Chapter 54: Count Me In

As Gu Chen became familiar with the nearby villages, Chu Chen also began making his way toward the Chu family estate.

When Chu Chen passed through a narrow gorge, he suddenly heard a sharp cry for help.

“Help! Help!”

Focusing his gaze, he saw a little girl of about five or six years old calling out desperately, with a dozen fierce wolf-like spirit beasts chasing after her.

The girl’s pale green floral dress was smeared with mud, clearly from a recent fall.

Seeing the wolves closing in, Chu Chen didn’t hesitate and charged forward.

Though none of the spirit beasts were high-level, their numbers were significant, and each looked terrifying.

Seeing another person come to die, the largest wolf at the head let out a howl.

The pack echoed the howl in unison and charged at Chu Chen.

Pulling a spear from his storage pouch, Chu Chen handed the girl a short sword and also retrieved a set of armor for her to wear.

This armor and short sword were birthday gifts he had painstakingly saved for to buy for his younger sister, Chu Li, who was about the same age as the girl.

The armor fit the little girl well, and with the short sword, she looked like a young female warrior.

The wolves attacked fiercely. Chu Chen, protecting the girl, sustained several injuries.

Fortunately, he had just broken through to the eighth level of Soul Qi, roughly equivalent to a third-level soul master on Douluo Continent.

The strongest wolf among them only reached the fifth level of soul power, comparable to a tenth-level soul warrior.

However, the spirit beasts’ physiques were more robust than humans, so the battle’s outcome was uncertain.

“We can’t keep this up. My soul power isn’t enough to eliminate the entire pack of west wind wolves. I’ll hold them off. There’s a village not far to the west ahead. You must escape there,” Chu Chen panted as he spoke to the girl.

“Okay, brother, be careful. What’s your name?”

“I’m Chu Chen.”

“Alright, I’ll remember, Brother Chu Chen. My name is Lu Xiaozhao. You can call me Xiao Zhao. I’ll find people in the village to help you! Please be careful!”

“Okay.”

Chu Chen swung his spear, whipping up gusts of wind that pushed back the wolves once again, buying time for the girl to flee.

Knowing he couldn’t hold out much longer alone, the girl ran desperately westward for about four or five miles. After climbing over a hill, she finally spotted a village.

Before reaching it, she saw a few villagers resting at the entrance and gasped for breath as she shouted, “Uncles, aunts… please… please save my brother! He’s surrounded by a pack of wolves and won’t be able to hold out much longer!”

“Little girl, don’t be anxious. Tell us where the wolves are, and we’ll take people to rescue your brother,” a burly middle-aged man stood up and hurried to her side, steadying her.

“He’s in that direction,” Lu Xiaozhao pointed towards the way she had just come.

The burly man looked in the direction Xiaozhao indicated, his expression immediately turning grim.

“Little girl, I’m sorry, but we can’t help you. We can’t go there!”

The villagers behind him shook their heads in agreement.

“Uncle, why can’t you go? If you don’t, my brother will be killed by those savage wolves!”

“Please, save him!”

Without hesitation, Lu Xiaozhao knelt before the man.

“Little girl, don’t do this. It’s not that we don’t want to help.”

“That place is cursed. Anyone who enters is doomed to suffer generations of misfortune and untimely death, without reason.”

“Then what do we do? No one will save my brother, and he will die! Wah… wah…”

Lu Xiaozhao broke down in tears.

At that moment, a boy of about twelve or thirteen stepped forward.

“Uncle Li, let me go. I’m an orphan with no parents, not afraid of curses. Besides, I’m naturally very strong and not afraid of those wolves!”

“Little Tang, you can’t go. You’re only thirteen. You don’t understand how fierce those wolves are. If anyone must go, let this old man go. I don’t have long to live anyway. I’ll fight those wolves to the death.”

“Count me in.”

“Me too.”

“...”

“Alright, since none of you are afraid, I, Li Longxiao, am not one to cling to life.”

“Girl, wait here. We’ll go rescue your brother.”

“Folks, grab your tools!”

The villagers dashed back to their homes, grabbing hoes, axes, sickles, pitchforks, and other weapons, rushing toward the eastern hill.

Halfway there, a large black snake blocked their path.

Standing atop the snake’s head was a figure.

“Don’t charge ahead. This black snake can save her brother,” said the newcomer, none other than Gu Chen, who had just been getting acquainted with the villagers.

Though uncertain if the village harbored formidable individuals, seeing these villagers blindly rush toward a cursed place suggested they were not altogether kind-hearted.

Gu Chen decided to intervene and help the little girl.

The villagers, along with the determined girl, stared at Gu Chen in confusion.

Gu Chen did not explain but called to the black snake, “Xiao Hei, show them your strength.”

The black snake hissed and swept its tail, snapping a large tree—wide enough for two to embrace—in half with a single strike.

“Now do you believe?”

Everyone nodded repeatedly.

“Xiao Hei, hurry and save the boy. If you can’t bring him back, bring his head.”

The black snake hissed again and dashed swiftly toward the eastern mountain.

Soon, it returned carrying a severely injured young man.

“Brother Chu Chen!”

Lu Xiaozhao, barely reaching Gu Chen’s waist in height, tears streaming down her cheeks, ran over.

“It’s my fault, Brother Chu Chen, it’s all my fault. Please don’t be hurt.”

Seeing her tears, Gu Chen patted her shoulder and slipped a white pill into Chu Chen’s mouth.

“He’s just soul power exhaustion. After taking this Soul Nourishing Pill, he’ll recover in a few days.”

“Thank you so much!” Lu Xiaozhao smiled through her tears, repeatedly thanking Gu Chen.

“No need to thank me. Everything is bound by cause and effect.”

“Take him back to recover. I have other matters to attend to. Farewell.”

Retrieving his demon spirit, Gu Chen transformed into a streak of lightning and sped toward the heart of the cursed land.

He already sensed something inside calling to him.

The cursed land was jagged and wild, overgrown with weeds. Red, black, purple, green, and blue spirit beasts of strange forms and hideous appearances roamed fiercely.

These spirit beasts seemed like mindless creatures, constantly warring among themselves, with corpses scattered everywhere.

No sooner had Gu Chen arrived than a pack of crazed spirit beasts began pursuing him.