Chapter 57: Humans and Demons Share the Same Origin

“…Auntie told Nunu a few days ago to wait obediently at Chongyin Mountain, saying that the Mountain Ancestor Goddess would bestow upon Nunu a very, very good husband. Then, last night, husband crawled into Nunu’s Immortal Cave. Nunu took a liking to him at first sight. If husband wasn’t bestowed by the Mountain Ancestor Goddess, then how else could it be?”

“Who is Auntie?”

“Auntie is just Auntie…” Zhao Yan blinked, as if Ding Suian’s question was very foolish.

“Are you a member of the Jile Sect?”

“Nunu used to be,” Zhao Yan tilted her head, “but according to the saying of you hairless Spirit Monkeys, ‘marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog.’ From now on, Nunu belongs to no one else, only to husband.”

“…Why did you cast the Life-Sharing Curse on me?”

“If Nunu didn’t cast the curse on husband, what would I do if husband tried to kill me when he woke up?”

The Jile Sect was a secretive small sect that had only shown a few traces in recent years. Most people in the world were unaware of it. Its pursuit of ‘Only Desire is Ultimate Bliss’ conflicted with Buddhist teachings, which was why Zhisheng had done some research on it.

Thanks to his previous conversations with Zhisheng, Ding Suian knew that the caster and the recipient of the Life-Sharing Curse shared one life across two bodies; they would die together and live together.

However, this kind of curse had a time limit and was somewhat inexplicable.

“Husband, are you hungry?”

“My surname is Ding. You can call me Ding Suian, or you can call me Squad Leader Ding. Don’t call me husband. I am human, and you are a demon. We aren’t close!”

“…”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan tilted her head slightly to look at the ground. Her small cherry-red mouth pouted gently, and her long eyelashes drooped, as if she felt inferior because of Ding Suian’s words, “you are a demon.”

At the narrow entrance of the cave, where vines hung down, the sunlight was cut into mottled spots of light, reflecting on her flawless white body.

Her seed-shaped face, barely the size of a palm, gave off a sense of youthful seductiveness.

After a long while, Zhao Yan finally whispered hesitantly, “How could there be demons in this world? Only because of you humans did demons come to be.”

“What do you mean?”

Ding Suian didn’t understand.

Seeing him asking her for advice, Zhao Yan crawled a few steps on her hands and knees, leaned in close to Ding Suian with a pleasing smile, and lay submissively on his knees. Looking up with her small face, she said, “Nunu heard Auntie say that in ancient times, ten thousand beasts competed for the Dao. We were all beasts once… Later, your Spirit Monkey tribe stole the skills of other families.”

“Our Spirit Monkeys? Stole the skills of other families? What does that mean?”

“It’s just stealing! The Taoist Geometrid Step is stolen from the Buqu; the Confucian Heart-Disturbing Command is stolen from the Yellow Immortal. Many of those mind-controlling Enlightenment Divine Abilities are even stolen from my Fox Tribe. And those most annoying grand monks, their Lion’s Roar was also realized from beast roars. Then there’s the Night Concealment of your Martial Artist’s Xiangwang Realm, stolen from Lord of the Rushing Waves. The limb regeneration of the Jade Bone Realm is stolen from the Haowei.”

“Wait.” The amount of information Ding Suian received was too vast for a moment, and he couldn’t quite digest it.

He had never heard of the things she mentioned. The Martial Artist Realms he knew of were Body Refining, Manifesting Elemental State, Astral, and Royal Astral.

He didn’t even know the names of the two Realms above those.

This was the first time he had heard of the Xiangwang Realm and the Jade Bone Realm.

Besides, weren’t those Enlightenment Divine Abilities the Divine Abilities of the State Religion?

How did they become part of the Confucian Sect in Zhao Yan’s mouth?

When Ding Suian asked this question, Zhao Yan replied, “Nunu doesn’t know either; it’s all what Auntie taught me.”

“Continue.”

“Mm? Where did Nunu leave off?”

“Spirit Monkeys stealing skills.”

“Oh! Right. In ancient times, your Spirit Monkeys stole the laws of other tribes, gathering the strengths of a hundred tribes. You took the lead in cultivating the Great Dao and used your own characteristics to transform into human form. From then on, all the other tribes were demoted to demons by you, forcing us into a corner. If we wanted to continue our cultivation, we could only transform into human form according to your appearance. Auntie said this was done by the stinky monkeys to monopolize the creation of heaven and earth and cut off the paths of other tribes.”

Holy crap!

Is this the theory of evolution in a Xuanhuan world?

The people here also evolved from monkeys?

Ding Suian was greatly shocked.

Except in Zhao Yan’s story, the ‘Spirit Monkeys turning into humans’ side was the big villain.

But Ding Suian didn’t feel any particular way about it. People always sided with their own kind. Since he was on the ‘human’ side, his loyalty should lie with the ‘humans’.

