“Why are you bringing it out so late?!”
“My belly’s practically on fire from waiting!”
Those demons didn’t suspect much. They were just lesser demons in this remote manor, drinking wine and already thoroughly drunk, starving besides. Now that food was being served to them, they were beside themselves with joy.
One by one, they didn’t even think to be suspicious—they all reached out to grab their share.
Having come this far, Zhou Yan had already thrown caution to the wind.
Instead, he felt no fear at all.
“Come, come, this is yours!”
“Don’t fight over it, don’t fight—there’s plenty more, yes, loads more.”
Zhou Yan smiled familiarly, warmly greeting the demons he’d met before, giving each demon a large portion of meat. Each demon was satisfied, not waiting for their companions, devouring on their own, afraid of getting less.
For a moment, there was only the sound of swallowing and chewing.
A demon asked: “Brother, aren’t you eating?”
Zhou Yan replied: “If I eat, who’ll cook meat for you all?”
Another demon asked: “Brother, aren’t you hungry?”
Zhou Yan replied: “Watching you eat, I’m not hungry anymore.”
“The meat’s running low, let’s go get some more.”
He had Li Zhiwei dirty herself too, using pot ash to smear her face, then had Li Zhiwei follow behind him as they swaggered through this room full of lesser demons.
Not only did the demons not stop them, they couldn’t wait for them to leave quickly.
Clang—
Suddenly there was a crisp sound. A demon’s bowl fell to the ground, shattering with a crack. This demon had eaten the most fiercely, the most voraciously, as if his appetite could never be satisfied. Now he stared at the meat paste on his hands.
His cheeks, stuffed full of meat paste, twitched. His eyes bulged out.
“This, this meat—”
“What kind of meat is this?!”
The blood vessels on his face suddenly convulsed, his eyes turned red, then he struggled to stand but suddenly lost strength and collapsed, crying out: “What kind of meat is this?!”
Clang clang clang—like a chain reaction, these demons’ meat bowls all crashed to the ground. One by one, they began to howl, their already huge bellies growing ever larger, losing human form.
When Zhou Yan heard the first cry, his expression didn’t change. He just grabbed Li Zhiwei’s wrist and quickened his pace. After running out with her, he looked back to see the demons struggling in agony, lying on the ground wailing terribly.
“What is this?!”
Only now, as his nerves relaxed, did Zhou Yan notice the scroll in his consciousness. The scroll had opened to a page toward the back, the entire book appearing jade-like, still blank.
But Zhou Yan had already killed two demons. Whether it was the soul fragments from these demons’ dying screams or their own spiritual essence, they transformed into the black qi he’d first seen, absorbed by this jade tome, then suppressed.
After suppressing the demons, corresponding text appeared on the book.
Since this book existed in his consciousness, these words naturally surfaced in Zhou Yan’s mind—no need to read them, he understood instantly.
[If there are sentient beings who commit light evil in body, light evil in speech, light evil in mind, who develop excessive greed, malicious stinginess and jealousy, wrong views and attachments, even clinging to material possessions at the moment of death, by these causes they fall into the realm of hungry ghosts. —Sutra on the Differences in Karmic Retribution]
If there are sentient beings who turn their backs on human ethics to devour blood and flesh, [eating humans for a long time], they fall onto evil paths. Their eyes burn red like flames, their bellies swell like jars, their throats narrow like needle holes. They lose all heavenly nature and finally transform into demons. Their forms hunger and thirst without measure, [because they seek from others, they are called hungry ghosts].
Their vital gate lies in their spirit. When they devour their own kind again, it triggers their humanity, making them recall the pain and struggle of swallowing their first mouthful of human flesh, causing their consciousness to go mad and collapse from exhaustion. For this reason, hungry ghosts can coexist with each other without devouring one another.
After suppressing the souls of the previously killed demons.
He could see through this type of demon’s true nature and weaknesses at a glance.
Zhou Yan shook his head. Only now did he focus his mind and notice golden text appearing and undulating on the scroll.
“Suppress remnant souls, identify demons’ true forms…?”
Zhou Yan felt the power of this scroll, and also sensed that this jade tome had yet to reveal its true strength.
However, he now understood these demons’ situation—they were demons who had fallen through cannibalism. Once they devoured their own kind again, they would fall into madness and weakness due to the violent conflict between their buried humanity and their subsequent actions upon remembering the past.
In other words, these demons were now in a weakened, powerless state.
Zhou Yan looked at these suffering demons.
A thought rose in his mind, impossible to suppress.
After two quiet breaths, he suddenly laughed.
He said: “What’s there to fear!”
Li Zhiwei’s heart pounded thump thump thump. She felt the changes during this time had been truly swift as a startled rabbit or diving hawk—first captured, then when about to be eaten, rescued. Being rescued was one thing, but then they ground demons into paste to feed to demons, then swaggered out.
