He let the others walk in front, and he followed behind, while An Shuyi and Xia Hua followed behind them.
An Shuyi replied, "We are mountain people who live in the mountains and rarely come out. We went to Baiyun City to visit relatives. We are used to living in the mountains and it is not very dangerous."
"Mountain folks, that's wonderful!" The older man clapped his hands happily and said cheerfully, while the other men also laughed heartily.
“Good?” An Shuyi looked puzzled and spoke innocently, “What’s so good about these mountain people? They can’t get enough to eat or wear, and they live in fear every day, afraid that they’ll end up in the mouth of a tiger.”
“Young lady, you’re right. That’s not good at all. Look, our village is just ahead,” the older man said, looking eager.
An Shuyi asked in surprise, "Your village has so many houses, that's amazing! I wonder how many people live in your village? We mountain people live in the mountains, and only a few families live in one place. Some even live in caves. Houses like these are rare." She looked envious at the end.
“Young lady, if you like our village, you can stay for a few more days. The villagers will definitely welcome you. There are more than sixty people in our village. Although it’s not a lot, fewer people means more space,” one of the men said.
"That's too kind of us. We're visiting relatives, so one night is fine."
The older man waved his hand, "Young lady, don't be shy. It's fine to stay a few more days. Our village will definitely treat you to good food and drink."
"By the way, since you are mountain people, you must rarely eat white flour steamed buns, right? I'll have the child's mother steam some for you later, as well as rice, it's very delicious."
"White flour steamed buns, rice, no need to trouble yourself, these are such good things, you can eat them. We eat black flour and mixed grain cakes in the mountains, we've never even seen such good things before." After saying that, he swallowed, he had talked a bit too much and was thirsty.
"Don't be so polite, sister. We eat these steamed buns all the time. Please come in, this is my home." As they spoke, they had already entered the village.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua didn't speak, but looked at the people who appeared around them. There were old and young people, but not many. The rest were men. When they saw the two of them, they looked like monsters seeing Tang Sanzang's flesh. They looked at the house in front of them, and there was a woman in the courtyard.
Seeing them arrive, he was delighted. "Young ladies, are you here to stay the night? Please come in."
An Shuyi looked embarrassed. "Yes, we're here to stay. We're sorry to trouble you, ma'am." With that, the two of them went into the courtyard.
"Don't be shy. When we're out and about, it's always you helping me and me helping you. Please sit down, I'll go get you some water." The woman said as she left, looking relieved. After they went inside, more than a dozen men came in, and the courtyard gate was closed.
"Would you like some water too? That lady already got some, but why is the gate still closed? It's such a hassle to open it if someone comes." An Shuyi said, preparing to find a place to sit, but after looking at the stool, she hesitated for a second and decided to stand instead.
Xia Hua found it amusing to see her still playing at this hour, but not wanting to disturb her, she could only stand quietly behind her.
"Village chief, do you think this woman is stupid? We still don't know what's going on," said the less-than-ideal-looking man.
"They might be a bit stupid because they were raised in the mountains, but they're only there to have babies. What does it matter if they're stupid or not? They're still useful. I didn't expect to be so lucky this time, finding two women at once, and they're quite good-looking too," said the older man, who turned out to be the village chief.
"They are indeed beautiful, with fair and tender skin. But the mountain people are not living poorly, so how come they are raised so well?" one of the men asked, puzzled.
“What do you know? I heard that the mountain people don’t lack meat, so they naturally raise their animals better. But isn’t this even better? It’s a direct benefit for us,” another man said.
An Shuyi listened to their conversation, rubbed her fingers together, glanced around the yard, but couldn't find anything suitable. Finally, she put her hands behind her back and held a large knife in her hand, which Hua Hua had brought to her from behind.
The knife wasn't very sharp before; it couldn't even kill the python. So I asked Hua Hua to take it and sharpen it, but I left it with her instead of giving it to her.
"Hua Hua, I'll handle these people. You just keep an eye on them." With that, she raised her broadsword and slashed at the group. However, she didn't kill them with a single blow. Instead, she avoided vital points. Killing them directly would be too easy for them; she had to torture them properly first.
Hearing her say that, Xia Hua didn't make a move, but stood aside and watched.
Although there were many of them and they were strong, they were all farmers who didn't know any martial arts. What An Shuyi had learned was the art of killing. Although it wasn't fatal, the villagers were still quickly hacked to the ground.
The men, some with broken legs and others with severed hands, dared not get up and could only lie on the ground howling in pain. Meanwhile, the people outside the courtyard, hearing the strange noises, climbed over the walls to look inside.
But when they saw it, they were so shocked that they fell off the wall. Then, as if they couldn't believe it, they climbed back up the wall.
Xia Hua glanced at the group of people to prevent anyone from escaping, and not wanting to let anyone outside escape, she put her hands behind her back, took out a large knife, and headed outside.
Seeing that she had already left, An Shuyi ignored the villagers on the wall and looked at the person lying on the ground. "How long have you been doing this?"
The village chief said, "Young lady, no, hero, we didn't do anything. We just invited you to rest in the village for the night." He then looked completely innocent.
But the next second, a knife was held directly to his neck. "You'd better tell the truth, or I might spare your life. But if you don't, there are plenty of people in the village who know, and I'm sure they'll be happy to tell me."
She and Huahua noticed something was wrong the moment they saw these men. Besides their fierce and menacing appearance, they also had a foul, rotten smell about them, the kind of smell that only comes from eating meat.
The way they looked at her and Huahua was chilling. They didn't want to get involved in this, but they didn't want these people to harm more women, so they decided to come here.
She thought only those few men were bad, and the rest of the villagers were good, but she was surprised to find that none of them were good, not even the woman from earlier. This disappointed her greatly.
"I'll talk!" The village chief was so frightened by the knife to his neck that he fell to the ground. "This is the second time...!" Feeling the knife slicing across his neck and the blood flowing out, the man said in terror, "Don't kill me, I'll talk. There have been too many times, I can't even remember anymore. Although our village is two days' journey from Baiyun City..."
“Many people pass through here. Whenever someone passes through, we kill the men and keep the women to have children for us. After that, very few people come here, so we go out of the village to kidnap people.”
"I didn't run into you on a hunting trip; I was looking for women."
"Where are all the women and children from your village? Where did they all go?" An Shuyi asked again.
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