for a moment, and immediately his right wrist was struck by that thing's sharp fingers, causing the weapon in his hand to fall to the ground with a "clang".

  The village chief let out a loud "ah" and suddenly woke up at this critical moment, raised his injured right middle finger and put it in his mouth to bite hard, and immediately bit out blood. He rushed over like crazy, dripping all the fresh blood on his middle finger onto that thing's body.

  It's strange to say that the vines emerging from its body seemed extremely afraid of the fresh blood on the village chief's middle finger, and immediately curled up, and "sizzled" out with sparks.

  That thing's body trembled and shook, letting out a strange cry, instantly withdrawing all the vines wrapped around me, fleeing in disarray, and disappearing into the dense forest in the blink of an eye.

  I sat on the ground, panting heavily and covered in cold sweat. If it weren't for that sudden noise just now, I'm afraid the village chief and I would have turned into two ice-cold corpses by now!

  But who was that person who cried out for help? I racked my brains to search for memories, but I couldn't recall where I had heard such a voice before.

  But one thing is certain, that was a woman's voice! Could it be Jin Xiangyu, the owner of Feng Huang Inn? Tonight, she and Qiu Yan must have entered this Soul-Breaking Mountain!

  I gasped for a moment, and my wildly racing heart slowly calmed down. I looked over at the village chief in the distance, but saw that he was rummaging through his bag and applying something to his right wrist. That medicinal smell wafted up again!

  Is the village chief injured? He's doing self-rescue! Isn't there only one doctor, Ga Ba uncle, in Huanglong Village? Could it be that the village chief is also skilled in medicine and has been hiding his talent?

  Just as I was hesitating, the village chief had already bandaged the wound on his right wrist and walked towards me.

  "Hey kid, are you alright?" The village chief asked in a hoarse and cold tone.

  "I'm fine! Just now, thanks to that person, they saved us..." I struggled to get up from the ground.

  "Hmph! Who is that person? She suddenly appeared in this Soul-Breaking Mountain, who knows if she's good or evil? Tonight, I'll take a look at who she really is!" The village chief said with malice.

  "But... Village Chief, she did save our lives after all. Is that also malicious?" I couldn't help but speak up and remind him, looking at the village chief's vicious attitude.

  "It's either human or ghost, there will always be a moment when the true form is revealed! Alright, let's not talk about it anymore. If you have nothing else to say, we should hurry on our way." The village head said coldly.

  "Alright." I picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground and put it in my pocket, following the village elder as he felt his way forward in the darkness.

  To be honest, since following the village chief into Duanhun Mountain, every step I took was like walking on thin ice, trembling with fear, and my heart was hanging in suspense.

  Who knows what strange things will happen next moment, no, next second?

  I recalled that I almost lost my life under the hands of that thing called Mountain Fiend earlier, and I couldn't help but ask, "Village Head, do you know what a Mountain Fiend is?"

  "The village head replied without turning his head, 'I heard from the older generation in the village that the mountain imp is a spirit in the mountains. It may be a large tree transformed into a human shadow, or it may be a blade of grass, or an animal transformed into a human shadow.'"

  "That thing was suddenly covered in vines all over its body, could it be a tree spirit transformed from some kind of tree? But why did we see that it looked like a girl with braids at first?"

  "The village head replied, 'Well, actually this mountain demon can be said to be a refined spirit in the mountains. Anything with spiritual energy in the mountains can become a mountain demon. The terrain of Duanhun Mountain was originally full of spiritual energy, so it's natural for some astonishing things to appear, which is also one of the reasons why villagers dare not easily enter the mountains.'"

  "Village head, you haven't said why it became like that of Lian's yet?" I was still a bit curious and couldn't help but ask again.

  The village chief said, "I don't know about this. Maybe it's because the thing is extremely good at imitating humans. It saw Yatou and then disguised itself as her."

  "Are you saying that Lü'er also entered the Soul Severing Mountain tonight?" I blurted out.

  "I don't know, maybe..." The village chief said and stopped paying attention to me, walking forward with big strides. I quickly followed up.

  Following the village chief through the endless Broken Soul Mountain, I don't know how far away Broken Soul Cliff is. Looking at the village chief's expression, I didn't dare to ask him again and could only continue walking forward with a stiff upper lip.

  After walking for about two more hours, the trees in front of me suddenly became much sparser, and my line of sight gradually opened up. I looked up at the crescent moon in the sky, which already showed signs of moving westward. Perhaps, what's ahead is the Soul-Breaking Cliff?

