Chapter 30: Too Brutal

Facing the gaze of the Heart-Bewitching Ghost little girl, Zhao Yu felt quite embarrassed. "Little girl, I know I'm very handsome, but please don't look at me like that. What if you fall in love with me? I'm a married man, you know."

"Hee hee..."

With a strange cackle, the Heart-Bewitching Ghost lunged instantly into the crowd. She did not understand how Zhao Yu had managed that, but she knew one thing: Zhao Yu was not someone she could afford to provoke. It was better to focus on the feast.

Tie Hu, slightly composed now, spoke in a raspy voice: "Damnable evil spirit, how dare you plot against me? Do you think you can run wild in my Youxiong Tribe just because you're alone?"

He stomped his feet hard on the ground. Shimmering rays of light surged forth, transforming into a vast net that closed in on the evil spirit. The Heart-Bewitching Ghost was bound instantly. The other cultivators did not hesitate to strike; flying sand, rolling stones, and a flurry of sword light descended upon her. The combined attacks struck the entity instantly.

"Hee hee..." The Heart-Bewitching Ghost began to cackle again.

A hot-tempered man shouted in hatred, "What are you laughing at? So what if you're hard to kill? You're trapped now—do you really think you can turn the tides?" The group attacked again.

"Too brutal..." Zhao Yu couldn't help but mutter to himself. She was just a pitiful little girl; although she had been a bit mischievous earlier, she was still just a child. Yet, she was being surrounded and attacked by so many burly men. The sheer number of attacks looked painful. Should he intercede? After a moment of thought, Zhao Yu wisely kept his mouth shut. These people seemed to have lost their heads; if he spoke up, what if they turned their aggression on him? It wasn't worth it—not worth it at all. He finally understood; these guys were so ferocious not because they couldn't beat the spirit, but simply because they didn't want him getting a free meal at the Youxiong Tribe! Stingy! Truly stingy!

Under Zhao Yu's gaze, the little girl was pierced by various spells. If nothing else happened, she would likely be beaten to death in another ten or twenty minutes. However, the world is unpredictable.

"Crack... crack..." Several crisp sounds suddenly echoed. At the same time, everyone felt the temperature drop. They turned their heads to look. The protective light barrier of the formation had shattered. What happened? How was the formation broken?

"Which evil spirit has broken the great array of the Youxiong Tribe? Come out and fight if you dare!" The furious roar of Tie Shi echoed through the heavens and earth.

"Hee hee..." The Heart-Bewitching Ghost seemed to have gained some replenishment and, using some unknown method, instantly escaped Tie Hu's restraints.

"Roar..."

"So fragrant... all so fragrant..."

"Time to eat..."

Amidst the chaotic, strange laughter, countless black shadows instantly pierced through the earthen walls and lunged at the ordinary people. Tie Hu and the others, who thought they had killed the Heart-Bewitching Ghost, were horrified. "Chieftain, how did the formation break?"

"I don't know... Quickly, surround and exterminate the evil spirits!" Tie Shi turned back, his eyes splitting with rage, as he unleashed a torrent of magical power. The High Priest stood at the entrance of the temple and shouted to the surroundings, "People of the Youxiong Tribe, gather toward the temple as much as possible!"

Everyone could no longer care about anything else and scrambled toward the center of the tribe, leaving Zhao Yu all by himself. Zhao Yu, who had been planning to complain, narrowed his eyes. "They're all man-eating monsters..." He saw many misshapen, ghostly things tearing into the bodies of the Youxiong tribespeople and devouring them. If it had been just the simple mischief of the little girl, he might have felt sympathy. But since they were eating people... he was afraid of being eaten too.

"Anyway, you don't have many hands left..." Zhao Yu gripped his firewood chopper and strode into the crowd. He approached a skull first. The skull, which had already devoured nearly ten people, looked at Zhao Yu with ghost fire flickering in its eyes. This human could "pull out" the Heart-Bewitching Ghost with his bare hands; he was even more sinister than they were. The skull really didn't want to cross paths with Zhao Yu. There were so many other snacks... The skull flickered and darted away.

Zhao Yu's eyes lit up. Was it afraid of him? Perfect! He shouted, "Taste my blade!" With a running start, he leaped into the air and swung his chopper at the skull. The skull couldn't help but want to mock him. *This slow speed? Are you joking?* With a flicker, it appeared beside another person and swallowed them in one gulp.

"Damn it!" Zhao Yu cursed in his heart after landing. *Bullying me because I run slowly?* Without hesitation, Zhao Yu whispered to the firewood chopper, "Chopper, can you be a bit more useful? So many people are watching! If I can't even kill one, they might not invite me to eat delicious food in the future!"

"Damn it, you really know how to work me to death! Do you think these ghost things are those weak little rabbits that don't fight back?" The firewood chopper began grumbling in Zhao Yu's mind. Zhao Yu wasn't annoyed. He looked at the skull and said, "You bastard, see if you can keep running!"

With another running start, Zhao Yu leaped again. "Taste my blade!" The skull took one look, decided it didn't want to clash with Zhao Yu, and prepared to teleport again.

Then... the skull discovered that the space-time he occupied seemed to have frozen. Furthermore, the most terrifying thing was...

"Screech..." In a trance, the skull saw the firewood chopper in Zhao Yu's hand suddenly transform into a boundless bird of fire, carrying raging flames that seemed to burn the heavens and boil the seas. It felt like an illusion, or perhaps something only the skull could see.

"Ni... Ni..." Before the sound could fully escape, the firewood chopper descended. The skull was split in two, fell to the ground, and vanished without a trace. Zhao Yu knew this was normal; he had struck it so hard that not even a corpse remained. Zhao Yu immediately felt smug. "I knew it; I am still who I am." He had never been afraid of one or two evil spirits.

Zhao Yu then looked into the distance with gleaming eyes. "That wolf over there—I wonder if wolf meat tastes good, but it can be dragged back to be stewed..." The wolf looked like it had exercised a lot; logically, it should taste better than rabbit meat. Although the delicacies of the Youxiong Tribe were tasty, they lacked nutrition. What he loved was meat that was both delicious and nutritious. It was hard to come by... He ran toward the wolf.

Seeing Zhao Yu, the corpse-wolf felt as if it had "come alive," as it seemed to have developed a sense of fear. The skull had been chopped into nothingness by Zhao Yu's blade; who wouldn't be afraid? It tucked its tail and fled without hesitation. Zhao Yu's eyes turned green with anxiety. "Chopper, what are you doing? The wolf is getting away!"

But this time, he didn't need the chopper to act. "Eight Directions Silence, Seal!" Tie Shi's cold shout suddenly rang out. Zhao Yu looked over and saw transparent iron chains manifest out of thin air, binding the corpse-wolf tightly.

"As expected, only my good friends are reliable." Zhao Yu's spirits lifted, and he swung his blade at the wolf. With a "squelch," the wolf's head was severed by Zhao Yu. The wolf's eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Zhao Yu. It wasn't dead yet. Tie Shi's expression shifted slightly. "Brother Zhao, this monster is not yet dead."

Zhao Yu was not surprised. "It's normal that it's not dead. However, the head is the central hub that controls the body. Since I've cut off its head, I just need to keep control of it, and it will have to behave." He reached out and grabbed the corpse-wolf's head. *It's so big, how long will it take to eat all of this?*