I tried to kill the heroines of destiny, but they ended up chasing after me.

“This…this…” Zhang San’s expression showed a hint of struggle, but after thinking for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “Okay! I’ll do as you say, village chief.”

Upon hearing Zhang San's answer, the village chief smiled slightly and nodded. After finishing the matter, he left Zhang San and Li Lan's residence. Perhaps wanting to vent his anger from the day, he did not go home but went to the nearest town.

Little did they know that the girl in the shadows was now plunged into an abyss, a piercing pain churning within her young heart.

She clutched her chest... and left.

……

Under a large tree near the village.

The girl's heart was breaking, and tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back, knowing that crying was a sign of weakness.

The girl thought this must all be a dream, and that everything would start anew when she woke up. So she closed her eyes and silently prayed, "Wake up! Wake up!"

People always

The girl was sleeping soundly and sweetly in the tree hollow, a smile playing on her lips...

……

At midnight, in the deep of night, in the forest not far from the village, a group of people on horseback were slowly moving forward.

At the front of the group, a burly man said to the middle-aged man beside him, "Boss, let's have a good time tonight. We haven't had meat in months, hahaha..."

"Yeah! Tonight we're definitely going to do it nine times in one night, hahaha!" A skinny, extremely lewd man next to the middle-aged man laughed.

"Blackie, is this village really like you described, with only one cultivator at the mid-stage of the Transcendent Realm and the rest being ordinary people?" the middle-aged man asked.

“Hmm! I heard from Chicken Feather that the village chief went out tonight, so now is the best time for us to take action,” said Blackie behind the middle-aged man.

"Very good! Take a break and get ready to go! Tonight, everyone can run rampant." The middle-aged man said with a sinister smile.

……

The village remained silent at night, with only a few houses showing lights, completely unaware of the impending danger.

A series of barking dogs on the outskirts of the village broke the tranquility of the village.

Most people didn't think much of it, only some observant elderly people felt that something was amiss.

The village dogs never used to bark at night, but now the series of barks is clearly abnormal, and the elders suspect that someone is heading towards the village.

On the other hand, perhaps to fulfill his promise to the village chief, Zhang San also left home an hour later to begin searching for the girl.

But she had only been out for a short while when a group of people rushed in amidst shouts.

"Hahahaha! Everyone, smash it, grab it, play it!" the leader roared menacingly.

"Yes, sir!" the group of subordinates replied.

Chapter 158 Never Treated Gently by the World

Because of the village chief, the village had not been attacked by bandits for a long time, so their awareness of defense was very low.

After hearing a series of shouts, most people were terrified. The lights came on all at once, and many family members fled in all directions.

Upon seeing this, the girl's father ran home without saying a word, knowing that he had to get his wife and children away as quickly as possible.

"Ah!" As screams echoed, some villagers had already died under the hail of knives.

The villagers panicked even more, running around frantically. Some shouted wildly, some didn't dare to breathe, and some were so frightened that their legs went weak and they collapsed to the ground. The children cried loudly. Only a few capable and clever people huddled together and told the villagers not to panic...

But they are ordinary people who have difficulty even protecting themselves, let alone protecting others.

The villagers were already terrified as they watched the butcher-like bandits wield their knives, beheading people in an instant. Seeing a living person hacked to pieces in such a short time sent chills down their spines; they were too frightened to even scream! Some villagers who hadn't been harmed tried their best to escape. In that moment, the village was in complete chaos.

These bandits consisted of about fifty people, most of whom were ordinary people, but a small number of them had cultivation.

The one with the highest cultivation level was the leader, whose cultivation had reached the peak of the Qi Refining Realm.

They were all extremely brutal, killing any man they encountered. Some bandits also showed no mercy to children. They drove women together, and some even killed women on the spot.

They took all the valuables from the village, and in a very short time, a small portion of the dozen or so households had been looted.

Meanwhile, in a tree hollow not far away, a girl who was having a sweet dream was also awakened by the noise from the nearby village. She slowly opened her sleepy eyes, rubbed them, and then saw the bursts of firelight in the village. This immediately woke her up, and she exclaimed in alarm, "The village is on fire?"

