Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

Mo Fan and Chen Yi proceeded into the direction that Guo Muzhuang had mentioned. They discovered the remains of a person, but they could not tell if it belonged to the guy they were looking for.

"It must be him. I remember seeing him wearing a bracelet," Chen Yi glanced at the corpse left in the bushes and said softly, "I thought it was going to be a normal adventure. I didn't think something so scary would happen so quickly."

"It seems like the government didn't really investigate the mountain thoroughly. These Hillmen are brutal and like to feed on humans. They are no weaker than Warrior-level creatures, and they know how to work together to set up traps for their prey, too. Hopefully, there aren't too many of these Hillmen in Mount Kunyu. Otherwise, many inexperienced Hunters are just going to fall into their hands," Mo Fan said.

After burying the man's corpse, Mo Fan and Chen Yi took the same way back.

Neither was that good with directions, so they ended up going to a different place. They noticed a purple light glittering in the distance. It was like a sacred tree in a primordial forest mentioned in a fairy tale!

"There's a Giant Purple Linden here too!" Chen Yi blurted out in surprise.

"This Giant Purple Linden is more aged. Its crown is almost touching the ground," Mo Fan noticed.

Since they were standing quite a distance away, they could only see the tree's leaves at first. However, they halted in their track after taking a few more steps forward. They stared at the patches of grass covered in fresh blood surrounding the Giant Purple Linden!

There was blood and remains everywhere. Some were in such bad shape that it was impossible to tell if they belonged to a human. However, the backpacks, clothes, and torn limbs clearly indicated that they were most likely humans!

"My Heavens!" Chen Yi's face turned pale. Even she lost her calm, despite how experienced she was. She leaned against a tree nearby and started vomiting.

Mo Fan frowned. Some young Hunters would have fainted right away upon witnessing the 'colorful' sight.

"Many have died here. It seems not every cry we heard was the Hillmen imitating us, but the cries of the victims that fell into their hands," Mo Fan said.

"What...what exactly is going on here!?" Chen Yi was completely lost for words.

Chen Yi was clearly scarred by the gruesome sight. Mo Fan decided to tell her something even more disgusting, hoping that it would help to clear her mind.

Mo Fan saw the others quarreling as they regrouped with the team.

"Any luck?" Zhong Mi quickly asked.

"We only found this," Mo Fan placed the bracelet that was stained with blood on the ground.

Everyone's face immediately paled.

Chen Binbin strongly disagreed with the suggestion of leaving after seeing the bracelet. He insisted on staying put until Elder Wang Dakuo returned.

Most of the others wanted to stay behind too.

"We can't just watch him die," Zhao Manyan said with a sigh, looking at Guo Muzhuang.

"We'll try to find a Healer then," Mo Fan said.

Guo Muzhuang was still holding onto his last breath. There was an excellent chance he would survive if they could find a Healer. Therefore, there was no reason for them to watch him die in pain.

"I think it's better if we leave this place. Mo Fan and I saw another Giant Purple Linden not far away from here. The area was stacked with corpses," Chen Yi said.

"But...but if we keep wandering around aimlessly, we won't be able to regroup with the Elder. He should be back any time now!" Chen Binbin exclaimed.

"Humph, just go if you want. Make sure you don't end up as a skeleton somewhere," Wang Hua said.

"Let's just stick with Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan. They are just as strong as the Elder," Chen Yi said.

"HAHAHA, are you seriously comparing them with the Elder? They are just pretending to be heroes!"

---

The team ended up splitting into two. Mo Fan did not force the others to come with them. They had to try and save Guo Muzhuang. As such, Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan decided to part ways with the others.

Zhao Manyan was carrying Guo Muzhuang, whose lost legs were roughly sealed, on his back. Guan Xixi chose to stick with them, too.

"Lingling, everything that happened so far has been unbelievable. The information we gathered never mentioned anything about the Hillmen," Mo Fan said.

Mo Fan was quite bothered by the corpses around the Giant Purple Linden. It did not feel like the Hunters were searching for treasure, but that they had walked right into a trap that the demon creatures had carefully planned!

"The Hillmen aren't from around here. As a matter of fact, whenever a territory loses its ruler, lots of demon creatures would come and compete for it. I just didn't expect a dangerous species like the Hillmen to come all the way to Mount Kunyu too! I believe it's necessary to alert the government and the army, so they can call off the Hunters who came to try their luck," Lingling said.

Not every Hunter was as strong as Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan. Zhao Manyan could take out a Hillman easily because he was an Advanced Mage, not to mention the training he had gone through...

