During their journey, Li Hanfeng's group of ten passed through a village called Qingshi.
Qingshi Village had several hundred households. They stopped there to rest, and the villagers were very simple and kind. Seeing their young age and dusty appearance, they gave them water and food.
Some villagers thought they were children wandering away from home and wanted to help report to the authorities, so they had to reveal their identities as cultivators.
Shortly after revealing their identities, an elder came looking for them.
"Please help us, immortal masters! A monster has come to the village and has already dug out the hearts of seven children!"
The group had only been cultivating for three months and didn't have the arrogance of separation between immortals and mortals.
So seeing the white-haired elder kneeling before them, all ten were somewhat at a loss, even Li Hanfeng with his slightly older mental age.
After all, in his previous life, Li Hanfeng had never been kneeled to and pleaded with by an elder who looked sixty or seventy years old.
Faced with this situation, everyone looked to Li Hanfeng.
Li Hanfeng helplessly helped the elder up: "Please get up first, elder. Tell us what happened - we might not have the ability to help."
Seeing the immortal master willing to listen, the elder's face showed joy and immediately explained:
"Immortal master, our Qingshi Village has several hundred households. We live off the mountain and originally lived peacefully, but starting three days ago, children began disappearing. At first only one went missing. I'm the village chief and organized people to search for a whole day but couldn't find them. We had no choice but to accept the reality."
The villagers also needed to make a living - being able to spare a whole day searching was already the limit.
"We thought the matter would pass, but the day before yesterday three more six-year-old children disappeared. We thought human traffickers were targeting the village, so we specially organized people to keep watch..."
"Then yesterday, no children disappeared during the day, but at night, something forcibly broke into villagers' homes with children. Only then did we realize that what was making children disappear wasn't human traffickers at all, but a monster - a monster that digs out hearts."
"That damned beast dug out a child's heart right in front of the parents!"
The village chief's tears fell as he spoke.
The child whose heart was dug out in front of his parents usually called him "grandpa, grandpa" sweetly and was very well-behaved. The family treasured him like their heart and liver, but he met such a cruel fate.
However, with immortal masters present, he quickly controlled his emotions and continued: "After digging out the heart, that beast didn't flee but went to other homes. The other two families didn't see their children's hearts being dug out, but the result was the same - all had their hearts forcibly removed."
"The four children who disappeared earlier suddenly appeared at the village entrance yesterday, and like the three children last night, all had their hearts dug out."
The village chief became even sadder speaking of this.
Seven children dead in three days - these were the village's future able-bodied men!
Just then, Fang Yu asked the village chief: "Village chief, was the beast that dug out hearts about the size of a regular house dog and completely black fox?"
Hearing this, the village chief immediately said excitedly: "Yes, exactly! It was a black fox!"
Li Hanfeng looked over: "Fang Yu, do you know what kind of monster that is?"
"I do." Fang Yu nodded seriously. "If I'm not mistaken, that beast is a Heart-Devouring Fox, a type of demon beast that specifically eats the hearts of children aged six to twelve. And this type of demon beast has an extremely evil nature."
"How evil exactly?"
Among the ten present, only Fang Yu came from a cultivation family and was well-informed.
Fang Yu continued: "If I haven't misjudged, that Heart-Devouring Fox should be equivalent to our middle-stage Qi Refining. If it wanted to dig out hearts, it wouldn't need to sneak around at all, so hiding at first was deliberate - it wanted to see the villagers panic."
"Digging out hearts in front of parents was to see the children's parents heartbroken, angry but helpless, and the suddenly appearing children's corpses..."
"Killing people and destroying hearts!" Li Hanfeng continued.
Fang Yu nodded and added: "Destroying hearts is just one part - it's actually entertaining itself."
The village chief listening nearby had an incredulous expression, murmuring: "Just for entertainment, it killed so many children, even digging out hearts in front of parents?"
"This is the Heart-Devouring Fox. At first, cultivators also thought Heart-Devouring Foxes could use children's hearts for cultivation, but later discovered this wasn't true. Heart-Devouring Foxes comparable to Foundation Establishment stage can indeed cultivate using emotions, but those equivalent to Qi Refining stage are purely evil."
Fang Yu's words made everyone feel cold.
Just hearing the description made one feel the evil.
"Will this Heart-Devouring Fox come back to Qingshi Village?" Li Hanfeng asked.
"Maybe it never left at all." Fang Yu answered. "For Heart-Devouring Foxes, tormenting a place for three days is just an appetizer."
"But it's strange - Heart-Devouring Foxes aren't just unwelcome among us humans, they're also unwelcome among demon clans. They were exterminated three hundred years ago. I only know about them from my elders' stories. Why would one suddenly appear in this small village?"
The village chief didn't care about these questions. Hearing the Heart-Devouring Fox might not have left, he pleaded again: "Please save our Qingshi Village, immortal masters!"
Everyone fell silent at these words.
If they had nothing else to do, they'd naturally be willing to stay and help.
But they were currently on an assessment mission with only ten days to travel.
The key issue was they didn't know when the Heart-Devouring Fox would show up - they didn't know how much time they'd waste.
It was already the fourth day. If they delayed several more days, they might not make it in time.
If they couldn't make it, the assessment mission would fail.
Li Hanfeng also fell silent. He asked: "How were you originally planning to solve this?"
The village chief sensed their attitude and felt somewhat disappointed, but still answered seriously: "Originally we planned to notify the authorities, who would notify immortal sect members to handle it. But this back-and-forth takes time, and there are still many children in the village..."
Going through all these steps, even at the fastest, immortal sect masters would need one or two days to arrive.
Who knew if more children would suffer during this time? This was why he immediately came when he learned immortal masters had arrived in the village.
At this time, mysterious text had already appeared in Li Hanfeng's mind.
[Evil fox rampages, villagers seek protection]
[Choose protection, receive...]
Li Hanfeng forced himself to ignore the karmic prompt in his mind, afraid the reward would interfere with his true heart, only constantly weighing options in his mind.
He looked up wanting to ask Fang Yu and the others' opinions, but saw the family that had hosted their group.
They were two completely ordinary common people, and the food they provided was simple, even crude.
He kept thinking about possible consequences.
Were they being watched by sect masters now? If they left, would sect masters handle this?
But if sect masters didn't know, and they left, would more children be killed?
Should they leave?
Just then, Wang Mingyue stepped forward, grasped his hand, and said softly: "Brother Hanfeng, whatever decision you make, I'll support it. Just follow what's in your heart."
Fang Yu and the others exchanged glances, then Fang Yu stepped out: "Since we chose you as team captain, we'll support your decision."
Li Hanfeng looked at everyone.
Follow his heart?
Actually, while hesitating, he'd already been leaning toward one side.
So he slowly said: "We came here to eliminate demons and monsters. Since demons and monsters are right before us, how can we leave!"