His shout not only caught Yang Ze by surprise, but even the girls were taken aback, not understanding how he would know about him. As far as they could remember, they hadn't mentioned him once in front of anyone, and he didn't spend too much time with children who were busy devouring the deer's meat.

They only cast one frightened glance at the old man before rushing towards Yan-er, who was lying unconscious on the ground, covered in blood.

Everything happened so fast that Yang Ze didn't even have time to react. By the time he saw the old man lifting Yan-er up by her hair, it was already too late. He could only watch helplessly as she was thrown away like a ragged doll.

Unlike the girls who were wondering how the priest found out about the outsider, Yang Ze already had an answer…

The clothes the girls were wearing were completely different from their usual, worn-out clothes. Not only were they extremely soft, but they were also exquisitely crafted as well. Even in the big cities, one wouldn't be able to find such delicate clothes.

No wonder the old man knew about the existence of an outsider. Besides an outsider, who else could come up with this set of clothes?

"Are you going to show yourself or not?" The old man was clearly irritated after not getting an answer, so he simply stepped towards the group of girls, this time reaching inside his clothes and taking out a long barbed whip with a wretched smile on his face.

"Not only you ate the sacrifice, you even brought an outsider here."

Unrolling the whip, he stood directly in front of the group of the girls who were now cuddled together, protecting the figure of the unconscious Yan-er behind them like hens protecting their eggs.

"I am gonna tear your skin." Looking at them, the old man simply pulled his hand with the whip back, took a deep breath and smashed it towards them.

The wretched smile upon his face as well as the excitement in his eyes were already showing his expectations for the bloody scene that was about to unfold.

"...."

"...."

"HUH!?"

Unfortunately for the old man, before his whip could even hit the girls, it was stopped mid-way as the figure of a young boy slowly appeared in front of him out of thin air.

The boy seemed to be in his teens with an ordinary face and short figure. Just like the children he could at most reach the height of his chest.

Usually, ordinary boys like him wouldn't dare to even lift their heads in front of him, much less stand and block his attack.

"So, you are the outsdier." The old man merely let out a smile as he observed the boy in front of him.

"I didn't expect it to be a boy… and such a young one too." The more he spoke, the brighter the smile on his face became.

"I was expecting those wenches from the outside to come and meddle here."

"Tsk…tsk…tsk…" He merely shook his head but didn't pull the whip back. Instead, he kept on looking at the boy.

"So, who are you and what is a young thing like you doing here?" Though he was speaking calmly with a smile, he was already preparing for his next strike.

The fact that the young boy appeared directly in front of him out of nowhere and even blocked his attack set alarm in his mind. He didn't know who he was or where he came from, but he knew one thing… the boy was strong.

"....."

Yang Ze didn't answer him, but quietly gazed at him with a cold expression. Not only did this bastard throw away a child like trash, but he also wanted to whip them with this barbed wire. Just one strike of this barbed wire was enough to tear off a huge chunk of their flesh. Even if the girls didn't die in the first hit, the pain and agony would be enough to kill them slowly.

"The two of us are going to have a long, really long chat." Yang Ze uttered those words before taking a step forward and directly appearing in front of the old man.

"What the…" The old man couldn't even react as he saw the boy directly appear in front of him. He glanced from the side of his eyes that the figure of the boy was still standing in front of the girls, but before he could wonder what happened, he saw the figure in front of the girls dissipate as realisation hit him.

"Afterimage…"

But before he could think or speak, he saw the boy reaching out to grab his clothes before he was pulled down like an old, frail tree's branch.

*Thud

With a soft thud, he knelt on the ground, with his face directly in front of the boy as the two of them gazed each other in the eyes.

Everything happened so suddenly… so abruptly that the old man didn't even have time to react or register what was going on.

From the moment Yang Ze appeared out of thin air to catch his whip, to him being pulled to kneel on the ground. Everything happened so fast that his body couldn't even react. And by the time he came back to his senses, he heard Yang Ze's soft voice in his ears.

"You are rather weak." With this voice, a hand entered his line of sight and then…

*Smack

With a loud slap, his mind stopped working and before he could react, came another slap.

*Smack

And then another…

*Smack

And another

*Smack

In less than ten seconds, the old man was slapped twenty times.

"YOU…" After realising that he was being slapped around, the old man flew in rage. He simply patted his hands on the ground, and with it, a black fog appeared out of thin air around his body.

The moment Yang Ze saw the fog appear, he immediately let go of the old man's collar before taking a step back and disappearing from there before appearing directly behind the group of girls.

He then simply waved his hand, and with it, the girls were enveloped by a layer of illusion, making them disappear from there. But that wasn't all… In the instant the area behind Yang Ze was enveloped in illusion, two clones appeared there, carrying the group of girls away from there to safety.

The old man only saw the boy raising his hand, and with that, the group of girls disappeared completely.

Though this shook his heart, it didn't stop him from taking his next action.