Kudos to the ancient Old Ancestors~

A moment later, Ding Suian’s gaze slowly fell on Zhao Yan’s thin, snow-white back.

The line of her spine was delicate and elegant, narrowing down to a slender waist that could be held in one hand.

Her perky peach-like buttocks, and that fluffy tail that refused to stay still and kept swaying gently…

Zhao Yan, lying on his knees, seemed to sense something. She looked up and noticed where his gaze had landed. Her narrow fox eyes instantly curved into a pool of spring ripples. Far from being shy, she worked even harder, the amplitude of her swaying tail becoming more obvious, her bottom practically wiggling up to the sky.

“…”

Ding Suian suddenly felt an itch in his nostrils, and a warm stream slid down from his philtrum.

‘Drip~’

It fell onto Zhao Yan’s lustrous white cheek, like a peach blossom.

“Oh my! Husband, you have a nosebleed!”

“Cough, cough. It happens a few times every month. I’ve gotten used to it.”

“But it shouldn’t just keep bleeding…”

“Cough, cough! Can you find some clothes to put on first?”

“Um, then husband, wait a moment.”

After saying that, Zhao Yan’s body shrank, she transformed back to her original form, and leaped out of the cave in two steps.

She patrolled around the outside of the cave, her pointed fox ears standing tall and rotating like radar, seemingly worried the cave entrance would be discovered. She then ran to fetch a few branches to cover it before leaping into the mountain forest.

Her agile figure jumped over ditches and leaped over ridges.

Carrying a sense of lighthearted joy.

Probably because… the Mountain Ancestor Goddess had bestowed her a husband?

Inside the cave.

Ding Suian leaned against the stone wall and looked around, letting out a long sigh.

The worldview he had finally managed to build had collapsed again.

There are demons in this world…

But compared to his current situation, this fox demon encounter that seemed somewhat deliberately arranged, the Life-Sharing Curse, and so on, didn’t seem like a big deal.

At least they weren’t immediate concerns.

The biggest problem at hand was being three hundred miles deep into enemy territory, with pursuing troops everywhere outside.

Only by surviving would he be qualified to talk about anything else.

About fifteen minutes later, Zhao Yan returned, having stolen two sets of clothes from somewhere—one male outfit and one female outfit, both peasant attire.

Besides the clothes, she also brought back a wild rabbit in her mouth.

Zhao Yan dropped the rabbit by Ding Suian’s feet and nudged it forward with her nose, indicating it was for him.

Seeing Ding Suian just looking and not eating, Zhao Yan in her original form tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then she transformed into human form, grabbed the rabbit’s head and tail with both hands, opened her small cherry mouth, and bit fiercely into the wild rabbit’s soft belly with her pearly teeth.

The rabbit hadn’t completely died yet, and in its pain, it kicked twice in vain.

Blood gushed out, and a dripping line of blood flowed down her smooth, pointed chin and slender neck, winding its way down to the valley between her two peaks, merging into a river of blood.

Her small hands were also instantly stained a striking crimson, with blood droplets flowing down her forearms all the way to her elbows.

Perhaps because she wasn’t used to eating in human form, Zhao Yan’s movements as she tore at the rabbit, shaking her head and neck, were brutal and horrifying, filled with bestiality.

But then…

She gently placed the bloody, still-steaming rabbit in front of Ding Suian, looked up with her small face smeared with blood, and said with great anticipation, “Nunu helped husband skin it, husband eat first…”

Ding Suian: “…”

As night fell, Ding Suian and Zhao Yan each changed into the stolen clothes and quietly left the cave where they had stayed for a day and a night.

The fact that Ding Suian brought Zhao Yan along wasn’t primarily because of the Life-Sharing Curse, whose effects couldn’t be verified for the time being.

It was because of the hidden danger of ‘excessive Protective Aura’ that could erupt again at any time.

Her ability to absorb it meant he had a pressure relief valve.

To prevent himself from truly exploding and dying.

There was another reason. Zhao Yan knew the surrounding hundred miles of mountain forest like the back of her hand; she knew exactly where the hidden beast paths were and where to find sweet springs and wild fruits.

With such a guide, the chances of escaping to safety undoubtedly increased greatly.

The two of them rested by day and traveled by night. After a night of trekking, they were roughly sixty miles away from Koujian Pass, gradually leaving the Zhao Army’s most strictly searched area.

March 19th, night, at the beginning of the Hour of the Pig.

Walking through the dense forest in the mountains, Ding Suian noticed a bonfire burning inside a ruined temple at the foot of the mountain.

Along the way, Ding Suian had stayed as far away from any place with people as possible.

But this time, he suddenly heard a few pig-like, shrill screams coming from the temple in the distance. Although the voice was heavily distorted, he still found it familiar…

Fifteen minutes into the Hour of the Pig.

Ding Suian climbed a large tree outside the temple and peered inside from a high vantage point.

