Acting Like a Tyrant

Chen Shi offered up the hind leg of the Feng Xi and turned to return to the edge of the mountain stream.

He saw me staring at him all this time, thinking I wanted to eat his food, so he presented the roasted hind leg to me.

The Great Serpent Xuan Shan thought silently in his heart.

He understood Chen Shi's psychological state quite clearly.

Only, he had already sworn off blood and flesh, having touched neither meat nor fish in three thousand years; he inhaled the long winds and drank the dew of rain.

His ambitions were lofty and far-reaching, wanting to be like the true gods beyond the heavens, motionless from the ancient past, eating nothing, sleeping not, sitting and watching the vicissitudes of worldly affairs.

However...

It smelled so good.

The Great Serpent Xuan Shan stared at the Feng Xi hind leg, forced to admit that this little fellow indeed possessed some skill in roasting, which had stirred up his gluttonous worm.

I am mostly likely controlled by the gluttonous worm.

The Great Serpent Xuan Shan hesitated for a moment and tasted the flavor of the Feng Xi hind leg.

I am indeed controlled by the gluttonous worm. He thought thus.

After the Great Serpent Xuan Shan finished eating the roasted Feng Xi leg, his mind drifted far away along with Chen Shi.

I want to be like the true gods beyond the heavens, observing everything in the mortal world. I thought a god's heart of Dao was as unyielding as a boulder, difficult to alter or change. Yet a month ago, the darkness arrived a quarter-hour early.

The Great Serpent Xuan Shan's gaze grew increasingly profound as he thought silently, True gods also change, but their changes are extremely protracted. A single change of theirs might span the birth, aging, illness, and death of dozens of generations of mortals. This change by the true god seemingly has no impact on the world, but how could it possibly have no impact? Perhaps I, too, need to change...

This consumption of blood and flesh caused a slight ripple in his unmoving and unshaken heart of Dao, yet he was too ancient, and to him, Chen Shi was merely a brief passerby in his long expanse of life, capable only of bringing him a single insight regarding his heart of Dao.

That night, he entered the youth's dreams, guiding Chen Shi on how to breathe and guide Qi, how to circulate true blood, and how it wandered the entire body following his own intent.

When Chen Shi slept at night, he followed him in cultivation, and by daytime he would forget all of this, only to remember it again once he entered dreamland, continuing to follow him in cultivation.

Over the span of five or six days, the transformation of his true blood was finally complete.

The Great Serpent Xuan Shan did not continue to enter his dreams.

In his view, he had already repaid Chen Shi for the sacrificed Feng Xi hind leg.

Chen Shi closed his eyes, and at this moment, he could feel the blood within his body setting forth from his heart, carrying the surging primordial Qi to deliver it to every corner of his body.

With the sound of a single heartbeat, the true blood went straight to the tips of his limbs and bones, and every single blood vessel, his five viscera and six bowels, and even various conditions on the surface of his skin were reflected with utmost clarity in his mind!

He could clearly sense the wounds on his skin and the scars left by injuries he had sustained in the past.

He could feel a gentle breeze sweeping across the surface of his skin and the minute swaying of every single fine hair.

He could even direct his Qi and blood to repair his own wounds and mend his scars.

This was the wondrous utility brought by transforming true blood!

Not only that, but having forged true blood, his five viscera and six bowels were nourished by the true blood every moment, and as his Qi and blood circulated, his five viscera and six bowels grew stronger and stronger.

The hidden ailments and congenital deficiencies of his five viscera and six bowels were also gradually mended!

This was the second stage of the Sacred Embryo, called Five Viscera Complete Truth.

Only after transforming his true blood, and with the five viscera nourished by the true blood, could they reach the level of Five Viscera Complete Truth.

When Chen Shi urged the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art, a divine shrine would involuntarily emerge, shining with divine light and growing increasingly bright. Even when he stopped urging the technique, the divine shrine still remained, only dissolving after a breath or two of time.

Joy filled his heart to the utmost.

If the divine shrine can persist longer, I can attempt to practice the sword techniques within the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art. It's just that to learn this spell, I must go to the private school in the town.

