Chapter 6: Reinforcements
Zhao the Butcher was uneasy.
He was considered a leader among the Yao in this manor, so he had his own butcher shop in Fangzhu's Daoist temple, the Demon Market. He welcomed and saw off customers, set rules, and lived a comfortable and prestigious life among these Yao.
Today, he was drinking with the guests who had already arrived. There were all sorts of delicacies, fine wine, and delicious food on the table, but he was distracted, his mind solely on the person who had been captured.
Heaven help him, he had never encountered such a fragrant person!
Even just a whiff, let alone a bite, made his body feel two jin lighter.
However, in this Demon Market, the Ranks were strict. Even though he had captured this person, and even though he was so greedy he wished he could eat himself, he still had to honestly suppress this desire.
He didn't even dare to lick the blood that dripped from that person's body.
Originally, he could have endured it, but he didn't know how, while drinking and eating meat, he suddenly smelled that burst of rich fragrance. At this point, he could no longer hold back.
Zhao the Butcher drank three cups of wine in quick succession, then hastily stood up to apologize, making an excuse to leave.
He rushed to where the person was being held, regretting in his heart why he hadn't offered this person up from the start, causing him to worry now. Yet, he also knew that half of him was worried about offering a gift directly, being scolded for overstepping, and being punished for not understanding the rules.
Secondly, he was somewhat reluctant.
He ran all the way, kicked the door open and rushed in, but didn't see the little Yao.
His heart ached with anger, wishing he could flay that little Yao, pull out its tendons, and fry it two or three times in hot oil. But then he glanced into the cage and saw that person lying on their side, seemingly asleep. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"Good, good, thankfully nothing happened."
"This fragrance, truly…"
"Ugh!!!"
Zhao the Butcher narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, but only smelled a fishy stench, almost making him vomit what he had just eaten. He then glimpsed the dried Hungry Ghost blood, thought of something, his face changed drastically, and he violently pulled open the cage, flipping that person over.
At a glance, it wasn't that human at all, but the little gate-guarding Yao.
It seemed to have encountered some Spell; both its eyeballs were almost cooked, and one eyeball was pierced by some sharp weapon.
Zhao the Butcher murmured, then screamed uncontrollably: "No!!!"
"My meat!!!"
"Useless!"
He almost instantly crushed the little Yao's head, then abruptly stood up, turned, and strode out. At this moment, there was no carefulness towards Fangzhu in his heart, no duty to offer gifts, only the purest desire of obsession.
Zhao the Butcher was enveloped in a black Qi. Sensing the lingering fragrance, he disregarded everything, not even bothering with the burning house nearby.
He only cared about chasing that faint fragrance, running wildly.
But this fragrance eventually spread into that house and was interrupted where the fierce fire raged. Zhao the Butcher naturally thought that even the lowest Rank Yao, the Hungry Ghost, had strength and speed surpassing ordinary people.
Even an ordinary little Yao, unable to precisely sense the source of the fragrance, would at least recognize it as a human.
That person most likely ran out and was caught by those ignorant little Yao, then torn apart and eaten as meat.
Thinking of such a fragrant human meat being treated in such a way.
Zhao the Butcher's eyes turned red.
He rushed into the fire, roaring and charging blindly: "Damn it, this good meat should be steamed, boiled in water, you idiots who don't know how to eat!!!"
"Boss, that's a fire!".
"Get lost!"
He pushed away the Yao trying to stop him, directly charging into the fire. Disregarding the pain his Hungry Ghost body suffered in the raging fire, he pushed forward frantically, reaching the spot where the fragrance ceased, which was the back kitchen. Seeing the leftover meat paste in the stone grinder, his heart shattered.
He pounced, digging up the meat paste with both hands and stuffing it into his mouth, swallowing it fiercely.
A muffled groan.
The backlash of a Hungry Ghost devouring its own kind instantly assaulted his mind, making his body convulse immediately. Veins on his forehead bulged and throbbed wildly; the intense pain almost made him kneel.
But he paused, then burst into ecstatic laughter:
"Hahaha, it's not his meat!"
"It's not!"
"Hahahaha, that's great! Lang Jun, you didn't turn into a dish."
"Cough, spit, spit, spit!"
He forcefully spat out the Hungry Ghost meat from his mouth and struggled to his feet. The fire in the house had long since started, and once it started, it was almost a dream to extinguish such a fire with the buckets of water the Yao had.
