The woman's words were brazen, and Zhang Chu, along with everyone in Zaoye Village, heard them loud and clear.
In that instant, the villagers realized these women were not here with good intentions.
In the blink of an eye, the three young women rushed into the small village, riding on boats made of reed leaves.
The barrier of light enveloping the village didn't stop them at all. They landed right in the center of the village.
The villagers stood protectively in front of the Old Jujube Tree, their eyes filled with vigilance.
The Old Village Chief first raised a hand slightly, signaling for the villagers not to act rashly.
Then, the Old Village Chief stepped forward and asked, "Fair ladies, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit to our humble village?"
One of the young women said bluntly, "This Zixing Jujube wood is quite fine. I'll be taking it!"
Hearing this, the villagers were instantly enraged. Many wanted to attack immediately. To take the Old Jujube Tree was to take all their lives!
The Old Village Chief suppressed his fury and said, "This jujube tree is our village's Guardian Deity. We are not selling. Please leave!"
The young woman laughed. "Sell? Who said anything about buying?"
Another huffed, "Why waste words on these peasants? Let's just chop it down!"
"You dare!" The Old Village Chief took a step forward, his neck flushed red with anger.
Zhang Chu's gaze turned cold. "Children, fall back! Hunters, prepare for battle!"
Tong Qingshan immediately drew his long spear. Around him, the other hunters took action—some nocking arrows, others drawing blades. The atmosphere tensed in an instant.
However, the three young women paid the villagers no mind. One of them suddenly giggled. "Hee hee hee, these villagers are so amusing. They actually dare to stand in our way!"
Another smiled sweetly as she stared at the crowd. She parted her lips slightly and extended a long, narrow, crimson tongue...
*Hiss—* Seeing this, the people of Zaoye Village felt their blood run cold, a chill coursing through them as if their souls were about to flee their bodies.
A few children even burst out crying, "Waaah... Monsters!"
Zhang Chu felt a sense of suffocation and couldn't help but look at the three women's shadows.
Behind the shadow of one of them, there was the faint outline of a tail!
"They really are demons!" Zhang Chu gasped.
The surrounding villagers of Zaoye Village noticed it too. Some were so terrified their limbs grew cold and their legs trembled.
In Yaoxu, there was a saying: When a demon enters a village, disaster is sure to follow.
At that moment, countless terrifying legends about demons flooded the minds of Zhang Chu and the other villagers.
They didn't have to look far; in recent years alone, there had been several incidents of demons entering villages.
Two years ago, a hundred and twenty li from Zaoye Village, there was a place called Yuxia Village.
One day, a demon entered Yuxia Village. It was said to be a bat demon. In a single day, it drained the blood of every last person.
Legend has it that even their Guardian Deity, a jade casket, had its essence drained, turning to dust in the wind.
And just four months ago, in a densely populated town called Daguzhen Town, a group of people tried to eliminate the nearby Silver Bone Demon, which had been constantly killing people.
As a result, they enraged the Silver Bone Demon.
In a single day, the Silver Bone Demon turned Daguzhen Town into a "city of white bones."
Everyone—the old and the young, the strong men and the women—was reduced to a skeleton.
Even the Guardian Deity of Daguzhen Town, a wondrous mountain, was riddled with holes and turned into a Yao Cave.
In Yaoxu, "demon" was a synonym for death and terror. Shape-shifting demons, in particular, were the absolute masters of this world. Even Guardian Deities could hardly contend with a Great Demon.
Now, the children were sobbing in fear, clinging tightly to the adults.
The adults' faces were pale, their hands, gripping their weapons, trembled.
But the three female demons in purple robes seemed to relish the villagers' fear.
One of them smiled faintly. As she did, her face would occasionally shift into that of a fox—golden fur, a pointed snout—demonic and terrifying.
But in the next instant, her fox face would revert to a human one, eerie and dangerous.
"We only planned to chop down a tree, but it seems you want us to have a proper meal," the fox demon said with a grin.
