The Sacred Leaves Family's Wishes for Peace

Sun Tianli, a seasoned hunter with years of experience in the mountains, was intimately familiar with the sounds of various wild beasts.

As he listened to the low growls and chewing sounds emanating from the nearby thicket, he immediately realized these were not the sounds of any ordinary animal.

Instead, the noises bore an uncanny resemblance to the sound of a human chewing.

Curiosity gnawed at him. Alone, he crouched low and crept toward the thicket. Reaching out, he gently parted the dense foliage. Through the gaps, Sun Tianli clearly saw a figure crouched over a corpse, ferociously devouring it.

The corpse's abdomen had been gnawed into a massive, gory cavity, its internal organs consumed to the very last shred.

Even in death, the victim's face remained etched with terror and utter despair.

"This… this…"

Sun Tianli stood frozen, utterly petrified by the grisly scene before him.

He knew at once—this was no ordinary beast. He had encountered something far more sinister.

For a moment, he did not dare to breathe, not even a whisper escaping his lips.

Fighting the overwhelming urge to bolt, he cautiously retreated, step by step, vanishing into the safety of the surrounding underbrush.

"Tianli-ge, what did you see? Why does your face look so pale?"

One of Sun Tianli's clan members spotted him as he returned. His face was ashen, drained of all color, his eyes wide with a terror that ran bone-deep. Unable to hold back their curiosity, they quietly asked.

"Run! Run now! Get out of here!" Sun Tianli snapped back to reality and hastily urged them.

The group of clan members exchanged puzzled glances, their confusion growing. They looked at one another, unsure of what Sun Tianli had seen to make him react like this.

"Tianli-ge, what is it? What did you see?"

"Stop asking! Just run!" Sun Tianli barked, his voice trembling with urgency.

But his outburst caught the attention of the creature lurking behind the thicket—the one feasting on the corpse.

A guttural growl echoed through the air.

Emerging from the thicket was a horrific figure, its eyes clouded with a sickly green hue. Its face was a grotesque mask of decay, its skin riddled with festering sores and crawling with maggots.

It had caught the scent of living flesh.

With a roar, the creature darted forward with the agility of a predator, leaping out of the thicket in an instant. Its jaws latched onto the neck of one of Sun Tianli's clan members with a sickening crunch.

Blood sprayed into the air.

The unfortunate clan member's eyes widened in horror. He turned toward the others, his mouth opening to cry for help, but blood gushed into his throat, silencing him forever.

"Lao Wu!"

Another clan member screamed in anguish as he saw his younger brother collapse beneath the creature's ravenous fangs. Gripping his blade, he rushed forward in a fury, only to be held back by Sun Tianli.

"Do you want to die? Run!" Sun Tianli shouted.

Reluctantly, the grieving man bit down on his rage and followed the group, fleeing in terror down the mountain path toward the safety of their ancestral land.

Behind them, the monstrous figure let out another furious roar.

Realizing its prey was escaping, it sprang forward with unnatural speed, closing the gap in mere moments. Its clawed hand, as sharp as a blade, pierced through the back of another clan member with ease.

"Tian… Tianli-ge!"

Sun Tianli, leading the desperate escape, glanced back only to see yet another clansman fall victim to the creature's claws, his chest pierced clean through. The fear etched on Sun Tianli's face deepened, and he pushed himself to run even faster. Enjoy more content from My Virtual Library Empire

The others, too, were consumed by terror.

But no matter how fast they ran, it was futile. The creature was relentless.

One after another, the clan members fell to its claws and fangs, their blood staining the forest floor.

Before long, Sun Tianli was the only one left alive.

He felt the creature's gaze burning into his back, the icy tendrils of fear clawing up his spine. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat, his mind paralyzed with panic.

In his desperation, he stumbled over a root jutting from the ground. His body tumbled uncontrollably down the mountain's steep slope, rolling like a broken doll into the endless expanse of forest below.

The creature reached the edge of the slope, but by then, Sun Tianli's scent had vanished into the depths of the jungle.

