“Tsk tsk, Junior Su is too good-natured… You’re letting a Secondary Disciple override you?” Bai Lan thought Su Junqing was weak. What great things could he accomplish if he couldn’t even lead his disciples?
“Picking the Human-faced Peach is the most important — by then he’ll know he’s wrong.” sneered Su Junqing.
“You have a point.” Bai Lan looked at the disciples behind her. She did not know how many of them would survive until the end.
After Yun Jiuge and disciples left Su Junqing and Bai Lan, they successfully exited the Death Swamp and arrived at the Human Face Mountain.
The Human Face Mountain was as high as a thousand feet, filled with stones darkened with blood. It looked like a man’s face with its eyes closed, meditating and looking rather handsome.
The Human-faced Peach forest grew on top of the man’s face, which was the peak of the mountain.
“Be careful, everyone.” Yun Jiuge thought climbing up the mountain would be yet another adventure. Unexpectedly, they went up the mountain smoothly.
There was a slow and gentle breeze. A lush peach forest lay ahead.
These peach trees were not tall nor leafy, but they bore good fruit.
Green peaches the size of human heads were hanging from the branches and did not look quite ripe.
Yun Jiuge and the disciples walked into the peach forest. The originally tranquil peach trees seemed to awaken suddenly.
Just then, the peaches all quivered slightly, and faces started to appear on them. They all had open eyes looking greedily at Yun Jiuge and the disciples.
There were wrinkled old men, young men and women with smooth skin, and also delicate and lovely children…
Although the faces were different, the expression on each one was very ferocious, looking at Yun Jiuge and the disciples as if they were looking at their prey.
“These peaches are disgusting.” Liu Tian’er showed a look of repulsion. She couldn’t imagine how she would swallow them into her stomach.
“Senior Yun Jiu, should we pick them now?” Little Fatty didn’t think they were that bad. He was willing to swallow them no matter how disgusting they were, as long as they helped his cultivation.
This Human-faced Peach, however, was to feed Yin Corpses. No living man could eat it.
“Everyone, check your surroundings. Make sure there are no demonic beasts on guard.” Yun Jiuge had a feeling that the Human-faced Peach forest was not as simple as it seemed.
She led Little Fatty, Bing Xinlian, and other disciples in checking the entire area twice but could not find any traces of demonic beasts in the vicinity. The whole peach forest was quieter than a grave.
“Junior Yun Jiu, the disciples of Number One Peak, Number Four Peak and Number Five Peak are coming up,” said Liu Mei’er, pointing to the foot of the mountain.
Yun Jiuge went over to have a look and saw that a group of disciples had arrived at the foot of the mountain and were about to ascend it.
“Senior Yun Jiu, it’d be better if we pick the peaches quickly,” said Little Fatty anxiously. Otherwise, there’ll be a fight once these disciples reach the top of the mountain.
“There’s no need to rush. I’ll pick one first.” Yun Jiuge led the way.
She drew out three Bone Spurs to surround her and walked cautiously toward the peaches. Finally, she chose a peach with a beautiful face, and slowly held out her hand.
Thwack! Before she could touch the peach, she was struck by a stone.
Yun Jiuge turned around and saw a figure standing on the peach tree, with gray hair, gray eyes and a drop of blood between the eyebrows. It looked strangely beautiful. Who could it be other than Chieftain Zi Shang?
“Reaching out so directly to pick the peaches — that’s too bold of you!” Zi Shang went towards Yun Jiuge and wanted to huddle her waist.
“Why are you here?” Yun Jiuge smacked away Zi Shang’s grip.
This lad somehow slipped away earlier and she wouldn’t let him get close to her without him giving her an explanation.
“I’ve found something good here. You’ll like it for sure.” Zi Shang blinked his gray eyes, showing a smug look of wanting Yun Jiuge to beg him for more.
“How would you know what I like?” Yun Jiuge rolled her eyes and said, “Leave it if you don’t want to tell me.”
“Are you really not going to ask me more? These Human-faced Peaches are very intriguing.” Zi Shang continued to lure her.
“The big peach forest is just right in front of me. Can’t I check it myself? Why should I beg you?” If she couldn’t find anything then she would think of a plan. She would not let Zi Shang have his way for sure.
“Tsk tsk, Little Jiuge is becoming less lovable.” Zi Shang shook his head. This lass was getting more and more difficult to coax.
“Better off without your love anyway.” She was at ease with this.
Having been too absorbed in the quarrel with Zi Shang, Yun Jiuge forgot that Little Fatty, Bing Xinlian and the others were waiting for her to pick the peaches.
“Senior Yun Jiu isn’t possessed, is he?” asked Bing Xinlian worriedly.
“Don’t worry. I’ll try something drastic.” Little Fatty was an impatient one. He immediately drew out his Big Mountain Bone Spur and flung it towards Yun Jiuge.
Yun Jiuge subconsciously shot out a gray light and hit Little Fatty’s Big Mountain Bone Spur.
Boom! A peach resembling a wrinkled old man’s face fell to the ground after being cut off by the Big Mountain Bone Spur.
Just as Yun Jiuge was about to pick it up, she was stopped by Zi Shang.
Next, the old man’s head whose eyes were now blood red shot towards Little Fatty at an incredible speed.
“Look out!” Bing Xinlian pushed Little Fatty out of the way and drew his own Icy Frost Bone Spur.
While on this journey, he had often condensed things into ice to help everyone go on their way, and thus his speed improved as a result. The cold air froze the old man’s head in an instant.
“Damn it, what cursed peach is this? It can even fly.” Little Fatty still had lingering fear in him. The peach was no better than Demonic Beasts.
Just as he finished speaking, Bing Xinlian suddenly shouted, “Oh shoot!”
The Human-faced Peach had broken through the ice blockade, jumped on a Low-rank Disciple’s body and bit down with its mouth wide open.
Before the Low-rank Disciple could even scream, he was instantly sucked dry into human skin and fell to the ground.
After the ferocious old man’s head was stuffed with flesh and blood, he closed his eyes and his face looked serene.
The teal skin had turned a brilliant red, giving off a ripe scent.
“Is this why you didn’t let me pick the peaches earlier?” Yun Jiuge’s face was stern, not expecting the Human-faced Peaches to ripen by devouring human flesh and blood.
“That’s right.” Zi Shang nodded.
“Senior Yun Jiu, these peaches are too sinister.” The Liu Clan sisters looked at the faces in this densely packed peach forest. They could only feel their stomachs welling up in extreme disgust.
“Jin Lin, what exactly is happening?” Yun Jiuge looked at Little Fatty, not believing that he did not know this truth about the Human-faced Peaches.
“I swear I did not know that the Human-faced Peaches actually eat humans! All my uncle said was that every year the Outer Peaks would need to pick 500 Human-faced Peaches to enter the Secret Realm. They would not be able to open the Secret Realm if the number did not meet the requirement.” Little Fatty’s face had turned pale with fear.
His uncle had only given him a stack of Defensive Charms, telling him to take things easy.
“That’s what my sister-in-law said too.” Bing Xinlian was armed with a lot of Defensive Charms too.
Yun Jiuge frowned, finally knowing why so many Low-rank Disciples were needed to enter the Secret Realm to pick the Human-faced Peaches. Human life was needed to ripen these peaches.
The Yin Corpse Sect was evil indeed, in taking human life for granted.
