Chapter 214 Offering Day

"Tomorrow is already the offering day?" Lu Tianzi looked at the bags of food scattered all around the floor.

He was currently back in Ye's house, watching on as Ye and his wife carefully packed food into individual bags. Most of what they had were fishes obtained by Ye and Rui, but his wife had also added in a considerable amount of meat that she obtained from working in the village.

"That's right!" Ye nodded enthusiastically. "Thankfully, we managed to meet the quota this time! And to top it off, a big part of our contribution is comprised of fishes, supposedly the God of Pestilence's favourite food!"

"Sounds like it has been a good month. But what happens if you are unable to meet the quota?" Lu Tianzi asked out of curiosity.

"Well, then we would just have to sacrifice a portion of our food for the coming month! If the difference is too huge, we might even have to borrow food from others. So in order not to be a burden to others, everyone tries to hit our allocated quota," Ye answered truthfully. "Things are easier for now, but winter is quickly approaching. That is when many people start failing to meet the quota and end up starving."

"Don't tell our guest such depressing things," Ye's wife shot him a warning glare. "You are scaring him."

"What's wrong with telling the truth?" Ye shrugged off his wife's caution and continued to blabber on. "Brother Lu, you are new here so you probably have no idea how bad it is in winter. During bad years, some people actually die of starvation! You know Chen Meng, the youngster whom you have been hanging out with? His grandmother suffered the same fate just last year!"

"Chen Meng's grandmother did?" Lu Tianzi muttered in surprise.

"All right, that's enough from you," Ye's wife grabbed Ye and dragged him into the room. "You will be working in there for the rest of the night."

"Fine, fine!" Ye shrugged as he allowed himself to be pulled along.

Lu Tianzi rubbed his chin in contemplation.

So his grandmother passed away…

That explains why Chen Meng was so fixated on getting rid of the God of Pestlience.

Anyone would feel indignant if any of their closed ones died of starvation when there had initially been enough food for them to survive.

But if the God of Pestilence really was as fearsome as the village chief made it out to be, then Chen Meng would not stand a chance against it.

Not tomorrow, and perhaps not even if he was given another ten years.

Still, everything changed now that Lu Tianzi was intending to personally deal with the God of Pestilence.

Of course, Lu Tianzi would act only if the situation seemed to be in his favour.

If Lu Tianzi judged it to be too difficult a task, he certainly would not force it. But in that case, Chen Meng could probably forget about ever getting rid of the God of Pestilence as well!

The night passed quickly, and dawn silently arrived.

Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue followed Ye's family as they headed to the entrance of the village, helping the family carry some of the food packs.

By the time they arrived, there was already a huge load of food piled up on the ground.

Most of the villagers had either already gathered around, or were still slowly streaming over from their residences.

The village chief sat at a wooden table in front of the pile of food, with a long line of villagers queuing to speak to him.

Beside him, the village's warriors were acting as per his instructions under Bo Xie's lead.

Ye's family joined the queue along with the rest of the villagers, waiting for their turn to register their food amount.

This was a necessary measure in order to ensure that every household fulfilled their quotas, so that there would not be a discrepancy in the amount of food offered to the God of Pestilence.

Otherwise, if the God of Pestilence was not satisfied, who knew what would happen to the village?

"We have just enough for the quota, take a look," Ye's family passed their food packs over to a few warriors, who inspected the contents carefully under the watch of the village chief.

"All in order!" the warriors reported dutifully.

Only then did Ye's family leave the queue, joining the other villagers who had gathered around.

Even though Xian Village was nowhere near as big as Bluenight City, the manual recording process still took the entire morning. By the time they were done, the scorching sun was already hanging right above their heads.

"Thank you everyone for your cooperation. This time, everyone managed to meet their quotas," the village chief announced.

Cheers sounded out from the villagers.

This meant that none of them would have to fork out even more food in order to help out the others.

After the village chief dismissed the villagers, he instructed the village warriors to load the offerings onto multiple bandwagons.

"Village chief," Lu Tianzi approached him at this moment. "Is it possible for me to join you in delivering the offerings?"

"Join us?" the village chief's brows furrowed for just an instant before immediately returning to normal. "But why?"

"I would like to see if there is anywhere that I can help," Lu Tianzi smiled in return.

"I don't think there is a need for that," Bo Xie interjected from the side. "It is just transporting some food packs. We have been doing this for a long time, so we won't need any help. Thank you for the concern."

"But I would still like to see how it works, is that not possible?" Lu Tianzi tried again, undeterred by the firm rejection.

"Isn't it fine if he came along? It is not like his presence will affect the transportation."

This time, Chen Meng answered before the village chief or Bo Xie could.

The two of them immediately turned to look at Chen Meng before shooting each other a meaningful glance.

Their subtle glance towards each other was only for a single moment, but it certainly did not escape the sharp eyes of Lu Tianzi.

Even so, Lu Tianzi pretended as though he did not see it.

"Don't worry, I will take care not to interfere with the process," Lu Tianzi assured.

"Since that is the case, then you may come along this time," the village chief nodded reluctantly.

