“Why did it take so long to bring it out?!”
“My stomach is practically on fire from waiting.”
The monsters weren't very suspicious. They were just minor demons in this remote part of the manor, drinking wine. They were already completely drunk and extremely hungry. Now that food was brought out to them, they were overjoyed.
One by one, far from being suspicious, they reached out to grab it.
At this point, Zhou Yan had already committed himself.
He wasn't afraid at all.
“Come, come, this is yours!”
“Don't snatch, don't snatch, there's plenty more, yes, lots.”
Zhou Yan smiled familiarly, greeting the monsters he had met before with enthusiasm, and distributed a large portion of meat to each monster. Every monster was satisfied and began to devour it on their own, not waiting for their companions, fearing they would get less.
For a time, there was only the sound of swallowing and chewing.
A monster asked, “Brother, aren't you eating?”
Zhou Yan replied, “I've eaten. Who would cook the meat for you then?”
Another monster asked, “Brother, aren't you hungry?”
Zhou Yan replied, “Seeing you all eat, I am not hungry.”
“There’s not much meat left, let’s go get some more.”
He made Li Zhiwei dirty herself too, smudging her face with soot from the bottom of the pot, and had Li Zhiwei follow behind him. Then, he swaggered through the room filled with these minor demons.
Not only did the monsters not stop them, but they wished they would leave faster.
Clang—
Suddenly, with a crisp sound, a monster's bowl fell to the ground and shattered. That monster had eaten the most fiercely and the most, as if his appetite could never be satisfied. But now, he looked at the meat paste on his hands.
His cheeks, full of meat paste, twitched, and his eyes bulged.
“This, this meat—”
“What kind of meat is this?!”
The blood vessels on his face suddenly twitched, his eyes turned red, and then he struggled to get up, but suddenly lost strength and fell down, wailing there: “What kind of meat is this!?”
Clang, clang, clang, as if a chain reaction, the meat bowls in these monsters' hands all fell to the ground. Then, one by one, they all began to wail, their already enormous bellies growing larger and larger, becoming inhuman.
When Zhou Yan heard the first wail, his expression remained unchanged. He simply grabbed Li Zhiwei's wrist, quickened his pace, and after they ran out, he looked back to see the group of demons struggling in pain, lying on the ground and groaning intensely.
“This is?!”
At this moment, as Zhou Yan's mind relaxed, he finally noticed the scroll in his consciousness. The scroll had opened to a page further back, and the entire jade book appeared to be made of jade, still blank.
But Zhou Yan had already killed two monsters. The screaming fragments of their Divine Souls, or their own vital essence, had transformed into the black Qi he first saw, absorbed by this jade book, and then suppressed.
After suppressing the demons, corresponding text about these demons appeared on the jade book.
And because this book was in his consciousness, the text naturally appeared in Zhou Yan's mind. He didn't need to look; he understood instantly.
【If there are sentient beings whose actions are slightly evil, whose words are slightly evil, whose intentions are slightly evil, who give rise to excessive greed, malicious stinginess and jealousy, and clinging to wrong views, even clinging to possessions at the time of death, due to this Destiny, they fall into the Hungry Ghost Dao. — 《The Sutra on the Differences in Karmic Retribution as Spoken by the Buddha》】
If there are sentient beings who abandon human ethics and devour flesh and blood, 【having eaten humans for a long time】 they shall fall into the evil path. Their eyes will burn red like fire, their bellies will swell like jars, their throats will be thin as needle holes, they will lose all their natural instincts, and eventually transform into demons. Their bodies will suffer insatiable hunger and thirst, 【because they seek from others, they are called Hungry Ghosts】.
Their life gate is in their Divine Soul. When they devour their own kind again, it will stimulate their human nature, recalling the pain and struggle of their first bite of human flesh, leading to their consciousness becoming frenzied, their strength exhausted, and their downfall. For this reason, Hungry Ghosts can coexist with each other and do not devour one another.
After suppressing the Divine Souls of the monsters he had killed earlier.
He could instantly discern the true form and weakness of this type of demon.
Zhou Yan shook his head. At this moment, he focused his mind and noticed golden text appearing and undulating on the scroll.
“Suppressing residual Divine Souls, discerning the true form of monsters…?”
Zhou Yan felt the ability of this scroll, and also felt that this jade book had not yet revealed its true power.
However, he also understood the situation of these monsters—they were monsters who had fallen into this state by eating humans. Once they devoured their own kind again, they would fall into a state of madness and powerlessness due to remembering past events and the intense conflict between their latent human nature and their subsequent actions.
In other words, these monsters were now in a weak and powerless state.
Zhou Yan looked at these suffering monsters.
A thought arose in his heart, impossible to suppress.
He was silent for two breaths, then suddenly laughed at himself.
He said, “What the hell am I afraid of?!”
