He was a sturdy, sharp-featured youth. The lamp looked no different from an ordinary one, its light dim and its flame only a finger joint high.
No, that was wrong. On closer inspection, that was no flame at all. It was a doll no bigger than a finger!
A doll with an enormous head!
The doll had fair skin, wore a tiny golden outfit, and had a whole head of fiery red hair.
The youth and the strange little lamp stood before an open gate. Yet the man and Ling had stopped short, discussing something.
"Smells good." The youth's nose twitched.
"That's the Beast God's inner core. It holds his vital essence. It's something the Demon Race must condense in the earliest stages of Cultivation."
The big-headed doll in the lamp smiled. "Back in the days of Emperor Sui and Fuxi, the Demon Race was the lowliest of races. At every banquet the Gods held, they served plate after plate of Demon Race inner cores to their guests!"
The doll went on, but its smile had vanished. "Judging by the Human Race's situation now, I'd wager the Demon Race inner cores served at the Gods' banquets have been replaced by Human Race inner cores!"
The youth fell silent. His own standing might have been low, but even he knew the Human Race's standing was lower still.
Serving a plate of Human Race inner cores to guests... Meng Chuan narrowed his eyes. He said nothing more and kept watching.
The man and Ling entered the gate. The youth's cultivation was so low that, after a few breaths of the Beast God's leaking vital essence, scales began to grow on his body. Fortunately, he suppressed them in time.
Then, at the doll's direction, the youth grabbed the Beast God's inner core and