He had saved up some money, though he did not know if it would be enough for the school's tuition.

Chen Shi left the Mountain Lord Temple, hoisted the large pot big enough to stew himself with both hands, used a scavenged tortoise shell as a lid, and walked out of the mountains.

After transforming his true blood, he no longer felt the intense hunger he once had, and without needing to stay in the deep mountains to hunt, he could finally go home.

Having gone out to transform his true blood for many days without returning, he missed Grandpa and Black Pot quite a bit.

This was his first time leaving home for so long, and furthermore, he had carried away the large pot used for boiling medicine at home, so his heart inevitably felt some worry, fearing Grandpa's punishment.

However, the house was truly eaten empty by me, and if not for relying on the mountains to eat from the mountains, I would have starved to death.

Chen Shi thought to himself, Grandpa will definitely be angry, and Black Pot will certainly be by the side speaking ill of me. But if I take the initiative to admit my mistake, even if Black Pot makes mischief, Grandpa won't beat me to death. At most, he'll hang me up and beat me.

Passing through Gangzi Village, he arrived at Granny Sha's doorstep and greeted Granny Sha.

Granny Sha looked at him vigilantly and did not let him enter the house.

"A loving mother ruins her son, and there isn't a single grain of rice left in my cellar!" Granny Sha cried out in grievance.

Chen Shi set down the large pot, lifted the lid, and took out a hundred-odd catties of spirit beast meat from inside, smiling. "I've eaten so much of Granny's things, so I brought a little meat as compensation."

Seeing this, Granny Sha felt utterly ashamed in an instant, and with a blushing face, she said, "To tell you the truth, this old woman actually bought a little rice, so the house can manage to cook a meal. Little Ten, will you eat a meal before leaving?"

Seeing that she had no sincere intention of having him stay for a meal, Chen Shi made an excuse about missing home, hoisted the large pot, and left.

Piled high within that large pot was meat from various spirit beasts, all from the most delicious parts of the spirit beasts. He couldn't bear to eat them, and besides wanting to show filial piety to Granny Sha, he also needed to show filial piety to Grandpa and the stone tablet godmother.

Returning to Huangpo Village, he arrived at Grandma Yuzhu's doorstep, put down the large pot, and knocked on the door.

When Yuzhu opened the door, she saw no one outside, only a piece of spirit beast meat hanging on the door, weighing about a dozen catties.

Meanwhile, a knock also sounded on the wall of her next-door neighbor's house. Turning her head, Yuzhu saw Chen Shi hanging meat on the neighboring door, weighing roughly a dozen catties as well.

Grandma Yuzhu asked from behind, "Lass, who is outside?"

"Grandma, it's that damned kid you mentioned."

Carrying that slab of meat back into the courtyard, Yuzhu said softly to her grandmother, "He brought us these meats. Grandma, we haven't eaten meat in so long!"

Grandma Yuzhu was surprised; taking small steps out of the courtyard, she saw Chen Shi knocking on doors from house to house, hanging the meat on other people's doors before anyone could even come out.

Just like that, Chen Shi walked all the way along, hanging meat as he went, and soon well over half the spirit beast meat in the pot was gone.

By the time he reached Chen Shi's home, the pot had hit the bottom, with only two or three pieces remaining.

"This child is quite loyal; if he hadn't died back then..."

Grandma Yuzhu sighed, then turned to instruct Yuzhu, "Remember, you are not allowed to play with him! He's a damned child!"

Chen Shi pushed open the house door, carried the large pot into the courtyard, and with two chirp sounds called Black Pot over, fishing a piece of spirit beast meat out from the pot.

Full of joy and celebration, Black Pot instantly dismissed the notion of helping Grandpa scold him for being gone for many days, clamped the meat in its jaws, and trotted under the table to feast heartily.

Chen Shi shouted toward the main room, "Grandpa, I'm back!"

"Hmph, you still know how to come back!"

Grandpa walked out from the main room holding a half-eaten candle, looking quite displeased as he reprimanded, "You go out without even saying a word, why don't you have the ability to die outside and never come back ever again! Isn't that right, Black Pot? Black Pot! Where the hell did you die off to? You don't even know how to chime in and hurl a couple of curses..."

