Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

After the transformation was complete, Gou An was filled with curiosity and couldn't wait to look down at his brand new hands.

The palm has five distinct fingers, forming the complete outline of a human hand, but the surface is still covered with a layer of fine yellow hair that has not completely faded away.

Gou An felt a surge of excitement. He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, moving his unfamiliar fingers over and over again, and couldn't help but laugh wildly inside.

"Great, at least it's starting to look somewhat human!"

But when he raised his hand to touch the top of his head, the dog froze on the spot, speechless.

The dog's head was intact on its neck, with its long, pointed snout and furry ears unchanged.

Although I know this sorcery is a bit crude, it's far too perfunctory!

Can't even conjure a complete human head?

He instinctively reached behind him again, and a dog's tail was still held high, swinging freely without any change.

With its bizarre appearance—a dog's head, a human body, and a tail trailing behind it—it's impossible for it to hide; it's an easy monster to spot on a human street.

Unwilling to give up, Gou An focused his mind and activated the demonic power within his body, using the crude transformation technique to forcibly alter the appearance of his head.

Fortunately, there was still room for adjustment in the sorcery. Under his full power, the long snout slowly contracted, the facial hair gradually gathered, and the dog's head slowly transformed into a human face.

Even so, the entire face was still covered with messy yellow hair, looking strange and bizarre, even more frightening than a monster.

He tried his best to remove all the dog hair from his body to completely resemble a human. He managed to get his face hairless, but he was exhausted and felt weak all over after a short while.

The closer a transformation gets to perfection, the more terrifying the mental and demonic energy it consumes. One must be constantly on high alert to maintain physical form; the slightest relaxation will cause the body to revert to its original form.

Gou An, panting heavily, plopped down cross-legged on the cold ground, his brows furrowed.

Although it can walk upright and has human limbs, it can barely be considered humanoid.

But this incomplete, half-human, half-dog form is even more eye-catching.

After a moment's thought, he came up with a solution.

If you wear a loose robe and a hood to cover your head, covering your dog's head and body hair.

Even with more elaborate modifications at crucial moments, one should still be able to fool the enemy.

After all, the only way to retrieve the hundred spirit stones from the Spirit Storage Manor is in human form; there are no other shortcuts.

Having weighed the pros and cons, Gou An immediately withdrew his sorcery, and with a flash of light around him, he transformed back into his original form as a yellow-haired wild dog.

The longer one remains in human form, the heavier the burden on the body becomes. Maintaining human form for an extended period only wastes one's energy; the original form is the most relaxed and comfortable.

The current preparations for entering the city are far from sufficient, and leaving the Monster Mountain Range rashly would be too dangerous.

As for the remaining hunters in the camp, Gou An simply chose to ignore them.

The enemy still has plenty of manpower and combat strength, and he has already obtained the demon core he wanted. There is no need for him to risk fighting to the death with the remaining hunters.

And there's something else I need to do right now.

Gou An emerged from the hidden cave and rushed back along the original path, finding the place where he had previously ambushed and killed the three hunters.

The three hunter corpses lay quietly in place, surrounded by a pack of low-level wild dogs that were growling at them, clearly preparing to devour their flesh.

He returned to this place with a very clear purpose.

They stripped the hunter of his well-fitting clothes to prepare for his transformation into human form before heading into the city.

The surrounding stray dogs sensed Gou An approaching and instantly tensed up, adopting a defensive posture, mistaking him for an outsider who had come to steal their food.

But now that Gou An is a fifth-tier demon beast, these wild dogs, who are generally only first-tier, are not worth mentioning at all.

The king of the pack, seeing Gou An all alone, assumed he was just a stray dog ​​drawn by the scent of blood.

So he immediately stepped out of the pack, intending to use the power of his pack to drive Gou An away.

Its fur stood on end, it bared its teeth and growled, trying to intimidate its opponent with its imposing presence.

Gou An remained indifferent, standing motionless and completely ignoring the other party's threat.

Enraged, the wild dog king leaped from the ground and lunged at Gou An, tearing at him fiercely.

The next instant, the fangs had just touched Gou An's fur when they were violently repelled by the suddenly hardened fur.

The hair-like needles protecting the body were activated instantly, and all the yellow fur on Gou An's body turned into sharp, hard thorns. The Wild Dog King bit down, and its mouth was instantly filled with blood. The excruciating pain made it scream repeatedly.

Gou An gave the opponent no chance to react. He leaped up and stomped the Wild Dog King heavily into the mud. His sharp fangs gripped the Wild Dog King's neck tightly, and he yanked it away forcefully.

Click!

A crisp cracking sound rang out, and the Wild Dog King's neck snapped, killing him instantly.

All the stray dogs watching nearby were instantly terrified, their bodies stiffening, their eyes wide with shock, and they dared not move.

Gou An looked at the panicked pack of dogs and felt a secret sense of satisfaction.

The feeling of overwhelming the opponent's strength and bullying the weak is indeed incredibly comfortable.

With the death of the Dog King, the pack of dogs were utterly terrified. Seeing Gou An slowly approaching, they all tucked their tails between their legs and retreated, not one daring to step forward and provoke him.

Upon seeing this, Gou An immediately activated his transformation technique in front of everyone. His yellow hair surged, and his body rapidly reshaped, once again transforming into a half-human, half-dog form.

Witnessing the monster transform into human form in public, the group of low-level wild dogs were utterly terrified. They howled and scattered, disappearing into the depths of the dense forest in the blink of an eye.

Gou An ignored the fleeing wild dogs, bent down and quickly rummaged through the three corpses, stripping them of all their intact clothes.

With these hands, we can do more delicate things.

After stripping off his clothes, Gou An chose the most complete set of clothes to wear. Although it didn't fit him very well, it was still wearable.

Then he picked up the knife from the ground and tucked it into his waistband.

This outfit makes him look quite presentable.

Gou An took a deep breath, sniffed the air, turned around, and ran off in one of the directions.

Having grown accustomed to running on all fours, Gou An found it somewhat difficult to adjust to suddenly running on two legs.

However, Gou An thoroughly enjoyed it.

In my previous life, my muscles atrophied, and I couldn't even stand up.

I've longed countless times to be able to run and walk like a normal person, and now, given a second chance at life, that dream has finally come true.

So Gou An ran and jumped, thoroughly enjoying himself.

On the other side of the mountain.

Lai Pi was wandering around the woods, sniffing and exploring by himself.

Suddenly, he saw a steaming pile of poop on the ground ahead, and his mouth watered instantly. He pounced on it.

But just as it was about to take a bite, it suddenly stopped.

It remembered what Gou An had said: if it was discovered that Gou An was eating this thing again, it should be kicked away.

But a leopard can't change its spots, and the smell of this stuff in front of him was incredibly addictive for Lai Pi.

This left him in a very difficult position.

"No, no! I'm a dog that eats meat now, I can't eat this stuff anymore."

"If you've eaten too much meat, it's not a bad thing to eat something else occasionally to cleanse your palate, is it?"

"But Brother Gou has a very keen nose; he'll be discovered as soon as he eats this stuff."

"It's okay, Brother Gou is busy lately and doesn't have time for you."

Two voices were arguing incessantly in Lai Pi's mind, giving him a terrible headache.

But just then, a shadow suddenly and silently enveloped it.

Lai Pi looked down and saw a human figure. He was so frightened that he tried to run away on the spot.

Before he could even pull his leg away, a sharp iron knife was already pressed against his neck.

Lai Pi froze on the spot, too scared to move.