Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

The moonlight was terrifyingly pale.

The shining light pulsated through the trees, casting distorted and gruesome shadows, as if they were ghostlike.

Inside the house.

On an incredibly old but polished candle holder, a candle flickered unsteadily.

Under its light.

Little Kuihua, an emaciated figure, carefully took out a neatly folded bundle from a small wooden box by the bed, missing a corner.

She solemnly opened the bundle.

Inside was a patched up, plain little dress.

This was the only decent piece of clothing she had.

Turning her head.

Her gaze inadvertently shifted from the little dress in her hand to a silver ingot hidden in the corner of the box.

A sense of relief flashed across Little Kuihua's face.

...

...

"Hehe, little brother, do you think sister's dress looks nice?"

Little Kuihua woke up her four or five-year-old little brother, cheerfully spun around on the ground beside the bed, then blushed, and asked shyly.

On the bed.

The half-grown boy sat up drowsily and clapped his tiny hands before he could see clearly.

"Pretty, sister is the prettiest."

"Really? Haha, little brother has good taste, it's worth it for sister to spoil you the most."

Although Little Kuihua was only about eleven or twelve, she patted her little brother's shoulder with an old-fashioned manner. A radiant smile rippled on her young face, showing a hint of resolve.

Shortly after.

As if she thought of something.

She leaned down to whisper in her half-grown little brother's ear:

"Little brother, quickly put on your clothes and get up, sister will play hide and seek with you."

"Really, sister?"

The boy's eyes lit up immediately and he said with joy.

Perhaps because of his young age, he had no idea what time it was, and he didn't notice anything unusual about his sister.

"Shush!" Little Kuihua placed a finger on her lips for quiet, then, under her brother's hopeful gaze, she smiled and nodded: "Of course it's true, but we have to be quiet, we can't disturb the two masters today. They are our great benefactors."

Upon hearing this.

The boy nodded obediently like a pecking chick.

"Good!" Little Kuihua reached out her hand to stroke her brother's head, her smile becoming even more radiant, "Then little brother will hide first, and sister will seek, okay?"

"Okay!"

"But remember, you can only hide inside the house, you're not allowed out."

Soon.

The room echoed with laughter that was deliberately subdued.

From outside the house, this laughter seemed to make the creepy night a little less terrifying.

Time slowly passed.

After gently covering her little brother, who had fallen sound asleep due to exhaustion, with a blanket.

"Little brother, you must survive. Village Chief Grandpa Gen is a good man. Also, don't forget to put the silver in the box away. It's your money for marrying a wife."

Little Kuihua murmured to herself, with an undiminished radiant smile on her face.

After that.

She smoothed out her plain little dress, which was slightly crumpled from playing hide and seek with her brother, and then, without any hesitation, she turned around and walked towards the door.

Opening the door.

Whoo—

The cold wind, howling like ghosts and wolves, rushed in, hitting her rosy little face.

Little Kuihua's movements suddenly froze.

Looking at the deep night outside, which was so eerie that it seemed to consume people.

She couldn't help it anymore, the toughness on her face suddenly faded, replaced by a profound look of fear.

Her big, black eyes were already filled with tears.

"Dad! Mom!"

Little Kuihua softly called out, her face filled with fear and helplessness, and a hint of sobbing in her voice.

At this moment.

Where was the mature manner she had before?

...

...

"She's still just an eleven or twelve-year-old child after all."

Watching this scene from behind the window of the next room, Zhang Jing couldn't help but sigh.

Next to him.

Qu Junhou nodded in agreement.

"Yes, looking at her like this, this probably has something to do with that creature outside that claims to be 'Venerable Three-Sheep-Bringer-of-Life'. Could it be——"

"These devils of the Nether Night Realm, they do know how to play."

"Let's go follow her and see what happens."

Zhang Jing's emotionless voice echoed, and then slowly faded away.

The room instantly fell into a deathly silence.

...

...

"Venerable Sheep, please wait a moment, the sacrifice you chose last time will arrive soon."

In the brightly lit and bustling village shrine.

A trembling voice suddenly sounded.

It was unclear whether it was because of fear, the age of the voice's owner, or a combination of both.

"Hm, so slow! Your village needs to provide one more, no, two more sacrifices this time. I don't pick and choose, male or female, old or young, tall or short, fat or thin, it's all the same to me."

A hoarse, weird laughter echoed in everyone's ears, it sounded as though countless voices were overlaid.

Following the sound.

One could see that on the table originally dedicated to ancestral worship in the shrine.

There was an absurd demon seated. It was neither human nor beast, surrounded by black mist, about three feet tall, and had three sheep heads, one large and two small, on its neck.

The table was creaking, spirit tablets were scattered all over the floor.

But no one dared to pick them up.

The shrine was deadly silent.

All faces betrayed instant fear.

It took quite some time.