After Grandpa grumbled a couple of times, Chen Shi took the remaining spirit beast meat out from the pot and smiled. "Grandpa, we'll eat this tonight!"

Grandpa hung the meat up, wanting to scold him a couple more times, yet not knowing where to begin, and wanting to strike him but lacking the heart.

"I made a business deal a few days ago, earned a bit of money, and bought you a new set of clothes. They're right in your room. Go and see if they fit."

Chen Shi hurried into the house. In these past few days of transforming his true blood, his stature had also grown much taller, and he had been feeling that his clothes no longer fit, wondering how to get Grandpa to spend money on a new set for him. Never did he expect that Grandpa had already bought them.

A new set of clothes lay on the bed. Aside from the inner undershirt and undergarments, there was also a light cyan changpao, a pair of white trousers, a blue-cyan straight-cut robe, a red silk belt, and a blue sachet.

Dressing himself, Chen Shi found that they fit him to a T.

Filled with joy, he was just about to step outside when he caught sight of another hair-binding ribbon on the bed, also red, though tending toward rose-red.

Binding his hair, Chen Shi walked out the door.

"What a handsome lad!" Grandpa praised.

Extremely happy, Chen Shi intended to go out for a stroll, but reflecting on how everyone in the village loathed and detested him, leaving him with no friends, he had no choice but to give up the idea.

"Grandpa said he made a business deal. What kind of business was it?" he asked out of curiosity.

"A ghost possessed a house in Shanyin Village. The Wang family's donkey died, stiff as a board, but in the middle of the night it came back to life, climbed up and turned the millstone all night long. At dawn, it grew claws and sharp teeth, wanting to eat people, and chased folks all over the streets, biting several."

Grandpa sorted the medicinal herbs unhurriedly and said, "The village godmother couldn't be bothered either, so they had no choice but to invite me. I went over and took a look; as it turned out, it had basked in the moonlight at night and turned into a malevolent entity. Since it turned into an evil entity right inside the village, the godmother simply wouldn't care."

Chen Shi asked, "And then?"

"And then? Then I subdued the donkey, returned it to the Wang family, earned one liang of silver, and bought this outfit for you."

Chen Shi was puzzled. "What did the Wang family want with a donkey that turned into an evil entity?"

"To turn the millstone."

Grandpa stated it as a matter of course. "The donkey died and turned into an evil entity, tireless, and getting some moonlight makes it full of vigor. It can turn the millstone night after night without needing to rest, and the money it earns is far more than one liang of silver."

Chen Shi let out an "oh."

"However, I heard people say the donkey died yesterday, likely from doing too much work, and was worked to death by the Wang family."

Grandpa paused, then said, "And then the Wang family skinned the donkey, boiled it into donkey-hide gelatin, and made another profit. One liang of silver was asking too little."

He sighed and shook his head.

Chen Shi's eyes widened. Things could be done this way too?

Excitement surged within him involuntarily as he looked at Black Pot. If Gouzi turns into an evil entity, can I constantly harvest black dog blood...

Under the table, Black Pot quietly shielded its piece of meat, terrified that Chen Shi might crawl under the table to snatch it.

Chen Shi had done precisely that in the past.

Over in Huangyang Village, Liu Fugui was walking along the village path.

He was still a child and recovered quickly, yet he still frequently felt cold and often woke up from nightmares when sleeping at night. As for urinating, he dared not do it at all, always needing an adult to accompany him before he dared approach the outhouse.

Though the climate was pleasant, he still wore thick cotton-padded clothes, his complexion deathly pale.

Walking along, he glanced into the drainage ditch, remembering that he had spotted a large white carp in this ditch; today he had made a hook and line, intending to fish it up.

At that moment, he crashed into someone, feeling as though he had hit an iron frame—hard and solid—taking a painful knock right through his cotton-padded jacket.

"Little thing, blind in both eyes!"

The person he collided with flared up in anger, kicking him straight down into the ditch.

Liu Fugui was bundled up thickly and panicked, worrying that he would drown in the water. Struggling in a flurry, he found the surface beneath him slippery and slick—it was precisely that large white carp—and hastily pressed down on it.

