The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 4 Burned to the Ground
"Why was it delivered so late?!"

"I'm so hungry I feel like my stomach is on fire!"

The monsters didn't suspect much. They were just minor demons, and in this remote part of the village, they had already drunk themselves into a stupor and were starving. They were overjoyed to be served food.

One by one, they stopped doubting and started reaching out to take things.

At this point, Zhou Yan had already gone all out.

On the contrary, I wasn't afraid at all.

"Come on, come on, this is yours!"

"Don't grab it, don't grab it, there are still many, yes, plenty."

Zhou Yan smiled familiarly and greeted the monsters he had met before warmly. He also gave each monster a large portion of meat, and each monster was satisfied. They didn't wait for their companions and began to eat on their own, as if they were afraid of not getting enough to eat.

For a moment, the only sounds here were swallowing and chewing.

A monster asked, "Brother, aren't you going to eat?"

Zhou Yan replied, "If I eat, who will cook meat for you?"

A monster then asked, "Brother, aren't you hungry?"

Zhou Yan replied, "Seeing you all eat makes me not hungry."

"We're running low on meat, let's go get some more."

He made Li Zhiwei get dirty too, smeared his face with soot from the bottom of a pot, and had Li Zhiwei follow behind him. Then he swaggered through the house, which was full of little demons.

The monsters not only didn't stop them, but they were actually eager for them to leave.

when--

Suddenly, a crisp sound rang out, and the bowl in the hand of a monster fell to the ground and shattered with a crack. That monster had been eating the most voraciously and the most, as if its appetite could never be satisfied. But now it was looking at the minced meat on its hands.

His cheeks, stuffed with minced meat, twitched, and his eyes bulged out.

"This, this meat—"

"What kind of meat is this?!"

The blood vessels in his face suddenly twitched, his eyes turned red, and he struggled to get up, but suddenly lost all strength and fell back down, crying out, "What kind of meat is this?!"

Clang, clang, clang—like a chain reaction, the meat bowls in the hands of these monsters fell to the ground, and one by one, they began to howl. Their already enormous bellies grew larger and larger, until they were no longer human-shaped.

When Zhou Yan heard the first cry, he remained calm. He simply grabbed Li Zhiwei's wrist, quickened his pace, and ran out with her. When he looked back, he saw the demons struggling and in pain, lying on the ground howling loudly.

"This is?!"

At this moment, Zhou Yan relaxed and noticed the scroll in his mind. The scroll was open to a page near the back, and the whole book was made of jade and was still blank.

However, Zhou Yan had already killed two monsters. The fragments of their screaming souls, as well as their own essence, transformed into the black mist he had seen when he first met them. This jade scroll absorbed and subdued them.

After the demon was subdued, text corresponding to the demon appeared in the book.

Because the book was already in his consciousness, the words actually surfaced naturally in Zhou Yan's mind. He didn't need to look at them; he understood them in an instant.

[If there are sentient beings who commit minor evil deeds with their body, speech, and mind, and who give rise to excessive greed, malicious stinginess and jealousy, wrong views and attachments, even clinging to material possessions at the time of death, they will fall into the realm of hungry ghosts due to these causes. — The Sutra on the Differences in Karmic Retribution Spoken by the Buddha]

If there are sentient beings who betray human ethics and devour flesh and blood, [after eating people for a long time], they will fall into evil ways, their eyes will burn with fiery red light, their bellies will swell like jars, their throats will be as thin as needle holes, they will lose all their natural instincts, and ultimately become demons. Their bodies will be insatiably hungry and thirsty, [and because they seek food from others, they are called hungry ghosts].

The key to survival lies in the mind. When a hungry ghost devours its own kind again, it will awaken its humanity, recalling the pain and struggle of swallowing its first bite of human flesh, causing its consciousness to go mad, exhausting itself and sinking into depravity. Therefore, hungry ghosts can coexist with each other and will not devour one another.

After suppressing the spirits of the monsters they had previously killed.

One can see through the true nature and weaknesses of this type of demon at a glance.

Zhou Yan shook his head, then focused his mind and noticed that golden characters were appearing and undulating on the scroll.

"Suppress the remnant souls, identify the true form of the demon...?"

Zhou Yan sensed the power of this scroll, and also felt that this jade scroll had not yet been able to display its true power.

However, he also understood the situation of these monsters—they were monsters who had become corrupted by eating people. Once they devoured their own kind again, they would fall into madness and helplessness due to the intense conflict between their hidden humanity and their subsequent actions when they remembered the past.

In other words, these monsters are currently in a weak and powerless state.

Zhou Yan looked at these suffering monsters.

A thought rose in my mind, and I couldn't suppress it.

After a couple of quiet breaths, he suddenly chuckled to himself.

He said, "What's there to be afraid of!"