Perhaps it was an unconscious act, but the girl didn't care about anything else and ran straight towards the village in surprise.

She was worried about her adoptive parents...

But the moment the girl returned to the village, she froze on the spot.

Because she saw bloodstains on the ground, and she saw villagers lying in pools of blood...

The mangled limbs and pieces of flesh on the ground, the pain and resentment on the faces of the dead, and the crimson blood flowing in the mud all appeared particularly grotesque and terrifying under the firelight and the surrounding environment.

Although the girl was more sensible than other children her age, she had never seen such a bloody scene. She was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, covering her mouth, but still vomited on the ground. She was trembling all over and kept vomiting.

But a sudden worry welled up in her heart, because she didn't know if her adoptive parents or her younger brother were alright. With this thought in mind, she forced herself to run home as fast as she could.

When the girl ran home, he saw his mother sitting on the ground, hugging her disciple, with his father protecting his mother. He then saw a man with a knife rushing towards his parents, raising his large knife...

At that moment, the girl remembered her past with her adoptive parents and how they had once loved her. Overwhelmed by emotion and impulsiveness, she rushed forward.

……

Zhang San was the first to discover the bandits' arrival, and therefore the first to be discovered by them. Upon seeing the fierce-looking men, he shouted, "The bandits are coming!" and ran home, unaware that one of the bandits had followed him.

After returning home, he told his wife about the situation in the village and prepared to escape with his wife and children. However, before they could make a move, a man wielding a long knife broke down the door.

Li Lan was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, clutching her child tightly in her arms. Zhang San rushed to his wife's side and shielded her behind him. However, looking at the bandits who had already raised their knives high in front of them, a sense of despair rose in their hearts.

But at this critical moment, Zhang San saw another thin figure suddenly appear in front of him, and then felt a chill. He then realized that the child they had adopted... had returned!

He was horrified. If a child had suffered such a severe knife wound, he probably wouldn't have survived. But when he saw the girl's expression of gratitude in her final moments, his heart skipped a beat!

"Is this to repay us?" Zhang San suddenly had this thought.

With a hiss, as the knife fell, a deep gash appeared on the girl's thin body. Blood splattered, the cold blood splashing onto the couple, but the biting chill seeped into their hearts.

Gradually, the flowing blood stained the floor of the house red. Li Lan cried out in anguish, but Zhang San, being a man, naturally wouldn't waste the opportunity the girl had given her life for. He took a deep look at the girl, and in his grief, decisively pulled his wife away and quickly fled the place.

The girl was not yet dead, but collapsed in a pool of blood due to physical pain. However, her face was extremely pale, and she was likely to die at any moment.

But at this moment, the bandit with the knife was furious. He snarled, "You little brat, how dare you stop me from killing someone? You're tired of living!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she slashed at Zheng Xie again. Perhaps because the force of this slash was much stronger than the previous one, the intense pain directly invaded the girl's mind, causing her body to churn, and she spat out a mouthful of blood, her chest also feeling a tearing pain.

Immediately afterwards, in his rage, the bandit kicked the girl again, sending her flying and crashing to the ground once more.

The girl's blood was still flowing wildly, but she could no longer feel the pain. She just tried to turn her head and, with blurry eyes, saw a scene not far away.

It was a touching scene where a middle-aged man used his own body to protect his child, but ultimately died under the bandits' broadsword.

This plunged the girl into memories, recalling the times she had been bullied and her mother's patient comforting her, remembering how she had once been loved, and how the village chief had only allowed her to live in the village after her parents' repeated pleas. She remembered so many things…

Images from his childhood flashed through his mind.

But then, the thought of her impending death caused her a strange pain in her heart.

"It hurts...it hurts...it hurts...Mother...my heart aches so much...it hurts so much I want to cry, can I...cry out?" the girl thought to herself, her mind still filled with those images.

"I want... to receive my parents' love, I want... to play with my friends... I want to say so many things... I want to be with my parents, I also want... to sleep in a tree... Mother, I want..." The girl's tears flowed like a spring, and she gradually lost consciousness.