After all, they were merely going to transport the food offerings. He had no good reason to insist on keeping Lu Tianzi away, perhaps apart from feeling uncomfortable due to not knowing too much about him.

However, now that Chen Meng had already spoken up for him, such a weak reason would no longer hold much sway.

Chen Meng might just be a junior, but he was also the most talented individual the village had ever seen.

This earned him a great deal of respect from the villagers, lending weight to his words.

Even though both the village chief and Bo Xie could easily decide against his suggestion, doing so without reason would only cause the others to doubt their intentions.

But perhaps most importantly, the village chief wanted to avoid giving Lu Tianzi any chances of driving a wedge between them and Chen Meng.

Bo Xie understood this as well, so he could only silently watch on from the side.

Just like that, Lu Tianzi followed Bo Xie and five other warriors as they left the village, pushing the bandwagons packed to the brim with food. The village chief remained in the village, and so did Chen Meng.

Fortunately for Lu Tianzi, the direction they moved in was away from the battlefront where Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue had come from.

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Just like that, the group headed deeper and deeper into the woods.

Soon, they stopped at a wide clearing.

While the warriors moved to unload the food packs from the bandwagons, Lu Tianzi took a good look at their surroundings.

This wide clearing was one that was completely devoid of trees.

No trees, no flowers, no birds, no wild animals.

Even the the grass on the ground was yellow and withered, as though they had been fighting a long and losing battle to survive.

This was a stark contrast to the vibrant and lush vegetation just before their arrival at this point.

Further ahead, there was an obvious path that led away from this clearing, stretching even deeper into the woods. It was a path that was just like this clearing, containing nothing but a carpet of withered grass.

Lu Tianzi's gaze lingered upon that path for an additional few moments.

Without a doubt, that must be the path leading to the God of Pestilence's nesting ground.

"Let's get going," Bo Xie called out to Lu Tianzi when the food packs had all been unloaded.

"Sure," Lu Tianzi nodded and followed along.

He would have preferred to stay and wait for the God of Pestilence, but he understood just as well that Bo Xie would never agree to it.

Rather than make things difficult for everyone, Lu Tianzi decided to just return with the crowd.

In any case, he had already located what he believed was the nesting ground of the God of Pestilence. If he wished to, he could easily come back anytime he wanted.

And that he did.

Almost right after returning to the village, Lu Tianzi used the excuse of going for a walk outside the village to leave again.

During his stay at Xian Village, Lu Tianzi had barely spent any day time in the village, so nobody doubted his intentions when he left. The sentries were only surprised that Chen Meng and Nanlan Qianxue did not follow along this time.

Chen Meng was naturally disappointed as well. He might have given up on challenging the God of Pestilence this time, but he still wanted to continue training with Lu Tianzi, only to hear that the latter had suddenly left without informing him.

As for Nanlan Qianxue, she naturally knew of Lu Tianzi's intentions. But as much as she wanted to, it was not convenient for her to follow along.

After all, they had no idea what this God of Pestilence truly was.

If they handled this carelessly, they could possibly end up with more enemies than the Dragon Cauldron Army.

Thus, only Lu Tianzi who was armed with his concealing treasure left to scout for more information.

With his speed, Lu Tianzi breezed through the forest, quickly arriving at a spot near to the clearing earlier.

He crept up towards the clearing, carefully probing the surroundings with his perception.

After checking out the surroundings, Lu Tianzi subconsciously revealed a look of surprise.

The pile of food was still there.

This meant that the God of Pestilence had yet to arrive in the time it took for him to travel to the village and then return here.

Perhaps the God of Pestilence was unaware, but what truly surprised Lu Tianzi was the fact that the other animals in the wilds did not act on the food either.

These wild animals possessed keen senses and definitely would have picked up on the smell of meat that permeated the air, yet none of them chose to approach.

From that, it could be interpreted as though these animals who had always lived by their instincts actually understood who this food offering was for. And their decision to not steal the unattended food showed just how fearful they were of the true owner.

It seemed like the village chief was not exaggerating when he said that this God of Pestilence was the ruler of this land…

The God of Pestilence was not in a hurry, and neither was Lu Tianzi.

He remained pirched on a tree. Close enough to be able to see the surroundings of the food pile, yet far enough to be able to flee should he be detected.

His objective here was not to take any action. All he wanted was information, to see for himself what this God of Pestilence truly was.

Time passed minute by minute, but Lu Tianzi continued to wait patiently, his eyes closed in light meditation.

Before half an hour passed, Lu Tianzi opened his eyes in alert.

Few animals dared to venture close to the clearing, making it even easier for his keen senses to capture every small bit of movement.

But for these footsteps that were heavy enough to cause slight tremours, even ordinary people would have been able to feel them distinctly.

Lu Tianzi hurriedly retracted his perception so as to prevent being detected, relying purely on his trusted eyes to see for himself.

And then from the far end of the trail of withered grass, it appeared.

Lu Tianzi narrowed his eyes in full concentration, not wanting to miss a single detail about it.

So this was the God of Pestilence!