31: Swift Wind Village, demons appear

The Azure-Green Dense Forest stretched for tens of thousands of square kilometers, its vastness comparable to a municipal administrative region in Xiao Zhuo's previous life.

Searching for a hidden stockade within such a vast primeval jungle was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Xiao Zhuo decided to start with the coordinates where the Young Master of the Chu family went missing.

After half a cup of tea, the young man's figure hovered high above the outer perimeter of the dense forest.

Wind elemental energy propelled him downwards like a meteor, his robes flapping wildly in the turbulent air currents.

Just as he was about to touch the ground, a vortex of Qi suddenly erupted around him, gracefully dissipating the immense downward force.

A pungent smell, a mixture of scorched earth and blood, assailed him.

Xiao Zhuo's gaze was sharp as he quickly scanned his surroundings.

A fierce battle had clearly taken place here; dozens of giant trees nearby were snapped in half, and mottled bloodstains remained on the ground.

“It seems those two True Essence Realm guards from the Chu family weren't completely defenseless, but in the end, they couldn't escape defeat,” Xiao Zhuo mused.

He immediately spread out his Divine Sense, meticulously probing like an invisible spider web.

To the northwest, several scattered footprints were hidden beneath thick fallen leaves, extending from the battle site deeper into the dense forest.

What was even more suspicious was that the traces from the starting point of the footprints to the battle area had clearly been carefully cleaned up; it would have been extremely difficult to detect without keen Divine Sense.

A crisp 'crunch' sounded from the dry branches underfoot as Xiao Zhuo followed this faint trail, stealthily moving northwest.

After penetrating more than ten li, the surrounding environment suddenly became eerily silent.

Xiao Zhuo had maintained his Divine Sense, covering a radius of over ten zhang, and had not discovered any anomalies, yet a strong sense of alarm suddenly arose in his heart.

The chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects had all vanished, which meant that some powerful entity, either a Yao Beast or a Demon, was lurking nearby!

Xiao Zhuo expanded his Divine Sense to its limit, instantly covering an area of eight hundred meters.

In his mental 'vision,' a secluded pond appeared, and by the pond, a massive white tiger was lowering its head to drink.

As Xiao Zhuo's Divine Sense swept past, the white tiger's drinking motion abruptly stopped, and it suddenly raised its head, its golden eyes vigilantly scanning its surroundings.

Eight hundred meters away.

“A white tiger Yao Beast?” Xiao Zhuo murmured.

Under the perception of his Divine Sense, this tiger exuded a fierce aura, its strength comparable to a Martial Artist at the Late Stage of the True Essence Realm.

But for the current Xiao Zhuo, it was merely delicious ingredients delivered to his doorstep.

He decisively abandoned the footprint tracking, tapped his foot, and his figure transformed into a blurry phantom, silently weaving through the dense forest, rapidly rushing towards the direction of the pond.

The moment Xiao Zhuo stepped within a hundred meters of the pond, a deafening tiger roar exploded!

The five-meter-tall white giant tiger, carrying a foul wind, fiercely pounced from the dense forest, its massive claws tearing through the air, aiming straight for Xiao Zhuo's face!

“Heh, this beast's nose is quite sharp!” Xiao Zhuo neither dodged nor evaded, transparent ripples appearing on the edge of his palm as he seemingly casually pressed it onto the huge tiger's forehead.

“Bang!”

The white tiger's ferocious charge suddenly froze!

A muffled explosion erupted within its chest, and the fierce light in its golden eyes instantly dissipated.

The overbearing force of the Space Shattering Mark had, through its fur, shattered its heart!

The massive beast's body crashed down, stirring up a flurry of dead leaves and dust.

Its dying paws frantically dug three deep trenches in the ground, finally slumping at Xiao Zhuo's feet, completely lifeless.

“My apologies, your fur is excellent; I won't be taking your internal organs.” Xiao Zhuo took two steps forward and whispered to the white tiger, whose breath had ceased and eyes were wide open.

“Killed one Baleful Rank white tiger, gained 124 Attribute Points.”

He was about to put it into his storage ring, but found the space was full, so he reluctantly took out and discarded several bat demon corpses before finally storing the white tiger's massive body inside.

After finishing, Xiao Zhuo quickly turned back to the footprint path.

However, after tracking only a few hundred meters, the footprints once again vanished without a trace.

Clearly, someone had used the same trick again, completely erasing the subsequent traces.

The rain two days prior made it impossible to determine the direction.

Xiao Zhuo's brows furrowed tightly.

His Divine Sense was fully extended, covering a range of nearly a thousand meters, yet he still found nothing.

“They're truly watertight!” Xiao Zhuo sneered inwardly, yet he was helpless.

He could only keep his Divine Sense fully open, his figure like a ghost, rapidly moving in all directions within the surrounding area, expanding his search range, trying to catch any clue.

It wasn't until he searched approximately ten li to the north that the faint line of footprints reappeared in his perception.

Nearly an hour had passed by this time, and Xiao Zhuo inevitably felt stifled—Yao Beasts were scarce in the outer regions, and Demons were even rarer; aside from the Attribute Points from that white tiger, this trip had yielded nothing.

Following the reappearing footprints, Xiao Zhuo arrived near a secluded valley.

Outside the valley entrance, his keen Divine Sense detected many man-made traps.

“Found it!” Xiao Zhuo's spirits lifted slightly; tracking people was indeed not easy.

However, the next moment, his eyes flashed with brilliant light!

