Chapter 27: The Mountain-Blocking Demon and the Hidden Side Quest

Wu Chang grabbed a bun and shoved the whole thing into his mouth. He chewed twice with a blank expression and swallowed it like a pill.

He repeated this process, and in the blink of an eye, the entire steamer of buns was gone.

Then, with the tone of someone reading a script, he said, "Truly delicious."

"Huh?" The waiter was left completely bewildered.

A bun the size of a grown man's fist, swallowed whole—what kind of way to eat was that?

Wu Chang: "Something wrong?"

The waiter said regretfully, "Guest, you should really take small bites and savor the flavor."

Wu Chang’s face darkened. He rested his right hand on his sword hilt and glanced at the waiter. "Are you teaching me how to do things?"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. I was just afraid you didn't get to taste them properly. Shall I bring another steamer?" the waiter asked tentatively.

"I’m tired. I have to hit the road early tomorrow morning. Quickly, prepare a guest room for me; don't delay my rest." Wu Chang slapped some silver coins onto the table, cutting off the waiter's further sales pitch.

The waiter quickly fell silent and went upstairs to prepare a room.

A few minutes later, Wu Chang entered the room with his sword, bolted the door from the inside, and pulled a bun out from his spatial storage.

Of course, he hadn't eaten the buns earlier. While his hand was shielding his face, he had tossed the entire steamer into his spatial storage.

Now, without the waiter’s interference, as soon as he took the bun out, he could smell a foul, putrid stench.

He pulled it apart; the inside was filled with rotten, maggot-infested scraps of meat.

It was indeed a black-hearted inn.

He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. Soon, steady breathing could be heard in the room.

In the dead of night, rustling sounds echoed through the inn, like someone creeping about.

Outside the second-floor guest room, two voices whispered:

"Is he asleep?"

"Probably."

"Go take a look. If he’s awake, he’ll be terrified, and scared meat tastes sour."

"I happen to like it sour. It cuts the grease."

"Suit yourself, but keep it clean. If you don't tidy up, no one else will come."

The voices faded, and the inn fell silent once more.

A while later, a wind picked up outside, howling and whistling, causing Wu Chang to turn over in his sleep.

Seeing he didn't wake up, the wind outside grew fiercer.

A gust of wind blew through the crack in the window, pushing it open from the inside out.

A monster with a cow skull for a head, a body made of human bones, ribs spread out like wings, and back covered in black, coarse animal hide drifted into the room like a giant kite, carried by the wind.

Supported by the draft, it hovered like a black blanket, slowly descending over the sleeping Wu Chang.

The cow skull opened its mouth and, using the waiter’s voice, cried out urgently: "Young hero, wake up! There's a monster!"

Based on the ox-monster’s past experience, the guest should wake up in a daze, look around, and ask blankly where the monster was.

Then, it would suddenly collapse from above, wrapping the guest tight in its body, pressing its large cow skull against the guest’s face, and say: "Are you looking for me?"

Then, amid the victim's screams, it would poke its ribs into the guest’s body, draining their blood without damaging the organs or flesh.

Afterward, it would use a bone-cleaver and meat hooks to process this fresh ingredient.

But this time, things went wrong.

The target stole its line!

"Young hero, wake up!"

Wu Chang’s eyes snapped open, staring at it intensely. "Are you looking for me?"

The next moment, a blinding light erupted from beneath the covers, piercing through the ox-monster’s body.

The flames at the wound burned like bone-deep parasites, impossible to extinguish no matter how the monster rolled.

Excessive fur made it weak to fire, and as a monster, being shot by silver bullets dealt double damage. It could be said that the ox-monster was perfectly countered by the "Silver Dawn" skill.

The ox-monster shrieked in the flames, disbelievingly asking, "You didn't eat the buns?"

Wu Chang casually threw a bun onto the floor and crushed it with his foot, revealing the specially prepared filling inside.

"Even a dog wouldn't eat this trash."

"You deserve to die!"

It was unclear what action had offended the ox-monster, but its eyes glowed red, the flames on its body were suddenly extinguished, and two human-bone arms sprouted from its fur.

Wu Chang remained unfazed. He shifted three steps to his left. The bed frame he had been lying on split apart, and a nearly two-meter-long bone-cleaver flew out, cleaving half the room's furniture in two.

The three steps he took had moved him exactly out of the strike zone.

Before the ox-monster could grasp the cleaver, he fired a silver bullet, shattering the monster's right hand.

The ox-monster wailed. A blood-stained iron hook dropped from the ceiling, slashing down like a scorpion's tail.

Wu Chang had prepared for this, kicking over the wooden table to use as a shield.

The hook pierced the table, unable to penetrate further. As the ox-monster tried to grab the hook with its left hand, Wu Chang shattered that hand with another shot.

"You're late today. I was almost asleep waiting for you," Wu Chang yawned, looking at the five lingering grievances on the ox-monster’s body.

As a C-rank dungeon monster, the ox-monster didn't have many attack methods; the scenes within the five grievances were enough to reveal all its tricks.

