Chapter 476: Old Witch

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Led by the old woman, Yang Ling reached a house that was like a traditional Chinese courtyard. The tables and chairs were basically all made of durable red sandalwood that was resistant to wear and tear. A layer of Dark Sandstone slabs tiled the ground. Short breadfruit trees were planted around the courtyard. Many colorful and green plants, flowers and tree saplings were planted in the vegetable garden, giving off waves of fragrance, allowing one to feel refreshed and relaxed.

“Mr. Yuri, please have a seat!” The old woman smiled, her face layered with wrinkles, like rings in a piece of an old log, exposing her age. “Lucy, give our guest a glass of Henessi!”

“Yes granny, it’ll be ready at once!” The young lady beside the old woman replied gently. Her movements were quick and agile, and she soon poured a glass of fine liquor from the wine jar. With movements as quick and light as a bird, she moved quickly to place it in front of Yang Ling. “This is our tribe’s Henessi, brewed with quality grapes, and herbs and essences of various flowers we picked. It tastes great!”

A pair of fair, tender legs were revealed under a pure white skirt, her long blonde hair fell down her shoulders like a waterfall and danced in the wind, and when she smiled, two sweet dimples appeared on her pretty face… Even though the young girl named Lucy was 14 years old at most, and did not reach the shoulder of an adult in height, he could tell that this little beauty would grow up bewitching everyone.

“Thank you!” After smiling, Yang Ling took the Henessi from Lucy, the young girl, and took a small sip. Its fragrance was unique, light and refreshing like the green forest after the rain, lingering on the tip of his tongue for a long time, leaving behind a heady fruity aroma. It did not have a kick like the vodka and was not as aromatic as rum, but it had its own unique taste.

“We have not had visitors to the tribe in a long time. Lucy, use the goblet to serve our guest another glass!” Seeing Yang Ling nod his head in appreciation while tasting the wine, the smile on the old woman’s face brightened even more. Standing up unsteadily, she took a shiny goblet that was like glass, out from the cupboard. After taking a clean, white scarf and wiping the goblet, she turned around and passed it to the young lady beside her. A cold smile flashed on her face, disappearing without a trace and quickly replaced with a kind smile, drawing Yang Ling’s attention and putting him on alert.

If it was an ordinary person, he would definitely get charmed by her smile. But, as a Great Soul Wizard, Yang Ling’s senses were extremely sharp and sensitive, so he rapidly caught the cold smile on the old woman’s face.

Could it be, that there was poison in the goblet or scarf?

Puzzled, he dared not be careless. He pretended to bend to wipe dirt off his shoes, and secretly took a few drops of the Water of the Spring of Life from his Space Ring and drank it. He also swallowed a few pills that were the antidote to a hundred types of poisons, made by Alice. His movements were quick and unobtrusive, and no one noticed it. He then took the goblet from the young lady and sipped it as if nothing had happened. Secretly, he was circulating the Physical Protection Wizard Power within his body, as a preventive measure.

Sure enough, this time around, there was a slight difference in the so-called fine wine. Nothing looked out of place, and the color and smell were exactly the same as before, but when held in the mouth for a while, a slight numb feeling could be felt on the tip of his tongue. If his senses had not sharpened after he had leveled up to high-level Divine Wizard, he feared that he might have not been able to spot this minute difference no matter how careful he would have been. In fright, he silently chanted the Poison Wizard Mantra and circulated the Physical Protection Wizard Power to neutralize the unknown poison within the fine wine.

All this while, even though he was not as talented in training in Poison Wizardry as the girl, Alice, and could only spend a limited amount of time on it, but, as a powerful Great Wizard, Yang Ling was confident that it would not be difficult for him to neutralize this unknown poison. With that, combined with the Water of the Spring of Life and Alice’s antidote that he took just now, he would have no problems even drinking the whole goblet of poison wine. In control of the situation and without fear, Yang Ling did not make a move and did not immediately reveal what he knew of the other party’s plans, but calmly watched on, ready to see exactly what the other party was up to.

“Mr. Yuri, if I’m not wrong, you should be that last outsider to enter our tribe in over a few decades!” Seeing that Yang Ling had fallen for her trap and had drunk sip after sip of the Henessi spiked with poison, the old woman was full of smiles. “Don’t you feel that it is weird that our tribe has not been attacked by the Marmots, and that there’s not a single male in the tribe?”

The show was just starting. Yang Ling went with the flow and pretended to be puzzled, saying, “That’s right. There are just too many Marmots on the Ural Mountain Range. Even the Divine Level Guardian Warriors by my side could not fend them off their crazed attacks. There are swarms of Marmots everywhere. I just don’t understand why they do not dare to come to the valley. Could it be that they are not interested in the sweet and fragrant breadfruit here?”

“Hehe, they sure do not dare enter. Without the command of Mount Gya, not a single Marmot will dare to come near to our tribe!” Maybe Yang Ling had hit a sore spot, or the old woman had remembered an unsavory memory from the past, but the old woman gritted her teeth, “For over a few hundred years, not a single Marmot has come to cause trouble in our tribe. But, who knows the price we had paid? Do you know how big a price we paid for the continuation of our tribe?”

