Chapter 631: Chapter 631

"Mute Girl, you’ve endured so much suffering, and at last the bitterness has come to an end. You’ve been favored by the Witch God and encountered one of his emissaries. This is your destiny. Follow him, and never come back."

The old man stared blankly at the empty window, his eyes hollow. Bathed in the desolate glow of the setting sun, he murmured softly to himself.

Winged Serpent Village.

It was the largest and most powerful village in the region, and the only one inhabited by immortal cultivators. It was the undisputed overlord of the surrounding lands, with the power to decide life and death.

The village was even home to an old priest at the Foundation Building Realm, whose status was considerable throughout the entire Bear Mountain region.

Winged Serpent Village sat at the foot of a majestic mountain. Verdant forests blanketed the slopes, and at the base lay a vast lake connected to the largest tributary of Qingyi River.

The lake was still as a mirror and incredibly clear, like the eye of the earth.

The village was built along the southern shore of this lake. Rows of elegant wooden and bamboo houses formed a continuous sprawl, far more luxurious than the stilted dwellings in Thousand-Household Village. The people here lived in comfort and prosperity, protected by immortal cultivators. Among mortals, they lived like nobles.

The village lights glowed brightly. Many villagers were playing along the lakeshore or splashing in the water, adults and children alike.

No one noticed the figure that silently appeared at the center of the lake.

The strongest cultivator in Winged Serpent Village was only at the Foundation Building Realm. Qin Sang could have walked in openly and slaughtered every last cultivator with ease.

But he did not do that.

As the saying went, giving someone a fish was not as good as teaching them to fish. To save someone, one must first help them find their will.

Suspended above the lake’s center, Qin Sang unfurled his spiritual consciousness without restraint.

In the next moment, his eyes lit up. He had finally found Mute Girl.

She and the other saintesses were imprisoned in a wooden building on the southern lakeside. Judging by appearances, they had not been mistreated. The building was divided into many rooms, with each saintess given a private chamber.

Inside each room were two strong, watchful women. In truth, they were guards.

At the entrance of the wooden building stood a squad of elite guards. Escape was impossible.

Each room was lavishly furnished and perfumed with exotic incense, the scent carrying a peculiar fragrance.

Mute Girl was seated at the edge of her bed, staring blankly at the Qingfu Coin in her hand. The two guards kept a hawk-like watch on her, as if afraid she might flee.

This surprised Qin Sang. He had assumed that the coin had been lost, or seized by Winged Serpent Village’s priests. Yet it was still with her. Why had she not shattered it to call for help?

Seeing that Mute Girl had not been harmed, Qin Sang stopped rushing. He detected no other immortal cultivators in the village, nor any abnormalities in the depths of the lake.

Lifting his head toward the mountaintop, Qin Sang’s figure vanished into thin air.

After crossing several mountain peaks, he discovered an entirely different realm hidden deep within the mountains.

Among lush green peaks, a waterfall poured down from a high cliff into a serene lake. Around this lake stood a few elegant bamboo lodges.

The spiritual qi here was exceptionally rich, no worse than the Black-Winged Eagle’s cave dwelling. It was a paradise that any immortal cultivator would dream of.

No wonder there had been no priests below. This was where they resided.

"So they do know how to enjoy life," Qin Sang remarked coldly as he glanced at the lodges. With ease, he discerned the identities and cultivation levels of the priests inside, while they remained completely unaware of what was happening outside.

Inside one of the bamboo lodges, two young men were drinking wine in boredom. Their faces were marked with strange, colorful patterns that signified their status as priests.

One of them, who had a sly and oily appearance, gulped down wine and sighed dramatically. "Every time the Witch God Festival comes around, the old ancestor locks us up here, afraid we’ll spoil the saintesses. All of them are the most spiritually rich girls selected from the villages. Young, tender, and after being bathed in fragrant incense and nourished with spiritual medicine, they’re at their purest. And we can’t enjoy a single one of them. Instead, they’re fed to those damn snakes. What a waste!"

The other man, a bit more composed, warned, "Watch your tongue. If the old ancestor hears you, he’ll punish you again. We’re emissaries of the Witch God. What kind of women can’t we have? Insect gu are our foundation. By extracting the purest yin qi from those girls to refine Flowery Red Pills and feeding them to our Winged Serpents, we enhance our insect gu. Is your pleasure more important than your life-bound insect gu?"

"Alright, alright..."

The sly one waved impatiently. "Do you think I’m an idiot? That I don’t understand? We train so bitterly, and the chance of reaching the Foundation Building Realm is next to nothing. Yet we’re trapped here, unable to enjoy anything. Just thinking about it makes me miserable. I’d rather be a carefree village chief."

He took another swig of wine and sighed. "Too bad the main ingredient for Flowery Red Pills—Redleaf Grass—can only be harvested a few stalks a year. We can’t make many pills. Otherwise, we could just snatch girls from every village, refine them into pills, and feed them to our little darlings. Who knows, maybe that would push them directly to their second metamorphosis, and we wouldn’t have to work so hard."

As he spoke, he opened his palm. Resting there was a strange, winged serpent.

The creature was pure white, slender, no longer than his finger. Its tongue and eyes were crimson, giving it an eerie appearance.

This was a spiritual insect known as the Winged Serpent, the life-bound insect gu of the priests of Winged Serpent Village.

The sly priest dripped a bead of spirit wine into his palm. The winged serpent obediently licked it up.

The other priest shook his head and chuckled. "What use is your insect gu evolving if you can’t improve your own cultivation? Aren’t you afraid of suffering a backlash from your own life-bound insect gu?"

When he first saw the name Winged Serpent Village, Qin Sang had already guessed most of it. The life-bound insect gu used by the village’s priests was very likely that creature.

The Winged Serpent thrived on yin qi, excelled at concealment, and could generate a kind of cold poison within its body. The poison was extremely potent. Victims would experience freezing sensations throughout their body, their spiritual power would slow to a crawl, and their strength would be severely diminished.

Raising such a spiritual insect made for excellent use in ambush and poisoning tactics.

Although the Winged Serpent did not qualify for the Supernatural Insect Register, due to its limited potential of only three metamorphoses, it ranked quite high—473rd—on the Witch Insect Register, surpassing even the Ghost-Headed Wasp.

For a place like Winged Serpent Village, where priests across generations all chose the same life-bound insect gu, they undoubtedly possessed a unique method of cultivation. The Flowery Red Pills mentioned earlier were clearly part of this practice.

The room was lit by red candles.

Mute Girl remained dazed, staring at the Qingfu Coin in her hand. Her eyes hadn’t blinked for a long time, lost in thought.

Suddenly, the two strong women standing at the door collapsed to the floor at the same time.

Mute Girl blinked in surprise and hurried to her feet. When she looked up, she realized someone was standing beside the bed, and she jumped in fright.

"Big Brother with the broken arm, your wound is healed..."

Mute Girl instantly recognized Qin Sang. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel⸺fire.net

The moment she saw his eyes, a radiant smile bloomed across her face.

But it faded just as quickly. Her gaze dimmed, and an anxious expression appeared on her face. "Big Brother, you have to go. Don’t worry about me! There are Witch God's emissaries in Winged Serpent Village..."

"You didn’t call for help because you were afraid I couldn’t defeat the priests here, and that you’d drag me into danger?"

Qin Sang sighed softly. "Have you forgotten? I told you, I’m very powerful."

Mute Girl still looked uneasy. "But there are many emissaries in Winged Serpent Village..."

"So what if there are? They’re all trash. They dared to harm you. Do you dare cut them down with a single strike?"

Qin Sang reversed his grip on the Cold Gold Sword and held it out to her.