Inside the main hall, half of which had collapsed, a row of seven people huddled against the wall. Their armor had been stripped, leaving only blood-stained, whip-scarred undergarments. Their hands were all bound with iron chains, strung together like livestock.

A few steps away, five Southern Zhao Soldiers sat around the fire, their expressions relaxed and pleasant, all turning their heads to look at one spot.

Where their gazes converged, there was another Zhao Soldier holding a wooden stick with dark red embers still burning at the tip, smiling as he poked it toward the belly of a plump prisoner…

‘Sizzle~’

The sound of searing flesh was accompanied by a heart-wrenching howl:

“Grandpa, Grandpa, stop poking me! Southern Zhao Grandpa, this old man was wrong, I’m a bastard… spare me!”

“Hahaha…” The Zhao Soldiers burst into a fit of gleeful laughter.

The one rolling on the ground crying for mercy and calling them Grandpa—who else could it be but Lin Dafu?

It seemed these six Zhao Soldiers were going to escort the higher-ranking prisoners to the rear.

Ding Suian secretly admired Old Lin. When the two of them separated, Old Lin’s warhorse was clearly exhausted. He didn’t know what method he had used to escape this far.

Staring at the main hall, he raised his hand and untied his hairband, slowly and firmly wrapping it around his right hand.

To prevent blood from soaking the hilt of his saber and causing his hand to slip later.

“Husband, are you going to kill people?”

“To save people.”

“Do you want Nunu to help?~”

Zhao Yan crouched on the tree branch next to Ding Suian, her fox eyes flickering with excited and curious light, eager to try.

Right, she’s a fox demon!

A demon must have some skills!

“What skills do you have?” Ding Suian turned his head to look at Zhao Yan, full of expectation.

“Nunu can make them dream! Have nightmares! The very scary kind of nightmares!”

Ding Suian’s mouth twitched slightly.

“Husband?” Zhao Yan tilted her head.

“Do you have any other skills?”

“Nunu also has the skill of seducing men!” Zhao Yan blinked her seductive fox eyes, seemingly quite proud, but then added with a bit of a lack of confidence, “However, Nunu hasn’t used it yet. If husband wants Nunu to go, Nunu will go and try.”

“…Never mind.”

“Oh… right, Nunu can also transform into other people’s appearance!”

“Transform into one and let me see.”

Seeing a possibility of being helpful, Zhao Yan’s fox eyes curved. She raised her hand to pinch a seal and silently recited a curse. A moment later, that delicate and small seed-shaped face actually rippled like water, and her features and contours changed visibly to the naked eye.

“…”

Zhao Yan transformed into Ding Suian.

But connected below this face… was her exquisite, curvaceous female body.

The pair of plump ‘rabbits’ on her chest remained proud.

I thought she was going to do something big.

That’s it?

Halfway through the Hour of the Pig.

“A-shui, that’s enough. Don’t play them to death; they’re all worth reward money!”

Inside the ruined temple, the Zhao Army Squad Leader finally spoke up to remind his subordinate, who was playing with great interest.

The Zhao Soldier called A-shui gave the curled-up Lin Dafu a kick with lingering interest, then threw away the wood stick with a smile and walked back to his companions.

As he turned, his gaze inadvertently swept across the courtyard and suddenly froze.

The other Zhao Soldiers noticed something was wrong and all turned their heads to look.

At the courtyard gate, a pair of farmers, a man and a woman, were slowly walking in one after the other.

The man was tall and upright, and the woman was light and graceful.

This was a desolate mountain in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night.

The Zhao Army Squad Leader sat on the ground, half-turned, and gave a chuckle. He mockingly said to the newcomers, “Mountain bandits? Robbers?”

The Young Master in farm clothes turned a deaf ear to his words. His gaze first swept over Lin Dafu, who was curled up on the ground of the main hall groaning, then he tilted his head slightly, “Zhao Yan.”

“Yes, husband!”

The young farm girl answered crisply, turned toward the courtyard gate, and briskly pulled the two dilapidated door panels shut.

She even dragged a heavy broken wooden beam from nearby.

With a ‘thud’, she barred the door shut.

That posture looked as if she was afraid someone would escape.

“Hahaha~”

The Zhao Soldiers were first stunned, then burst into laughter together.

Only then did Ding Suian pull out Kunwu from his lower back and look toward the ruined main hall. “Squad Leader Ding Suian of An Squad, Third Company, First Battalion of the Great Wu Dragon Guard Army! I bid you all welcome…”

Thanks to: wqb, for the tip~

Buqu is the geometrid.

Yellow Immortal, the weasel.

Lord of the Rushing Waves, an elegant name for a wolf.

Haowei, an ancient name for a salamander; not only can it regenerate limbs, but its eyes, spinal cord, heart, and even parts of its brain can also regenerate.

No more saved drafts; there are only two updates today.

But these two chapters total over six thousand words.