She took a gentle step forward, and all the villagers couldn't help but take a step back.
"Heh heh..." The fox demon's gaze fell on Little grapes's face. Her crimson tongue slipped out, and she actually drooled. "Such a tender little girl. She must be delicious."
"Waaah..." Little grapes cried even louder and threw her arms around Zhang Chu's leg.
Zhang Chu's heart trembled, and he quickly swept Little grapes up into his arms.
Beside him, the hunter captain, Tong Qingshan, was enraged. Little grapes was his daughter!
Tong Qingshan lunged forward, thrusting his long spear. "I'll fight you to the death!"
However, the purple-robed fox demon just sneered contemptuously. With a slight wave of her hand, a black Divine Pattern flared to life and slammed into Tong Qingshan's chest.
*Thump!*
Tong Qingshan was sent flying, landing hard on the ground and spitting up blood.
Despair washed over the people of Zaoye Village. Tong Qingshan was their strongest hunter, yet he had been defeated so easily. The others stood no chance.
At this, Zhang Chu gritted his teeth and roared, "We're dead either way! Fight them! Charge!"
Zhang Chu's voice ignited the hunters' fighting spirit, and they attacked as one.
Archers loosed their arrows while swordsmen charged forward with reckless abandon.
But the fox demon merely waved her hand, and a swath of black Divine Patterns flared out.
The black patterns morphed into dark fox heads that struck the hunters in the chest.
*Thump!*
Every member of the hunting party was sent flying, spitting blood. They collapsed to the ground, unable to get back up.
"So this is a Great Demon!" Zhang Chu's scalp tingled with fear. They were completely outmatched.
As terrifying as the demons were, the Old Jujube Tree was the very lifeblood of Zaoye Village.
If the Old Jujube Tree was gone, Zaoye Village was finished.
So Zhang Chu yelled, "Protect the Old Jujube Tree!"
At that moment, all the women and children of Zaoye Village, along with Zhang Chu, stepped forward to form a human shield in front of the Old Jujube Tree.
Though his legs were trembling, Hu Zi spread his arms and shouted, "Don't you touch the Old Jujube Tree!"
Tears welled in Little grapes's big eyes. "You're all bad people!"
The women gritted their teeth, holding boning knives and glaring furiously at the three demons.
In that instant, everyone suppressed their fear, ready to fight to the death for their home.
But the fox demon just giggled. She reached out, her hand suddenly elongating into a furry fox claw that shot toward Zhang Chu's chest.
"It's been a while since I've eaten a human heart. Let's see what yours tastes like!" the fox demon's tone turned chillingly sharp.
"No!" everyone in Zaoye Village cried out in despair.
Zhang Chu himself was frozen stiff. He wanted to dodge, but his body felt as if it were filled with lead. A strange power held him in place, rendering him immobile.
All Zhang Chu could do was watch helplessly as the fox demon's claw reached for his chest.
*It's over...* Despair filled Zhang Chu's heart.
Peace and warmth without the strength to protect them were, in the end, nothing more than a bird's egg on a cliff's edge. A single gust of wind, and everything would be lost.
But just then, the Old Jujube Tree began to glow faintly, and a golden Divine Pattern suddenly flared to life.
The pattern was like a solid blade, slashing toward the fox demon's claw!
*Splurch!*
The fox demon's claw was severed clean off. A demonic paw, thicker than a bull's leg, fell to the ground, dripping with blood!
"Aaargh!" The fox demon shrieked and stumbled back, her hand severed and blood spraying from the wound.
The other two women, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, were startled to see the fox demon injured and hastily retreated.
Seeing this, the villagers were overjoyed!
"The Jujube Tree God protects us! The Jujube Tree God protects us!" The Old Village Chief hurriedly knelt and kowtowed to the Old Jujube Tree.
Many other villagers also turned, knelt before the Old Jujube Tree, and began to pray fervently:
"Jujube Tree God, please show your divine might and drive them away!"
"Jujube Tree God, they mean you harm! You must not let them hurt you!"
