Butcher Zhao felt uneasy.
Within this manor, he could already be considered a demon leader, so in the Fang Master’s dojo demon market, he had his own meat shop, entertaining guests and establishing rules. Among this group of demons, he lived quite comfortably and with distinction.
Today he was drinking with the guests who had already arrived. The table was laden with delicacies from land and sea, fine wine and exquisite food, but he was absent-minded, his thoughts entirely occupied by that captured human.
Heaven have mercy, he had never encountered such a fragrant person!
Not even taking a bite—just catching a whiff made his body feel two pounds lighter.
But in this demon market, hierarchy was strict. Even though he had captured this person, even though he was already so ravenous he could eat himself, he still had to honestly restrain his desires.
He didn’t even dare lick a drop of the blood that had fallen from that person’s body.
Originally he could still endure it, but somehow, while drinking and eating meat, he suddenly caught that burst of rich, concentrated fragrance. Now he truly couldn’t bear it any longer.
Butcher Zhao downed three cups of wine in succession, hastily rose and made his apologies, finding an excuse to leave.
He rushed toward where the person was imprisoned, regretting in his heart why he hadn’t offered this person up from the start, causing his current worry. Yet he knew that half his concern was about directly presenting gifts, fearing he’d be scolded for overstepping bounds and punished for not understanding propriety.
The other half was reluctance in his heart.
Racing all the way there, he kicked open the door and burst in, not seeing that little demon.
His heart burned with hatred, wishing he could flay that little demon, strip its tendons, and deep-fry it two or three times. Glancing over, he saw the person in the cage lying on their side, apparently already asleep, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good, good, fortunately nothing happened.”
“This fragrance, really…”
“Ugh!!!”
Butcher Zhao squinted and took a deep breath, but only smelled a rank stench, nearly vomiting up everything he’d just eaten. Then he glimpsed the dried hungry ghost blood, thought of something, his expression changed drastically, and he yanked open the cage, flipping the person over.
At first glance, it wasn’t that human at all, but the gate-guarding little demon.
It seemed to have suffered some kind of spell—both eyeballs were nearly cooked, and one eye had been pierced by some sharp blade weapon.
Butcher Zhao muttered, then lost control and roared: “No!!!”
“My meat!!!”
“Useless!”
He almost crushed the little demon’s head in one squeeze, then abruptly stood up, turned and strode out. At this moment, there was no careful deference to the Fang Master in his heart, no sense of duty to present gifts—only the purest obsessive desire.
Black qi swirled around Butcher Zhao’s body. Sensing the lingering fragrance, he disregarded everything, not even bothering with the burning house over there.
He only focused on chasing that faint trace of fragrance, running wildly.
But this fragrance eventually spread to that house and was cut off where the flames raged fiercely. Butcher Zhao naturally thought that even the lowest-level demon hungry ghosts had strength and speed exceeding ordinary humans.
Even if common little demons couldn’t precisely sense the source of fragrance, they at least recognized it as human.
That person had probably been caught by those oblivious little demons while escaping, then torn apart for meat.
Thinking of such fragrant human flesh being handled so crudely.
Butcher Zhao’s eyes turned red.
Regardless of everything, he charged toward the fire scene, roaring as he rushed headlong: “Damn it, such good meat should be steamed, should be boiled! You bunch of fools who don’t know how to eat!!!”
“Boss, that’s a fire scene over there.”
“Get lost!”
He shoved aside the demon trying to stop him, directly charging into the fire scene. Ignoring the pain his hungry ghost demon body suffered in the raging flames, he frantically pressed forward, running to where the fragrance had vanished—the kitchen—and saw meat paste remaining in the stone mill. His heart shattered.
He threw himself forward, scooping up the meat paste with both hands and shoving it into his mouth, swallowing hard.
A muffled grunt.
The backlash from a hungry ghost devouring its own kind instantly struck his mind, making his body immediately convulse, veins bulging and throbbing wildly on his forehead. The intense pain nearly brought him to his knees.
But he was stunned for a moment, then burst into wild, joyful laughter:
“Hahahaha, it’s not his meat!”
“It’s not!”
“Hahahaha, wonderful! Young master, you didn’t become a dish!”
“Cough, ptui ptui ptui ptui!”
He forcefully spat out the hungry ghost meat in his mouth and struggled to his feet. The fire had long since blazed up, and once it started, trying to extinguish such flames with the water buckets in those demons’ hands was like dreaming.
