"And how long does that usually take?"

"Depends on how lucky I get." This time, it was Qing Cao who responded while choosing a random direction to walk towards, followed by the group behind her.

"I was wondering…" Yang Ze looked around as well and, after a while, asked in a soft voice. "I haven't seen any animals in this area. Do you have any idea why?"

"Oh! Must be because you haven't gone to the blue zone." Yan-er replied in a flat tone.

"Blue Zone?" This was the first time Yang Ze heard this word. He couldn't help but look at Yan-er, waiting for her to explain it to him and sure enough, after a moment, Yan-er continued.

"The Blue Zone is about a day's journey from here into the south. The area is surrounded by dense blue vines, and there are some animals there, but all of them are aggressive and dangerous."

"We tried hunting them once, but our arrows couldn't even harm them."

Yang Ze's eyes gleamed in excitement as he heard her talking about it. For others, this place might be a dead zone with nothing of value. But for the current Yang Ze, this place was a treasure vault, filled with innumerable golden talents. Just the trees around him all had Purple talents. He didn't dare to imagine what types of talents the beasts in this place would have.

Controlling his excitement, he took a deep breath. Now was not the time. He needed to use his sign in nine more times to get the Withering Year Mark before he could use it for anything else.

"Do you want to go there?" Even though Yan-er asked it, her voice was clearly filled with unwillingness.

"No." Yang Ze couldn't help but shake his head. "Not for now."

"Mmm." Yan-er simply hummed in response as the group kept on walking.

"Your priest…" Yang Ze once again broke the silence. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"Sure." Even though they didn't know why the outsider was suddenly so interested in knowing about their priest, it didn't stop them from talking about her.

This time, it was Mei Ling who answered Yang Ze's question.

"Our village always had the tradition of one lineage being the priests."

"When the priest is old or sick, she would choose another priest from the village."

"You mean priestess?" Yang Ze corrected her, but she merely tilted her head in confusion before ignoring what he said and speaking further.

"My grandma used to tell me that the priest is the most important person in the entire village, and because of her, we can live in peace."

For a moment, Yang Ze wanted to ask her if this was her definition of peace, but held back. He simply nodded in response.

"After everyone was taken, it was the priest who set up a new set of rules about living and sacrifices."

"She would come to the village every week to check on us, and if you want to, you can meet her, but you absolutely can not tell her that you are an outsider." Yan-er's voice was full of warning.

"I see." Yang Ze rubbed his chin as he thought about how to talk to the so-called priest. He could't just jump in front of her and announce his identity and why he was here, right? Though there were still five days left before he was going to meet her, it didn't stop him from planning ahead.

Lost in his train of thought, Yang Ze quietly followed the group for a long time, but no matter how hard they searched, they couldn't find any animals. An entire day passed as they looked everywhere, hoping to find something, but to no avail.

By now, the girls were dead tired after walking for an entire day. If not for the fact that they all had taken fasting pills before, they might have returned to the village a long time ago.

"It's another day of nothing." A-zhu, the quiet one, couldn't help but shake her head. By now, they were used to such days. So instead of making a fuss or cursing their bad luck, the group of girls quietly turned around and headed back to the village.

"Without a successful hunt, how do you guys plan to feed the village?" Yang Ze had seen the scene of them throwing the rabbit in the cave and receiving a bag of white powder, which was their food. He just couldn't understand what they were going to eat without it.

"....." After hearing Yang Ze, the girls quietly lowered their heads, but their silence itself was an answer to Yang Ze's question.

"I see." He exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. "How long can one bowl of that ration last?"

"Three days at most." This time it was Yan-er who spoke. "But it doesn't fill our bellies, just enough energy to last for three days and if it runs out…"

"What then?" Yang Ze couldn't help but ask.

"Then…" Yan-er's frail body trembled for a moment as she spoke in ragged breathing. "Then we will throw the first person to die in the cave."

"....." In that instant, Yang Ze's breathing almost stopped, and his eyes turned into slits. His heart chilled as he looked at the girls in front of him, whose faces were filled with desperation and self-loathing.

"Did the priest tell you about this?" Yang Ze's voice trembled as he asked about it.

"Mmm…" Yan-er simply gave him a nod.

"I see." Controlling the surging emotions in his heart, Yang Ze thought for a moment before patting her head and turning around. "Let's go back."

With these words, he snapped his finger, and a clone appeared almost five meters away from them. The girls didn't even notice the presence of the clone. They were quietly walking back to the village.

Only Qing Cao raised her head to look at Yang Ze in confusion. She would occasionally glance at him and in the direction where the clone appeared. She was confused as to why there was an additional familiar scent of the person in front of her. But before she could even ask, Yang Ze merely smiled at her, signalling her to stay quiet.

*Gulp

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Qing Cao hurriedly nodded in response as she kept on walking, though occasionally her eyes would dart behind her, in the direction the clone had left.

It took the group of six some time to head back to the village, and once they were there, they all dispersed. While Yang Ze went back to his room, the five girls headed together to a different house.

It wasn't until they entered Yan-er's house that the five of them finally breathed out a sigh of relief before Yan-er turned to look at them.

"What do you all think?"

Other than Qing Cao, the three girls hesitated for a while before answering honestly.