Meanwhile, most Hunters that came to Mount Kunyu were only in the Intermediate Level, or even lower! Mages below the Intermediate Level clearly had no chance against the Hillmen, and would end up dying brutally. Even the Intermediate Mages did not necessarily stand a chance against the Hillmen.

A group of seven Intermediate Mages with a certain level of synergy could barely handle a Hillman. Unfortunately, the Hillmen knew how to work together, too. They even knew to imitate, terrorize, and split up their prey. Most people that came to Mount Kunyu were Hunters, but somehow Mo Fan believed that the Hillmen were the real hunters instead, since many Hunters had ended up as a grand feast to them!

"The problem is that we don't really know how many Hillmen there are. If there's only a bunch of them, most experienced Hunters wouldn't even care. These man-eating Hillmen are the least of their concerns, compared to the chance of earning a few hundred thousand yuan with every few steps," Zhao Manyan said.

Lingling did not want to risk more innocent lives. Almost seventy percent of the groups that came to Mount Kunyu could not handle the Hillmen. She felt uneasy whenever she thought about the people being brutally eaten by the creatures.

"Yeah, I guess what we say doesn't really matter. The government and the army wouldn't give up their plan to cleanse the mountain so easily, and the Hunters aren't going to give up their chance of earning a fortune," Mo Fan said.

"Let's just focus on finding a Healer," Chen Yi said.

---

Mo Fan summoned the Flying Creek Snow Wolf, who could easily pick up the scent of humans.

They soon stumbled into a group of Hunters who seemed to have earned a lot from the adventure. However, when Mo Fan mentioned the Hillmen, they all shook their heads and said they did not stumble into them.

It was a pity that there was no Healer in the group of Hunters. The chance of Guo Muzhuang surviving became slimmer.

Left with no choice, they continued to look for other teams. They were used to having a Healer with them when they were on the national team. However, as they kept searching for a Healer in the woods while watching Guo Muzhuang dying, both Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan realized how cruel it was to watch a person who had a chance to live dying slowly just because they could not find a Healer.

As a matter of fact, Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan had spent most of their time in reputable schools or teams with elites. It was not difficult for them to recruit a Healer, considering how strong they were. Some Healers would even take the initiative to approach them...

Unfortunately, Healers were extremely rare among Hunters, even the more famous Hunter Groups.

It was more appropriate to say that Guo Muzhuang had no chance of surviving. If he was lucky enough to find a Healer, it would probably be because he had done a lot of good deeds in his previous life!

------

"Brother Mao, those young Mages said there are Hillmen around here. Do you believe them?" asked a man in a green shirt in the group of Hunters that Mo Fan had just stumbled into.

The Hunter referred to as Brother Mao glanced into the direction that Mo Fan and his crew were heading. He spat on the ground and said, "Is it your first time out in the wild? Haven't you heard that some novice Hunters like to spread rumors to scare their competitors away?"

"Huh? Why would they do that?" the man asked confusedly.

Brother Mao slapped the man on the head and snapped, "Are you as dumb as a pig?"

"Rumors are normally scarier than the truth. I bet their description of how the Hillmen were torturing and eating humans brutally is just something they came up with, or perhaps they heard it from someone else too. They are just trying to scare some Hunters away, so they could secure more loot," a girl wearing a pair of glasses with black frames said with a strange grin.

"I see, I see, how cunning were they, I almost fell for it...ah, hang on, I did see that the man they were carrying had lost his lower legs..."

"Are you stupid? They must have infuriated some creatures guarding a Giant Purple Linden, and the man ended up losing his lower limbs. Isn't that pretty common?"

"You're right. They must be jealous after seeing the others with the demon crests, so they started spreading rumors around."

"Xiao Bao, you only became a Hunter a few months ago. There are lots of things to learn still. Don't just believe everything someone tells you!" Brother Mao stood in front of the group and gave his piece of advice.

"Brother Mao is right!"

Brother Mao continued forward. He was about to tell Xiao Bao the common tricks that Hunters usually used against their competitors when he accidentally stepped into a pond of water.

Luckily, Brother Mao was pretty nimble. He turned around and did a cool side flip to avoid the pond while stabilizing himself.

"Holy shit, why didn't any of you warn me..." Brother Mao blurted out. However, he was stunned as he looked down.

His eyes widened. His face was filled with fear. The pond was not filled with water, but the blood, remains, and organs of humans. Most terrifyingly, when he spread the bushes nearby apart with his hands, he saw a piece of skin hanging in the air. it was covered in blood, and it looked like it belonged to a human!