Skinning Inn

Xuanwu Mountain wound its way between Quantai and Yujin Prefectures.

The people of Yujin Prefecture habitually called it Turtle Mountain, because the mountain looked exactly like a turtle lying there at rest.

Its tail bordered Yujin, while its head faced Quantai, and thus the two prefectures were naturally at odds.

At first, Quantai Prefecture wanted to shave off part of the mountain on the grounds that it was unsightly, while Yujin refused on the grounds that it would damage the feng shui, leading to constant friction between the two sides.

Once feng shui was brought up, the cultivators of Quantai could no longer sit still. Every day, while meditating quietly on the mountain, they only had to look up to see that thing thrust right in their faces. Anyone would find that irritating.

The conflict then escalated from ordinary people to the cultivators of the two prefectures. It was said they raised hell for several years before the matter finally fizzled out.

On Turtle Mountain Road stood an inn called Ruyi Inn, somewhat famous in the area. Every few days, cattle, horses, mules, and the like would be sold there dirt cheap, making it quite popular with the locals.

The trees lining both sides of the mountain road had been meticulously trimmed, and the words "Ruyi Inn" hung from a flagpole over three meters tall.

Inside the inn, a beautiful married woman approached, swaying with every step. She wore a crimson skirt, a sky-blue gauze blouse, and a white bandeau that surged and heaved as if two fragrant melons were hidden beneath it.

"What would you like to eat, sir?"

The woman bent at the waist, revealing a broad expanse of smooth, snowy skin. Her soft, syrupy voice seemed capable of stealing one's soul away.

The young man who had just entered stared straight at the bottomless ravine before him and mumbled, "Gourd..."

The woman covered her mouth and giggled. "There are no gourds in my little shop."

The young man came back to himself and wiped away his drool. His face instantly flushed red as he stammered.

"Then anything will do. I'll eat whatever you have..."

A fragrant breeze drifted over, and the woman suddenly sat on his lap, looping her arms around his neck. In a voice as soft as a drizzle, she whispered, "Then do you want to eat me?"

He could no longer hear what the woman was saying. With soft fragrance in his arms, his hot blood had rushed to his head, and he felt as though his soul had flown beyond the skies.

"Yes..."

The young man nodded shyly.

The woman gave a quiet laugh, puckered her lips, and leaned in. The young man was so excited that the corners of his mouth trembled, and his huge mouth eagerly lunged forward to take a bite.

Suddenly, a stream of green smoke slowly puffed from the woman's mouth. Once it sprayed across the young man's face, the lust filling his mind vanished along with all strength in his body, and he collapsed limply.

"Dear, come out and clean this up."

The woman covered her mouth and smiled before calling loudly toward the kitchen.

The kitchen door opened, and out came a dwarf of barely four feet three inches. He was fat and squat, like a winter melon that had become a spirit from afar. A scar stretched across his face from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. Without saying a word, he strode over, scooped up the young man, and carried him toward the kitchen.

Hanyu had been tied up like a crab and tossed onto a pile of firewood. When the dwarf brought the young man inside, Hanyu met his gaze with a complicated expression.

Their faces reddened at the same time, and they both turned their heads away, refusing to look at each other.

Pah! What a lecherous hungry ghost.

Both silently cursed the other in disdain.

"What exactly is going on here?"

After a long while, the young man could not help wriggling closer and asking beside Hanyu.

Hanyu sighed.

This inn was a black shop that specialized in preying on passing cultivators from out of town. They operated with extreme secrecy.

The scar-faced dwarf was called Qi Tiangao, and the proprietress was called Yu Ruyi. Both were notorious figures of the unorthodox path.

"How do you know so much?"

The young man looked at Hanyu in surprise and asked.

Hanyu raised his chin toward the rope on him. "Didn't you see the blood on the rope binding you? The brother they tied up with it just now told me."

The young man's face went pale with terror as he pressed, "Where is he?"

As if recalling something terrible, Hanyu's expression turned livid. "They skinned him, put cowhide on him, then led him away."

The young man's face instantly became deathly pale, and he blurted out in panic, "Beastmaking!"

The art of Beastmaking originated in the wartime era a thousand years ago. At that time, corpses of the starved littered the land, and the common people could barely survive. A cultivator created this art, using a small portion of the populace as provisions to save the people of the world.

It was only years after the war ended that the matter came to light, and that cultivator disappeared from history from then on.

Even his name was not permitted to remain. One could imagine just how taboo this art was.

"Oh? You two brothers are having quite the chat?"

The kitchen door suddenly opened, and Yu Ruyi entered with Qi Tiangao, smiling.

This woman truly deserves to die.

The two men looked at the curvaceous beauty before them, shaped like a gourd, then at her winter-melon husband beside her, and silently cursed together.

"Let's make them into beasts in a while. That'll make three, just enough to haul off and sell tomorrow."

Yu Ruyi covered her mouth and laughed as she spoke to Qi Tiangao.

"Why not do it now? I can take them into the city later to sell, then buy some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar on the way back."

Qi Tiangao grinned, making the scar on his face twist like a little snake.

Just as he was about to act, sounds came from outside.

Yu Ruyi's expression shifted, then she broke into a radiant smile. "Wonderful. We can make four now."

The two left together.

Once they were gone, the young man's expression changed and he said excitedly, "Wonderful! It must be my fellow sect members coming to find me."

Hanyu shot him a glance and could not help pouring cold water on his hopes. "What's so wonderful about that? They'll probably fall for the same trick."

The young man shook his head repeatedly, certain of victory. "Impossible. She definitely won't fall for it. She's a woman."

A moment later, the kitchen door suddenly opened, and Qi Tiangao casually tossed in a petite body bound in an embarrassingly suggestive manner.

Hanyu's eyes lit up. He took a look and saw that it was a rather pretty young girl, petite and delicate. Yet even Qi Tiangao's ropework could not make her figure stand out.

He reluctantly withdrew his gaze and thought, She's just a child!

"Is this the certainty you were talking about?"

Hanyu shot the young man a glare and teased him.

The young man looked embarrassed. Turning to the girl, he asked, "Coconut, how did you get caught too?"

The girl called Coconut was furious. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Because I waited and waited but you never came, so I went looking for you. The moment I entered the inn, that slutty fox started attacking me."

After speaking, her expression shifted. She looked at him thoughtfully. "Yixian, did that fox spirit seduce you with her looks, and that's how you got caught?"

As dark clouds gradually gathered on Coconut's face, cold sweat seeped from Yixian's forehead. He hurriedly shook his head. "How could that be? This brother and I were both ambushed the moment we entered. If you don't believe me, ask him."

Hanyu nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Who is he?"

Only then did Coconut notice the person beside Yixian and ask.

Yixian froze at that. He turned to Hanyu and asked, "Right! Brother, we haven't asked your name yet?"

"My name is Hanyu," Hanyu answered briefly.

"Will we die?"

After listening to Yixian's account, Coconut looked utterly stricken as she asked in a trembling voice.

"Usually, you won't die that quickly."

Hanyu suddenly cut in.

"Do you have a way out?"

Yixian's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly pressed him.

Hanyu shook his head. "I'm only telling you that when farming families buy livestock, they usually don't slaughter it right away. They raise it for a while first. We may have to eat grass and fodder for a year or two before being slaughtered."

Eat grass! Slaughtered!

Those two phrases drained all color from Yixian's face, while Coconut burst into loud sobs.

A new book, a new beginning. Thank you all for your generous support. Quietly asking: do you have any monthly votes or recommendation votes?