He simply pointed towards Yang Ze as a thick layer of fog rushed towards him.

"Interesting." Yang Ze didn't dare to meet the fog head-on. He could still remember vividly how his clone was dragged by this thing.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to take any risks. What if he were caught by it and then dragged into the abyss? He didn't dare to imagine the scene of facing that behemoth under the ocean.

Without any hesitation, he simply used his newly mastered movement skill to move around.

With every step he took, Yang Ze's figure would disappear and appear in some other place, leaving behind an afterimage that would disappear shortly after.

"AAAHHHHHHH"

The old man controlled the dark fog as if he were controlling a piece of cloth. Every time the black fog touched the afterimages, it would simply devour them, not even leaving the blue internal energy that the skill usually left.

Yang Ze merely watched it with narrowed eyes. His figure was circling around the old man, not daring to go close. Even though the old man was using most of the black fog to attack, a thin layer of fog was still surrounding him, acting as a defensive measure against any incoming attacks.

Yang Ze kept on circling around him like a hawk eyeing its prey. He wanted to see if the old man would get tired and if the black fog would disappear, but even after almost fifteen minutes, when nothing happened, he finally changed his plan.

He thought for a moment before raising his hand as a thick lasso appeared in his hand.

The old man was undoubtedly the most important man in the village and the only person who could answer his questions. So, unless necessary, he didn't want to hurt him.

Tightening his fingers around the other end of the lasso, Yang Ze raised it in the air while moving it like a cowboy who was trying to catch his cow.

After a moment, he finally let go of the lasso, throwing it directly towards the old man who was still chasing his afterimages.

The moment he threw it, Yang Ze was already preparing to pull back the rope, hoping to drag out the old man and disturb his black fog, but the moment his rope touched the black fog, it melted like a snowflake that touched the fire…

"What the hell?" Looking at the rope in his hand that disintegrated in an instant, Yang Ze was stunned for a moment.

This was the first time he saw any of his manifested items revert to mental energy upon touching something. In an instant, Yang Ze's eyes narrowed as his expression darkened. He tried once again, but this time, instead of throwing a rope to catch the old man, he threw a cloth net, hoping to trap the old man, but the moment the trap touched the black fog, it melted away.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA"

"USELESS."

The old man, who was frustrated after failing to catch Yang Ze, finally let out all his frustration in the form of laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA"

With every passing second, his laughter grew wilder as he even stopped attacking with the black fog and instead chose to simply use it to cover his body in the shape of an egg.

"What are you going to do now, huh?"

"Let's see how long you can last."

With wild laughter, he used a few thin strands of dark fog to chase after Yang Ze, intending to drag him in.

Yang Ze merely snorted in response as his figure disappeared as he began to run around in circles once again amidst the laughter of the old man.

By now, he was certain that the old mas much weaker than him. In fact, at most, he had the strength of a Body Refining cultivator. If not for the presence of the dark fog, Yang Ze would have slapped him around like a tennis ball. Even though he wasn't sure just how effective the dark fog was going to be on him, he didn't want to take any risks.

"Heh… What happened?"

"Tired so soon?"

Noticing that the boy was merely running around, not even attacking him like before, the old man's confidence grew as he began to mock him, hoping for him to make a mistake so that he could capture him, but no matter how much he mocked or insulted, there was never a second attack.

"Go back and suck on your mother's tits for milk, you little…" Before the old man could even complete the sentence, he saw a black stick appear directly appearing in front of him.

This time, the stick didn't melt like other items before it, instead it was already near his face before the old man could even react.

The old man could only watch helplessly as the stick landed on his face and then…

*BANG

With a loud sound, the stick landed on the old man's face as his eyes went white, and he fell down unconscious, and with it, the black fog surrounding his body disappeared as well.

"Wait… that's it?"

Yang Ze's eyes almost popped out of their sockets as he looked at the old man's unconscious figure on the ground.

Earlier, he merely broke a branch off the tree and threw it towards the old man because of his constant mockery, but who would have thought that the stick would bypass the old fog and directly hit the old man on the face.

For a moment, even Yang Ze was left speechless. Had he known it could be done so easily, he wouldn't have wasted time and instead would have directly used the stick to knock the old man unconscious.

"Well… good for me." With a shrug, he walked near the old man but didn't pick him up. Instead, he raised the stick and then…

*Bang

*Bang

After hitting the old man a few more times and making sure he wasn't pretending, he nodded in satisfaction before picking him up on his shoulder and heading in a different direction.

He didn't go to the house; instead chose to bring the old man to a different place. That house was where he left the girls with his two clones.

With the old man on his shoulder, Yang Ze rushed out of the village and into the distance. It wasn't until he was almost thirty miles away from the village that he finally stopped, manifested two thick ropes and tied the old man tight.

It was only then that he let out a sigh of relief and finally, with the stick in his hand, patted the old man on his cheek.

"Wake up…"

"Wake up, you old fart."

"Your beauty sleep is over now."

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