Chapter 1695: Plum Falls Throughout The Mountains

“They left...? I’m still alive...? I’m still alive! Hahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!”

Tong Nian collapsed to the ground and started laughing like a madman. He laughed until he couldn’t catch his breath, and both tears and snot streamed down his face. He looked ugly, but he couldn’t care less about his appearance right now.

This was the only way he could vent his feelings and express his joy of having survived what should’ve been a sure death scenario.

Finally, after he was done venting his feelings, Tong Nian climbed back to his feet and looked at Blood Plum’s subordinates. “Come. Blood Plum is dead, so you now belong to me.”

No one responded to him though.

“Are you deaf?! Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

Tong Nian roared, but still the people didn’t respond to his command.

Tong Nian was seething with dark emotions to begin with, but it wasn’t just Blood Plum’s subordinates who weren’t listening to him. His own subordinates were acting as if he didn’t exist. Did they think he was dead?

Tong Nian stomped up to a man and slapped him in the face. “Are you not listening?!”

The next second, his rage was replaced by shock and terror.

It was because the man he was slapping abruptly crumbled into dust.

“What... the...”

Tong Nian staggered backward with wide open, shell-shocked eyes. Before he slapped his subordinate, he was sure that he was still breathing, and his heart was still beating normally. However, as soon as his hand made contact with the man’s cheek, he had crumbled into a pile of dust in the blink of an eye.

How could he not be shocked? Terrified?

Tong Nian forced himself to stay calm and walked up to another person. Again, his senses told him that the person was still alive.

He carefully and gently touched the man... and their flesh, blood and bones instantly crumbled into a pile of dust.

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

Despite himself, Tong Nian let out a terrified scream. He nearly fell to the ground.

Next, something even more terrifying occurred. Every single one of the remaining people turned to look at Tong Nian and cracked an eerie smile on their face. Then, they said at the same time, “Don’t forget the task I gave you.”

The voice was Ye Qing’s.

“Yes! Yes! T-this junior won’t forget! This junior won’t let you down!”

A terrified Tong Nian hurriedly dropped to his knees and kowtowed repeatedly while swearing up and down.

The next moment, the people lined up into a queue and jumped off the cliff one after another.

“Ahhh!”

“Help me...”

“Save me!”

Every time a person jumped off the cliff, they would seemingly snap back to reality and scream in terror. However, they could not save themselves no matter what they did. They could only hit the ground and explode into a shower of gore.

“Gulp...”

At this point, Tong Nian was completely drenched in cold sweat. He was so shellshocked that he just knelt there dumbly long after the line of people were done committing “suicide”.

An entire teatime later, when a gust of cold wind brushed across his body and snapped him back to reality, Tong Nian finally scrambled to his feet and ran down the mountain unsteadily.

He was about halfway down the mountain when he abruptly recalled something and ran to the mountaintop once more. Then, he cut off Blood Plum’s head and made his way downhill once more.

This time, not an ounce of hope or ulterior motive was lurking in his mind. From the bottom of his heart, all he wanted to do was deliver the head back to Wei Nandou and convey his message to him. He did not dare or want to think about anything else.

That man was a demon. A demon. Woe be those foolish enough to stand in his way!

......

Meanwhile, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou had made their way to Plum Mountain.

Plum Mountain was Blood Plum and her subordinates’ lair.

The reason Plum Mountain was given its name was both because this was Blood Plum’s lair, and because Plum Mountain was covered in crimson plum trees that bloomed all year long.

“To think that such a scenery would exist in a land of winter and snow. Blood Plum sure knows how to enjoy life!”

Plum flowers that were as red as fire or blood were blooming wherever they looked. They smelled fragrant. Standing in the middle of the plum forest, they could not feel even the slightest chill. On the contrary, they felt warm and comfortable as if it was spring season. It was like a slice of paradise.

Feng Qingyou reached out to caress a flower, and the flower shook slightly as if afraid; as if it had a mind of its own. “How could it not be beautiful when each and every one is drenched in blood?”

It wasn’t just this plum tree. Every plum tree was like this. They were all shaking slightly.

“So much blood that it covers an entire mountain. There is a reason she was the head of the Five Evils.”

The plum trees were, in fact, no ordinary plum trees. They were Bone Blood Plum Trees.

A Bone Blood Plum Tree was a Phenomenon-class Stranger. It was found in icy lands and rooted on corpses. The flowers it bloomed were red like blood and so fragrant that they could be smelled from five kilometers away. Those who smelled it would be drawn over like bees. The Bone Blood Plum Tree would then kill the victims, bury their bones between its roots, and engorge itself upon their flesh and blood.

This was the truth behind the red plum flowers that bloomed all year long.

Plum Mountain was big, and countless Bone Blood Plum Trees were growing here. They looked incredibly “healthy” and vibrant as well. One could only imagine how many lives had died to nourish these trees.

Since he read Blood Plum’s memories, Ye Qing knew with absolute certainty that she hadn’t buried Strangers or animals under these trees either. She had buried humans. All of it, humans.

In order to make sure that the Bone Blood Plum Trees would bloom forever, in order to ensure that the Plum Mountain would never change across all seasons, and in order to preserve the beauty of the Plum Mountain, Blood Plum and her bandits would leave Plum Mountain and attack the merchant caravans every once in a while.

Usually, a bandit group attacked caravans for money. Barring certain situations, they would not kill everyone.

Blood Plum was different though. She wanted both money and humans.

Money was money. Why would anyone become a bandit if not to plunder riches far beyond what ordinary means could earn?

The humans though, she hadn’t captured them in order to ransom more money. It was purely to feed her Bone Blood Plum Trees.

She had buried them alive underneath her plum trees to ensure that her plum trees would receive the highest amount of “nourishment”.

This was why the Bone Blood Plum Trees on Plum Mountain were so beautiful, vibrant, and fragrant.

After all, they were raised using countless humans’ lives.

“They deserve to be killed; to die.”

Ye Qing was referring to Blood Plum and everyone involved with her.

When the word “killed” left his lips, a storm rose. When the word “die” left his lips, a murder descended.

The next moment, every plum tree on Plum Mountain withered and died.

“Come. Let us ascend.”

Petals falling all around them, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou scaled the mountain together.

“What’s going on?”

“Why did the plum trees wither all of a sudden?”

“Quick! Someone report to the third boss!”

On the Plum Mountain, the bandits who had stayed behind to guard the lair were shocked and horrified to find that the plum trees, all of them, had withered without warning.

These plum trees were the big boss’ babies. She would normally fly into a rage if even a single branch had withered. Best case scenario, she would yell bloody murder at them and whip them for their “mistake”. Worst case scenario, she would bury them alive under the tree as fertilizer.

It did not need to be said how much trouble they would be in if she came back and found that every plum tree on Plum Mountain had withered.

It was unlikely that they would survive her wrath.