Madam, please ascend.

Chapter 110 Rat Village
Ever since the veins of the earth in the world of cultivation began to move frequently, the demons, ghosts, and monsters in this world have become restless and active.

In Yun Yi’s memory from his previous life, there was a white-haired rat demon lurking in Black Cloud Mountain.

At first, the rat demon only moved around in the mountains, but later it gradually began to covet the people living at the foot of the mountain and even ate them.

Yun Yi and Song Xinci discovered this place by chance and killed the monster. They then followed the clues and found a secret underground palace in Heiyun Mountain, where they discovered the Nine-Revolution Soul-Fixing Pearl.

Yun Yi vaguely remembered that the White-Haired Rat King was equivalent to the Divine Transformation Realm of a human cultivator. Apart from a few magical treasures that required one to be wary of, there was no other threat from him.

Therefore, in this life, he was determined to obtain the Nine-Revolution Soul-Fixing Pearl, and he did not find it difficult even if he brought Ye Nianyi with him.

Because the memories of the two lives were separated by several years, the small village at the foot of the Black Cloud Mountain was not consistent with the memory, and there were actually some people living there.

The village is called Panyun Village. There is a small path leading directly to Heiyun Mountain. It was built by villagers over decades to make it convenient for them to go up the mountain to hunt, chop firewood, and pick mountain products.

Unexpectedly, after the earth veins moved abnormally, a rat demon appeared in the mountains and occupied this road.

Originally, the Great Xia Dynasty or the surrounding mountain sects should have taken action to eliminate the demons and solve the rat infestation. However, because the Great Xia was in a period of turmoil and was unable to take care of itself, no one was sent here.

As for those sects on the mountain, because Panyun Village was sparsely populated and had never received any offerings, they had not noticed the changes in the place at all.

Of course, now that I think about it, there must be other reasons why the news of the rat infestation didn't spread and no residents went out to seek help.

Yun Yi took Ye Nianyi to the entrance of the village and found a burly man guarding the entrance. He looked strange. Although he was tall, his temperament was vulgar and hard to describe.

Just then, a thin young man came out of the village pushing a wooden cart full of firewood.

The boy looked to be only in his teens, and the cart was too big for him to push, making it look like he was struggling. For a child of his age to be working, it seemed like something had happened at home, and the adults were either too busy or... there were no adults at all.

The guard stopped the boy and said angrily, "What are you going to do?"

The thin boy lowered his head, his body trembling, and replied, "Going to the town to sell firewood..."

"Well, selling firewood?" The guard had shifty eyes and a hoarse, harsh voice that was quite unpleasant to the ear.

He glanced at the young man and ignored him, instead starting to inspect the carriage, his big nose constantly moving as he sniffed, unlike a human.

Yun Yi and Ye Nianyi were still some distance away from the village entrance, so they were not discovered.

Ye Nianyi whispered, "That big man doesn't seem... human?"

Yun Yi exclaimed in admiration, "You've never left Crescent City, yet you have such keen eyesight?"

"Although I haven't seen a monster myself, there are many written about them in the storybooks."

"The big man is now half human, half demon. Judging from the blood on his body, he must have eaten humans."

As the two were talking, the guard seemed to smell something and suddenly lay down on the cart, sniffing hard and sweeping the firewood all over the floor. The young man stood by, shaking with fear, his eyes wide open, obviously hiding something from the guard.

Seeing this, Yun Yi said, "Let's go, it's time for us to go on stage."

Ye Nianyi was confused and had to follow.

As the two appeared, the guard suddenly looked up, sniffed twice in this direction, and then revealed an extremely creepy smile on his face.

He asked, "Where are you two coming from and where are you going?"

Yun Yi said, "I just happened to pass by here. My sister is not feeling well and I want to find a place to stay."

The guard glanced at Ye Nianyi and secretly praised her for being such a pretty and tender girl, almost drooling.

At this moment, the thin young man suddenly mustered up the courage, rushed over and said, "We don't allow outsiders in our village, so hurry up and leave!"

The guard got angry when he heard this and kicked the boy to the ground, "What nonsense!"

He smiled again and said, "Let's stay here, huh? It's simple, I'll take you inside and find a place to rest."

Yun Yi said, "No rush."

Ye Nianyi hurriedly helped the young man up from the ground, and glanced towards the wooden cart. She found that the cart seemed to move when he fell just now.

The guard asked, "What else do you two distinguished guests need?"

Yun Yi pointed at the mountain peak covered by dark clouds and said, "Why is there smoke coming out of that mountain suddenly? Could there be a fire on the mountain?"

“What?!” The guard was shocked when he heard this and quickly turned to look at the top of the hill.

Everything on the mountain was as usual, pitch black, without a trace of fire.
He turned back and said with a smile: "Are you dazzled, sir?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the smile on his face froze instantly and his body suddenly became motionless.

It was Yun Yi who took advantage of his unpreparedness and struck him on the back of the head with a divine thought.

Yun Yi supported the unconscious guard and said, "How come you fell asleep while talking? I'll find a good place for you so you can have a good sleep." Then he put him in the shade at the entrance of the village.

When Yun Yi returned to Ye Nianyi, the young man lowered his voice and said, "There are many monsters on the mountain. You should leave quickly."

