Chapter 64: Daoist Priest

The so-called feast was actually nothing more than half a pot of sorghum rice, a few steamed vegetable cakes, and one scrawny little chicken.

Leaving everything else aside, just from the appearance of that chicken, Zhou You could roughly imagine what sort of cruel mistreatment it had suffered while alive. Even after being stewed for so long, its eyes still seemed to accuse the world of the hunger it had endured and the injustice of its fate.

Looking at the pitiful spread on the table, the village chief appeared deeply ashamed.

“I’m truly sorry. The village is poor, and since the caravan I intended to entertain didn’t really need grain anyway, I didn’t prepare anything especially good. I hope you’ll forgive us, young friend.”

Zhou You glanced at the elderly man’s malnourished face, then at the child standing behind him, probably his grandson, sucking his thumb while drool dripped from his mouth, clearly longing for the food but not daring to approach.

Silently, Zhou You sighed inwardly.

Nothing especially good?

This was probably everything the family had left.

For a complete stranger, was there really any need to go this far?

Zhou You shook his head and beckoned the frail child over.

The village chief frowned.

“...What are you doing?”

Zhou You did not answer. Instead, he picked up the plate of chicken and placed it into the child’s hands.

“Be good. Go eat it. Just remember not to finish it all. Leave some for your grandfather.”

From the cloth pouch hanging at his waist, the old Daoist mocked him in a voice that only he could hear.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Who would’ve thought my disciple would be so kind-hearted? You can barely feed yourself, yet you’re still worrying about other people.”

“Shut up.”

Zhou You replied directly.

Only then did he pick up the bowl of rice in front of him. After greeting the village chief, he began eating at a leisurely pace.

The coarse rice scraped against his throat and barely extinguished the fire of hunger in his stomach.

But unlike the flesh of the pig demon, ordinary food like this could not sustain him for long.

Roughly speaking, even if he ate everything on the table by himself, it would only allow him to last another day or so at most.

The old village chief watched Zhou You with a smile.

After Zhou You had eaten nearly his fill, the chief finally spoke.

“Speaking of which, Daoist Priest, in a year of drought like this, you’ve still been traveling through dust and hardship. Just where are you planning to go?”

Daoist Priest?

Hearing that utterly unfamiliar title, Zhou You froze for a moment.

Then he lowered his head and examined his appearance through the reflection in the bowls and plates.

The clothes had been taken from the caravan. They were a light blue robe.

For convenience, he had tied his hair into a topknot following the old Daoist’s suggestion.

At first glance, he really did resemble a Daoist priest somewhat.

Still, he did not bother correcting the harmless misunderstanding.

Smiling, he replied,

“To be honest, Elder, my family has completely run out of food. There are barely any living people left throughout the surrounding villages. I had no choice but to head toward Youtai Mountain and seek refuge with a distant relative.”

It was essentially the same story he had used to fool the caravan leader before, except he had changed the destination from the county town to Youtai Mountain.

Unexpectedly, the village chief paused and asked,

“Are you talking about Youtai Mountain’s Yunjing Temple?”

“...You know of it, Elder?”

The village chief suddenly laughed.

“Few people in eastern Cangzhou don’t know that place. Daoist Xuanyuan there is a good man. Before the drought began, it was thanks to him standing guard that we weren’t constantly harassed by demons and monsters.”

At this point, the village chief suddenly sighed.

“What a pity. Some time ago, for reasons nobody understands, Daoist Xuanyuan suddenly disappeared without any news at all. Otherwise...”

Zhou You did not hear the rest very clearly.

But the information he had already heard was shocking enough.

A good man? That thing that talks about eating people every other sentence?

However, judging by the village chief’s expression, Zhou You knew this was not the right time to ask about it.

Instead, he continued,

“The person I’m seeking isn’t Daoist Xuanyuan, only a relative living at the foot of the mountain. But speaking of which, I do have a question. I wonder whether Elder might be willing to answer it.”

“Ask whatever you wish, Daoist Priest.”

“Then let me ask.”

Zhou You straightened his expression.

“How much do you know about the Grand Duke Jupiter in the county town?”

Unexpectedly, the village chief’s face stiffened the moment he heard those words.

He first looked around warily.

After confirming that nobody was eavesdropping, he chased his grandson, who was eating so enthusiastically that his face was covered in grease, into the inner room.

