The boy let out a howl, so frightened that he jumped up from the haystack and scrambled backward.
"What is that?!"
"A ghost!"
The room erupted into chaos, with the young time travelers terrified and hiding behind the elderly.
The little face outside the door was also startled and quickly shrank back inside.
It wanted to hide, but the area outside the door was bare, with only a few sparse withered grasses and not even a large stone.
In the end, it gritted its teeth and pressed its wrinkled little face against the crack in the door again.
The commotion inside subsided somewhat.
The old woman, leaning on her cane, steadied herself, took two steps forward, and spoke warily through the crack in the door: "Who's outside? Has the Skeleton God sent down another task?"
She assumed it was just some ignorant, low-level demon delivering a message.
The little tree spirit hurriedly shook its bare branches, its few remaining withered leaves swaying as well: "No, no, that's not it! I didn't come here to assign tasks!"
The old woman frowned: "Then what kind of demon are you? What are you doing here?"
The little tree spirit stammered for a long time, unable to clearly explain what it wanted to say.
It was so anxious that it kept spinning in circles.
Finally, the tree demon gritted its teeth and squeezed hard, causing the already rickety wooden door to creak open and open even wider.
The little tree spirit squeezed its entire thin body inside.
Then, it turned around and used its thin, weak branch to slam the wooden door shut with a snap.
After doing all this, it turned to the stunned crowd in the room and, with all its might, announced in a hoarse voice, "I... I can take you out!"
"What?"
These words shocked everyone in the room.
The young time travelers, who had been cowering in fear just a moment ago, now had expressions of disbelief on their faces.
"What did you say? Take us out?" The boy with glasses was the first to react, pushing up his glasses and revealing a glint of suspicion in his eyes behind the lenses.
"Are you kidding me?" the girl in the tracksuit couldn't help but ask. "You? A little tree spirit?"
They were just desperately trying to figure out how to escape this hellish place, and now suddenly a little demon appears and says he can take them away. Isn't that too much of a coincidence?
"Were you sent by the Skeleton God to test us? "To see if we're thinking of running away, so you can catch us all in one fell swoop?" another young man said warily.
The old woman with the cane stared sharply at the little tree spirit and said in a deep voice, "Little spirit, don't try to deceive us."
"This divine kingdom is now dominated by the Skeleton God, whose influence is everywhere, with its spies and henchmen everywhere."
"You're just a lowly tree spirit, how could you possibly lead us away?"
She paused, her tone growing even colder: "Could it be that the Skeleton God has come up with some new trick to torment us, and sent you here as bait?"
The little tree spirit was overwhelmed by the barrage of questions.
It scratched its bald head in frustration, and the branch began to shake violently again.
"No, no! I wasn't sent by the Skeleton God!" it tried to explain in a hoarse voice. "I am, I came on the orders of our mountain god! The Mountain God of the Wilderness!"
"The mountain god of the desolate mountain?"
The moment that name was uttered, the atmosphere in the room froze.
The doubt and wariness on the faces of the young time travelers were gradually replaced by a more complex emotion.
"Wait!" The bespectacled boy's eyes widened suddenly. "The Mountain God of the Wilderness? The one we were just talking about, the one who severely injured the Blood God and the Wolf God?"
The girl in the tracksuit covered her mouth as well: "Oh my god! We were just talking about the Mountain Goddess, and she sent a demon?"
This turn of events happened so fast!
Several elderly people were also stunned by this name.
The old man who had helped the person earlier stepped forward and blocked the several obviously agitated young people behind him.
He looked at the little tree spirit, his eyes not as fervent as those of a young man, but rather with a hint of caution.
He asked in a calm voice, "What does that mountain goddess want us to do?"
"As you can see, we are just ordinary people who can't even kill a chicken. We don't have any great skills. At most, we know some rudimentary techniques that you demons might not be able to use."
The old man took a deep breath, his tone becoming firm: "If this mountain goddess also wants to exploit us like the evil spirits of this divine kingdom, then we would rather die here than move!"
His words resonated deeply, representing the sentiments of everyone.
This group of people has had enough of being enslaved by evil spirits.
The little tree spirit was almost frantic with worry, and its few thin branches swayed wildly.
"No! No! The Mountain Goddess is different from them!"
It paced around in a panic, then, as if remembering something, it reached into its dry bark and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper.
It handed the piece of paper to the old man as if it were a precious treasure.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com