"He doesn't look bad." Her words were met with others' nods.

"We can trust him for now."

"At least he isn't talking about getting rid of the gods." A-zhu chimed in with a nod.

"But he is asking about the priest, though." Finally, it was Xiao Lian who spoke.

"What do you think, Qing Cao?" Yan-er asked Qing Cao, who was standing on the side.

"He promised me that he would take us out of here."

"And you believe him?" Yan-er raised an eyebrow.

"Mmm.." Qing Cao simply nodded before turning around and leaving behind a sentence.

"Besides, even if he wanted to do something to us, do you think we can stop him?"

Her mocking words brought the four girls back to their senses as they simply sat there in silence.

—------------

"Hmm… what else can I manifest?" Yang Ze, who was comfortably lying on the bed, couldn't help but roll around leisurely. This was the first time he ever slept on such a soft and comfortable bed.

After manifesting an entire room full of things, his mental energy was severely depleted in the morning, but now, it has recovered almost eighty per cent. Even with the consumption to keep these things in reality, his mental energy showed no signs of consumption. After calculating for a while, Yang Ze realised that if he wanted to, he could create almost a thousand more rooms like this. Only then will the rate of recovery won't be able to keep up with the rate of consumption.

"Now then…" After relaxing for a while, Yang Ze sat cross-legged on his bed, wondering if he should focus on cultivation or try to practise the Mystic Nether art.

After thinking for a while, he simply shook his head.

"Let's just cultivate first." Even though the progress he would make due to that golden tinge in his internal energy and a golden vein in his body, it was much better than no progress at all.

After making up his mind, Yang Ze was about to sit cross-legged when he heard the sound of footsteps in front of his door, though this time they seemed hesitant.

"Huh!?" And just when he was wondering why the group of girls was in front of his door, he heard the sound of knocking.

"Come in." The moment Yang Ze spoke, the door to the house was pushed open, and the group of five girls walked in with some nervousness as they once again began to look around in curiosity.

"What are you doing here at this time?" Yang Ze was really confused. He thought about it, but couldn't think of a reason for them to come here at this time of hour.

"I… we…" The four girls were looking around with some curiosity as well as some hesitation, afraid of saying it out loud.

Finally, it was Qing Cao who broke the silence.

"They want to stay here."

"Huh!?" It took a moment for Yang Ze to react. He looked at the girls there with a speechless face before nodding in response.

"Why not?" With a wave of his hand, a giant bed appeared out of nowhere, turning the already cramped room even more crowded.

"You all can sleep here." After doing that, he was about to close his eyes for meditation when he heard the sound of rustling.

Opening his eyes, he was stunned by the scene in front of him. The girls were already beginning to take off their clothes.

"Wait." Hurriedly jumping off his bed, he manifested some loose pyjamas for them before walking out the door, leaving the girls confused as to why he was leaving the room.

It took them a while to get changed into a new set of clothes, and when they were done, they walked out of the room, only to see Yang Ze standing in silence with what looked like a giant animal beside his feet.

"THIS…"

"HUH!?"

In an instant, their eyes went wide with disbelief as they hurriedly rushed towards the giant deer that was lying on the ground. They couldn't help but constantly touch it.

"This is going to be our food." Looking at their varying expressions, Yang Ze let out a gentle smile.

With the help of his clones, it wasn't a difficult task to rush out of this area into the lush green forest outside and hunt a giant deer.

"We… we can?" Yan-er was still somewhat in disbelief as she swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"How… how much ration can we get for this?"

This was the first time they were seeing an animal this big. Even when their parents and the rest of the adults were in the village, they hadn't seen such a big animal. The most someone ever got in hunting was three rabbits in a single day.

And now that they got something this big… just thinking about the amount of white powder they were going to get… she couldn't help but clench her fists in excitement as her gaze towards Yang Ze turned extremely gentle and full of worship.

"This is not for the sacrifice." Listening to her, Yang Ze immediately shook his head in response.

"Then?" Yan-er looked at him in confusion. If it wasn't for the sacrifice, what were they going to do with it?

"EATING." Yang Ze let out a soft chuckle as he began to make preparation for the first feast this village was going to have after the disappearance of all adults.

Although he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart, he also had his own thoughts. He wanted to take this time to get to know everyone in this village and, if possible, find someone he could disguise himself as to meet the so-called Priest.

With Yang Ze's words, the girls didn't hesitate. Other than Yan-er, who was clearly dissatisfied with Yang Ze's decision, the rest of the girls were already running around, collecting wood, pots and various other things.

If not for the fact that it was brought here by Yang Ze, Yan-er would have definitely protested in response. She would have taken it to exchange for rations. But now…

Now, she could only watch helplessly as, one by one, children began to come out of their shabby houses towards them with faces full of confusion and nervousness.

They didn't know why they were called out at this time of hour.

Looking at the children coming out of their houses one by one, Yang Ze nodded in satisfaction before raising his hand and speaking in a soft voice.

"Let the feast begin."

—-----------

On the other side of the village, in the cave that was enveloped by the dark fog, the ever-present dark fog suddenly parted way as a small figure walked out of it.

Its destination… the village where the feast was going to take place.

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