Li Zhiwei's heart pounded. She felt that the changes in this period of time were really sudden and unexpected. First, she was captured, and then she was about to be eaten when she was rescued. Not only was she rescued, but she also smashed the monster into mincemeat and fed it to the monster, and then swaggered out.

This experience was truly...

Then she saw the young man suddenly smile, and then—

Did he go in again?

Li Zhiwei's eyes widened, she took a step forward, grabbed Zhou Yan, and said in a low, urgent voice, "What are you doing?" Zhou Yan said, "I just remembered that there's something I haven't done yet."

"what?!"

"Wait here for me. If you're really scared, you can just go straight ahead. There's a small tree there. Just run forward and you'll get out. Once you get here, there won't be any monsters left."

Li Zhiwei saw that guy go inside. The table was in disarray, and a group of monsters lay on the table, revealing their true forms. They struggled, cried, whispered, and shouted, making all sorts of noises that were quite loud.

Zhou Yan, dressed in tattered clothes and wearing hemp shoes, swaggered past the group of monsters.

If anyone gets in my way, I'll kick them aside.

He looked at the woman's arm, but didn't actually say anything.

Then, carrying the oil drum from the kitchen, he came out again and splashed the oil in all directions. The monsters collapsed on the ground, all drenched in the oil. As he walked, he kicked over the lamps and candles.

The candle flames inside, coated with grease, suddenly ignited, burning the monsters' clothes, flesh, and hair, causing their screams to grow louder and louder.

Zhou Yan eventually escaped.

Then, forcefully throw the oil drum, along with the last bit of oil, onto the roof of the house.

The places where these ordinary little demons eat and drink are standard straw huts, with bamboo as the frame, yellow mud mixed with straw to plaster the walls, and multiple layers of straw, thatch and sorghum stalks tied together to form the roof, all of which are flammable.

Zhou Yan picked up a torch, mustered all his strength, and threw it into the air. The torch spun and landed on the roof. With a whoosh, the entire house was ignited, and the flames surged and burned fiercely in this demonic realm.

The demons screamed in agony, but because of their current state, they couldn't escape. They could only writhe and writhe in the flames. Li Zhiwei froze, and Zhou Yan's breathing became slightly labored. He looked at the scene in the raging fire and seemed to see that woman again.

We've only met once and spent very little time together, so it's impossible to say we have a deep friendship.

It was just pity, just initial anger.

What did that woman sacrifice to survive and keep going? What were her thoughts, feelings, pain, struggles, and determination?

Is showing kindness to strangers in dangerous situations merely a form of self-compensation for selling one's children? Is it a way of comforting oneself by doing good deeds after committing what one considers bad, a way of telling oneself that one still possesses humanity and kindness?

Keep yourself from breaking down.

Zhou Yan didn't know, nor did he want to find out.

He could only glimpse the whole picture through a small part. In this world, people's hearts are full of wickedness and helplessness. He couldn't care less about all that, but he wasn't happy just leaving like this.

It's just not pleasant.

The raging flames burned away the demons. Zhou Yan removed the white cloth from his arm, thinking of the lively and adorable little girl the woman had mentioned.

"I hope you are happy in another world."

He said that, and then let go.

The white cloth was swept and rolled up by the heat wave. It should have been burning, but the heat wave lifted it and it actually passed through the layers of flames. In the swirling heat wave, amidst the horde of hungry ghosts with outstretched claws, it floated to the woman's last arm.

Zhou Yan looked at the white cloth and it seemed as if he saw a little girl spreading her arms and rushing towards it. When she landed on the cloth, the cloth burst into flames. He vaguely saw the figure of the woman and a little girl hugging each other.

Their blood-stained clothes gradually disappeared in the fire amidst the wails of the monsters, seemingly weeping. The little girl reached out and punched the woman. Finally, they looked over, bowed to Zhou Yan, and slowly dispersed in the fire.

The little girl was really well-behaved, smiling and waving vigorously.

Li Zhiwei seemed to have also seen this scene, staring in disbelief, and then looked at the boy who was only a year or two older than her.

Zhou Yan watched this scene unfold.

Is it a dream, an illusion, reality, or falsehood?
who knows.

I don't know, or rather—

Screw it!

Zhou Yan stretched out his hand, waved vigorously at the little girl, laughed, and said:

"Hey, thanks for the stuff!"

The fire in his heart transformed into a raging inferno in the present world, burning away the monster and the anger in his heart. Zhou Yan felt relieved, turned his back on the monster being burned by the flames, and left.

"Let's go."

He ran without hesitation, and Li Zhiwei chased after him, asking in a low voice, "What should we do? Should we just run? Are there still monsters ahead?"

Zhou Yan said, "I don't know, there will probably be someone guarding the gate."

"So you shout after me."

Li Zhiwei was stunned, then saw Zhou Yan smirking.

He shouted in a panicked voice:

"—Fire! Help put out the fire!!!"

"Fight the fire!"

(End of this chapter)