Since they no longer had to worry about hiding their presence from the monkeys in the forest, the journey back to East Stream Village should have been a lot easier than their way in.
Unfortunately, after getting rid of one problem, another took its place.
The party now had an additional burden to carry – the captives whom they had freed from the monkeys’ nest.
Unless the party members were willing to physically carry them, which they definitely were not, having to escort these ordinary mortals meant that they also had to follow their pace.
On their way back, each of the party members was responsible for a different role.
Pu Feixiang and Zhao Yunxiao walked at the front of the group, cutting down the dense forest vegetation with their heavy weapons to create a clear path for these captives to walk through.
Chu Han and Gui Longcan walked among the group to help them overcome any leftover obstacles.
Finally, Mo Mian brought up the rear to prevent any wild beasts from threatening the group.
Yet despite their efforts, their journey through the forest was painfully slow. After all, most of these captives were not in good shape whatsoever. Not only were they malnourished, but they were also ridden with injuries.
The cultivators had dressed them in proper clothes. But doing so only covered their bodies, not heal their wounds.
Going at their pace, it was no wonder that dusk had long fallen by the time they exited the forest.
“We are back...” one of the captives blurted out emotionally upon setting foot back in the village.
“That’s right, you are safe now,” Pu Feixiang assured him.
It was not just the young man.
When the rest of the captives heard Pu Feixiang’s words, even those who were not originally from East Stream Village felt tears welling up in their eyes.
After such a long time in the forest, they had already come to terms with the fact that they would never be able to get out of there alive.
Yet everything changed in the span of a day.
The events that transpired today were nothing short of a miracle to them!
East Stream Village did not usually light lamps at night. Thankfully, the bright moon overhead provided the minimal amount of light they needed for the captives to not have to move around like headless mice.
With no one else out in the streets, the party members carefully led the group through the poorly planned roads of the village until they finally arrived before the familiar gate of the village hall.
Knock-! Knock-!
Pu Feixiang knocked on the door.
“They are all fast asleep now. Do you think they can hear you?” Gui Longcan rolled his eyes. “I will go get them instead.”
With that, Gui Longcan directly leapt over the gate, entering the village hall to look for the village head.
What happened next was the start of a huge commotion that quickly spread through the village, waking up more than half the villagers despite the late hour.
“They are back! The lost villagers are back!”
“The esteemed cultivator sirs have rescued everyone!”
For the first time in a while, East Stream Village shone brightly in the middle of the night as numerous villagers gathered in front of the village hall, many of them holding lamps and torches in their hands.
The party members stood beside Fu Du, silently watching the rescued captives reunite with their friends and family members.
There were some who broke into tears of happiness as they embraced those who finally returned.
There were some who were simply relieved that they no longer had to worry about the monkey demon.
Regardless of their individual thoughts, emotions definitely ran high as a mix of smiles and tears covered everyone’s faces.
Unfortunately, not everyone was pleased.
“Where’s my Ah Li? He’s not here!” an old lady grabbed one of the captives and asked.
“Ah Li...? He... didn’t survive...” the captive’s smile quickly faded away as he answered hesitantly.
Indeed, the monkeys did not intentionally kill anyone. However, their brutal methods were not something that everyone could endure.
In the end, there were many who did not manage to survive long enough to be rescued.
“No way, you are lying...” the old lady staggered back in shock. “This has to be a lie! This has to! Tell me the truth, did you guys abandon him there?!”
She was not the only one acting this way.
There were a few others whose close ones did not count among the returnees. They shared the same sentiments as this old lady and started demanding answers from those who had returned.
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Some even turned aggressive upon not hearing the answers that they had wanted, blaming the survivors for being selfish and only caring about their own survival.
“Enough!” Fu Du shouted at the crowds upon seeing this. “Look at yourself! What kind of behaviour are you showing in front of the esteemed cultivator sirs?”
His words silenced the crowds, but not for long.
“I am not trying to cause trouble, but you need to redress my grievances by getting to the bottom of this matter, Village Head!” the old lady from earlier pleaded. “How can I ever rest in peace without knowing how Ah Li died while the others survived?”
“Do you think this is a game?” Mo Mian spoke up at this point.
His solemn tone truly silenced everyone this time.
“I think many of you are mistaken about something,” Mo Mian continued. “We are here not to help you bring back some lost children who were having fun in the forest. This is a demon we are dealing with. Do you think it is only to be expected that everyone returns alive?”
“But, the rest did return alive...” the old lady muttered under her breath indignantly.
“They are extremely lucky to have returned alive. But to put it bluntly, all of them should have died!” Mo Mian got straight to the point. “And what do you think is the cause of all this? What do you think led to the monkey demon doing this in the first place? How about you entitled bunch try to reflect on what you did in the past before blaming everything on others? If you continue doing things that will bring harm upon others, you’d best be prepared for things to come back and bite yourselves in the future!”