Maybe she felt that Yang Ling would not be able to escape from her after getting poisoned, or maybe she had bottled up all her frustrations for a few hundred years without venting them, but the old woman’s expression changed, and she revealed her true self. Gritting her teeth, and with cold and merciless eyes, she did not look like a kind old woman at all, she looked more like a thousand-year-old witch that refused to die.

“Granny, don’t be angry. Don’t talk about it anymore!” Seeing how pale the old woman had gotten from her anger, the young lady Lucy spoke while pounding on her back in understanding. Lucy’s eyes were red and tears were forming in her eyes as if they would pour like spring water at any time.

“It’s the last day tomorrow. If I don’t speak now, I may never have the chance to do so ever again!” the old woman replied, smiling coldly.

Originally, their ancestors, in order to avoid the troubles of war, had moved South with the entire tribe from the far away Terras Empire. They found a hidden valley in the Ural Mountain Range and settled down here. Relying on the rich natural resources in the mountains, they led a peaceful life for two years. Unexpectedly, the good times did not last. After living here for a few years, a group of terrifying high-level Marmots appeared near the tribe, capturing all the men who went out hunting.

At first, the people had thought that they had just encountered a group of ravenous Marmots. So, they reduced the area within which they hunted, even resorting to surviving on breadfruit and various fruits and vegetables they planted themselves. They did not expect that even if they closed the doors and did step outside, the terrible Marmots still went looking for them. They ignored the fresh food like breadfruit and vegetables, only captured young, able-bodied men, and never initiated attacks on the tribe’s women and children. Conversely, they even helped to protect them from the other Magical Beasts that preyed on them.

After the same thing happened multiple times, the people quickly saw a pattern. Basically, these terrifying high-level Marmots would come once every month, and capture an adult male each time. They would not cause trouble within the valley, but, they also did not allow anyone to leave the valley. If anyone tried to escape from the valley, he would immediately get swarmed by a big group of Marmots and be bitten to death alive. It felt like everyone had become the Marmot’s domesticated prey, reared to be hunted. It sounded incredible, but as time went by, the people become more and more sure of their theory.

When they first moved into the valley, there were over a thousand people in the tribe. But as the number of young men decreased, the number of births also became less and less, slowly becoming a vicious cycle. The number of people in the tribe grew less and less by the year. Slowly, the targets of the high-level Marmots grew to encompass all males, from young boys to white-bearded old men. Not a single male was let off the hook. The time between each visit also grew longer, from once a month, to once every two months, three months…Until the period between each visit became three years. After three years, if the tribe was unable to hand over a male, the Marmots would go on a killing spree, tearing apart more than a dozen women into pieces and swallowing them on the spot.

“So, are you planning to hand me over to them, in exchange for three years of peace for your tribe?” With the old woman’s explanation, Yang Ling quickly understood what was going on, and recalled that she said that tomorrow was the last day. He then immediately realized the other party’s vicious plan.

“Hehe, you’re right. You only have yourself to blame for barging in at this time!” The old woman laughed creepily, and said coldly, “A few decades ago, if we had encountered a strong man like you, we might have kept you to mate with the widows, to see if they can give birth to a few male babies. But now, there is no other choice. Even if a few more male babies are born, we can only survive a few more years! If we don’t take this chance, while there is chaos among the Marmots, to flee, we may never have this chance again!”

For over a hundred years, the tribe did try to resist. Many times, they had charged towards the outside without regard to the consequences. But, each time, they were unable to break through the Marmots surrounding them. Helpless, they had no choice but to continue staying in the valley, hoping for a miracle one day.

But, while there was still hope to pull through when there were many people in the tribe, there were now only over a hundred women left, and no more men. If they did not bite the bullet and take a gamble now, they might never have a chance to escape again. After the unprecedentedly big storm, many Marmots had lost their caves and stored food they had needed to survive. In hunger, they not only attacked the Magical Beasts within the forest, but they were also insanely attacking each other. It was a chaotic situation. Having lived for so long, the old woman understood that this was the best chance for the tribe to escape.

At first, she had still thought that, in the rush, there was not enough time to prepare, and she did not know how she would deal with the Marmots that would arrive at the tribe the next day. But after Yang Ling had unknowingly barged into the valley, he had given her a big opportunity for a way out. If she handed Yang Ling over, she would have more time following that to prepare for their escape.

“You’ve been severely poisoned. Without the antidote, even a Giant Dragon will have no energy in its body. Hehe, don’t waste your strength struggling!” the old woman spoke while taking a thick, strong and flexible piece of vine from the corner, preparing to tie up Yang Ling, who was poisoned.

Should he kill her, or follow through with her plan to take the opportunity to gain access into the Marmots’ base camp?

Looking at the old woman who thought that she had succeeded in her evil plan, Yang Ling purposely pretended to have no more strength left in his body. He let the clear and shiny goblet fall onto the ground and break into pieces, creating an illusion of the poison taking effect on him. Having been fully prepared beforehand, the old woman’s poison did not have any effect on him. If he decided to attack suddenly, he had full confidence that he could kill the other party, or even slaughter the entire tribe without any problems. But the problem was that even after taming the high-level Marmots, he could not find concrete information about the Marmot King in its memories. If he wanted to find the Marmot King and tame it, the best opportunity might be this one right in front of him; to follow through with the old woman’s plan!