The water in the ditch was not deep either. Pressing down on the flailing white carp, he looked up toward the bank and saw that the one who had kicked him into the water was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth wearing a square scholar's cap. The young man was dressed in a green scholar's robe with white lapels, and on his feet were a pair of black square-toed shoes, looking very neat; he ought to have been a scholar from the city.

Behind this young man were mostly young men and women of similar attire, ranging from fourteen or fifteen to twenty or thirty years of age, totaling six people.

Behind the six individuals were Imperial Guards clad in red Feiyu robes with pleated skirts below, swords hanging at their waists, numbering thirty or forty people.

The Imperial Guard at the lead was a middle-aged man, robust of build, with a dark complexion and sideburns, thick black eyebrows slanting downward like an inverted "eight" character, and bright black eyes. Strapped to his back was a Three-Eyed Firearm, emanating an unangered majesty that readily drew the eye.

"Rock Brother, be a bit more polite to the villagers. If this spreads to other noble lineages, it'll make people laugh at our Zhao family for bullying a child!"

A Confucian scholar in his early twenties wore a slightly darkened expression as he reprimanded, "We are here to investigate Second Sister's disappearance case, not to throw our weight around! All of you, pull in your horns, and no causing trouble!"

Those Confucian scholars offered assent one after another, saying, "Third Brother is right."

That Third Brother was none of other than the third young master of the Zhao Family's Xuan Ying Mansion in Xinxiang Province, named Zhao Yue.

The Zhao family was a great lineage with a flourishing and prosperous population. The ancestors of the Zhao family had followed the Great Ming's founding Emperor Taizu to conquer the realm, rendering distinguished military service, which was why Emperor Taizu had spared his entire family from slaughter.

Later on, the Zhao family migrated to the Western Ox Continent, where the emperor was far away and the mountains high, escaping liquidation.

In recent years, imperial authority had grown weak, and the Zhao family seized the opportunity to rise, managing Xinxiang Province and building a considerable scale by establishing four great mansions: Tianlu, Digang, Xuanying, and Huangting.

Second Miss Zhao and Zhao Yue and his companions came from Xuan Ying Mansion, and the mansion lord Zhao Yanlong was also their father.

Only, the scale of Xuan Ying Mansion was too vast. Aside from his main wife, Zhao Yanlong also had concubines, chamber maids, and secondary wives, producing a very large number of children—a full nineteen in all.

Moreover, apart from Zhao Yanlong's direct branch, there were numerous collateral branches, mostly Zhao Yanlong's brothers and sisters branching out and spreading leaves. The next generation of the Zhao surname alone numbered two to three hundred people.

And this was merely Xuan Ying Mansion.

If one added the other three mansions, it would only be even more exaggerated.

That was why Zhao Yue and the others traveled with such restraint, unwilling to leave handles for other noble lineages, while similarly not wishing to give their kinsmen from the other three mansions any pretext to attack their Xuan Ying Mansion.

A moment later, Zhao Yue sat in the seat of the clan elders, while that tall, mighty, bearded Imperial Guard stood behind him, sending a chill through the heart.

Zhao Yue picked up a teacup, blew on the few bubbles that had yet to dissipate atop the tea water, sniffed the tea fragrance, gently raised his eyelids to sweep over the densely packed kneeling villagers of Huangyang Village below, and said with helpless resignation, "Get up. Although I am an official, this trip down to the countryside is not to handle official business, and for you to kneel to me like this doesn't look good if word gets out."

The villagers of Huangyang Village hesitated for a moment before slowly standing up.

Zhao Yue looked up at the sallow-complexioned faces of these villagers, hesitated briefly, and helplessly said, "You all had better kneel back down. With you standing up, this official finds it uncomfortable to look at."

The villagers dropped back to their knees with a rustling sound, remaining motionless.

Zhao Yue took a sip of tea, set down his teacup, and said indifferently, "Speak. Iron Brush Old Man lodged in your village for a night and met with a tragic end a few days later. Who killed him? How dare you people actually hire assassins to murder someone of my Zhao family?"

----Chapter of four thousand words, begging for votes and recommendations!