Only then did he lower his voice and ask,

“May I ask why you’re asking about that, Daoist Priest?”

Compared to the village chief’s caution, Zhou You’s answer was remarkably relaxed.

“Nothing much. Since I’ll probably be making a living near the county in the future, I don’t want to run into trouble because I’m unfamiliar with the place. I just wanted to learn more about the local ruler beforehand.”

The village chief stared at Zhou You for a while.

Only after deciding that the young man’s expression seemed genuine did he lower his voice and say,

“I advise you never to provoke that thing. Don’t even look at it. In fact, it’d be best not to seek out any relatives at all. Leave Cangzhou instead. The farther away you go, the better.”

Appropriately, Zhou You frowned and asked in apparent confusion,

“Why?”

His basic acting skills activated at the perfect moment. His face now looked utterly sincere.

The village chief seemed as though he had been bottling this up for a very long time.

He sighed heavily before speaking.

“Daoist Priest, that Grand Duke Jupiter may call itself a god, but in truth it’s a thoroughly evil monstrosity!”

Then he began telling the story.

“That thing arrived around seven or eight months ago. At the time, the drought hadn’t become this severe yet. Refugees could still barely survive on occasional relief supplies. But after it arrived, the government suddenly stopped all food aid.”

“They claimed that eating Grand Duke Jupiter’s flesh could satisfy hunger, and then they began distributing it to everyone.”

“At first, the refugees were all extremely resistant. But they had no choice. If they didn’t eat it, there was nothing else to eat. No matter how unwilling they were, they had to force it into their mouths.”

“But who could’ve imagined that the stuff actually worked? After eating it, not only did people stop feeling hunger and thirst, even their illnesses improved considerably.”

At this point, the village chief seemed to run out of energy and paused to catch his breath.

Zhou You silently waited.

Only after a long while did he continue.

“To be honest, Daoist Priest, our village still had some food reserves. But because I wanted to treat this leg, I rushed over there too. Unfortunately, I was too old to fight for a place in line, so after several days I only managed to get a few pieces. Even so, after eating them, I genuinely felt some improvement.”

“At the time, I nearly regarded that being as a true god.”

“Until one day, driven by hunger, I sneaked into the warehouse to steal a few pieces of Grand Duke Jupiter’s flesh.”

“And then...”

Terror gradually appeared on the village chief’s face.

“And then I witnessed a nightmare.”

Zhou You frowned.

“What did you see?”

The village chief had become completely immersed in the memory.

He did not even notice Zhou You’s reaction.

His mouth twisted into a smile that looked more like crying.

“I saw several people who had gone missing a few days earlier. The government had claimed they stole meat and fled to escape punishment.”

“But before my eyes, they were hanging there like pigs waiting for slaughter.”

“The clerks first fed Grand Duke Jupiter’s flesh to two of them.”

“Then they respectfully invited out a woman from behind the warehouse. I was terrified and never got a clear look at her face. I only saw her recite a few incantations and casually point a finger.”

“The two people immediately began screaming in agony. Patches of black fur grew all over their bodies. In the blink of an eye, they turned into two donkeys.”

“But that wasn’t the most horrifying part.”

“The most horrifying part was what happened to the others.”

“The woman didn’t even touch them.”

“But the moment the transformation of those donkeys was complete, the remaining people suddenly began screaming as well.”

The village chief swallowed hard. His expression became one of absolute terror.

“I’ve lived sixty or seventy years. I’ve seen a great many things.”

“But I’ve never heard screams that miserable in my entire life.”

“It sounded as though someone were skinning them alive.”

“The screaming didn’t last long, though.”

“Very soon, they started melting.”

Suddenly, Zhou You interrupted.

“Melting?”

The village chief’s expression became even more bitter.

“That’s right. Melting.”

“Their bodies melted like candle wax.”

“Their skin, bones, internal organs.”

“In the end, even their faces and heads dissolved into the container beneath them, becoming a mass of extremely bizarre flesh and blood.”

For some reason, Zhou You suddenly thought of something.

The pleading mass of flesh he had seen with the caravan.

In this world, donkeys are transformed from people. Pigs are transformed from people.

So...

Could Grand Duke Jupiter’s flesh also be transformed from people?