When the little boy turned around, he saw a beautiful woman in white touching his sister’s bloodied knee.
“What are you doing!”
“Who are you?!” the boy rushed over, spreading his arms to shield his sister.
“We are… cultivators,” Hei Yi said after a moment’s thought.
Seeing the boy stare at her unmoved, Hei Yi said helplessly, “Alright, cultivators are like immortals, you can think of it that way.”
“What’s an immortal?”
“…”
Hei Yi was speechless, as were Mo Fan and Bai Yi behind her.
“By the way, was it you who killed that demon just now, big sister?” the boy asked, his guard lowering as he sensed Hei Yi’s lack of malice.
“Wasn’t it you who killed the demon?” Hei Yi smiled.
Hearing this, the boy quickly bowed, “Xiao Menjiang thanks you for saving our lives, sister!”
“Such a clever little guy!” Mo Fan thought, impressed.
It was Hei Yi who had acted to save the boy.
“Your name is Xiao Menjiang?” Mo Fan stepped forward, curious.
Only then did Xiao Menjiang shift his gaze to Mo Fan and Bai Yi, then to the black-clad man behind them.
At that moment, Bai Yi had used demonic magic to make the possessed General Fire Leopard manifest a demonic spirit form.
Seeing the three showed no demonic traits, Xiao Menjiang relaxed slightly, wiped his tears, and knelt before them, “Please, three lords, save my sister!”
“Brother…” Xiao Yuanzu, seeing this, teared up.
“Don’t worry, your sister is fine. Her knee was just dislocated, and I’ve fixed it,” Hei Yi said, turning to Mo Fan and transmitting, “Great King, I want to save them.”
“Alright,” Mo Fan nodded, understanding that Hei Yi saw echoes of her and her brother in these siblings.
“Are there just the two of you?” Mo Fan suddenly asked Xiao Menjiang.
“There are others…” Xiao Yuanzu began, but Xiao Menjiang cut her off, “Don’t listen to my sister, it’s just us two.”
“Brother, they saved us, we shouldn’t lie to them,” Xiao Yuanzu frowned, looking at her brother.
“Your brother did the right thing. In these chaotic times, you have to stay cautious. If we were bad people, it would be trouble,” Hei Yi said, then looked at the stubborn Xiao Menjiang, “If you don’t want to say, that’s fine. Where do you live? Need us to take you there?”
“I…” Xiao Menjiang opened his mouth, then lowered his head, whispering, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. You’re good people…”
Taking a deep breath, as if making a decision, he looked up, “I’ll take you to meet Teacher Gu!”
“Teacher Gu?” Mo Fan exchanged a glance with Bai Yi, smiling, “Is this Teacher Gu a learned private tutor, perhaps?”
Xiao Menjiang glanced at Mo Fan, “Yes, Teacher Gu is a famous private tutor in Dongling City. I heard he was once a scholar!
This time, it was Teacher Gu who led us to hide, or we’d have been eaten by those demons a month ago…”
Xiao Menjiang and Xiao Yuanzu led Mo Fan’s trio to their hideout, finally letting down their guard and sharing their story.
They were siblings from a relatively wealthy family, sent to study at Dongling City’s largest private school.
But their good fortune didn’t last. Half a year after enrolling, demons invaded.
That day, they saw countless people brutally killed by demons, some eaten alive.
The city lord’s mansion was flattened by a fist from the sky.
During the disaster, the siblings were listening to Teacher Gu’s lecture at the school, so under his guidance, they hid, escaping the initial chaos.
Later, many of their peers couldn’t bear the fear and insisted on returning home, despite Teacher Gu’s protests.
Those children never returned.
Teacher Gu then led them to several hiding spots, eventually settling in the basement of the City God Temple.
But misfortune struck again when Teacher Gu fell ill, leaving the children to care for him.
For fairness, they drew lots to decide who would fetch medicine or food each day.
They survived this way for a long time, but their group dwindled from over ten to just five.
Today, it was Xiao Yuanzu’s turn to find food.
Worried for her safety, Xiao Menjiang followed, leading to the events that followed.
After hearing Xiao Menjiang’s story, Mo Fan’s trio fell silent, and he grew more eager to meet this Teacher Gu.
To not abandon his students in such times showed admirable character, regardless of race, earning Mo Fan’s genuine respect.
He felt this might be the Great Scholar he sought!
Though in Dongling City, the City God Temple was in its most remote corner.
With sparse houses around, even demons rarely bothered to plunder here.
When Mo Fan’s group arrived, the temple was in ruins, the City God statue’s head missing.
“Those demons were ferocious, saying the City God looked ugly, so they smashed its head with one punch,” Xiao Yuanzu said, terrified.
“…” Mo Fan was speechless, thinking, if even demons called it ugly, how bad must it have been?
But that wasn’t the point. Bai Yi spoke, “This statue is hollow.”
He walked to the statue, knocked on it, and sure enough, it made a hollow sound.
“Big brother, you’re amazing, you even figured that out?!” Xiao Menjiang looked at Bai Yi in surprise, then circled to the statue’s back, tapping a spot. A stone brick loosened.
He pulled it out, reached into the hole, and with a “click,” a narrow door opened on the statue’s back.
The door was small, only wide enough for one person.
“Who’s there?!” a tense, childish voice came from inside.
“It’s me!” Xiao Menjiang whispered.
“It’s Xiao Menjiang and the others!” a cheerful voice replied, and the siblings entered.
Mo Fan’s trio exchanged glances and followed.
After passing a narrow slope, a faint light appeared before Mo Fan.
It was a small room, about a few zhang square, where five boys aged eight or nine were gathered around the siblings, talking.
Small holes in the ceiling let in outside light.
In a corner, a thin layer of dry grass lay, with a middle-aged man in green robes on it, his lips pale.
Hearing outsiders, the man struggled to sit up, staring warily at Mo Fan’s trio.
“Xiao Menjiang, who are they?”
“How could you bring outsiders here?!” the other children frowned, some showing fear.