...
One of the other female demons warily asked the fox demon, "What happened? It's just a Zixing Jujube tree. How could it hurt you?"
The fox demon stared at the Old Jujube Tree, her eyes scrutinizing it.
Finally, the fox demon gritted her teeth. "It is just a Zixing Jujube tree. It must have some innate divine ability. I was careless!"
With that, the fox demon swung her other claw, sending a swath of black Divine Patterns slashing toward the Old Jujube Tree.
The power of these black patterns was terrifying. A wisp of black mist touched a large stone block, and the block instantly exploded.
"Stop!" the Old Village Chief cried out in despair.
"No!" Many people were crying, unable to bear the thought of the Old Jujube Tree being harmed.
But at that moment, the Old Jujube Tree glowed faintly once more, and a wisp of golden Divine Pattern rippled outward.
Although the golden pattern looked ordinary, even weak, all the black Divine Patterns were instantly dispersed and annihilated upon contact with it.
Then, the golden Divine Pattern transformed into three crescent moons that shot toward the three female demons.
The three demons suddenly sensed something and cried out in terror, "No!"
"How can this be!"
"This is a spell!"
In that instant, all three felt an irresistible power and turned to flee.
But it was too late.
*Swish!*
The three crescent moons sliced through the demons' slender waists. The three of them froze in place, as if time had stopped.
Then, the three demons looked down and saw a clean line of blood across their waists. The crescent moons had cut them in two.
"It's not a Zixing Jujube..." The fox demon seemed to realize something, but when she tried to speak again, only a mouthful of bloody foam came out.
*Thud.* The three young women collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Huh?" All the villagers of Zaoye Village were stunned.
They had only ever heard stories of demons eating people, slaughtering villages, and killing Guardian Deities. They had never heard of a Guardian Deity that could slay a Great Demon!
After all, even that large town had been wiped out by a demon.
But a second later, reality set in. A villager shouted excitedly, "The demons are dead!"
"The Jujube Tree God killed the demons!"
"So the Jujube Tree God is this powerful!"
The villagers erupted in excitement, and many began to kowtow repeatedly.
"Thank you, Jujube Tree God!"
The villagers' gratitude came from the bottom of their hearts.
Zhang Chu was also shaken. He never imagined the Old Jujube Tree was so powerful.
The Old Village Chief, hands trembling, shed tears of excitement. "Heaven protects Zaoye Village! Heaven protects Zaoye Village! Our Jujube Tree God is stronger than other Guardian Deities!"
"So powerful!"
"We don't have to be afraid of demons anymore!"
The villagers shouted all sorts of things, venting their joy at having survived. Some even threw their heads back and roared, releasing the terror they had just experienced.
But the Old Jujube Tree remained as tranquil as ever. The golden halo faded, and it once again looked like an ordinary tree.
Zhang Chu waited until everyone had more or less vented their emotions before raising a hand to quiet them down.
"Look, the female demons are reverting to their true forms!" someone exclaimed.
Everyone immediately looked at the bodies of the three young women. They were beginning to change.
One transformed into a rabbit as large as an ox, its fur as clean as snow.
Another turned into a fox the size of a tiger, with four tails.
As for the last one, her body had not yet changed.
*The last one... could she be human?* Zhang Chu wondered.
But just then, the last young woman's mouth suddenly gaped open.
What followed was a scene that was both horrifying and nauseating.
A black, worm-like creature, as thick as a child's arm, squirmed out of the woman's mouth!
And on her lower body, her once-slender legs were now covered in huge, disgusting pustules.
Seeing this, some villagers turned pale. A few women even bent over and vomited on the spot.
Zhang Chu also fought back his revulsion and exclaimed, "Contamination!"
The Old Village Chief was equally shocked. "This is bad! How could it be one of those things! Quick, quick, get away from her!"
At that very moment, the disgusting black worm-like creature suddenly accelerated and shot toward Zhang Chu.
Proofreader: Peter Pan