This kind of experience was really…
Then she saw the young man suddenly laugh, then—
This guy went back in again?
Li Zhiwei’s eyes widened. She stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Yan, urgently whispering: “What are you doing?”
Zhou Yan said: “I just remembered, there’s still something I haven’t done.”
“What?!”
“Wait here for me. If you’re really scared, you can walk straight ahead. There’s a small tree there—charge forward and you can get out. By that point, there won’t be any demons.”
Li Zhiwei watched as the guy went back in. Cups and plates lay scattered everywhere, a group of demons collapsed on tables, revealing their true forms, struggling, crying, murmuring, shouting—all kinds of sounds that hurt the ears to hear.
Zhou Yan, in his tattered clothes and hemp shoes, swaggered through this group of demons.
If any blind one got in his way, he just kicked them aside.
He looked at that woman’s arm, though he didn’t really say anything.
Then he grabbed the kitchen’s oil barrel and walked back out, splashing oil in all directions. Those demons collapsed on the ground were all doused from head to toe. As he walked, he kicked over lamps and candles.
The candlelight inside caught the oil, whoosh—it began to ignite, burning onto these demons’ bodies, igniting clothes, igniting flesh and blood, igniting hair. The screams grew heavier and heavier.
Zhou Yan ran out at the end.
Then he hurled the oil barrel, with the last bit of oil, forcefully onto the roof of the house.
This place where ordinary lesser demons ate and drank was a standard straw hut—bamboo for the house frame, yellow mud mixed with straw for the walls, multiple layers of straw, thatch, and sorghum stalks bundled together for the roof. All flammable materials.
Zhou Yan grabbed a torch, mustered all his strength, and threw it spinning up. The torch whirled through the air and landed on the roof. Whoosh—the entire house, top to bottom, ignited all at once. Flames burned fiercely in this demon realm.
The demons screamed miserably, but in their current state, they couldn’t run out at all. They could only suffer and wail, rolling in the fire. Li Zhiwei stood dazed. Zhou Yan’s breathing was slightly labored. He watched this scene in the raging fire, seeming to see that woman again.
They’d only met once, spent little time together. To speak of deep feelings would be impossible.
Just pity, just that initial anger.
What had that woman sacrificed to survive and continue on? What had been her state of mind, her feelings, her pain and struggle, her resolve?
Showing kindness to strangers in dangerous circumstances—was it just inner compensation for selling daughters and sons? After doing what she considered bad deeds, doing good deeds to comfort herself, using such behavior to tell herself she still had humanity and kind thoughts.
Maintaining herself so she wouldn’t collapse.
Zhou Yan didn’t know, nor did he want to explore further.
Glimpsing the leopard through a tube—this world, with human hearts ghostly and helpless, he couldn’t manage all that much. But to just leave like this, he felt dissatisfied.
Just dissatisfied.
Raging fire surged, burning demons. Zhou Yan removed the white cloth from his arm, thinking of that woman’s words about that lively, adorable little girl.
“I hope in another world, you live happily.”
He said, then let go.
The white cloth was swept up by the heat waves. Though it should have burned, carried by the heat waves, it actually passed through layer upon layer of flames. In the rolling heat waves, among the reaching claws of hungry ghosts, it fluttered to that woman’s final remaining arm.
Zhou Yan watched the white cloth as if seeing a little girl spread her arms and rush over. When it landed on the arm, that arm also burst into flames with a whoosh. In a daze, he seemed to see that woman’s figure embracing a little girl.
Their blood-stained clothes grew clean in the fire, amid the demons’ wails. They seemed to be crying. The little girl stretched out her hand to beat the woman, but finally they looked over, bowed toward Zhou Yan, and slowly dispersed in the fire.
That little girl really looked very well-behaved, smiling and waving vigorously.
Li Zhiwei seemed to see this scene too, staring in a daze, then looking at this youth only a year or two older than herself.
Zhou Yan watched this scene.
Dream, illusion, real, false?
Who knows.
I don’t know, or rather—
Who gives a damn!
Zhou Yan stretched out his hand, waving vigorously at that little girl, laughing as he said:
“Hey, thanks for your things!”
The fire in his heart transformed into flames in this world, burning away demons and burning away the anger in his heart. Zhou Yan’s heart felt light. With his back to the flames consuming the demons, he turned around.
“Let’s go.”
He ran without the slightest hesitation. Li Zhiwei caught up, asking in a low voice: “What do we do? Just run? Won’t there be more demons ahead?”
Zhou Yan said: “I don’t know, there’ll probably be guards.”
“So follow me and shout.”
Li Zhiwei froze, then saw Zhou Yan contort his mouth.
She heard him shout in an extremely panicked voice:
“—Fire! Come help put out the fire!!!”
“Help put out the fire!”
