Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 476 The Little Monsters

Further back, Master Tianbao, supported by Qi Lan, walked while panting, saying, "This old man's bones... I should have known... I should not have come..."

Qi Lan rolled her eyes at him: "Have you wasted the last two years of your cultivation on nothing?"

"I am neither a body cultivator nor a demon like you."

Little Ling'er was full of energy, running alongside the deer until she was out of breath, but she refused to stop. Wei Yiran followed beside her, occasionally reaching out to help her, but her own breathing was also a little rapid. Although she had practiced martial arts since childhood, this was the first time she had ever walked such a mountain path.

Jiang Yan lagged behind, his chubby face flushed red, but he stubbornly refused to let anyone help him, maintaining his dignity as a cultivator.

The group continued their trek into the mountains, their steps uneven and unsteady.

As we crossed the first mountain, the sun was already beginning to set. Golden sunlight filtered through the leaves. The little deer stood on the ridge, pointing ahead: "Look, over there!"

Following the direction she pointed, everyone saw a small river winding through the valley, with the faint sound of water emanating from it.

"After crossing that river and climbing over one more mountain, we'll be there!" the little deer said, then skipped and hopped down the mountain.

Feng Lie, supporting himself on his knees, gasped for breath: "We...we have to flip another one?"

Feng Changyuan patted him on the shoulder, gloating: "Keep it up, young man in the Qi Refining stage."

Feng Lie: "...Shut up."

……

The next day, as the sun was about to set, the group finally arrived.

It was a valley hidden deep in the mountains, surrounded by peaks, with a flat meadow in the middle. At the edge of the meadow, against the mountainside, stood a few simple wooden huts. A stream flowed in front of the huts, its water crystal clear, and a few small fish could be seen swimming around.

"This is it!" the little deer cheered, running towards the wooden houses. "I'm back! Rabbit spirit! Squirrel spirit! Fox spirit! Old hedgehog! I'm back!"

Her voice echoed through the valley, startling a few birds in the bushes.

But there was no response from those wooden houses.

The deer ran a few steps and then suddenly stopped.

She tilted her head, her fluffy deer ears standing straight up, and looked around.

There was no sound. No movement. No familiar laughter or footsteps.

The only sounds were the rustling of the wind through the trees and the gurgling of the stream.

"A rabbit spirit?" she called again, her voice a little softer than before. "A squirrel spirit? A fox spirit?"

There has still been no response.

The deer's expression changed.

She hurried to the wooden huts and pushed open the door of the first one. It was empty inside, with some dry grass and rags scattered on the floor, and the ashes in the stove were already cold.

She pushed open the second door. It was empty.

The third room. Empty.

The little deer stood there, looking at the empty wooden houses, the scattered debris, and the long-cooled ashes in the stove, as if frozen in place.

The pair of furry deer ears slowly drooped down.

"Sister Little Deer..." Little Ling'er carefully walked to her side and called her softly.

The deer did not answer.

She just stood there, staring at the empty wooden house, her eyes unblinking.

Chen Anran walked behind her, his gaze sweeping over the wooden houses before finally settling on the corner next to the stove.

There, something was lying there.

He walked over, squatted down, and saw what it was.

A hedgehog.

It was a very large hedgehog, several times bigger than an ordinary hedgehog. It was curled up in a ball, its quills standing up haphazardly, some broken, some stained with dried blood. Its body rose and fell slightly, and it was still breathing, but the breathing was so weak that it was almost invisible.

"Old hedgehog!"

The little deer rushed over and knelt down in front of the big hedgehog with a thud. She reached out, wanting to touch it, but dared not, and just squatted there, tears falling one by one.

"Old hedgehog... Old hedgehog, what's wrong...?"

The hedgehog's ears twitched.

It slowly opened its eyes, revealing a pair of cloudy old eyes. Those eyes rolled around, landing on the fawn's face, and suddenly lit up.

"Little...little deer..." Its voice was weak, as weak as a candle flame in the wind, "You...how did you come back..."

The fawn's tears flowed even more fiercely: "Old hedgehog, what happened to you? Where's the rabbit spirit? Where's the squirrel spirit? Where's the fox spirit? Where did they go?"

The old hedgehog's eyes darkened.

It opened its mouth as if to say something, but first began to cough violently. The cough was heart-wrenching, with blood and froth spilling from the corners of its mouth.

Huiming quickly stepped forward, squatted down, and placed one hand on its back. A soft Buddhist light emanated from his palm and slowly seeped into the old hedgehog's body.

The old hedgehog's cough gradually subsided. It took a breath, looked at the fawn, and its cloudy old eyes were filled with sorrow.

"Little Deer...you shouldn't have come back..."

"What happened?" the little deer's voice trembled. "Old hedgehog, tell me!"

The old hedgehog closed its eyes, then opened them again, as if it had used up all its strength.

"A few days after you left... a great demon came to the mountains..."

The deer's face turned pale.

"They're incredibly powerful demons...much more powerful than us...they're capturing little demons everywhere...capturing one after another...the rabbit spirit was captured...the squirrel spirit was captured...the fox spirit was captured too..."

The old hedgehog's voice was intermittent, and he would catch his breath after saying just a few words.

"I...I risked my life...to protect the little ones...and let them run into the mountains...I don't even know...if they managed to escape..."

It paused, looked at the fawn, and tears suddenly welled up in its cloudy old eyes.

"I'm useless... I couldn't protect them..."

The little deer knelt there, looking completely dumbfounded.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that her throat felt blocked by something, and she couldn't squeeze out a single word.

The old hedgehog started coughing again, its whole body trembling. Huiming's Buddha light never stopped, but its aura was gradually weakening.

"Why are those powerful demons capturing lesser demons?" Chen Anran's voice suddenly rang out.

The old hedgehog raised its head and looked at him.

It then noticed that there were many people standing behind the deer. Some were dressed in plain clothes, some in monks' robes, some in strange clothes, and there was one...

The old hedgehog's gaze lingered on Qi Lan for a moment, a hint of surprise flashing in his cloudy old eyes.

"You...you're a demon too..."

Qi Lan nodded, walked over, and squatted down in front of it.

"Senior," her voice was much gentler than usual, "what are those powerful demons doing capturing lesser demons?"

The old hedgehog took a breath, shifting its gaze from Qi Lan's face to the darkening sky in the distance.

"Alchemy...weapon forging...being a slave...being a furnace..." Its voice grew weaker and weaker, "In this world...little demons...can't survive..."

"Senior Sister, Stop Working and Go Home for Dinner" is currently being serialized on Cola Novels and is not to be missed!