Only then did an old man, leaning on his cane, limp over to face the other party. He made an laborious bow, then said evenly:

"Old man understands. Rest assured, my lord. We will select some tributes for you shortly."

"Heh heh! A wise choice! I have not protected your village night and day for nothing. I will visit the other villages, and return shortly. When I return, I expect to see all the tributes!"

With that said.

The sheep-headed devil looked around smiling, a gust of wind stirring a torrent of dust that obscured everything in sight.

After a short while.

The dust slowly settled.

The image of the sheep-headed devil had disappeared.

Bang ——

A cacophony suddenly erupted in the shrine.

"Damned girl, couldn't she have come earlier? Damn the Chen family too, why haven't they brought their boy here yet? If they acted sooner, we wouldn't have provoked the anger of that great one, and our village wouldn't have had to lose two lives in vain."

Some muttered through gritted teeth.

"Ingrates! They're truly ingrates! We even gave her the chance to lodge those two guests. One piece of silver is probably worth at least fifty liang, enough for her son to live comfortably in the city."

"Indeed!"

The others echoed.

Just then.

"If that's true, then how about we have two families volunteer, and give them the girl's silver as compensation? What do you think?"

A middle-aged woman with a sharp face stepped forward, suggesting loudly.

All at once.

A gleam sparked to life in the eyes of everyone in the shrine.

Before anyone could respond, however.

A dark-skinned middle-aged man's eyes flashed, as he began to sob:

"Then let it be us, my mother is pretty sick, she probably won't last much longer anyway. We can make one final contribution to the village."

But as soon as he finished speaking.

"You dare! You mongrels! As long as I'm still here, I'll never allow anything like this to happen"

The old man with the cane struck the ground and loudly rebuked them.

At this moment, his face was flushed bright red, his beard shaking furiously.

A far cry from his earlier calm in presence of the devil.

A few moments later.

The shrine had slowly calmed down.

The old man glared hard at the multitude of villagers with bloodshot eyes, while saying firmly:

"We must always stand together in the village and should never harm or scheme against each other. This is the rule handed down to us by our ancestors, the rule that has been the bedrock of our village for generations. You want to break this rule over a bit of silver? Where would I hide my face when I meet our ancestors? "

Upon finishing.

He then turned his gaze to the innocent man and the fierce-looking woman who had spoken out before, and said coldly:

"So you two want to abandon your mother, and use that girl's silver to move to the county town? Give it a try if you dare. If you have such thoughts again, the two tributes demanded by the great one will be filled by you."

"Understood, Uncle Gen."

The middle-aged couple warned earlier simply nodded obediently in response, not daring to utter a single word of dissent.

They know.

Uncle Gen really means what he says in order to ensure the village's survival.

"Uncle Gen, what about the two additional offerings Venerable Sheep demands?" asked someone worriedly.

The sudden request for two more offerings had really disrupted their plans.

Upon hearing.

The old man with the cane turned away, his turbid gaze unconsciously focusing in the direction of the back of the village, a streak of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

"Didn't two prominent young men just arrive today? Let them not come, they don't listen. Out of kindness, we can't really blame us."

"Tian Gui!"

"Uncle Gen." A handsome young man jogged up to the old man.

"You go invite the traveling theater troupe from the neighboring Qingshuixi Village over tomorrow. We need to honor those two gentlemen with a respectable funeral. It is the least our village can do for them."

"I understand."

...

...

Time slowly ticked away.

Before they knew it, midnight had arrived.

Outside the village.

Dozens of figures dressed in pitch black pythons' gold gowns had been placed in a strict formation.

In the midst of the people.

A muscular man, standing at more than two meters tall, bare-chested, wrapped in chains as thick as a man's arm, was quietly meditating. A horrifying and bloodthrusting aura was slowly brewed within him, as if amassing for an earth-shattering blow.

After a while.

"Lord Xuesuo, the monster is making its way here," a black figure darted out from the darkness and landed on its knee next to Xuesuo, reporting cautiously.

As soon as he heard.

The man opened his eyes abruptly, revealing nothing but inky black darkness, no white to be seen.

At the same time.

Nine gory crevices silently opened on his face, expanding bit by bit.

"Get ready, everyone."

"Whether the Demon Suppressing Department of Mengyang County gets one more sacred land, whether you get to enjoy luxury, depends on whether we can seize this opportunity without letting that guy get away."

Xuesuo cried out.

"Rest assured, my lord. We will do our best!"

The people responded one after another.

...

...

Meanwhile.

At the roof.

His gaze smoothly swept across the onrushing sheep-head devil and the ambushing group of dozens of people.

"Tonight is quite exciting! Also, the cultivation approach of this Nether Night Realm, huh, it's quite interesting."

Zhang Jing smirked.

"Senior Brother, this devil might actually possess a Demon Heart Core, which contains the energy from the Nether Night Realm. We can't let it go."

Qu Junhou reminded him.