Truth

"Master Huang Pi..."

Lu Jun gazed at the idol before him and murmured softly.

"Come with me..." the old man whispered, then gave two familiar, cackling chuckles before saying, "You've never seen him either, have you?"

Lu Jun fell silent as stone. After hesitating for a moment, he finally chose to approach.

In his memories, the head of this idol known as the "Huang Pi Dao Master" had always been covered by a black cloth.

The villagers had always solemnly refused to let young people like him see the idol's true face, saying, "The divine cannot be looked at directly, peered at, or investigated."

The old man brought Lu Jun before the idol, which was surrounded by wood shavings, cobwebs, and a great deal of shattered rubble.

First, the old man solemnly bent toward the idol before him and bowed three times.

Then he reached out with a hand as withered as a dead branch.

Lu Jun's heart pounded to its limit. In an instant, he held his breath and focused his mind, staring intently at the idol—the deity worshiped by generations of the Huang Family Village.

Rattle!

The black cloth was pulled away. Amid the faint haze formed by the clouds of dust swirling through the air, the idol's face finally appeared before Lu Jun.

"This..."

Lu Jun's pupils contracted, and his breathing caught.

The idol in the shrine was not unfamiliar to Lu Jun: it stood with triangular ears, had an oval-shaped head and a protruding snout, with sharp canine teeth exposed, yet its body closely resembled that of the Human Race.

It was unmistakably a demonic figure formed from the fusion of a weasel and a human. Its appearance was essentially no different from the transformed demonic forms of the old man and Huang Ni'er.

The old man spoke, his tone carrying a trace of emotion.

"That's right. Many years ago, our ancestors in Huang Family Village came here to escape the ravages of war and established Huang Family Village. They also formed a connection with this unknown deity known as the 'Huang Pi Dao Master' and gained power.

"That power turned them into the demonic forms you've seen. Later, we successfully obtained its protection and escaped the ravages of war..."

The old man let out a long, quiet sigh. "Originally, so many years passed without anything happening. It seemed that the legend was nothing more than a legend."

"But everything changed a month and a half ago. One after another, villagers began transforming into the demonic forms described by our ancestors, and they developed an extraordinary craving for human flesh..."

"So this entire curse began a month and a half ago?"

"More precisely, it began over forty days ago."

Lu Jun was faintly startled.

That time period was far too close to the period he had lost his memories.

The old man said, "Do you remember when I told you about the blind bears coming down the mountain and hurting people?"

"The truth is, those dead villagers were killed by the villagers who had transformed into demons first."

"But we were worried it would cause unnecessary panic, so we lied and said that blind bears had frequently been coming down from the mountains lately to attack villagers. We reinforced the doors and windows to provide some protection in case any villagers transformed into monsters during the night."

"At the time, only a few days had passed since things began, and everyone was terrified. So the village chief gathered all the adults together to discuss countermeasures."

"Besides, most of those who transformed into demons during this period were adults over the age of twenty-five. There were basically no cases of children your age transforming into demons... So we kept it secret from you from beginning to end."

"After all, children like you are timid, weak-willed, and prone to letting things slip. Telling you in advance would have done more harm than good. Besides, whenever trouble came, the adults would bear it first."

"In the end, we decided to impose a curfew in the village. Every adult also had to chain their own limbs with iron shackles while sleeping at night."

"We also fed the villagers under twenty some soul-calming medicine every night, so they wouldn't wake up because of the noises in their rooms."

"After that, we strictly forbade outsiders from entering the village, precisely to prevent word of what was happening here from reaching outsiders..."

At this point, Grandpa's expression grew heavy. "Child, prejudice in people's hearts is a great mountain. The people in the village want to survive too. If outsiders found out... especially if the Demon Slaying Division found out, the village might never know another peaceful day..."

Lu Jun's heart sank.

Grandpa's heartfelt words had already made him believe most of the story.

Yet Lu Jun still had quite a few questions in his heart.

"Grandpa, will I also turn into a demon like that?" Lu Jun asked with a frown.

Turn into a demon?

Then Lu Jun would choose to reincarnate a second time.

Grandpa's face was filled with complicated emotions. He sighed and said, "I don't know."

"The villagers all transformed into that state one after another, and the timing of each person's transformation was uncertain."

"Just like before, I thought I wouldn't turn into that monstrous form either. But... I still transformed last night." Grandpa's expression was complicated.

"Huh?" Lu Jun exclaimed in surprise. "So last night was your first transformation, Grandpa?"

Grandpa nodded. "That's right. After drinking the dog-blood wine you gave me last night, my head became woozy, and I fell asleep not long after lying down... When I woke up this morning and saw a claw mark raked across the wall, I knew that I must have transformed into that demonic form last night..."

Then the old man gave a sly, lecherous grin. "But the good news is, that stuff really does strengthen your vitality. I felt more than ten years younger when I got up today. I was standing at attention right away..."

"..."

Seeing the old man's lecherous appearance, Lu Jun was speechless.

At the same time, the tangled thoughts in his mind multiplied.

Lu Jun had just given the old man the black-dog-blood medicinal wine, and the old man had transformed into a demonic monster that very night.

There was no way Lu Jun would believe there was nothing suspicious about that.

What exactly was going on with the blind old beggar?

Or could it be that the villagers' successive transformations over the past month and a half were connected to him?

The most terrifying possibility was that the blind old beggar had single-handedly orchestrated the villagers' transformations into demonic monsters.

The thought alone made Lu Jun's scalp prickle.

"Child, you can still rest assured. At the very least, there hasn't been a precedent of anyone under twenty in the village transforming into a demon." Grandpa laughed awkwardly and patted Lu Jun on the shoulder, signaling that he needn't worry.

Lu Jun, however, wore a bitter expression.

"Grandpa, why don't you take a guess who the monster that tried to kill me just now was?"

Only then did the old man belatedly realize something. With a puzzled look, he said, "That's right. The monsters were all villagers who transformed, so who was it that tried to kill you?"

"Huang Ni'er..." Lu Jun's expression was complicated.

The old man's expression instantly froze.