After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 443: Chapter 442: Baffling Sneak Attack

The Rock Sheep was wary at first, but after eating its fill of Sweet Red Grass, it dropped its guard. It didn’t even flee at the sight of the two men, instead following the trail of Sweet Red Grass up the slope.

The top of the slope was a cliff, about a hundred feet high.

The two men had sprinkled Sweet Red Grass all the way to this point, and the Rock Sheep had followed, climbing higher and higher.

One man, holding out more grass, lured it to the cliff’s edge while the other circled around behind it and gave a hard shove!

The Rock Sheep tumbled off the cliff.

”This was the easiest one yet,” the man said, wiping the sweat from his brow. ”These sheep and deer are always the dumbest and easiest to catch.”

However, when he peered over the edge to look down, he froze.

The Rock Sheep hadn’t fallen to the bottom of the cliff. Instead, it was standing on a small, pointed rock about ten feet below. The jutting stone was only the size of a pomelo, yet the sheep stood without the slightest wobble—steadier, even, than the men were on flat ground.

It was still chewing the Sweet Red Grass, looking completely relaxed.

”What the...?” his companion stammered. ”Now what?”

The sheep was stuck in the middle, and there was no way for them to get down to it.

The first man thought for a moment, then untied a coil of rope. ”We’ll lasso it and pull it up!”

The two men tied a knot and were just about to swing the rope when a voice suddenly spoke from behind them.

”What are you two doing?”

The sudden voice behind them, while they were up to no good in the wilderness, gave them a genuine fright.

The two reacted by whipping out their weapons and spinning around in a flash.

They saw a little girl who had appeared on the cliff at some point. She looked to be six or seven years old, with a pale face and large eyes.

’Another Demon?’

”She’s human!” The man forced a smile. ”Little girl, where did you come from?”

The girl turned and pointed toward the small town.

”Hurry back home. This is no place for you to be.”

The girl shook her head. ”I can’t go back.”

”Why not?”

”I’m hungry!” As she said the word ”hungry,” her mouth stretched into a grin, revealing two long, sharp fangs. ”I can’t stay in town!”

’The town is full of sleeping people, all smelling like delicious food, but I can’t touch any of them. It would cause trouble for the Young Master.’

”Why are you wasting time talking to her!” his companion snapped, keeping one eye on the Rock Sheep below. ’The Sweet Red Grass’s effects are limited. The higher the Sheep Demon’s Daoist Practice, the faster it’ll regain its senses, and the bigger our problem will be.’ ”Just push her off! Quick!”

’We’re too close to the town. This could attract unwanted attention.’

Hearing the words ”push her off,” the girl suddenly let out a piercing scream.

In the dead of night, her scream was like an amplified version of the Demon Sound Piercing Brain technique, making both men’s scalps go numb.

The sharp, resounding scream echoed above the valley, startling all the nearby night birds from their pleasant dreams and sending them into a cacophony of panicked chirps.

’Crap, this is bad.’

Both men reached out to grab her, but just as their hands were about to close in, the little girl vanished.

’A ghost?’

The thought had barely crossed their minds when a small figure appeared on one man’s back.

The little girl was clinging to his back.

The man grabbed her hair, trying to pull her off. Who would have thought she would open her mouth and bite down hard on his carotid artery!

GULP. GULP. He could actually hear the sound from inside his own veins.

Blood was forcefully drawn from his limbs and organs, surging through the ruptured artery as she greedily drank it down.

’This little girl is a Demon, a true Demon!’

Worst of all, as the little girl drank his blood, her fangs injected an icy Yin Evil Qi into his body, making him feel like he’d been plunged into a frozen cavern. He couldn’t even lift his hands.

Seeing his partner about to be drained into a dry husk, the other man was horrified. He swung his blade, aiming to decapitate the girl.

’No Demon can cause trouble without a head, right?’

Just then, a gust of wind rushed past him from behind. A massive force slammed into the small of his back, launching him more than ten feet through the air.

As he flew head over heels, he saw the Rock Sheep.

’The sheep got up here already?’

’Did the Sweet Red Grass wear off that fast?’

He should consider himself lucky the Rock Sheep’s horns didn’t curve forward like a normal goat’s. Otherwise, there would be two bloody holes in his back right now.

But he was far from unscathed. The slightest movement sent searing pain shooting up his spine.

A ram from this Rock Sheep could shatter solid rock and send tigers flying. Paralyzing a man from the waist down was child’s play for it.

The man struggled to his feet, the pain in his back so intense he almost passed out.

He looked over at his partner. The once-sturdy man had deflated like an empty sack of rice, with only his bulging eyes remaining. The little girl was still latched on, refusing to let go, her own eyes now blood-red.

’Dammit. Now there are two Demons. It’s two against one.’

Just then, another voice came from the top of the slope. ”What’s going on?”

The man turned his head and his heart sank. Two more uninvited guests.

One of them beckoned to the girl. ”Taozi, come here.”

The little girl dropped the man she was holding, darted back, and hid behind him, looking for all the world as if she were the one who had been scared.

The man cursed inwardly. ’Who the hell is the scared one here?!’

The newcomers were, of course, Fushan Yue and Hee Lingchuan.

They had heard the scream and rushed over at once. Both excelled in Body Techniques, and since the small slope was only a few hundred yards from town, they arrived in quick succession.

Taozi got straight to the point. ”Young Master, this man was trying to steal the sheep!”

Hee Lingchuan’s eyes narrowed.

