Chapter 162: Greener than Black

"Daddy, what's happening!?"

"S...save me please!"

"Please don't hurt my son!"

"Why are you doing this!?"

"You are hurting my daughter!"

The people filled the entire village with their screams and shouts of resistance. Even with the darkness encroaching their village, their eyes were still filled with fire and resolution. But those fires were quickly extinguished as a cold voice drowned their screams.

"Resist any further and we will be forced to kill all of you", one of the men pointed his sword towards one of the men who refused to give his child, "Give us your child or we will cut off your head in front of him"

"You think we will just follow your demands!?", one of the villagers rushed towards the Heaven Bamboo disciple, but unfortunately, before he could even touch a hair, his arm was cut down.

"Urgh!", the man kneeled in pain as he tried to stop the blood that was spurting from his arm.

"H...honey!"

"Why you!", seeing one of their friends being harmed, the rest of the men of the village all rushed towards the Heaven Bamboo sect disciple that had his weapon drawn. But the only thing they accomplished was a death.

The man that was unfortunate enough to be the first to rush towards the Heaven Bamboo disciple was cleanly pierced through his forehead.

They couldn't even see the man moved. He then pulled out his sword, and before the villager's body could even start to fall to the ground, he cut off his head.

"It seems that we were really not clear enough", the Heaven Bamboo sect disciple waved his sword, cleaning the blood off his sword, "We are already being lenient by giving you a choice, some of the monkeys we have encountered were not so lucky"

"We will never give up our children"

But even with the disciple's threats, the villagers' resolution to protect their children did not dwindle even once. Their cries drowned the night even further as they once again continued their advance towards the unmovable mountain in front of them.

"So be it", the disciple said, "We will raise your children as brave as you are"

He raised his sword as the air around him became hotter, but before he could even swing it, he saw his vision shift and felt himself flying in the air, only stopping when he hit a tree.

The villagers instantly stopped in their tracks as they saw their assailant being thrown into the air like a ragdoll.

The disciple, of course, was even more visibly confused as he felt the aching pressure on his stomach.

"Liu Bai!?", the rest of the disciples all rushed towards the disciple that was flung away. Why did their senior suddenly fly away? They all thought as they assisted him up.

The three of them then looked in the direction where Liu Bai was previously standing, and there, a green-haired kid replaced his spot.

His arms were stretched, and his hand was rolled into a fist.

Could it be, this kid punched Liu Bai without them even noticing? But as they were still deliberating as to what really happened, the green-haired kid spoke.

"Please, leave our village", he said in a very calm tone.

Seeing the green-haired kid, Liu Bai could not help but smile even with the aching pressure still throbbing in his stomach.

"...Interesting", he muttered. He then looked at one of the disciples and bobbed his head, signaling for him to attack the green-haired kid.

The skinny disciple quickly disappeared from his spot as he rushed towards the green-haired kid. He spread his hands wide as it hovered straight to the green-haired kid's neck, but before it could reach it, the green-haired kid suddenly disappeared.

"!!!"

The skinny disciple's vision instantly turned black after. He could taste the earth on his lips as he was slammed to the ground.

Seeing his junior brother being toyed around, even if he didn't have an intention to kill, Liu Bai's smile turned even wider.

"There was someone like that in this worn-out village!?", he could not help but exclaim. But his eyebrows then furrowed, 'The kid somewhat looks familiar', he thought.

The villagers all looked at each other, their jaws wide open as expressions of confusion filled their entire faces.

They all had one thought, 'Whose kid is that!?'

The only one who didn't have a confused expression on her face was the mother that was saved earlier from the goblins. Instead, her eyes were squinted as she stared intensely towards the newly arrived green-haired kid.

When the green-haired kid noticed that she was looking at him, he winked at her.

"Ah!", the mother pointed at the green-haired kid, "It's him!", she then blurted out.

"You know him!?", the villager that was near her asked.

Hearing this, the green-haired kid's eyes quickly turned wide as a few drops of sweat appeared from his face. Obviously, this green-haired kid was Viel, once again in another disguise.

"T...this…", the mother stuttered as he saw the green-haired kid's nervous expression. But seeing as he changed the color of his hair, she was sure that he was in disguise. And so, in panic, there was only one thing that the mother could think of…

"He...he… he is my illegitimate son!", she shouted.

Liu Bai released a scoff as soon as he heard what the woman said. 'So that's why he looked so familiar', he thought.

"What!?", the woman's daughter stood up, "...When!?". Seeing the green-haired kid, she was sure that she was older than him. When did her mother even have the time to get pregnant, and how was she able to hide it from her!?

The mother wanted to pull out her hair, out of all the things that she could think of, why did she blurt that out? But as she was regretting her choice of words, her illegitimate son's chuckled echoed through the air.

"Fufufu. Let me protect you…", he said, "...mother"

Hearing the green-haired kid's confident words, another one of the Heaven Bamboo sect disciples rushed towards Viel.

"Hmph!", he harrumphed, "I don't care whose whore's son you are, I will show you the vastness of the world, bo--"

But before he could even finish his words, he felt a tinge of pain on his cheek as he felt his body move to the side.

"!!!"

The other disciples could not help but widen their eyes in shock. That was too fast.

"No one calls my mother a whore but me", the green-haired kid said.

"What…?", the villagers were confused… what was that even supposed to mean?

But before they could inquire at each other, another laugh resounded in the village, it was Liu Bai's.

"I admit, boy", he scoffed, "You are stronger than I initially thought. What is your name?"

Hearing this question, Viel started to sweat. He didn't really think that far ahead, his sister Xing Cai and Sofia did not really mention anything about someone asking for his name.

But after a few seconds, he released a silent smile.

"My name…", he whispered, "...is Zachary!"

Liu Bai nodded, "I will tell you what, Xia Ka Ri--"

"It's Zachary!"

"That's what I said", Liu Bai waved his hand, "I will tell you what… Come with us peacefully and we will leave the rest of the village alone"

"What!?", one of the disciples furrowed his eyebrows, "What about the other children, senior?"

"Do you think that after seeing the strength of this green-haired kid, I still have interest with the other children?", Liu Bai released a smirk, "He alone is worth more than this village and the batch we got from the previous dungeon combined"

"I… I see! You are truly a genius, senior Liu Bai!"

"You… will leave the village alone?", Viel relaxed his stance.

Liu Bai nodded, "Yes. But if you try anything funny, we will kill everyone here and we will take you by force. You may be strong, but I am telling you… I am stronger than you", Liu Bai looked at the green-haired kid straight in the eye.

"You should know by now that we are not jo--"

"Okay, I will come with you. As long as you do not hurt anyone else"

Before Liu Bai could finish his next words, Viel casually walked towards him with his arms raised in surrender.

Seeing the green-haired kid's willingness in the matter, Liu Bai could only nod his head once again, "You have my word".

"Senior, I still do think we should take someone--"

The other disciple whispered something in Liu Bai's ears, but he could not even finish his sentence as he felt a chilling pressure climb through his spine. He gulped. He then turned his trembling head towards the direction from where the pressure is coming from.

And there, he saw the green-haired kid staring at him, his pitched black eyes almost felt like it was penetrating his soul.

"Maybe I also wasn't clear enough..., the green-haired kid breathed, "If you hurt anyone else in this village…

...I will kill every last one of you"