Lecherous Old Man!

Star City was a simple medium city located in the middle of the West Mist Country. The bustling markets and the villages to its west made it lively. It was considered one of the safest cities in the West Mist Country due to there being no Beast Hordes in the nearby forests.

Outside of Star City in a large fertile farm behind a hillside, a group of children and men could be seen doing work. Some of the children were crying from the heat and the unbearably tough labor, but they still went on and harvested, watered and textured the field.

"Work harder you little shits! If this entire field isn't harvested by dawn I'll have your bronze thrown into the water! You hear me?! "

An old and broken-toothed man wearing a white Taoist robe shrieked at each and every child working in the field. Not even one child felt brave enough to answer or move towards them as they increased their pace.

"Now that's worthy of my bronze! Keep working like this and I might take one of you to the sect with me. " The old man's soulless were licentiously staring at the bottoms and bodies of the girls as he licked his dry lips. His hand eventually left his robe as he whipped a man using a stick.

At the west end of the field the fruits haphazardly planted in the ground were almost harvest. Most of it was due to the hard work of a boy and a girl.

The boy, hardly fourteen-years old, sighed as he tied a cap on his head using shredded cloth. His petite physique didn't blend well with his surroundings. He was fairly well-looking: his skin was spotless while his face was charming.

"I don't like him one bit. He's so weird, it's like he's trying to make us his dogs… "

The girl, who wore the same tattered clothes like the boy said with a grim frown on her face.

The girl didn't match with her surroundings either. Her delicate and soft features contributed to the lewd leers she occasionally received from the men in the slums. Her blue eyes and dark hair were comforting to the eyes.

She, due to the old man's lecherous behavior, covered up her developing chest and buttocks with plain white cloth, but today, he couldn't bear it as he personally whipped her and tried to rip off her clothes. That's why she was so angry.

"Yuan'gege, don't you think we should…run away? I'm scared… " The girl looked at her feet and coughed. Her usually refreshing voice turned brittle and raspy.

Yuan Ming, the boy's expression turned soft as he extended his hands and rubbed the girl's head. He made a mistake, he shouldn't have chosen to work here…

"Mmm…Yuan'gege…sniff…"

The petite girl broke down and slumped down in Yuan Ming's chest. She softly cried and vented her anger.

"It's fine, it's fine. Don't worry… if that guy tries anything weird again we'll run away from here, I don't really value bronze more than you. "

The two were mysterious to the people on the farm. Who they were and what they used to do, no one knew. It's like they magically popped out of the city!

However, their moment of intimacy was interrupted when a rain of whips fell on their backs!

"Agh!..."

Yuan Ming dexterously moved and covered the girl with his body. In turn he received almost all of the whips.

"It's you two again! Bloody lovebirds, if you don't want to work, why did you take the contract! I'm not paying you bronze to do romance! "

The Taoist robe wearing old man whipped the ground with his stick and stared at Yuan Ming.

"Taoist Lord, we weren't doing anything! Xue'er fell on the ground, so I was just comforting her! "

A spark of desire spread throughout the old man's loins as he sorted his lower robes and looked at the girl, Xue'er. He revealed a worried expression as he moved closer to the duo.

"My my, look at her. She looks like she's bruised, maybe even suffering from a fever! Listen worker Yuan, I'll take her to the infirmary and heal her. She looks feverish, poor girl. "

Children might be dumb at his age, but unfortunately Yuan Ming wasn't born with average intellect. Furthermore, the old man never showed empathy to anyone unless he had bad intentions!

Xue'er weakly shook her head and separated from Yuan Ming. "No, no! I feel good, t-trust me! I don't even have fever! "

"Taoist Lord, you don't have to worry. I can take care of this dumb girl on my own. You must have more important tasks to do."

The old man's hands grabbed Xue'er's hands and kneaded them, "Amitabha, such high fever! Looks like I'll have to put you on rest for a day or two! "

The old man chuckled as he ignored Xue'er's crying and hateful kicks and punches and pulled her to a house on the farm.

Finally, his time had come to taste a young fruit. He had gotten bored from sleeping with older mundane women, so it was granted that he'd be excited this time. The taoist had never seen such a beautiful young girl before, not even in his sect.

"Taoist Lord, Taoist Lord! You can't do this! You bastard! "

Yuan Ming ran after the old man and tried to kick him from behind, but an invisible force kept throwing him back every time he tried to hit him.

Xue'er's screams were silenced when the old man turned around and angrily grabbed Yuan Ming by his clothes and threw him at the forest.

"And stay out! Don't you dare come back here again! Your contract from now is aborted!"

"No...Yuan'gege!!... "

Yuan Ming was immediately knocked out after his head hit a tree. His breathing softened and…

…

…

…

Star City was unusually quiet at midnight. The bustling trade was halted while the streets were clean of travelers.

Far away from the city was a desolate mountain range. There, two men carried a boy and threw him beside a tree and ran away with anxious expressions.

"Quick, run away before someone sees us… "

The men disappeared into the shadows soon. A few moments later, the boy groaned and woke up.

At first, he looked around and tried to figure out his whereabouts. But soon after, he jumped up and started running.

Yuan Ming terrified inside for what the old man might do to Xue'er. Even though he knew the old man was a cultivator, he didn't care.

If anything happens to Xue'er, Yuan Ming would once again turn into an orphan.

He ran and ran, but he couldn't find the city. He was sure he took the right path, unless he was…somewhere way far from the farm.

He looked around and his suspicion was proven true. Yuan Ming wasn't in the little forest behind the farm, he was instead in a mountain range!

"Hell…! Where am I?! "

Yuan Ming's throat dried up as he coughed. He exhaled and tried to calm himself — he was sure nothing bad happened to Xue'er…yeah.

Suddenly, Yuan Ming saw a small signboard behind a tree. He hurriedly walked over.

'Star City — 4 li[¹]to the east.'

'Beware of Rank 1 Beasts living in the hollow caves. '

Yuan Ming turned distressed after he saw the distance between him and the city.

Yet, he braced himself and once again, began running.

Until suddenly, he felt a chill start to envelope him from his legs to his ears…it was a bone-piercing type of chill that he'd never felt before in his life.

Yuan Ming felt his stomach start to cramp; as if something was trying to burst out from the inside. His face instantly turned pale.

Nothing happened next. The solidifying pressure evaporated as Yuan Ming grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground. Yet everything felt strange to him.

The wind had disappeared along with the constant chirping of the birds. Suddenly, it was cold again.

"Clank. Clank. Clannkk….!

The sound of armor hitting armor rang out through the forest as Yuan Ming looked towards the sound with ecstatic eyes. Maybe a human was here?

A thin, feeble black figure leaped in front of Yuan Ming. It's entire body from top to bottom was covered in rotten dark-red muscle. It's pitch-black eyes stared at Yuan Ming soundlessly.

A few knife-like fingers extended from both of its hands…

"KAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

Like a demon from hell, it's mouth released a scream — it was so powerful the bodies of the trees nearby shattered like brittle glass.

Like a tsunami, a tremendous blast of air from the scream attacked Yuan Ming body as he flew away. His ears leaked blood as he started to cry. His ears and nose felt like they were stuffed with hot iron.

Yuan Ming closed his eyes moments after he saw the eldritch being extend its hands and leap towards him.

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1| 1 Li = 0.5km. In this case, 4 Li is 2km