The man immediately blurted out, ”We didn’t know this sheep had an owner! We’re sorry, we just wanted to hunt a wild sheep for some meat!”

Taozi pointed to the cliff. ”They tried to push me off!”

Fushan Yue cracked his knuckles. CRACK. CRACK. ”Are you going to jump, or do you need us to give you a hand?”

’One against four... how can I fight that?’ The man’s face was a mask of misery as he walked, step by step, to the edge of the cliff.

Everyone thought he would put up some resistance, but to their surprise, he simply pushed off with his legs and leaped cleanly off the edge.

”Huh?” Hee Lingchuan darted to the cliff’s edge to look down. ”He’s that straightforward?”

It was the first time he’d ever seen someone forced to jump off a cliff do it so cleanly. ’Much more decisive than I am,’ he thought wryly.

Though the rain had stopped, the moon remained hidden behind thick clouds. The landscape was dark, and the area below the cliff was a pit of blackness.

Still, with his sharp eyesight, Hee Lingchuan saw something flash in the darkness as the man fell.

Fushan Yue came over as well and, sticking out a leg, prepared to jump down after him.

Hee Lingchuan grabbed his collar and yanked him back, saying only two words: ”A trap!”

He wasn’t idle, either. He drew his Floating Life Blade and hurled it into the darkness where the thief had vanished.

A pained scream immediately rang out from below.

The Floating Life Blade never missed its mark. It was unclear where the thief had been hit.

But at the same time, Hee Lingchuan also heard a dull THUD, as if the blade had also struck something hard and blunt—not metal.

The thief had jumped, but there was no thud of a body hitting the ground.

Instead, something seemed to stir in the darkness.

”There’s something down there,” Hee Lingchuan said at once. ”He had backup.”

No wonder the thief had jumped so decisively.

”After them!” Fushan Yue wasted no words, sliding down a fissure in the cliff face.

Hee Lingchuan was already used to Fushan Yue’s relentless personality. He simply hopped onto the sheep’s back and had it descend the cliff from another side.

He and Fushan Yue were forming a pincer, forcing the enemy to flee due north.

The terrain to the north was flat, which would make a chase easier.

Taozi lay at the edge of the cliff, watching with wide eyes.

But no person or Demon ran out from below.

The two of them descended the cliff with incredible speed, reaching the bottom in the blink of an eye, almost as fast as a direct jump.

Hee Lingchuan grabbed a handful of Fluorescent Grass from his Storage Ring and tossed it out.

A soft glow instantly illuminated the area at the base of the cliff.

It was completely empty. There was nothing there but a few bare boulders with grass growing in their cracks.

They exchanged a look, both sensing that something was amiss.

Where was the thief who had jumped?

Where was his backup?

Where was the trap?

Why had they vanished without a trace?

Fushan Yue stepped forward and pressed his hand against the large boulders, making sure this wasn’t some Blinding Technique.

Though he was infused with Primordial Power and a Blinding Technique shouldn’t be able to fool him, it was safer to check by hand. The world was vast, after all, and full of strange abilities.

”Nothing here.”

”There was a behemoth down here a moment ago,” Hee Lingchuan said confidently. ”Either a living creature or some kind of transport.”

”They must have used an Escape Technique,” Fushan Yue said with a soft hiss. ”It’s rare to find someone who’s mastered the Earth Escape Technique these days.” With that, he took out his Purple Gold Hammer and slammed it on the ground twice. BANG! BANG!

The hammer was designed specifically to break Illusion Barriers.

The ground trembled, but nothing unusual was revealed.

Fushan Yue looked up and called to the girl on the cliff, ”Taozi, did you see anything?”

Taozi shook her head. ”Nope!”

She was standing at her high vantage point, scanning the area for any moving objects.

”The Earth Escape Technique only covers a few dozen feet; they can’t have gotten far.” Fushan Yue had used this Divine Technique himself, so he had a right to speak on it. ”They must have used a Blinding Technique in conjunction with it.”

”They sure move fast,” Hee Lingchuan remarked, examining the boulders below the cliff. ”But the grass in the crevices has been crushed.”

So his earlier observation was correct: whatever it was, it was massive.

Fushan Yue sniffed the air, then pointed. ”Bloodstains.”

The blades of grass were splattered with fresh blood.

Judging by the amount of blood, the thief was severely injured.

Hee Lingchuan picked up a twig and used it to lift something from the ground. ”Hey, what’s this?”

It was transparent, sticky, and could be stretched...

”Looks like snot,” Fushan Yue said, his face twisted in disgust. ”Or maybe slime left behind by some creature.”

Hee Lingchuan carefully placed the slime-covered twig and the blood-splattered grass into his Storage Ring.

The two climbed back up the cliff to examine the other thief’s body.

Indeed, the unlucky bastard had been drained dry by Taozi; his life signs were already gone by then.

Fushan Yue examined the wound on the man’s neck and asked in surprise, ”Taozi, how long were you feeding?”

”From when I screamed until you arrived, Young Master,” Taozi mumbled, afraid he would scold her. ”I don’t know why... I was just so hungry!”

’That was less than a dozen breaths,’ Fushan Yue thought. ’A newly-formed Earth Evil Child, and she drained a grown man dry?’

Hee Lingchuan asked in a low voice, ”Earth Evil Children drink blood?”

”They do, but they shouldn’t be this ferocious,” Fushan Yue said. He picked Taozi up, checking her eyes and fangs, and even took her pulse.

The expression on his face was odd, a mixture of surprise and pride.

”Young Master, is something wrong with me?”