Yun Yi ignored the young man and instead focused his gaze on the wooden cart. He asked, "Who is hiding here?"

The skinny boy was startled, but being young and naive, he answered honestly, "It's my sister."

"What happened in the village?"

"The rat demon in the mountains eats people every now and then. In a few days, it will be my sister's turn." After hearing this, Ye Nianyi said angrily: "Eat people?!"

The young man was much shorter than Ye Nianyi and looked pitiful. He explained, "My parents told me that there used to be a mass grave next to the village. At first, the rats only ate the corpses there, but then, for some reason, their appetites grew bigger and bigger..."

Yun Yi thought about it and realized that he came to Black Cloud Mountain earlier this time than in his previous life, so the village had not yet been eaten up by the rat demon.

Speaking of that white-haired rat demon, it most likely came for the treasure.

However, the Nine-Turn Soul-Fixing Pearl was protected by many formations and puzzles. In the previous life, the rat demon studied hard for several years but was unable to obtain the pearl. In the end, Yun Yi teamed up with Song Xinci to win it.

Ye Nianyi asked: "Why don't you leave the village quickly?"

The young man replied, "The rat demon has sent people to guard the village gate, and... the village chief won't let us wander around, saying that if we anger the mountain gods, none of us will survive."

Ye Nianyi stamped her feet, turned to Yun Yi and said, "There must be something wrong with the village chief!"

Yun Yi was quite satisfied with this clever girl: "Yes."

"Then what should we do? Brother Yun, are you going to go in and get rid of the monster?"

The skinny boy got anxious when he heard this: "There are a lot of monsters on the mountain, you must not go there to die!"

The girl hiding in the firewood pile finally emerged in panic upon hearing her brother's voice. She looked no more than six or seven years old, her clothes were dirty, and her hair was dry and gray.

The girl was a little shy, so she immediately hid behind her brother, her little hands tightly clutching her brother's tattered sleeves.

These rat demons are really committing evil!

Yun Yi thought about it. Although charging in directly was the most direct approach, he was now with Ye Nianyi, and considering that in order to avoid hurting the villagers, he had to think of a better way.

He glanced at the guard who was still in a coma. The guard was half human and half demon. He must have taken advantage of the rat demon to become like this and turned into a rat demon.

I'm afraid there are similar creatures in the village, which is why no one has been able to escape from here and go out for help.

Yun Yi said, "If we act rashly, we might alert the enemy. It's better to capture the leader first."

Ye Nianyi's eyes lit up: "You mean, we should find a way to get directly to the mountain?"

The young man had just witnessed Yun Yi using his divine power to knock the guard unconscious. Combining the two people's words, he vaguely guessed what was going on. He knelt down and said, "You must be immortals. Please save me and my sister!"

A-mei followed her brother's example and did the same.

Yun Yi asked, "Where are your parents?"

"They have all been sent to the mountains..."

It turned out that he was an orphan, with only a brother and sister left to depend on each other.

Ye Nianyi's eyes were full of sympathy. "Where did you originally plan to escape to with your sister?"

The thin young man replied, "To the town thirty miles away, which is guarded by soldiers. I've gone there with my father to buy goods before."

Ye Nianyi hurriedly helped the boy up and brushed off the dust on A'mei's body. Then she took out some silver from her small bag and handed it to them, saying, "Don't worry about the firewood. Let's go find a place to stay in the town first."

After saying that, she looked at Yun Yi again, as if asking whether this was appropriate.

Yun Yi said, "Okay. If you think the town is too far, just find a suitable place to stay nearby. Come back after the village returns to normal."

After hearing this, the young man nodded repeatedly, as if he was afraid that the immortal would go back on his word, and hurriedly pulled his sister away.

Ye Nianyi asked: "Has Brother Yun already made a plan?"

Yun Yi replied: "I do have an idea, but the question now is whether or not to leave you outside."

"Ah? Can you please not leave me alone..."

Yun Yi smiled and glanced at the girl, thinking that it was Ye Nianyi's first time going on a long journey, and he really felt uneasy leaving her alone like this.

"What goodies are hidden in that little bag of yours? Do you have any treasures to hide your figure?"

"Yes, it's called the Shadowless Bell. When you ring it, you can become invisible for a moment. I used it to sneak out of the City Lord's Mansion before."

Yun Yi thought for a moment and said, "This thing should be able to deceive ordinary people, but the rat demon has a very sensitive nose, so it's probably impossible to deceive it. It seems that we need to find another way."

Ye Nianyi asked curiously: "What method?"

"We don't know yet. Let's go into the village first and see what happens."

Although he had no idea how to go up the mountain, Yun Yi already had a comprehensive plan for how to enter the village.

Following Yun Yi's instructions, Ye Nianyi prepared protective magic weapons in advance and hid among the firewood.

Her small bag was filled with a lot of good things, all of which were treasures that Ye Ling had saved over the years. He packed them all for his daughter on this trip.

Yun Yi then used the "Perfect Clothes" technique, transforming into a guard. After doing so, he killed Shu Chang with a single strike of sword power, swiftly and efficiently, and tossed his body into the nearby woods.

He touched his deformed facial features and found that he had the same shifty eyes as that man, and was very ugly.

Yun Yi couldn't help but smile bitterly. He didn't expect that the first time Song Xinci taught him the secret method would be used in this situation.

(End of this chapter)