A severed hand arced through the air and fell onto the grass not far away.

Before long, the poisonous rats that had vanished without a trace moments ago came swarming out again.

Before the man’s wailing cries had even faded, his severed arm had already been gnawed by the poisonous rats until white bone showed through.

The kneeling men, staring at the severed arm, had all gone pale with fright, trembling so badly they seemed to have lost even the ability to look away.

The man who had lost his arm had no color left in his face. Blood kept gushing out, yet he remained dazed, refusing to faint.

He knew better than anyone — if he fainted now, he would soon end up like his own severed arm, nothing left but a skeleton.

“Over a hundred people, years ago — they all died because of your poisonous creatures, didn’t they?” Feng Jiang’s voice, the kind that made people’s blood run cold at the mere mention of his name, rang out again.

Several of the men were so frightened that some lost control of their bladders. They tore their eyes from the mound of poisonous rats and looked at Feng Jiang, but not one of them could utter a word.

With a swift slicing sound, the man kneeling just behind and to the right of the one with the severed arm also had an arm cut off.

Given how far away he’d been kneeling, he never imagined the same fate would befall him so quickly.

The man’s eyes went wide. He looked down at the place where his arm had been only moments before, blood gushing out without end, and then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, unconscious, on the ground.

Catching the scent of fresh blood, some of the poisonous rats immediately turned their attention elsewhere.

Not only did the second severed arm quickly become covered in a dense swarm of poisonous rats, but several rats also crawled over toward the fallen man.

Squeaking sounds rose up — more poisonous beasts were surging this way.

The five men still kneeling on the ground, unharmed so far, crawled further inward on their bellies, terrified that any blood might get on them.

The man kneeling at the very front watched his companion being gnawed at, and with his remaining hand, pulled out a short flute.

In truth, the person he wanted to save was himself, not the man lying on the ground.

After all, he too was injured and bleeding freely — if the poisonous rats noticed him, they wouldn’t spare him either.

A low, mournful flute sound rose up. Even knowing he was being watched closely, the man steeled himself and kept playing for a while.

Only once the poisonous rats withdrew did the man let out a breath of relief and try to hide the flute away.

Feng Jiang pressed his longsword against the man’s throat, his gaze fixed on the flute in his hand.

“So this is the tool you use to control the poisonous creatures?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.” The man looked up at Feng Jiang, nodding, and held out his trembling left hand to offer up the flute. “Here, take it.”

“Can you answer the question I asked earlier now?” Feng Jiang took the flute, glaring furiously at the man.

“Yes.” The man let out a faint sigh and nodded. “About a hundred people, I think. They all… they all ended up as meals in the bellies of those poisonous creatures.”

At this point, the man dared not lie at all — he could only tell the truth as it was.

Feng Jiang raised his eyes to the sky and drew a deep breath.

When he lowered his gaze again, his eyes were glittering with thick killing intent.

“And after that, every time someone came in, you killed them the same way?”

“Y-yes, yes.” The man trembled all over, looking as though he might collapse at any moment. “G-g-great hero, please spare us.”

“We all know we were wrong. From now on, we… we will never make such a mistake again.”

“What’s the story with the poisonous beasts? Did you raise those too?” Feng Jiang’s low voice rang out.

He hadn’t taken the man’s pleading words to heart at all.

If not for wanting to get to the bottom of the whole matter, he would surely have turned their own methods back on them, using these men to pay homage to all those who had died here over the years.

“The poisonous beasts—” Before the man could finish what he was about to say, his body tilted and he collapsed to the ground. “Help… help me…”

Feng Jiang ignored the fallen man, his gaze landing instead on the others still kneeling behind him.

“We don’t know much about the poisonous beasts either — a mysterious figure brought them here,” one of the men said quickly.

“He said he was worried we wouldn’t be able to handle intruders, so he left them here to guard the poisonous creatures. There were eight in total. Now…”

The man glanced elsewhere, then immediately looked away again.

“Aside from the two that were injured, three more are still inside the cave and haven’t come out.”

“And the poisonous creatures — how many are left?” Having finished what she’d been dealing with, Feng Jiu’er came over to stand beside Feng Jiang.

“The poisonous creatures?” The man who had been speaking looked at Feng Jiu’er, then at Feng Jiang. “About half of them should be dead. Maybe half remain.”

“Do you know how to control them?” Feng Jiu’er asked flatly.

“I do, I do.” The man nodded immediately.

“I know too,” another man chimed in, nodding along.

“I know how to cure people who’ve been poisoned,” said the man farthest to the right.

“I know… I know…” The man kneeling at the very back thought for a moment, then lowered his head.

“Great hero, I know how to communicate with the poisonous beasts. I’m usually the one who tends to them — they listen to me,” said the man kneeling in the middle.

It seemed everyone understood — only if they still had some use left would they have any chance of escaping a violent death.

The five men who hadn’t been poisoned rushed to list their own strengths, all hoping only to save their lives.

“Who is the one who’s been in contact with the mysterious figure?” Feng Jiu’er’s voice was no gentler than Feng Jiang’s — if anything, even colder.

“Me, it’s me,” said the man kneeling at the back, the one who had failed to come up with his own use a moment ago.

“How do you make contact?” Feng Jiu’er fixed the man with a cold stare.

“On every full moon night, the mysterious figure meets me at the foot of Jianfeng Mountain. I just report to him on how the breeding is going,” the man answered at once.

“B-but as for everything else, I know nothing at all.”

The poisonous rats that had withdrawn came swarming back. Everyone watched, helpless, as they crawled over the man lying fallen at the front, and a chill of horror ran through them all.

“Ow! Save me… help! Ahh… s-save me, great hero, spare me, lady hero, save me…”

Not only had the poisonous rats covered his body, but they had swarmed right in front of his eyes as well. The man who had fallen but not yet lost consciousness wished he could simply die on the spot.

Yet for some reason, the more terrified he was, the more he failed to pass out.

His nose, his lips, his chin — even his eyes began to be gnawed at by the poisonous rats. The man’s suffering was worse than death.

“Help… I… I can…” The man’s cries for help grew weaker and weaker.

“If you don’t want to die, tell me — what use do you still have left?” Feng Jiu’er crouched down, watching the man being devoured with a cold stare.

Despite being nothing more than a young woman, she watched this horrifying scene without so much as a flicker of expression — the corners of her mouth even curved up faintly.

The remaining men, watching this, turned even paler.

“I… I know how… to control the… poisonous creatures…” The man barely managed to get the words out.

But Feng Jiu’er was unimpressed. “Your companions know how to do that too,” she said flatly. “If I save you, I’d just have to kill one more person later. Not worth it.”

“I know, I know how to control them, don’t kill me! I really do know how.” The man who had earlier claimed to have this skill spoke up, his voice trembling.

“Whatever the lady hero wants them to do, I guarantee they… they will definitely get the job done.”

“I beg you, please don’t kill me. I… I promise I’ll obey you from now on, please don’t kill me…”