74: Dangerous mission

"Thank you for the hospitality."

Li Haotian said, yawning, a hint of sleepiness appearing on his face.

"Could the Village Chief please help me find a place to rest? I suddenly feel a bit sleepy and would like to sleep for a while."

Upon hearing this, the Village Chief's expression showed pleasant surprise, and he immediately led Li Haotian into a house.

Li Haotian went in, lay on the bed, and fell asleep, snoring like thunder. Seeing this, the Village Chief immediately smiled, then quickly retreated outside and locked the door tightly.

The feigning-sleep Li Haotian rolled over and sat up at this moment, releasing his Divine Sense to follow closely beside the Village Chief.

Very quickly, he saw the Village Chief arrive in the village center to gather all the villagers. Everyone looked at the Village Chief with eager gazes.

"The sacrificial offering this time will come from this young man. The lad looks to be at least a hundred catties; at the very least, every household can get three catties!"

As soon as the Village Chief said this, many villagers immediately showed expressions of joy.

"As expected of our Village Chief, he still knows how to consider us other villagers!"

"Is he asleep? I can't wait to start. If the old man in my family doesn't have an offering for this tribute, he'll probably die!"

"I want the meat on his thighs; that meat is the most tender. Nobody try to snatch it from me!"

...

A chill suddenly rose in Li Haotian's heart. These villagers were actually gathering together to discuss how to divide him up.

If he were an ordinary person, he would probably really fall into a trap in this village today.

Now he was even more curious about the behavior of these villagers. They had mentioned the word "tribute," so they would likely take action soon.

As he expected, the villagers returned to their homes at top speed and began sharpening their knives.

Soon, many people holding Sharp Weapons headed toward the Village Chief's house. A large number of villagers surrounded the Village Chief's house completely; they were all here to get a share of the spoils.

Li Haotian naturally wouldn't sit and wait for death. As the Village Chief opened the door, a fairly tall and sturdy young man rushed in, and the door slammed shut the next moment.

The villagers behind were stunned at first, then immediately tried to break down the door, but they couldn't break it at all; a powerful force was bracing against the back of the door.

Li Haotian used his spiritual energy to seal the entire house. The villager who had come in was slightly startled to see Li Haotian awake. He gripped his firewood chopper tighter and slashed it toward him.

Seeing this, Li Haotian had no intention of showing mercy. With just one palm strike, he ended the man's life. A simple Mortal was no match for him at all.

Li Haotian tossed the brawny man's corpse into the courtyard.

"I don't know what you all are trying to do, but now that you have a new tribute, don't even think about getting anything from me. I am just passing through and will leave tomorrow. I advise you all not to have any more improper thoughts."

Watching the bloody corpse lying on the ground, the villagers who were originally clamoring suddenly retreated a few steps in fear.

The Village Chief gritted his teeth as he watched his villager be killed, but he felt no grief; instead, he immediately held up a finger.

"Since I was the one who proposed this, it's not too much to ask for an arm, right?"

The other villagers were stunned at first, then immediately began speaking up. Very quickly, they divided the man on the ground, and each of them carried a piece of the corpse back home.

No one continued to target Li Haotian.

Night descended, and every household closed their doors and windows tightly. Behind the door of every house hung a bouquet of flowers emitting a fragrance.

These flowers looked very strange; they were deep black, and the faint, ghostly fragrance they emitted enveloped the entire house.

Li Haotian did not have such a thing behind his door, but he didn't pay it any mind; perhaps this was just a custom in their village.

Just as he was preparing to enter a state of Cultivation, a strange sound suddenly rang out beside him, as if something was squirming bit by bit.

At this moment, above the village outside, a large number of bats were constantly flapping their wings. These bats were searching everywhere for targets to attack.

Whenever they wanted to tear through the doors and windows of a household, they would be repelled by the fragrance emitted by the houses.

Those fragrances were emitted by these flowers.

The place where Li Haotian was staying did not have such a bouquet, so it naturally became the target of this group of bats.

In the dark night, a large number of bats with blood-red eyes shrieked and lunged toward the house where Li Haotian was staying.

"First time I've seen creatures rushing to their deaths."

Li Haotian said indifferently. These bats did not have strong auras; they were all at the first or second level of Qi Refining and posed no threat to him at all.

He simply released his pressure and slaughtered a large number of bats.

Under the pressure of the terrifying Heaven-Human Realm Powerhouse, these bats were instantly crushed into pulp.

Li Haotian wanted to catch one alive to observe it, but to his surprise, these bats turned into wisps of black smoke and merged deep into the ground.

Noticing where the black smoke went, Li Haotian immediately released his Divine Sense, wanting to investigate underground, but he found nothing.

A night passed without any more strange events occurring. Li Haotian calmly continued his Cultivation until the next morning.

The sky slightly turned a fish-belly white. All the villagers were ready to set off. Li Haotian, who was in a state of Cultivation, also slowly exited, dressed neatly, and pushed the door open to step out.

"This brat didn't have the protection of the black flowers; he was sure to die last night. Sigh, anyway, we already got our tribute. It's truly a loss for our village that this brat got eaten."

The Village Chief was grumbling as he prepared to go out, but he saw Li Haotian already standing in the courtyard.

Li Haotian was not only unharmed, but a calm smile appeared on his face as he stared straight at the Village Chief.

The Village Chief looked at Li Haotian in disbelief, but quickly reacted.

"Come with us. If you don't get the black flowers, even if you were lucky enough to survive last night, you won't survive the next few nights."

The Village Chief sighed leisurely and walked outside the village. Li Haotian didn't say any nonsense and immediately followed. He had to figure out what was going on.

【Detected that the Host is about to encounter danger. Suggest the Host retreat. If the hidden mission is completed, rewards can be obtained.】

Li Haotian frowned slightly. This was the first time the System had given a prompt for a hidden mission, and this time it hadn't given any rewards. He reckoned that the rewards would only be issued directly after he completed the mission.

Anything produced by the System must be a quality product; even if the System gave him poop, it would definitely have its use!

At first, when he heard there was danger, he intended to run away, but then he thought about it: as long as he had the great emperor cultivation experience card, it seemed nothing was a problem.

He did not believe that any existence could harm a great emperor Powerhouse, so he confidently followed this group of villagers and walked into the deep mountains.