Casting immortality in the furnace

Chapter 32 Mountain God

Luzaki's head rolled to the ground, his terrified eyes staring blankly at the villagers of Green Bamboo Village.

Fan Zhou kicked the headless body aside and sat on the deer's back.

"Aww!"

The deer cried out in fright, and Fan Zhou pierced its head with his sword, causing its running body to suddenly fall to the ground.

Fan Zhou landed steadily and took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood off the sword.

Everything was done so cleanly and efficiently that no one had time to react.

Fan Zhou looked at the robbers who were standing there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do, and said coldly:

"Kneel down if you don't want to die."

Before the teenagers could react, the villagers of Green Bamboo Village, who had been patiently waiting for this moment, swarmed around them, punching and kicking them while verbally abusing them.

With Fan Zhou watching, the boys didn't dare to resist and could only cover their heads and wail on the ground.

Meanwhile, Sang Muya had already run to the middle-aged man who had been stabbed in the chest, used the herbs she carried to stop his bleeding, and fed him a nourishing pill.

Several villagers nearby set up a bamboo frame and carefully carried the person into the house.

Sang Muya comforted the girl beside her:

"Ah Zhu, don't worry, your uncle will be alright."

Green Pearl nodded reluctantly, wiped away her tears, walked to Fan Zhou, and bowed, saying:

"Thank you so much for saving me, my benefactor. I am deeply grateful and am willing to serve you like a slave to repay your kindness."

Fan Zhou quickly helped her up and comforted her:

"Miss, there's no need for such formalities, and you needn't be treated like a slave."

Green Pearl was still uneasy and said in fear, "The lives of dozens of people in this small village were saved entirely because of your kindness. How could Green Pearl not repay you?"

Fan Zhou shook his head and said, "I don't think so."

Green Pearl looked bewildered, not understanding what he meant.

Fan Zhou put down the bag of grain that Lu Qi had looted and asked:

"How many days' worth of food will this village have left?"

Green Pearl bit her lip and whispered, "Perhaps it will last three days..."

Fan Zhou then asked, "What about three days from now?"

Green Pearl couldn't answer and could only silently lower her head and weep. Sang Muya hugged her shoulder with heartache.

Fan Zhou sighed, "In three days, dozens of people in the entire village will be starving. In this freezing weather, how can dozens of people in the village survive?"

Green Pearl was deathly pale and could barely stand.

In fact, as early as a month ago, some elderly people in their village had already stopped eating, saving their food rations to give to the younger people. More than ten people have starved to death so far.

But the village only has so much food. What will they do when it runs out?

no one knows.

Green Pearl was filled with fear and grief, but then she suddenly heard Fan Zhou say:

"Therefore, if we want to save the whole village, it's not enough to just drive away the bandits; we also need to solve your food problem."

Green Pearl looked up in disbelief, staring blankly at Fan Zhou:

"Does my benefactor have a solution?"

Fan Zhou nodded, "Our sect has opened a market town over Langdang Mountain, and we are currently short of manpower. If the people in the village are willing, they can work there to earn money. We will provide food and lodging."

Green Pearl was shocked and for a moment even felt that Fan Zhou was lying to her. She couldn't help but turn to Sang Muya for confirmation.

"It really is Green Pearl. Our village has already sent thirty people there to work. They're provided with food, lodging, and wages!"

Sang Muya nodded repeatedly, afraid that her good friend would miss this great opportunity.

Seeing that Sang Muya had said this, Green Pearl immediately believed Fan Zhou's words, her eyes filled with tears of excitement, and she quickly knelt down on the ground:

"Green Bamboo Village will never forget your great kindness and virtue, and Green Pearl is willing to serve as your slave to repay your kindness."

"There's really no need for that."

Fan Zhou quickly helped her up again: "Miss Lüzhu should discuss this matter with the people in the village and determine the number of people first."

"Please wait a moment, my benefactor. Green Pearl will go and discuss this with the elders."

Green Pearl nodded emphatically, then turned around and went to find the elderly people in the village to explain the situation to them.

Taking advantage of a break, Fan Zhou approached the group of robbing teenagers.

These people had all been tied up with ropes by the people of Green Bamboo Village, and their faces were bruised, swollen, and covered in blood.

Fan Zhou counted them; there were more than twenty people in total. Judging from their muscular build, they were all martial arts practitioners.

A villager from Green Bamboo Village handed Lu Qi's scimitar to Fan Zhou. Fan Zhou took it and looked at it. Apart from being made of spirit iron, the scimitar had no advantages. The workmanship was rough, the shape was not beautiful, and the blade was not sharpened well. He even thought it was too slow to use for cutting grass.

But Sangmuya looked at the knife with great surprise:

"This is the wolf-tooth saber of Deer Horn Stronghold. Could that person riding the deer be Deer Horn Stronghold's young master, Lu Qi?"

"What, you know him?" Fan Zhou asked curiously.

Sang Muya nodded and said:

"Luqi is a genius of Lujiao Village. It is said that he has mastered the village's deer-slaying knife technique and is already a master of the Bone Tempering Realm in his early twenties."

Bone Tempering Realm, expert.

Can these two words be combined?

Fan Zhou remained silent and handed the wolf-tooth knife in his hand to Sang Muya.

Sangmuya held the scimitar, her face flushed with joy, and she couldn't help but play with it. But then she asked in confusion:

"Deer Horn Village is a medium-sized village in the vicinity, with a population of five or six hundred. They also have the method of taming deer. Green Vine Village's meager grain is not even worth as much as a single deer. What reason do they have to come and rob us?"

Fan Zhou casually pointed to one of the tied-up boys and asked:

"Since your village is so wealthy, why do you want to rob Green Bamboo Village?"

The boy hadn't shed a single tear despite being beaten until his face was covered in blood, but Fan Zhou's question made him choke up and burst into tears:

"Lujiao Village... is gone!"

"What?!"

Sang Muya stared in shock, her eyes wide, and asked, "How could so many people from Deer Horn Village just disappear like that?"

The boy cried as he spoke:

"The mountain god is enraged! All the deer in the village have gone mad and have trampled everyone in the village to death!"

"We went hunting with Brother Kashima and miraculously survived. When we returned to the village, we found everyone...everyone was dead. Only the chief was still alive, telling us to leave the village and never go back... Waaah!"

His crying triggered the other teenagers to follow suit, each calling out for their loved ones, their cries heart-wrenching.

The people from the nearby Green Bamboo Village were stunned when they heard these words, never expecting such a dramatic change to occur in Deer Horn Village.

They all distanced themselves from the boys, fearing they would be implicated in the "mountain god's" wrath.

Fan Zhou frowned and asked Sang Muya:

"You have a mountain god here?"

Sangmuya dared not say no, and could only whisper:

"The mountain god has always protected us and has never been heard to get angry at anyone."

It means there isn't any.

If that's the case, how could the elk raised in Lujiao Village go berserk and trample everyone to death?

Moreover, the Deer Horn Stronghold had a total of five or six hundred people, yet not a single one managed to escape!

This matter exudes a strong sense of eeriness.

Fan Zhou didn't care much; he didn't believe in any mountain gods.

If there really is a mountain god punishing them, how have these teenagers managed to survive until now?

That Kazaki even rode a deer, and there didn't seem to be any problems.

"Let's take it back and ask Uncle Qin. It might be some kind of demon causing trouble."