Under the probe of his Divine Sense, two figures were lurking in the crevices of the rocks at the valley entrance.

Both were dressed in crude hemp clothes, their skin dark and rough, clearly people who had lived outdoors for years.

Deep in this dense forest, such individuals could only be hunters or bandits.

“Swift Wind Stockade?” This name flashed through Xiao Zhuo's mind.

“Could the Young Master of the Chu family also have been abducted by this group? The son of a prominent merchant kidnapped, yet Swift Wind Stockade didn't demand a ransom, instead turning this into a search mission... But if he truly is in their hands, the chances of him being alive are quite high.”

Xiao Zhuo lightly tapped his toes, his figure leaping like a nimble ape onto a towering ancient tree, reaching the crown in a few bounds.

Looking out, the entire valley came into view. The valley appeared to have been torn apart by immense geological force, with steep, dark green rock walls on both sides, covered in vines, dotted only with a few tenacious, crooked small trees.

Below the left and right rock walls, a deep rock cave was carved out on each side, their entrances dark and bottomless.

After Xiao Zhuo advanced to the Condensation Aperture Realm, his Divine Sense range had significantly increased to nearly a thousand meters.

He only needed to get a few hundred meters closer to probe the reality within the caves.

But the valley entrance was two hundred meters ahead; to investigate the rock caves, he had to enter the valley.

“Force his way in?” Xiao Zhuo pondered to himself.

If this was indeed Swift Wind Stockade, it was highly probable that hundreds of abducted children were imprisoned in the caves.

A rash frontal assault might cause the bandits to become desperate and harm the innocent.

Just as he was weighing his options, a group of bandits filed out of the right rock cave, several of them roughly dragging dozens of young children.

A quick count revealed over thirty children being herded out.

“It truly is Swift Wind Stockade!” The appearance of the children completely confirmed the identity of this place.

At the same time, a warning sign flared up in Xiao Zhuo's heart again!

He suddenly looked up, only to see two figures, imbued with dense Devilish Qi, streaking across the sky, rapidly descending towards the valley!

Fortunately, the Spirit Concealment Art was continuously operating, and the other party remained completely unaware.

“Two Nightmare-rank Demons, at least comparable to those at the Peak of the Condensation Aperture Realm!” Xiao Zhuo's gaze was like lightning, locked onto the two figures, sensing the terrifying demonic pressure emanating from them.

After Cultivating the Spirit Concealment Art, his Divine Sense detection became even more covert.

As long as he didn't directly invade the Demon's body, they wouldn't be able to detect that they were being spied upon.

From the left rock cave, a burly man in black strode out, heading directly towards the two Demons who had just landed.

Xiao Zhuo immediately concentrated his True Essence in his ears, enhancing his hearing.

In his field of vision, the man in black had already approached the Demons.

Of the two Demons, one had a sheep's head and a human body, its crimson eyes radiating fierce light; the other was completely human-shaped, a man with shoulder-length red hair and an evil, charming face.

“Wind Like a Blade! As agreed, we have come for the goods!” The Sheep-Headed Demon's voice was hoarse like sandpaper rubbing, its crimson eyes sweeping past Wind Like a Blade, greedily locking onto the group of terrified children behind him, unconsciously licking its lips.

“Elder Sheep is indeed punctual!” The black-clad man, Wind Like a Blade, plastered a fawning smile on his face, making his rugged features appear particularly comical, “This batch of 'goods' is all here. It's just... what about the Medicinal Pills we agreed upon?”

“You certainly won't be short on Medicinal Pills!” The red-haired Demon suddenly spoke, its voice carrying a bewitching evilness.

He bypassed Wind Like a Blade and walked directly towards the children. His sharp, hook-like nails slowly reached out towards a chubby little boy, who was trembling with fear and had a fleshy face.

“Waaah—!” The little chubby boy was completely overwhelmed by the terrifying aura of the approaching Demon, letting out a heart-wrenching wail.

This cry was like lighting a fuse; the other already terrified children immediately burst into ear-splitting sobs.

The red-haired Demon's outstretched claw paused slightly, and a clear trace of impatience and disgust flitted across his evil, charming face.

“What are you crying for?!”

“You little brat! You're asking to die!”

The bandit responsible for guarding the little chubby boy, seeing him enrage the Demon, immediately shouted angrily, raising his hand and delivering a brutal slap across the boy's face!

“Slap!” With a crisp sound, the little chubby boy was knocked to the ground, his cries becoming even more shrill.

“Pfft—!”

A gush of hot blood splattered out without warning, covering the boy's head and face!

It was the red-haired Demon who had casually pointed a finger! That finger seemed to transform into a pitch-black, life-taking spear, instantly piercing through the heart of the bandit who had struck the boy!

All the wailing ceased abruptly! The children were terrified, huddling together with their heads in their arms, no longer daring to make a sound.

Wind Like a Blade's face changed dramatically, his fists clenching fiercely then slowly loosening, his eyes twitching violently, but in the end, he forcefully held back from speaking.

“These are the goods Hundred Demon Mountain wants; damaging them... is not allowed.” The red-haired Demon withdrew his blood-stained finger, his voice still carrying that evil, bewitching charm, as if he had just crushed an ant.

A terrifying bloody hole appeared in the bandit's chest, and he slumped to the ground, once again triggering a wave of suppressed gasps.

“You said fifty, but there are only thirty-four here?” The Sheep-Headed Demon spoke again at this moment, its crimson gaze sweeping over the cowering children, as if it intended to count them personally.