Human

Ye Qing realized he had been wrong. He had been wrong to forget his lesson and believe the system when it said it would hurt a little.

Because the memory fusion would not finish in an instant, he had the system begin the memory inheritance after returning to the Castle. Immediately afterward, a piercing pain erupted inside his brain.

"Roar!" Caught completely off guard, the bone-deep agony that came from his soul made Ye Qing howl in pain. The tremendous sound spread outward from him, shattering the glass Ye Qing had made himself in the Castle windows. Xiao Wu and Ah Rou suffered as well. Rabbits naturally had keen hearing, and the overwhelming roar knocked both of them unconscious.

The sound waves spread outward from the center. Leaves fell from the ancient trees under the vibrations, and waves rose across the lake. This was a creature's natural talent. Even without using any skill, a roar born purely of instinct could cause tremendous destruction. Weaker Spirit Beasts and humans alike were affected to varying degrees, plunging the entire forest's Spirit Beasts into chaos. This had not happened once since the Heavenly Tribulation years ago.

Xiao Qing endured the discomfort in her head and rushed over.

"My lord, what's wrong?"

But she could not hear Ye Qing's reply clearly. Blood was also flowing from her ears. As the Spirit Beast closest to Ye Qing, she had suffered the greatest impact.

Even under such pain, Ye Qing remained conscious. He could even wave at Xiao Qing to show that he was fine, but the excruciating pain showed no sign of fading.

"You call this hurting a little?!"

"The first time always hurts more. You'll get used to it later."

"Why, you..." His claws dug into the floor, crushing the hard bluestone like biscuits. Stone fragments slipped from between his claws.

At that moment, Ye Qing could not even pass out. The infusion at the soul level kept his soul and consciousness in an extremely alert state. His perception of pain seemed to have grown even sharper.

Outside, Di Tian, Bi Ji, and Xiong Jun soon appeared in the Castle as well. Di Tian had been jolted awake from his sleep by the roar. He thought Ye Qing had encountered some enemy.

"Could that Evil Eye fellow have come here? Or... the God Realm?"

But when he arrived, he saw only Ye Qing clutching his head and Xiao Qing anxiously standing nearby. Bi Ji arrived shortly afterward and directly healed Xiao Qing's bleeding ears with her innate ability.

"What happened?"

"I don't know... Nothing happened before, but my lord suddenly..."

"An invisible enemy? Could it be inside his body?"

"No, I'm fine," Ye Qing said. The pain continued, but it was gradually weakening. At least now, Ye Qing could spare enough attention to speak.

"Fine? You made quite a commotion. What are you doing? You scared us half to death."

"Just some evolution. I didn't expect it to hurt that much."

As Ye Qing spoke, the pain gradually faded. He also felt an additional set of memories appear in his mind. Following the methods contained in those memories, Ye Qing's body began to change.

White light enveloped him. Within the light, his body steadily grew larger. When the radiance faded, the original Ye Qing had vanished, replaced by a human man.

Ye Qing looked at his hands. There was no fur, no claws—only ordinary human hands. His newly formed skin was fair and tender. He pinched his face and felt his human features. He was so excited that he trembled slightly. After so many years, he finally had a human body again.

"Xiao Qing, give me a mirror."

"Oh, here you go, my lord."

Taking the mirror from Xiao Qing, Ye Qing looked at his reflection. He had a handsome face, sharply defined features on a perfectly shaped visage, fair newly formed skin, tousled black hair reaching past his ears, and a unique pattern between his brows. Ye Qing knew it was the Hou clan mark. The distinctive pattern gave his current appearance an especially carefree charm.

"What's wrong, Xiao Qing?" Seeing her expression, Ye Qing even checked whether he had forgotten to create clothes. He seemed to sense a strong wave of shyness from her.

Unlike Ye Qing, who had been so delighted by his Shape Transformation that he forgot everything else, Xiao Qing was focused on something entirely different.

"My lord can take human form now, so does that mean he can..." As she thought of it, her complexion changed a little more.

"You worked so hard just to take human form?" Di Tian could not understand. In his view, as long as one was strong enough, what body one possessed did not matter.

"You wouldn't understand. But since you're here, and I'm in a good mood today, how about we celebrate?"

"Celebrate what? Celebrate that you can turn into a human?"

"That's right."

"Forget it. What's there to celebrate? Look around—who here can't do that?"

"I'll cook myself."

"..."

"All you can eat."

"I think this does deserve a celebration."

"Have you seen Xiao Wu and Ah Rou?"

"That roar of yours alarmed even us. The two of them were knocked out by you long ago," Bi Ji said faintly.

"Do you know how many Spirit Beasts you frightened with that? Luckily, you didn't lose control. If it had been that roar from back then, who knew how many would have been injured?"

"Cough, cough. I didn't expect it to hurt that much. I'll have to trouble you with Xiao Wu and the others."

"Do you think I needed you to tell me? I already brought them over."

"Are you really Uncle?" Xiao Wu sniffed around him. The scent was right, but she was still furious about being knocked unconscious. The kind of fury that could not be cured without a whole box of carrot pastries.

A hand ruffled Xiao Wu's head. He had wanted to do this before, but his forepaws had not allowed it.

"Sorry, Xiao Wu. It was just an accident."

"Ah, my hair is all messy again."

"It's fine. Uncle will comb it for you. I know quite a few hairstyles." Ah Rou was a qualified mother, but not a qualified human. At present, she only knew how to handle hair with simple ponytails or scorpion braids. But Ye Qing had practiced many hairstyles on fake hair back then. Now, he planned to use Xiao Wu's hair to regain a little of that human feeling and complete the hair-combing task along the way.

That night, Ye Qing began to regret saying all you could eat. Bi Ji was fine—she only sampled a little and did not trouble anyone. But Xiong Jun and Di Tian were both huge eaters. Seizing the chance, and with Ye Qing offering unlimited food for once, they directly emptied half his storehouse. They still looked unsatisfied afterward. In their long lives, this counted as a rare diversion.

"Once I manage to make Senzu Beans, I refuse to believe I won't be able to fill you two up." After the brief revelry ended, Ye Qing thought this as he walked up the stairs.

Just as he entered his room, a soft sensation came from behind him. Xiao Qing leaped directly onto Ye Qing's back.

"My lord, do you have any new excuse for tonight?"