The Legend of the Demon Hunter

Heshan Village is surrounded by mountains on all sides, with a small stream running through the middle of the village. It is a place with beautiful mountains and clear waters. There are more than a hundred households living in the village, who live off the mountains and the waters and lead a peaceful life.

But in the twelfth month of that year, Heshan Village had a once-in-a-century heavy snowfall. The heavy snow lasted for more than half a month, and the snow at the entrance of the village was deep enough to submerge an adult's legs. After the snow stopped, a cold wind blew, and the temperature suddenly dropped to the point where water would freeze. Another half month passed, and the snow showed no sign of melting.

The villagers of Heshan Village could neither leave the village nor go up the mountain. They had run out of food ten days ago. They cooked and ate the animal skins that they used as beds and made into coats, but they could only barely hold out for a few more days.

The villagers knew very well that if things continued like this, people in the village would starve to death within ten days.

Early that morning, there was a hurried knock on Xiao Zhu's door. He opened the door and saw the white-haired village chief standing at the door, with ice chips hanging on his beard. Xiao Zhu had a premonition that something big was going to happen, so he asked, "Grandpa Wu, why are you here?"

Village Chief Wu looked at Xiao Zhu's sturdy body and said, "Xiao Zhu, you will be eighteen years old after this year! Although you are young, you are also an experienced hunter. You have helped the village to hunt many preys in the past few years. But today, Grandpa Wu has an unwelcome request. It concerns the lives and property of all the people in Heshan Village. Are you willing to help?"

Hearing what Village Chief Wu said, Xiao Zhu said sincerely: "Since my father passed away, you and the people in the village have taken good care of me. If there is anything you need me to do, just tell me, Xiao Zhu will do it without hesitation!"

Seeing Xiao Zhu's attitude, Village Chief Wu smiled with relief and said, "Good boy, come with me!"

Led by Village Chief Wu, the two came to the village square. There were about 20 to 30 people gathered in the center of the square, all of them were young and strong men. Xiao Zhu grew up in Heshan Village and was very familiar with these people. Some of them were farmers, some were hunters. In a small village like Heshan Village with only a hundred households, they were undoubtedly the pillars of the village.

All these people gathered here today, so something important must be happening.

When everyone saw Xiao Zhu coming, they all smiled and nodded, and Xiao Zhu also smiled back.

The village chief brought Xiao Zhu to the center of the crowd, cleared his throat, and said, "Dear fellow villagers, I have gathered everyone here today. I'm sure you can guess why. Because of this natural disaster and heavy snow, our Heshan Village has eaten up all the food in the past month. And just last night, an avalanche occurred in Beishan, and the road to Fuguang Town in the north of the village was buried by dozens of meters of snow."

Hearing this, there was a commotion in the crowd. Several farmers turned pale and beat their chests and stamped their feet, saying, "The 351 people in Heshan Village may not survive this New Year!"

Village Chief Wu is already 83 years old. He is well-educated and a senior hunter. He once hunted two adult white wolves alone when he was 69 years old. One of the white wolves tore off a large piece of flesh from his thigh. He accurately stabbed the white wolf's eyes with his spear and pierced its head. The other white wolf wanted to escape when he saw this. He drew his bow and arrow. The 50-kilogram hard bow was pulled into a full moon by him. The arrow accurately hit the white wolf's buttocks. The whole arrow and the arrow feathers were inserted into the white wolf's stomach by the huge force.

After more than eighty years of hardships, the old man has become as steady as the rocks on Nanshan Mountain. His face remained calm and he waved his hand gently. The crowd immediately quieted down. Everyone found their backbone and stared intently at the respected village chief.

Village Chief Wu said: "Don't panic, there is always a way out. When I was young, the road to the north of the village had not been repaired yet, and we used a mountain road in the east mountain to enter and exit the village. Although that road is a little difficult to walk on, it is still passable. So today I gathered everyone here because I want everyone to go to Fuguang Town together."

"Village chief, it's more than 40 miles to Fuguang Town. If you walk fast, you can get there in half a day. Even though it's snowing heavily now and we have to cross the mountains, we should be able to get there in two days. We can just send a few people to buy some food. Why gather everyone here?" someone in the crowd asked.

Village Chief Wu shook his head and said, "You don't know that fifty years ago, the eldest son of Xiao Lao San's family disappeared while walking this road. His wife and children followed the mountain road to look for him, but they never came back."

"Since then, hunters who went to Dongshan to hunt have repeatedly gone missing. Later, the village sent three experienced hunters to investigate. These three were all well-known men in the village, and one of them was my father. Who would have thought that these three had disappeared for five days? When everyone thought that the three had met with an accident, my father actually escaped from Dongshan! But his condition was really scary at that time. His clothes were tattered and his body was covered in blood. He had gone completely crazy and could only mutter nonsense like "monster" and "auntie"."

"So Uncle Wu Shen is so crazy!" Several older hunters said suddenly, but the strange thing is that they seemed to be unaware of these things.

"After this happened, the old village chief suppressed the news for fear of causing panic. Except for the old village chief and a few elders in the village, no one else knew about it. I was still young at the time and shouldn't have known about these things. It was because of my father's madness that they told me the news."

"But after that, the village made a rule that no one could get close to Dongshan, let alone go hunting in the forests of Dongshan. After so many years, the old village chief and his group have passed away, and I became the only person in the village who knew about it."

After hearing this, the crowd suddenly became bustling. The hunters had experienced many life-and-death situations and were still able to remain calm, while fear was clearly evident on the faces of the farmers.

Village Chief Wu quietly watched everyone's reactions, and after a moment's silence, he said, "I have said this. If any of you villagers do not want to take the risk, you can withdraw on your own initiative."

The crowd fell silent for a moment, and everyone looked at each other. Although many people were already afraid and wanted to retreat, no one wanted to be a coward.

After a while, a 40-year-old man who looked like a farmer stood up and said, "My third child is still young, and I am unable to take care of three children alone. I'm sorry that I, Wu Laoliu, can't go with you on this dangerous journey." After saying that, he bowed to everyone, and without waiting for their response, he quickly turned around and walked towards the village.

After Wu Laoliu, more than a dozen people left one after another, most of them were farmers, and there were also three hunters. In the end, the number of people gathered in the square had been reduced by half, leaving only fourteen people.

Village chief Wu showed no emotion at all when people withdrew. After all, they were all familiar with each other, young and old, and it was reasonable that they had different personalities and courage.

After the people who had left the group had gone far away, Village Chief Wu said, "There are already many people in the village who are starving. Time waits for no one. Let's pack up and get ready to go!"

After that, he bowed deeply to everyone and said, "The lives and property of all the people in our village are now in your hands!"