Zhao the Butcher could have run out, but he saw a Hungry Ghost struggling, not yet dead, in the middle of the fire. So, disregarding himself, he ran to the fiercest part of the flames, reached out, grabbed the Yao by the neck, lifted it, and demanded: "Where is that person?!"
"What, what person?!"
He slapped it twice, hard, then asked again:
"Who just passed by?!"
The Yao, half-burned to death, pointed in a direction: "Ran, ran out!"
Zhao the Butcher directly threw the Yao out to prevent it from being burned to death. He crossed his arms, enduring the raging, oil-fueled fire, and ran outside, his heart extremely anxious, just worried that Zhou Yan had escaped.
He didn't know why, but that fragrance was gone.
What if Zhou Yan ran away and was caught by other Yao?!
What if they didn't know how to eat and wasted such a treasure!
Anxious and irritable, yet not knowing where to start looking, like a headless fly, at this moment, Zhao the Butcher suddenly heard a sharp, inhuman cry: "Someone, no—"
"Meat sheep! It's a meat sheep!!"
"A meat sheep is trying to escape!!!"
.........
The second breath after that person screamed.
Zhou Yan had already kicked.
Giving you face!
He delivered a flying side kick directly to that person's abdomen, making his voice instantly stop. Zhou Yan was about to follow up with another blow when he heard a loud bang. That person's vision went black, and with a smack, he fell to the ground motionless.
The small Li Zhiwei held a large wooden stick from who knows where.
She looked at Zhou Yan, then dropped the stick.
She was about to explain.
Zhou Yan directly grabbed Li Zhiwei and ran out wildly. As he passed, he kicked that guy hard, then praised:
"Li Zhiwei, well done!"
Li Zhiwei blinked.
"Hmph."
Suddenly, a cracking sound came from behind, and then a wave of heat almost flew over. Zhou Yan could feel the heat behind him. Zhao the Butcher directly crashed through the fiercely burning house, laughing loudly and screaming as he flew over:
"Lang Jun!!!"
"I found you!!!"
At this moment, Zhao the Butcher, having experienced loss and then found again, was ecstatic. His obsession and appetite had surpassed any other Rank or respect. His eyes were red, only wanting to take a bite, just one bite.
Just one bite!
I have eaten thousands of kinds of human meat, such a fine person, I should at least get a bite.
And before this, the Yao who had been busy fighting the fire had already pounced.
They moved on all fours, climbing and leaping with extreme speed, approaching from above and from the sides. Zhou Yan only ran five steps before he was about to be caught. In the previous instances, he had almost always used sneak attacks. He hadn't expected that Hungry Ghosts were Yao skilled in speed.
In this instant, the difference in physical quality between Yao and humans was clearly evident.
Li Zhiwei's heart pounded wildly.
Then she quickly realized.
No, that wasn't just her heartbeat.
There was also the heartbeat from the young man's palm, coming from the opposite side.
In a daze, time seemed to stretch, and sounds and colors began to fade.
In this gloomy manor of the Yao Race's Demon Market, with its pale green lanterns, Yao pounced, their faces ferocious. A young man not much older than herself pulled her, running wildly forward in the narrow path amidst the pursuit, the fierce fire, and the roar of collapsing wooden houses.
Such a scene and experience were like a storybook.
Perhaps it would never be forgotten.
Several Hungry Ghosts pounced, revealing their true forms and fangs.
Zhou Yan's teeth were clenched.
Suddenly, the jade talisman lit up.
Boom!!!!
A golden stream of light instantly fell from the sky, like a great sun, illuminating all directions. Heavy weapons swung, and the pouncing Yao, the approaching Yao, were instantly turned into meat paste, then swept away and flattened by a strong Qi fluctuation.
Even the soil and gravel underfoot were instantly smoothed out.
The ground was perfectly flat.
A person appeared behind Zhou Yan and Li Zhiwei.
He wore golden Heavenly King armor, wielded a long-handled battle saber, his crimson cloak billowed, a lion's fangs devoured his waist, and jade-colored Eight Trigrams hung down. His aura surged, as magnificent as a Heavenly God, awe-inspiring to the multitude of Yao.
This general, who descended from the sky, his gaze majestic, swept over the multitude of Yao, Zhou Yan.
Then he looked at Li Zhiwei.
He saluted.
"Qianniu Guard Pei Xuanbao."
"Greetings, Princess."