Chapter 53: Slaying the Demon

After hastily disguising the scene, they waited about ten minutes before the pig-headed monster’s footsteps sounded once more.

This time, Zhou You had chosen a cabinet with latticework, so he could see clearly enough.

The obese figure carried in a steaming basin of meatballs, swaying as it walked into the room. It set the basin down on the table.

Clang!

The entire table shook twice.

There was no telling how many human corpses it had chopped up to produce such a quantity.

The pig-headed monster then casually pulled out a chair and dropped its massive body onto it.

The chair itself was already oversized. To accommodate that enormous frame, its structure had been stretched to the limit. It looked as though it would shatter at any moment.

Fortunately, the craftsman who made it had been exceptionally skilled.

The chair creaked precariously for a long time but ultimately managed to bear a burden beyond what life should endure.

The monster contentedly wriggled its backside.

Amid increasingly heavy creaking sounds, it tossed several meatballs into its mouth, then reached out and grabbed the pig’s head.

Zhou You’s hand unconsciously tightened.

Fortunately, the poison broth prepared by the old Daoist was colorless and odorless.

The pig-headed monster detected nothing unusual.

It tore off a huge chunk of flesh from the face, made no effort to separate bone from meat, and chewed greedily with grease shining all over its mouth.

At that moment, Zhou You was finally able to confirm the old Daoist’s words.

The pig’s head had been broken open exactly where the skull was crushed.

The brain visible inside...

Was clearly not that of a pig.

Time passed little by little as the monster devoured its food.

The basin was nearly empty.

The transformed head was reduced to scraps.

Yet the pig-headed monster still showed no abnormalities.

Zhou You glanced toward the old Daoist’s head.

The old man merely raised his eyes slightly, giving him a look that said, “Stay calm for now.”

Soon, however, Zhou You noticed a change.

At first, it was merely a small bump on the skin, like a tiny red rash.

On that enormous body, it was hardly worth mentioning.

But very quickly, the rash spread.

The red bumps merged together.

In the blink of an eye, they had become a patch the size of a palm.

The monster stretched out a claw and vigorously scratched its back.

Then it lowered its snout and continued greedily swallowing the remaining food.

As the rash spread farther and farther, however, its scratching became more frequent.

The force behind it gradually increased.

Eventually, it accidentally tore open its own skin.

From the wound, a white worm poked its head out.

It swayed around, surveying its surroundings, before burrowing back inside.

To be honest, Zhou You was starting to feel itchy too.

Still, he suppressed the urge and continued watching the monster’s transformation.

Soon, the palm-sized patch became a red mark dozens of centimeters across.

The dozens-of-centimeters-long mark spread across its entire back.

The pig-headed monster scratched harder and harder.

Within only a few minutes, it had clawed its back into a bloody mess.

Finally, under the itch that seemed to penetrate into its very marrow, no matter how stupid the pig-headed monster might be, it realized that something was wrong.

But by then, it was already too late.

The maddening itch completely occupied its mind.

The monster no longer cared about eating.

Instead, it frantically clawed at every part of its body within reach.

The force was so extreme that many areas were scratched down to exposed white bone.

The surrounding furniture and tables suffered as well.

Under its violent rolling and thrashing, they shattered piece by piece.

Just as the old Daoist had predicted, judging from the situation, the pig-headed monster would soon die.

Yet Zhou You’s expression grew increasingly ugly.

The reason was simple.

That rampaging body...

Was getting closer and closer to him!

In at most ten more seconds, he would be reduced to powder along with the tables and chairs.

“You damned Daoist! You never said this thing would struggle before dying!”

Zhou You immediately cursed aloud.

Had he known this beforehand, he would have hidden in the morgue the moment he finished poisoning it.

Unfortunately, there was no time for regret.

Seeing that the pig-headed monster was about to crash into him, he gritted his teeth and pulled the bloodstained dagger from his chest.

He had no intention of wasting a resurrection token for no reason.

At a time like this, if he could fight, he would fight.

And if he couldn’t...

He still had to fight.

Before the pig-headed monster reached him, he kicked open the cabinet door and charged forward.

The monster did not even look at him.

Under that maddening itch, it seemed to have lost all reason.

It knew only how to vent its agony indiscriminately.

But given its enormous size, even a simple collision would be more than Zhou You’s small frame could endure.

Yet just as it neared him, a certain true-word mantra suddenly rang out.

“Om.”

As though struck by a paralysis spell, the gigantic body froze instantly.

Although it immediately recovered from its daze and raised an arm that had already been eaten through by worms until it was full of holes, sweeping it downward.

The sound of the air being torn apart alone was enough to tell that a slap from that arm would cripple him even if it didn’t kill him.

Zhou You had just intended to dodge.

Yet at that moment, his feet suddenly moved on their own.

With that single step, he changed from “evading” to “slipping directly into the monster’s embrace.”

Before he could even react, the sinister dagger thrust upward from below and plunged into the pig-headed monster’s throat.

Then it was withdrawn cleanly.

The next strike followed immediately.

Like a collapsing mountain, the enormous figure crashed to the ground.

Zhou You paid it no attention.

Instead, he stared at his own hands in confusion.

“Wait a second. I’m just an ordinary university student. I’ve never practiced martial arts. How could my movements be so agile?”

“Could this be the ability of the person whose identity I’m inhabiting, the thing the scenario mentioned?”

“But that raises another question.”

“He’s a traveler. Where did he get skills like that?”

Zhou You frowned and pondered for a long time but reached no answer.

Eventually, he could only raise his head and look toward a certain presence.

Not far away, the old Daoist’s head sat amidst the wreckage.

No one knew what ability he had used, but he had escaped completely unharmed.

At this moment, he was watching Zhou You with great interest, his face full of an inexplicable smile.

“My dear disciple, it seems you’ve got a few tricks after all. Was that the Buddhist Six-Syllable True Mantra you used just now? I wonder where you learned it. The Guangyan Sect? The Shifa Sect? Or the Dacheng Faith? Ordinary monks usually aren’t qualified to receive its transmission, so where exactly did you obtain it?”

Zhou You coughed lightly and replied with an equally insincere smile.

“Well, your disciple once happened to encounter a starving monk. I gave him three steamed buns. He then tapped my head three times, hinting that I should visit him at midnight to learn the Dharma. What he taught me was this Six-Syllable True Mantra. Unfortunately, your disciple is dull-witted and learned poorly. In the end, I mastered only this single mantra. Now that I think about it, perhaps it’s inappropriate. How about you simply expel me from the sect, Master?”

I mean that sincerely. Really. I’m begging you.

The old man and the young man stared at one another.

After a long moment, both burst into laughter.

Once he had laughed enough, Zhou You chose not to mention the Daoist’s deliberate probing.

Instead, he grabbed the old man’s topknot and prepared to leave this blood-soaked hellhole.

But at that moment, a rumbling sound suddenly came from his stomach.

Instantly, his eyes turned blood-red.

He...

Or rather, the original owner of this body.

Was hungry again.