……

The village was filled with screams, wails, pleas for mercy, shrill laughter, and cheers, creating a lively atmosphere. Everywhere you could see two figures overlapping, three or five burly men roasting meat around a fire and laughing heartily! Every now and then, people would come out of the villagers' homes, carrying some valuable items in their hands.

And in a mountain forest.

The villagers who escaped the attack hid among the trees, carrying some protective gear. The women wept bitterly, some because their houses had been looted, some because their husbands had been killed, or some because their children had been killed. Some children cowered to the side, too scared to utter a sound. Some brave children clenched their fists, gritted their teeth, and stared fiercely in the direction of the village, their eyes filled with hatred.

"I'll fight you to the death!" a burly man shouted, then burst out of the crowd and ran wildly toward the village.

Blackie was enjoying himself on a woman's body when he saw a man with a sickle yelling and charging towards him.

"Damn it, how dare you interrupt my fun! You guys go and get him!" Blackie said to the men beside him.

"Yes..." the men said, and charged toward him with their sabers.

"You damned bandits, I'll fight you to the death!" the middle-aged man with a sickle shouted, and swung it at one of the approaching bandits.

But with a clang, his sickle was blocked by a bandit's saber.

"You're asking for death!" a bandit shouted, then swung his knife fiercely at the middle-aged man. Without a doubt, the middle-aged man felt a sweet taste in his throat, and his body slowly fell to the ground.

"Haha, hahaha... You think you can fight us with a little lackey like you!" the bandit sneered, then brandished his saber and hacked wildly at the middle-aged man until the latter's body was hacked beyond recognition before slowly leaving.

The villagers in the mountains watched as the burly man who had charged out alive was instantly chopped into mincemeat. Their eyes turned red with rage. Their neighbor of over ten years had been hacked to pieces right before their eyes, and they were powerless to do anything about it.

"Madam Village Chief, where has the village chief gone? Why hasn't he come back yet? What should we do?" a villager asked angrily to a woman.

"He went to the town market to sell things, I think he should be back soon," the village chief's wife said anxiously.

……

The village chief had indeed returned from town. He was drinking a little wine, humming a tune, and slowly walking towards the village. As he walked, he became a little drunk, so he took off his clothes, bared his chest, and lay down on a large rock, closing his eyes to rest, looking quite comfortable.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, and he felt something was wrong. He looked up in the direction of the village and vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

"It doesn't seem to be a holiday today! Why do I see some firelight... Wait! Firelight?" The village chief was startled and quickly got up, not even bothering to put on his clothes, and ran towards the village.

Every now and then, the village chief smelled a pungent stench of blood not far from the village.

"Huh? Why is there such a strong smell?" The village chief wondered, and ran even faster toward the village.

A while later, the village chief arrived at the village and suddenly saw the villagers who had been hacked to pieces. Overwhelmed with grief and anger, he roared, "Damn it! Where did this petty thief come from, daring to run wild in the village!"

After finishing his sentence, the village chief threw down the bag of gold coins and the small wine jug he was holding. He charged towards a bandit and punched one of the bandits who was committing a despicable act, sending him flying.

With a series of cracking sounds, the bandit coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs; he was clearly beyond saving. A full-force attack from a mid-stage Origin Spirit Realm cultivator would be absolutely fatal to an ordinary person.

"Damn it, I was only gone for a short while and this happened!" the village chief roared.

Although the village chief was domineering, he usually took good care of the villagers. Looking at the corpses of these villagers, he felt a slight sadness.

Upon seeing the horrific scene before him, he was filled with rage.

With the village chief's roar, the bandits all put down what they were holding and looked at him.

"Another one who's not afraid of death! Get him!" Blackie shouted, and then four more men rushed toward the village chief with knives.

At the same time, Xiao Mao said to the middle-aged man who was eating barbecue next to him, "Boss, this is the village chief."

The middle-aged man standing nearby was visibly startled. He threw down the meat in his hand and yelled at Xiao Mao, "Damn it! Didn't you say the village chief wouldn't come back? How come he's here now?"