The old lady hung her head low.
She knew that Mo Mian was referring to what happened in the past – how East Stream Village had mistreated the monkey demon when it was young.
In a way, she had a part to play in that as well.
On the other hand, the survivors who were not originally from this village looked slightly confused. The same went for the younger villagers who were unaware of what happened in the past.
“We might have bailed you out this time, but heed my words,” Mo Mian added. “If I were to hear about anything of that nature happening in this village ever again, I would be the first to return. And when that happens, be aware that I would no longer be on your side.”
I will no longer be on your side.
These words formed a clear warning that cut deep and sent chills running down the villagers’ spines.
They had personally witnessed how fearsome the monkey demon was in the past. To be able to rescue the captives from the monkey demon, one could only imagine just how strong these cultivators were.
Then again, they had already known this from the start.
The powerful cultivators would be able to flatten their village effortlessly if they ever wanted to.
If they really were to return as enemies in the future, the only fate that awaited their village was absolute destruction!
Zhao Yunxiao glanced at Mo Mian curiously.
His impression of Mo Mian was that of a rather emotional person who placed slightly too much emphasis on righteousness and kindness for his liking. That was why the rational Chu Han was necessary in balancing out the decision making process within the party.
But judging from what he just said, it would appear that even Mo Mian had his limits when it came to tolerating the actions of what most cultivators would deem as defenceless ordinary mortals.
“We understand, esteemed cultivator sirs,” Fu Du was the first to reply. “We will learn from our mistakes and teach our descendants well, making sure that something like this never happens again. Thank you so much for coming to our rescue this time, esteemed cultivator sirs.”
With that, Fu Du slowly prostrated towards the party despite his ailing body.
Following Fu Du, his attendant, Xian He, immediately prostrated towards the party as well.
Seeing the village head and his attendant prostrate towards the cultivators, the rest of the villagers quickly followed suit.
“Thank you, esteemed cultivator sirs!” they said in unison.
Even those who had been complaining before no longer did so.
Anyone with the slightest bit of life experience could tell from Mo Mian’s tone and expression that he was being absolutely serious right now, so how would they dare to continue?
It was not like they wanted to die along with the rest of the village!
The other survivors who were not from East Stream Village prostrated as well.
They might not understand what the problem was right now, but they were still outsiders who would have to depend on the village in the future. Considering that, they naturally knew better than to act like they were any different.
And even if not for that, they were truly thankful towards the cultivators for saving them from the hell that they had been through, so they had absolutely no issues prostrating towards the cultivators!
“This matter ends here,” Mo Mian said imperiously. “We will be leaving first thing tomorrow morning. I hope you tread wisely in the future.”
He turned and walked away, not bothering to wait for the villagers to rise.
“Don’t forget our words!” Pu Feixiang added angrily before following along.
The rest of the party did not say anything more, silently following the two away as they made their way back to the inn.
It was only long after the party was completely out of sight did the villagers finally dare to rise from their knees.
***
The party members did not come together after returning to the inn.
It had been a long and exhausting day, so Mo Mian simply told everyone to retire for the day and rest up.
However, Zhao Yunxiao did not immediately proceed to rest for the night.
Back in his room, Zhao Yunxiao sat cross legged on his bed as various scenes from today continued to replay themselves in his head.
No, not just today.
From the moment they headed out of East Stream Village, up until the point when they returned – he slowly went through everything that happened so as to come up with ways that he could have done better.
If there was one thing that Zhao Yunxiao was proud of, it was the fact that he had been well-prepared for the potential existence of a secondary demon.
On the contrary, he was not at all satisfied with his contributions in battle.
It was still acceptable that the Unyielding Stone Bind did not work well since he had yet to fully master the technique. In fact, the fact that he had to use it repeatedly despite his low mastery level only proved that his choice to learn the technique was the right one.
But apart from that, he felt that the issue was that he had been rather irrelevant when it came to taking down the monkey demon.
He did not have a technique strong enough to threaten the monkey demon like Pu Feixiang’s Tundra Former.
He did not have abilities that made him fast enough to safely threaten the monkey demon like Mo Mian’s overwhelming speed.
He did not have support buffs like Gui Longcan’s or suppression techniques like Chu Han’s.
All he could do was throw out daggers from range – something that was really not that difficult of a task.
In other words, just about anyone else would have been able to do the same.
Zhao Yunxiao let out a helpless sigh.
He still had a long way to go before he could become someone who would be considered indispensable to a party, if that was ever possible in the first place...
What he did not know was that at this very moment, the members of the Mystic Cavalry were having the complete opposite thoughts back in their respective rooms.
In their heads, had it not been for Zhao Yunxiao, this mission could have easily ended up as a complete disaster!