Chapter 65: Bestial Transformation

Unfortunately, the village chief could not provide the answer that followed.

He merely let out a long breath and continued,

“I was nearly scared to death at the time. Fortunately, those people didn’t discover me, allowing me to drag this crippled leg out of there. But after seeing that scene, I knew that Grand Duke Jupiter was absolutely no good thing. So after returning to the village, I forcibly made the remaining households throw away all their Grand Duke Jupiter flesh. We survive only by growing a little grain with water from the village well that hasn’t dried up yet.”

After that came little more than a stream of complaints.

Most of it concerned how the villagers failed to appreciate his good intentions and repeatedly caused trouble.

Zhou You barely listened.

His mind simply kept repeating a few words over and over.

“Deformed flesh... deformed flesh...”

So are they actually the same thing or not?

Subconsciously, Zhou You glanced toward the old Daoist in the pouch.

But he immediately shook his head.

This one was no help.

For some reason, whenever anything related to Grand Duke Jupiter came up, unless absolutely cornered, the old Daoist kept his mouth tightly shut and refused to reveal anything.

So Zhou You could only commit the matter to memory and put on a smile once more.

“Then let’s talk about the second matter. I’d like to purchase some grain from you, Elder. Would you be willing to sell me some?”

The village chief, who had been in the middle of complaining, suddenly froze.

Then he asked hesitantly,

“May I ask how much you need?”

Zhou You named a quantity.

It was the minimum amount required, given his current appetite, to keep himself from falling into hunger-driven madness and make it all the way to the county town.

The moment the village chief heard the figure, his expression froze solid.

After a long silence, he smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“Daoist Priest, the amount you’re asking for... even if I sold myself, I couldn’t gather that much. The village barely has any grain left. The little we’ve planted using well water hasn’t reached harvest time yet. Today, just to ward off misfortune with a sacrifice, I had to slaughter the rooster that guarded the village to put together that meal.”

“I know you’re willing to pay.”

“But the quantity you need...”

“We truly can’t gather it.”

An answer well within expectations.

Thus, Zhou You remained fairly calm.

The old Daoist in the pouch, however, could not restrain himself.

In a sinister voice, he said,

“Kid, don’t listen to his nonsense. Even if they can’t gather enough grain, if you just kill all these people and dry them into jerky, that’ll be more than enough to get you where you’re going. Come, come, come. Your master will teach you a few spells. Guaranteed to kill them without anyone noticing a thing...”

Why are you everywhere?

Zhou You immediately grabbed the pouch at his waist and swung it around with all his strength several times.

Instantly, peace returned to his ears.

Ignoring the thoroughly dizzy old Daoist, Zhou You pulled out the map he had taken from the caravan and pointed at a name.

Then he asked the somewhat bewildered village chief,

“Elder, do you happen to know where this place is?”

His finger rested on a name called Splendid Glory Inn.

Beside the name was a careful note written by Head Li.

[Large stores of rice, flour, and cooking oil. The owner accepts both money and people as payment. Supplies can be purchased in moderation to prevent the mutation symptoms caused by consuming only Grand Duke Jupiter flesh.]

This was the only place within a hundred li or so where he might obtain enough provisions without resorting to eating people.

The problem was that Head Li had written down only the name, not the location.

As a result, Zhou You had no way of finding it on his own and could only seek help from local villagers.

Unexpectedly, the moment the old man saw that simple place name, he reacted as if he had seen something terrifying.

Staggering backward several steps, he exclaimed,

“Daoist Priest, that place...”

Before he could finish speaking, the dilapidated wooden door of the house was kicked open.

A face full of panic rushed in.

“Village Chief, this is bad!”

“Xue Er, he... Xue Er, he’s about to turn into a donkey!”

On a patch of wasteland east of the village.

The village chief was raging furiously.

“What did I tell you back then?! Bury the donkey and don’t touch anything else! Were your ears just decorations?! Where the hell were you listening?!”

Two emaciated young men fled while covering their heads from the cane blows, begging for mercy all the while.

“Great-Uncle, Great-Uncle, stop hitting us!”

“We never thought it would turn out like this!”

“How long has it been since anyone had a full meal? We thought it would be a waste to bury such a large donkey whole, so we figured eating a little wouldn’t matter...”

“Who could’ve known it’d become like this?!”

The village chief paid them no attention whatsoever.

His cane fell like rain.

“I’ll teach you what it means to be hungry!”

“I’ll teach you what it means to be a waste!”

“I’ll teach you what it means not to matter!”

“I’m going to beat you two idiots to death today and save the village a bit of food!”

Zhou You ignored the farce beside him.

He was staring only at the scene ahead.

On the open ground outside the village, a thing covered from head to toe in black fur was being pinned to the ground by several people.

Even now, it continued groaning.

To call it a monster seemed inaccurate, because it still retained a human outline.

To call it human seemed equally wrong. Black fur covered its entire body, and its hands were grotesquely twisted, looking more like black donkey hooves.

No matter how one looked at it, it was deeply unnatural.

“Master.”

Zhou You quietly spoke to the head inside the pouch.

“When I ate that pig’s head back then, would I have become like this too?”

After a long pause, a cold reply came from within.

“You? The effect would’ve been slower than his, but not by much. This is the consequence of eating bestial-transformation flesh. If nobody saves you, sooner or later you’ll become the same thing.”

“...Wait.”

“You mean this thing can still be saved?”

Before the Daoist could answer, the village chief, having finished beating the younger generation, walked over.

Then, without another word, he dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.

“Daoist Priest, I know it’s rude to beg someone I’ve only just met, but Xue Xi belongs to the younger generation of our village. His father entrusted him to me personally before he died. There’s no way I can just watch him die.”

“Since you escaped from White Dew Spitting Silk, you must be someone with real ability.”

“I beg you. If you can truly save him, then...”

The village chief gritted his teeth, determination filling his face.

“Then I’ll sacrifice this old body of mine if necessary to guide you to that Splendid Glory Inn!”

No, it’s just giving directions.

Why are you acting as though you’re marching to your death?

And I’m not even a Daoist priest.

I don’t understand any of that ghost-hunting and evil-banishing business.

How am I supposed to save him?

Zhou You thought about it with a troubled expression.

In the end, he decided to seek outside assistance.

While helping the village chief to his feet with one hand, he quickly traced a sentence onto the pouch with his finger.

Master, how about we give it a try?

The old Daoist immediately snorted.

“I do have a method.”

“But why should I tell you?”

Zhou You paused.

Then, in a nearly inaudible voice, he replied,

You heard him. If I want to reach that Splendid Glory Inn, I need someone to guide me. This is the only village with living people around here. If we miss this chance, where are we going to find another guide?

Besides, it’s only lending a hand. Neither of us loses anything. Consider it buying goodwill. It might prove useful someday.

The old Daoist remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he snorted again.

“Fine, fine. I understand. Do you know how much extra effort I’ve wasted because of your nonsense?”

“Honestly, what’s with your stubborn principles? If you’d just eaten people earlier, how many problems would that have solved? In times like these, would anyone even bother hunting you down for it?”

Zhou You did not answer.

But unlike what the old Daoist believed, the reason for his persistence was not merely instinctive disgust.

There was another reason.

A faint intuition lingered in his mind.

This scenario probably requires avoiding both human flesh and Grand Duke Jupiter flesh from beginning to end if I want to truly clear it.