Chapter 542: Chapter 314: Loyalty That Is Not Absolute Is Absolutely Disloyal
As the rooster crowed at dawn, the villagers, who originally seemed like zombies wanting to bite people, returned to their kind selves, with some even enthusiastically offering to perform a spring play for their peeping guests.
This showed their level of hospitality.
It seemed they had experienced a long dream, waking up at the break of day.
But soon, the villagers noticed something strange.
They saw the corpses.
The corpses of villagers killed by Red Tower Mountain and Duan Yun’s group still lay there.
However, Duan Yun and his group were surprised to find that even so, these villagers quietly collected and buried the bodies, continuing to treat them with hospitality, as if they hadn’t seen the incident at all.
This situation appeared rather bizarre, even horrifying.
After all, among the dead were either close relatives or friends of these people, yet they didn’t even ask for compensation.
Even the extremely kind-hearted Young Hero Duan found it hard to believe people could be this good-natured.
Surely they were pretending.
They were disguising their emotions because they feared the wrath of righteous heroes who might slaughter their entire families or villages.
Thus, Duan Yun randomly grabbed two newly widowed women, shivered at their touch, but discovered they were not pretending.
When Duan Yun connected with their minds, he found their memories genuinely filled with kindness and hospitality, unchanged despite their husbands’ deaths.
The situation grew much more complicated at this point.
After all, the villagers seemed to be under control.
According to Ziyu, they suddenly heard the sound of a flute, and those corpses woke up and started biting people madly.
Those bitten also went mad.
Fearing the potential demise of the Righteous Army of Red Tower Mountain at the time, and facing her own troubles, she released the agreed-upon fireworks signal with Duan Yun.
Duan Yun pondered for a while before giving a direct order: "Find, bring out the village chief’s son."
He had roughly guessed that the village chief’s son was behind this.
In this village, at least the village chief’s family could be confirmed as villains closely linked with the Valkyrie and the Golden Tree.
He wanted to find the village chief’s second son, not for a family reunion, but to uncover more secrets.
Of course, annihilating their entire family was also an essential part.
Upon hearing Duan Yun’s order, Elder Ming Hongtian dared not disobey and quickly organized people to search, despite more than half of their crew being dead or wounded.
Unexpectedly, finding people was easier than imagined.
The hospitable villagers even offered to help, claiming they knew the area well.
With help from local guides, they quickly discovered clues about the sole survivor of the village chief’s family.
It was a subterranean wine cellar, housing hundreds of jars of old wine.
According to an enthusiastic resident, the village chief’s second son was very likely hiding in the wine cellar.
Elder Hong Mingtian and Master Wang Dihua, eager to impress Duan Yun, personally led the team to capture him.
They knew well that in this eerie village, their fates were closely tied to Old Demon Duan.
Not only did they hope for Old Demon Duan’s mercy, but they also sought his protection to survive and hoped to uncover the secrets of the Martial God Secret Cave.
In just one night, what once seemed an idyllic Taoyuan Village turned perilously treacherous, costing the lives of many disciples.
The wine cellar wasn’t large, with limited hiding spaces. Elder Ming Hongtian led a few rounds through it but found no trace.
At that moment, a disciple suddenly placed his ear against a wine jar, listening intently.
Ming Hongtian asked in confusion, "What are you listening for?"
"Elder, since childhood, I’ve tasted countless wines. Just hearing through the jar tells me the kind, but this jar is odd."
"What’s odd?"
"It doesn’t sound like wine."
"Then what is it?"
"I can’t tell."
"Step aside."
Ming Hongtian eyed the jar, walking over to it.
He picked up the jar, hefting it, then swiftly uncovered it.
Ming Hongtian shivered, nearly flinging the jar away.
As a ruthless elder of Red Tower Mountain, Ming Hongtian was skilled and powerful. Apart from facing Old Demon Duan, whom he knew he couldn’t defeat, he rarely felt fear.
Yet at this moment, he was terrified because the dull-red jar contained eyes coldly staring at him.
The next instant, a hand swiftly reached out, aiming for his eyes.
The attack was sudden and ferocious, giving him no time to react. Caught off guard, Ming Hongtian’s response was a fraction too slow.
With a crunch, his right eye was gouged out, blood splattering.
A nearby Red Tower Mountain disciple, watching a hand emerge from the jar and gouge their elder’s eye, screamed in horror, "A ghost!"
As his right eye was gouged, searing pain jolted Ming Hongtian to his senses. His right hand flashed out like lightning, grasping the attacker’s wrist and twisting it.
With a crack, he broke the wrist, unleashing a chilling scream from inside the jar.
The jar shattered, revealing a dwarfish figure.
Even with one eye, Ming Hongtian recognized the figure as the second son of the village chief.
If the chief’s elder son hadn’t mastered much of his father’s skills, the second son had inherited them deeply. His Bone Shrinking Skills were nearly perfect, allowing him to hide in the jar.
The second son, in agony, mustered all his strength to gouge out Elder Ming Hongtian’s eye.