Li Zhiwei's heart thumped, thumped, thumped. She felt that the changes during this period were truly swift. First, she was captured, then, when she was about to be eaten, she was saved. And not only saved, but the monster was smashed into meat paste and fed to other monsters, and then he swaggered out.
This experience was truly…
Then she saw the young man suddenly smile, and then—
That fellow went back in?
Li Zhiwei's eyes widened. She took a step forward and grabbed Zhou Yan, whispering urgently, “What are you doing?”
Zhou Yan said, “I just remembered, there’s one more thing I haven’t done.”
“What?!”
“Wait for me here. If you're really scared, you can go straight ahead. There's a small tree there, and if you rush forward, you can get out. There aren't many monsters left here.”
Li Zhiwei watched as that fellow walked back in. The place was a mess of dishes and cups, a group of monsters sprawled on the tables, revealing their true forms, struggling, crying, whispering, shouting, all sorts of noisy sounds.
Zhou Yan, in his tattered clothes and straw sandals, swaggered through the group of monsters.
If any short-sighted one blocked his way, he would kick them aside.
He looked at the woman's arm, but he didn't say anything.
Then, carrying the oil drum from the back kitchen, he came out again, splashing the oil everywhere. The monsters, sprawled on the ground, were drenched from head to toe. As he walked, he kicked over candles.
The candlelight inside, mixed with the oil, suddenly ignited, burning onto the monsters, igniting their clothes, their flesh and blood, their fur, and their wailing grew heavier and heavier.
Zhou Yan finally ran out.
Then he threw the oil drum and the last bit of oil forcefully onto the roof of the house.
The place where these ordinary minor demons ate and drank was a standard straw hut, with bamboo frames, walls plastered with mud mixed with straw, and a roof made of multiple layers of straw, thatch, and sorghum stalks tied together. All were highly flammable.
Zhou Yan held a torch, gathered all his strength, and threw it. The torch spun in the air and landed on the roof. With a whoosh, the entire house, top and bottom, ignited simultaneously. Flames surged and burned fiercely within this demon and ghost domain.
The group of demons screamed, but due to their current state, they couldn't escape, only suffering and wailing, rolling in the fire. Li Zhiwei was stunned. Zhou Yan was slightly out of breath. He looked at the scene in the raging fire, seemingly seeing that woman again.
He had only met her once, and they hadn't spent much time together, so deep affection was impossible.
It was merely pity, merely initial anger.
What had that woman sacrificed to survive and move forward? What was her state of mind, her feelings, her pain and struggle, and what kind of resolve did she have?
Was her kindness to a stranger in a dangerous situation merely an internal compensation for selling her daughter and son? Doing what she considered bad things, then doing some good deeds to comfort herself, using such actions to tell herself that she still possessed human nature and good intentions?
To keep herself from breaking down.
Zhou Yan didn't know, and he didn't want to explore it.
From a small glimpse, this world was full of human deceit and helplessness. He couldn't manage so much, but to just leave like that, he wouldn't feel good.
He just wouldn't feel good.
The raging fire surged, incinerating the Prodigy. Zhou Yan took off the white cloth from his arm, thinking of the lively, adorable little girl the woman had spoken of.
“I hope you're happy in another world.”
He said, then let go.
The white cloth was swept up and tumbled by the heatwave. It should have burned, but carried by the heatwave, it passed through the layers of flames, amidst the rolling heat and the Hungry Ghosts reaching out with their claws, and drifted to where the woman's last arm was.
Zhou Yan looked at the white cloth, as if seeing a little girl spread her arms and pounce. When it landed on the arm, that arm also burst into flames with a whoosh. He vaguely saw the woman's figure embracing a little girl.
Their blood-stained clothes, in the fire and the wails of the monsters, gradually became clean. They seemed to be crying, the little girl reached out and hit the woman. Finally, they looked over, then bowed to Zhou Yan, and slowly dispersed in the fire.
The little girl truly looked very well-behaved, smiling and waving vigorously.
Li Zhiwei seemed to see this scene too, staring blankly, then looked at this young man who was only a year or two older than herself.
Zhou Yan looked at this scene.
Was it a dream, an illusion, real, or fake?
Who knows.
I don't know, or rather—
Who gives a damn!
Zhou Yan reached out and waved vigorously at the little girl, smiling, and said:
“Hey, thanks for your stuff!”
The fire in his heart transformed into the raging flames of the present world, burning away the monsters and also the anger in his heart. Zhou Yan felt relieved. He turned his back to the burning monsters and turned around.
“Let's go.”
He ran without the slightest hesitation. Li Zhiwei caught up, asking in a low voice, “What should we do? Just run? Will there still be monsters ahead?”
Zhou Yan said, “I don't know, there'll probably be a guard.”
“So you follow me and shout.”
Li Zhiwei froze, then saw Zhou Yan pulling at his mouth.
She heard him shout in an extremely panicked voice:
“—Fire! Come help put out the fire!!!”
“Fire! Fire!”