The creature let out an unwilling growl, then turned back to the other Sun clan corpses, resuming its frenzied feast.

"Xiao Huang! Xiao Huang!"

In the depths of the forest, a delicate young girl dressed in a blue skirt with silver ornaments adorning her head was calling out repeatedly.

The girl, about fifteen years old, was slender and graceful, her skin as pale as snow. Her features were exquisitely beautiful, like those of a porcelain doll.

What stood out most were her eyes—not the usual black or brown of ordinary people, but a pair of crimson pupils that glimmered faintly with a strange light. In the shadows of the forest, her blood-red eyes became even more striking, like deep crimson gemstones.

"Xiao Huang! Xiao Huang! Where did you run off to this time?"

Hands on her hips, she stomped her feet in frustration, puffing her cheeks in an adorably exasperated manner.

Just as she was fuming, a faint chewing sound drifted through the forest.

Her expression brightened, and she hurried in the direction of the sound.

"Hmph! So here you are!"

When she arrived, she saw the horrifying figure of the corpse-eating creature crouched over the mangled remains of the Sun clan members. With her hands still on her hips, she huffed indignantly.

Strangely enough, the creature, which had been attacking any living human it sensed, remained unbothered by the girl's presence. It simply continued devouring the corpses, its face and mouth drenched in fresh blood, looking like a demon straight out of the underworld.

"Did you kill all these people?"

The girl glanced at the blood-soaked remains strewn about, her voice calm and unaffected.

She was long accustomed to such grisly sights, utterly unfazed by the carnage.

The creature paused in its feast, letting out a low growl in response.

"You're not to sneak out like this again, do you hear me? The immortal cultivators in Yue Country are hunting us everywhere.

If they find you, you're done for!"

The girl scolded the monstrous figure as if it were a misbehaving child, her tone unusually serious.@@novelbin@@

"Now hurry up, get out of that body already!"

She reached out and patted the creature's blood-soaked head, urging it firmly.

With a guttural growl, the creature stopped chewing and squatted down, lowering its head slowly.

Its bloodied mouth, filled with shredded flesh, opened wide, releasing a stench so foul and nauseating it could have made anyone else retch.

The girl, however, remained unperturbed. She calmly extended her delicate, jade-like hand beneath the creature's open mouth.

From within, a golden, thumb-sized gu worm with crimson markings crawled out, landing lightly in her palm.

"Hmph! You little thing, always sneaking out to play!"

She gently stroked the golden gu worm in her hand, letting out a playful huff. Then she placed it carefully into a storage pouch tied at her waist.

Having dealt with the matter, she lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her foot and vanished into the dense forest like a phantom.

"These past months, our clan has devoted immense manpower, resources, and time, yet we've still found no trace of the obsidian vein."

"Tianming, perhaps it's time to recall our people? Continuing this aimless search is pointless—it's just wasting time and energy."

Inside the ancestral hall, several key members of the Sun clan turned to Sun Tianming, seated at the head, voicing their concerns.

At first, they had all supported Tianming's decision to send large numbers of people into the Chuyun Mountains to locate the obsidian vein. Beating the Yun Clan would secure a tremendous advantage.

But after months of relentless effort, not a single clue had surfaced.

Gradually, doubts began to grow among the clan's leadership. Was supporting Tianming's decision the right choice?

What's more, discontent was bubbling among the rank-and-file clan members. Those who ventured into the mountains daily were starting to grumble in private.

"We've come this far; how can we give up so easily?"

"If we quit halfway, all the effort we've put in over the past months will have been for nothing!"

Tianming's expression was stern.

"But continuing like this isn't a solution either!"

"Lately, many clan members have begun voicing their dissatisfaction. If this drags on, it could lead to unrest within the clan!"

At this, Sun Tianming fell silent, his brows furrowing deeply.

He was well aware of the growing unease within the clan. Yet, having invested so much manpower, time, and effort, the thought of giving up now was unbearable.

Just then, a young man burst into the hall, panic-stricken.

"Father! It's terrible—Third Uncle, he…"