Butcher Zhao could have escaped, but seeing a hungry ghost still struggling alive in the middle of the fire scene, he disregarded himself and ran to where the flames burned fiercest. He reached out, grabbed the demon by the neck, lifted it up, and demanded: “Where is that person?!”
“What, what person?!”
Two heavy slaps struck, then he asked again:
“Who just passed through here?!”
The demon, burned half to death, pointed in a direction: “Ran, ran away!”
Butcher Zhao directly threw the demon out to prevent it from burning to death, then crossed his arms and charged through the oil-fed raging flames toward the exit, his heart extremely anxious, worried that Zhou Yan might escape.
Somehow, that fragrance had disappeared.
What if Zhou Yan ran away and was caught by other demons?!
What if they didn’t know how to eat and wasted such fine ingredients!
His heart anxious and irritated, yet not knowing where to begin searching, like a headless fly. Just then, Butcher Zhao suddenly heard a sharp, inhuman cry: “There’s someone, no—”
“Meat sheep! It’s meat sheep!!”
“There’s meat sheep trying to escape!!!”
…
In the second breath after that person’s howl.
Zhou Yan was already moving.
You’re really pushing it!
He flew up with a kick, directly striking sideways at the person’s abdomen. The pain made the voice stop abruptly. Zhou Yan was about to follow up with another strike when he heard a loud “thwack.” The person’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed motionless with a “plop.”
The petite Li Zhiwei held a large wooden club from who knows where.
Looking toward Zhou Yan, she dropped the club.
About to explain.
Zhou Yan directly grabbed Li Zhiwei and ran wildly outward. As they passed, he gave that guy a vicious kick, then praised: “Li Zhiwei, beautifully done!”
Li Zhiwei blinked.
“Hmm.”
Behind them suddenly came a crashing sound, then a wave of heat almost flew over them. Zhou Yan could feel the heat from behind as Butcher Zhao directly smashed through that blazing house, laughing loudly and shrieking as he flew toward them:
“Young master!!!”
“Found you!!!”
At this moment, having experienced loss and found again, Butcher Zhao’s obsessive food desires had surpassed all other considerations of hierarchy and status in his wild joy. His eyes were red, thinking only of definitely, definitely getting one bite.
Just one bite!
I’ve eaten hundreds of kinds of human flesh—such a fine person, surely I should have one bite.
And before this, the demons who had been busy fighting the fire were already rushing over.
They ran on all fours, climbing and leaping with extreme speed, approaching from above and from the sides. Zhou Yan had only run five steps before being overtaken. In his previous encounters, he had almost always relied on sneak attacks, never realizing that hungry ghosts were demons particularly skilled in speed.
In this instant, the gap in physical capabilities between demons and humans was starkly apparent.
Li Zhiwei’s heart pounded wildly.
Then she quickly realized.
No, that wasn’t just her heartbeat.
There was also the heartbeat coming from the young man’s palm—his heartbeat.
In a trance, time seemed to stretch, sounds and colors beginning to fade.
In this cold manor with its pale green lanterns, in this demon clan market, demons pounced with fierce expressions. A young man not much older than herself pulled her along, amid pursuit, raging fire, and the thunderous collapse of wooden houses, running with all his might down narrow paths.
Such scenes and experiences were like something from a story book.
Perhaps she would never forget them.
Several hungry ghosts pounced to kill, revealing their true forms and fangs.
Zhou Yan’s teeth clenched tight.
Suddenly, the jade talisman blazed with light.
BOOM!!!!
Golden flowing light instantly descended from the sky like a great sun, illuminating all directions. Heavy weapons swung, and the demons pouncing forward, the approaching demons, were instantly turned to meat paste, then swept away by a powerful wave of qi.
Even the mud and gravel underfoot were instantly smoothed and swept away.
The ground became completely level.
Behind Zhou Yan and Li Zhiwei appeared another person.
Wearing golden Heavenly King armor, wielding a long-handled war blade, with a crimson cape billowing, lion fangs at the waist, jade-colored bagua hanging down, flames surging around him—magnificent like a heavenly god, intimidating the crowd of demons.
This general who descended from heaven gazed majestically over the demons, then at Zhou Yan.
Then he looked toward Li Zhiwei.
He saluted.
“Qianniu Guard Pei Xuanbao.”
“Greetings, Your Highness the Princess.”
