Mortal: Starting by looting Han Laomo's entire herb garden

Lu Yan sat cross-legged and released Ti Hun from the spirit beast pouch.

The little black monkey landed on my lap, scratching its ears and cheeks, looking completely bewildered.

"The divination says I have to bring you along this time," Lu Yan casually explained, not caring whether Ti Hun understood or not, and directly activated the Nameless Fragment.

-----

The dark and shadowy land.

The gray sky hung low like a canopy, with leaden clouds pressing down very low.

The air was filled with a rotten, sweet, and fishy smell, mixed with the stench of blood and decay, making one want to vomit.

The walls of the stone town were built of rough, black boulders, no more than three zhang high, and covered with claw marks and cracks.

On the city wall, hundreds of villagers, armed with rudimentary weapons—iron forks, machetes, and sharpened wooden sticks—stared intently at the dark mass of beasts outside the city.

The Yinming Beasts swarmed in, like a moving black tide, rushing towards the city wall.

"Here we go again..." A middle-aged man with a full beard gripped his iron fork tightly, his voice trembling. "This beast tide is more than twice as big as the last one."

"Dad, I'm scared." A seven or eight-year-old boy behind him clung tightly to his clothes, his face pale.

The man gritted his teeth, didn't turn around, but simply patted his son's head with his rough hand: "Don't be afraid, Dad's here."

On the city wall, an old man with white hair and beard stood shakily, leaning on a cane. His cloudy eyes gazed at the distant herd of beasts, and his lips trembled.

He is the village chief of this town and has lived here for decades.

No one knew that he was once a cultivator from a small sect in the Great Jin Dynasty, with a cultivation level of late Foundation Establishment.

Unfortunately, in this dark and gloomy place, the aura of spiritual desolation permeated the air, rendering him unable to use his magical powers. He was no different from an ordinary person, and due to his old age and frailty, he was even worse than a strong young villager.

"Village chief, we can't hold out any longer..." A young man beside him cried out, "Let's run!"

"Escape?" The village chief gave a bitter smile, his voice hoarse. "Where can we escape to? No matter how fast we run, we can't outrun them."

A middle-aged woman crouched in a corner, holding her child, tears streaming down her face: "God, someone please save us..."

An old man next to her sighed, "Don't even mention the heavens, even if those immortals who can fly and escape into the earth came here, they wouldn't be able to use their magic here. They're just mortals like us."

Upon hearing this, the village chief's gaze darkened. He was a cultivator, and he knew better than anyone the terror of the Netherworld.

Here, no spells can be used, no magical artifacts can be lit, and even the most powerful cultivator is nothing more than a mortal with greater strength.

Those Netherworld Beasts are thick-skinned and incredibly strong, making them impossible for mortals to handle.

Five hundred zhang. Three hundred zhang. One hundred zhang.

The herd of beasts drew closer, and the ground trembled more and more violently.

The rubble on the city wall was shaken and fell down in a flurry. Some children were so frightened that they cried loudly, while the adults gritted their teeth and gripped their weapons tightly.

Just when everyone thought they were doomed.

boom!

A deafening explosion followed.

It wasn't the impact of the beast tide; something else crashed down from the sky.

In the center of the herd, a crater several meters wide was smashed into the ground, with rubble flying everywhere and dust billowing into the sky.

More than a dozen nearby Netherworld Beasts were blasted away by the shockwave, their bones broken and tendons snapped, twitching and howling on the ground.

The herd of beasts paused for a moment, startled by the sudden turn of events, their crimson eyes all fixed on the large pit.

The dust settled.

A person was standing in the center of the pit.

A young man dressed in a white robe. A small black monkey perched on his shoulder, scratching its ears and looking around.

On the city wall, everyone held their breath for a moment.

silence.

A deathly silence.

Then, things exploded like a pot boiling over.

"That...that's a person?"

"Fell from the sky? He fell from that height, how come he didn't die?"

"Is it an immortal? But aren't immortals supposed to be unable to use magic here?"

The village chief's eyes widened suddenly, and his hunched body involuntarily straightened up.

He stared intently at the white figure, his heart pounding wildly.

Others might not know, but he knew that falling from such a height unscathed was not magic; it was physical strength! Pure physical power!

"Body cultivator..." the village chief murmured to himself, his voice trembling, "It's a body cultivator..."

A villager nearby overheard this and quickly asked, "Village chief, what did you say? What is body cultivation?"

The village chief did not answer; his eyes were fixed on the small black monkey that had jumped off the young man's shoulder.

The little monkey landed on the ground, and its body suddenly swelled. In the blink of an eye, its palm-sized body grew to more than ten feet long, its entire body was pitch black, its eyes were blood red, its mane stood up like steel needles, and a fierce aura burst forth from its body, a hundred times more ferocious than those Netherworld Beasts.

"My God..." someone gasped.

"That monkey turned into a monster!"

The Soul-Crying One opened its mouth wide and inhaled forcefully.

A sudden gust of wind arose, sending sand and stones flying.

A dozen or so Yinming beasts seemed to be pulled by invisible ropes, screaming, struggling, and roaring, and were involuntarily sucked into the mouth of the Soul-Crying Beast.

Those ferocious beasts, as big as oxen, were like paper before Ti Hun, swallowed one after another without even a chance to struggle.

The Soul-Crying Beast's belly swelled up at a visible speed, but it didn't stop, continuing to suck and swallow.

On the city wall, everyone's mouths were agape and their eyes were wide open.

"Swallowed...swallowed?"

"He swallowed more than a dozen in one go?"

"Is this still a monkey?"

A young man dropped his iron fork to the ground with a clatter, completely unaware, his mouth agape as he stared at the giant ape that was still devouring its prey.

A woman holding a child, tears still streaming down her face, murmured, her mouth agape, "This must be sent by immortals..."

The village chief's hands were trembling. Not from fear, but from excitement.

He had cultivated for a hundred years, traveled all over the country, and seen countless spirit beasts, but he had never seen a monster that could devour Yinming beasts.

He knew all too well how troublesome those Netherworld Beasts were; here, mortals were helpless against them and could only risk their lives.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Yinming Beasts that had besieged the town were wiped out.

Thousands of Netherworld Beasts were all swallowed by Tihun.

Tihun let out a burp, patted its round belly, and contentedly shrank back into a little monkey, hopping back onto the young man's shoulder and lazily lying down.

On the city wall, there was a deathly silence once again.

Everyone stared at the young man in white robes in the pit, their eyes filled with awe, fear, shock, and disbelief. No one spoke; no one dared to speak.

Then, someone shouted "Immortal!" and immediately afterward, a chorus of kneeling sounds rang out, and a dark mass of people knelt down.

"An immortal! An immortal has descended to earth!"

"The immortals have saved us!"

"Thank you so much, immortal, for saving my life!"

An old man, tears streaming down his face, kowtowed repeatedly, crying, "Heaven has opened its eyes! Heaven has opened its eyes..."

The woman holding the child pressed the child to the ground and kowtowed, muttering, "Thank you, immortal, thank you, immortal..."

The village chief stared at the young man in white robes, his mind churning. A body cultivator, definitely a body cultivator!

In the Netherworld, without magical power, only body cultivators who have practiced top-level body-refining techniques can possess such physical strength!

Just then, a slightly larger Yinming Beast emerged from some corner and silently pounced on the back of the young man in white robes.

This Netherworld Beast was larger than the ordinary ones, with thicker scales and longer claws, clearly the leader of the pack.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Soul-Crying Demon finished its work, it launched a surprise attack from the side, its sharp claws aimed straight for the back of the heart, as fast as lightning.

"Watch out!" a villager blurted out.