  My thoughts had just fallen when I heard the village chief say in a low voice, "We're almost there, about 500 meters ahead is the Duanhun Cliff!"

  Is the Duanhun Cliff near? Then we will soon see that mysterious woman who made an appointment with us... My heart was immediately tightened, and I wondered who would make an appointment with me and the village chief to come here tonight. The curiosity in my heart suddenly overcame the original fear, and I quickened my pace and walked forward.

  The 500-meter journey wasn't far, and after walking for a while, the village chief and I walked out of the dense mountain forest. The terrifying thick fog had dispersed, and the scene that appeared before my eyes made me involuntarily take in a breath of cold air.

  In front of a cliff less than one meter wide, on both sides are bottomless cliffs, like a single-plank bridge spanning the two ends of the cliff.

  Is this the Soul-Breaking Cliff?

  Under the cold moonlight, a woman's figure stood on the edge of the Soul-Breaking Cliff, her clothes fluttering in the wind, as if she would fall into the deep abyss at any moment!

  At just one glance, I recognized who that person was - it was actually Lü'er!

  This should be the real deal! Although I had guessed countless times in my mind that it was likely to be her who asked me and the village chief to come to Duanhun Cliff, but when I saw her, I was still shocked!

  I was stunned, how could it be her? Wasn't the one who whispered to me under the stage this morning, claiming to know the secret of the ancient well's evil rumors and saved my and Xiao Ge's lives, actually her?

  She looked at me and the village chief approaching in the darkness, her expression was desolate and sorrowful, without a hint of foolishness.

  The village head seemed particularly surprised and shouted out loud, "How is it you?"

  The girl put away her sorrowful and elegant expression, and smiled brightly, "Why can't it be me? Haven't you always wanted to know the secret of the last four sentences of the ancient well's ominous rumor? I'll tell you, I'm the only person in this world who knows this secret."

  These words came out of her mouth personally, and I had no more doubts. The one who pinched his throat to make a sound under the stage during the day was indeed Liao Tou!

  The village head was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled coldly, saying, "So to speak, you were pretending to be crazy all along?"

  "Hehe..." The young girl giggled and replied, "Congratulations on answering correctly! You've always wanted to know if my father had uncovered the secret of the ancient well's evil omen back then, and whether he had jumped off this Soul-Breaking Cliff. Now I can tell you, my father indeed found the second half of the ancient well's treasure map and deciphered the four ominous lines on it... Unfortunately, before he could go dig up the treasure, his map was snatched away by Young Master's father, who chased him all the way to Soul-Breaking Cliff. In the end, both men died together on this cliff!"

  The girl said in a low voice, sobbing, "So, I hate Xiaoge! His father took away the half map that my father found, and even chased and killed him all the way... Although they are doomed to die together, I still hate Xiaoge, hate his father!"

  Her words made me jump, and I exclaimed, "You're saying that the half-drawn map Little Brother found later wasn't left behind by his grandfather, but was actually something your father had discovered back then?"

  "Yes." The girl nodded in the cold moonlight, "So I'd rather chop him into pieces with my dagger! If it weren't for you stopping me, he would have died under my blade on the execution ground this morning!"

  So that's how it is!

  "Why did you still tell us the secret of the ancient well's evil rumor and save us?" I was shocked.

  The girl wiped away the tears on her face with her hand, suddenly smiled and said with a tearful smile that was indescribably moving, "Not you all, but you!" She pointed at the village chief standing beside me, "If he hadn't wanted to lay hands on you, I absolutely wouldn't have intervened to save you!"

  The village head had been silent with a cold face, but at this moment, seeing the young girl pointing at him, he suddenly clapped his hands and laughed, "Brilliant! It's really too brilliant! You, a small yellow-haired girl, can actually pretend to be crazy and deceive all the people in the village. I have to say you're an outstanding actor. There's one thing I don't understand, your father died many years ago when you were just a child, how did you know the secret of the ancient well's evil legend?"

  "This one, if I tell you, it was my dad who told me in a dream, would you believe me?"

  "Believe it! Why shouldn't I believe? But whether or not you believe is beside the point, as long as you tell me that secret tonight!" The village chief replied viciously.

  The girl suddenly burst into a loud, long laugh, her face twisted in an unspeakable, terrifying expression, like a demon. "What if I said that this secret I won't tell you, but only tell Lan Tian?"

  What did she mean by those words? My heart tightened, just as I was about to respond, the village chief's ominous laughter echoed, "Tonight, neither of you will leave Soul Severing Cliff alive!"

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