"Become the Dragon King's beloved wife? This is a sacrifice... of the living..."
I never imagined that such savage and cruel customs still existed today.
The old man who came out of the guesthouse, smoking his dry pipe, interjected, "To marry the Dragon King, the bride must first be drowned."
I was instantly speechless, a chill spreading throughout my body.
Xiao Li's pupils contracted, her body visibly trembling.
Clearly, the mention of sacrificing a living person had frightened her greatly.
Beichen's thin lips parted slightly, uttering only two words, "Save her."
"Alright." I couldn't just watch an innocent girl be taken away to drown; I agreed subconsciously. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novelFɪre.net
Beichen moved gracefully like the wind, catching up in a few steps and blocking their path, "Let her go."
"Who's this wild brat? Daring to obstruct the way of the Barbarian Villagers?" the leader, a brawny man, roared coldly, clad in a small ethnic-patterned vest despite the freezing weather.
His thick arms, exposed in the rain, didn't seem cold in the slightest, his body radiating an astonishing heat.
Before Beichen could reply, the brawny man, with cold derision, glanced at the girl dragged on the ground and lifted her emaciated, pale chin with the tip of his boot, "Couldn't be that she's a lover you met outside? How utterly shameful."
"Bullshit, his lover is me, alright? You're blind," retorted Xiao Li, catching up with me, and upon hearing the brawny stranger insinuating romantic connections, she immediately let go of my hand and latched onto Beichen's.
The brawny man's eyes turned icy, "Since she's not your lover, why meddle in our affairs?"
"Seeing injustice and not speaking out, just because this girl is from your village doesn't mean you can disregard human life and send her to be sacrificed to the River God," Xiao Li argued righteously. The murderous aura on the man was heavy, his face with thick-set muscles frightening enough to ward off evil spirits at the door, which scared her into leaning closer to Beichen.
Beichen's face remained impassive, but his arm naturally drew Xiao Li closer to his chest, "Hand her over."
He made it sound too simple, not even offering a reason.
It would be strange if the people of the Barbarian Village agreed to hand her over; they all took him for a troublemaker and looked exceedingly displeased.
"Kill these three meddlesome outsiders!" someone in the crowd shouted. Each of them carried a silver knife inlaid with gemstones.
As three brawny men drew their knives, a person wrapped in a grey cloth, dressed like a mop, spoke up, "Wait, this woman... her fate... is more suitable to marry Lord Dragon King."
The voice was hoarse yet sharp.
It turned out to be an elderly woman.
Had this 'mop' not spoken, I would've assumed all those in the group were men.
"High Priest, is it the woman with the big belly? Could Lord Dragon King be interested in her?" the leading brawny man scrutinized my stomach and frowned.
A withered hand emerged from the grey robe, lifting a long-nailed index finger to point at Xiao Li, "Her."
This person already resembled a mop, but being drenched by the rain made her look even more like one that had just mopped the floor and not yet been cleaned.
"You must be the High Priest of the Barbarian Village, right? It's said that the High Priest can communicate with the gods, so you should be a reasonable person," I addressed her.
The moment the High Priest pointed at Xiao Li, my heart tightened, and I stepped forward to shield Xiao Li, "True Dragons have vanished from this world; where then does the Dragon King come from? There's no need for him to take a wife."
Master Qingyang is the number one expert in the Human Realm; if he says there are no True Dragons in this world, then there certainly are none.
Yu Longting was targeted by Qingyang precisely because he's the closest thing to a dragon in this world.
"Young lady, you can eat shit indiscriminately, but you can't talk nonsense," the High Priest said.
Her hoarse and sharp voice sinisterly articulated each word, "Daring to question the Dragon King, you're seeking death."
Suddenly, her cadence ended in a piercing screech that split the air as countless water bugs, flapping their wings, flew out from her damp sleeves.
But these water bugs weren't targeting me; they attacked Xiao Li from the side.