If he hadn't been wary of their combined skills when they were together, he would have attacked back in the lobby.

He pointed his gun at the ox-monster's forehead and asked, "Any last words?"

The ox-monster stared fixedly at the crushed bun on the floor. "You shouldn't have wasted food."

Wu Chang paused for a second before pulling the trigger, shattering the cow skull.

"Sorry, my mistake."

As the ox-monster died, dozens of phantoms flashed before Wu Chang's eyes. Most were herb gatherers or passing merchants who had fallen down the mountain for various reasons.

The falls left them with multiple fractures, unable to move. In the desolate mountains, with no one to hear their cries, they could only drag their bodies along, eating anything they could find.

They ate insects, wild grass, tree bark, and even dirt, eventually starving to death in despair.

After they died, their resentful remains were consumed by wild beasts. The beasts that ate the grievances of the starved would feel an insatiable hunger, hunting frantically until they encountered another beast influenced by the same grievances.

The beasts would consume each other, causing the grievances to pool together.

When enough gathered, the grievances would manifest as the monster before him, wandering the mountains in a frenzy, trying to satisfy an eternal hunger that could never be filled.

Wu Chang shook his head. No wonder this creature had such an obsession with food.

The inn was run by a couple; having dealt with one, there was still another.

Just as he pushed open the door, ready to find the remaining one, he saw the door at the other end of the hallway shattered. A horse-headed monster bolted from the room, smashing through the window at the end of the hall and fleeing.

The monster escaped so decisively that Wu Chang didn't even have time to fire his gun.

A few seconds later, a middle-aged man in blue Taoist robes chased out of the room. Holding a wooden magic sword, the Taoist scanned the area and turned to look at Wu Chang.

"Young hero, have you seen a monster flee?"

Wu Chang pointed at the window. "If you mean the horse-faced monster, it smashed the window and escaped."

The Taoist sighed. "I was careless and let the creature escape. Mountain roads are treacherous at night; I shall have to wait until dawn to search for it."

Wu Chang bowed. "I am Wu Chang. Greetings, Taoist. Was it you who warned me about the oddity in the food during dinner?"

When the waiter brought the buns, a mysterious breeze had stirred Wu Chang’s intuition, allowing him to see through the illusion cast on the food.

Even without the warning, he wouldn't have eaten the inn's signature dish given the grievances radiating from the waiter, but he still had a good impression of the Taoist.

The Taoist returned the bow. "Earlier, I heard spiritual energy surging and thunderous booms coming from your room. The monster that attacked you must have been dealt with. You clearly hail from a prestigious sect and possess methods to subdue demons; it seems my concern was unnecessary."

"Not at all. Thanks to your hint, I knew there was a fellow practitioner in the inn, so I didn't act rashly."

Wu Chang said, taking out the Silver Dawn, "I am from the Tang Sect, skilled in hidden weapons. Within seven steps, they are as swift as thunder and stars, beyond the reach of heavy crossbows. The disadvantage is that reloading is time-consuming; it takes five breaths to fire once."

Before the impact of modern firearms, for a long time, the longer the range of a weapon, the lower its rate of fire and the longer the reload time.

The Silver Dawn’s range was more than twice that of a standard bow, so five breaths per reload sounded perfectly reasonable.

The Taoist didn't suspect a thing and instead praised the ingenuity of Wu Chang’s sect.

The reason Wu Chang had volunteered his background was so that when the Taoist returned the favor, he wouldn't be able to be vague.

After chatting a bit about the Tang Sect, Wu Chang seized the opportunity to ask:

"Before this journey, I had never seen a monster. Had I faced two at once, I might not have fared so well. I see you are familiar with them, Taoist—may I ask which sect you belong to?"

The Taoist replied: "I am Chi Yuan, a mountain-dwelling rogue cultivator. In my youth, I was chosen by a wandering master, and I joined the sect upon hearing that one could get meat to eat by presiding over funerals in the city."

"Don't say that you haven't seen monsters, young hero. I spent twenty years honing my craft, and it wasn't until the great upheaval five years ago that I realized true demons existed in this world, and that what I had learned was not just a trick to deceive people."

With that, Chi Yuan took an ancient book from his robes and opened a page.

"The two monsters involved earlier are known as Mountain-Blocking Ghosts. Their appearance and abilities match the ancient scrolls. I suspect that after the great upheaval, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was awakened, causing ancient demons to reappear and allowing many magical arts to see the light of day once more."

Wu Chang nodded and asked, "I heard there is a place in the mountains called Huai Gu Village, where the annual Year-End Festival is exceptionally effective—it can communicate with gods and ward off demons. Have you heard of it?"

Upon hearing Wu Chang mention Huai Gu Village, Chi Yuan’s face lit up. He hurried to say:

"Are you planning to go to Huai Gu Village? I happen to have business there as well. I wonder, young hero, would you be willing to assist me?"

[Title "Perfectionist" triggered, hidden side quest obtained.]