Chapter 59: The Scent of Meat

After spending several months in the mountain village with Master Qingmu, whenever they brought back game from the mountain and gave a portion to the villagers, Nongli always saw the “simple and honest folk customs” that Qingmu spoke of.

Everyone was kind, as if they were one big family.

However, Nongli never lowered her guard against anyone other than Qingmu.

The scarlet hidden in her eyes could see the suppressed evil in others, and her ears beneath the black hair could hear the whispered malicious words.

Play.

She naturally understood this word; Qingmu had taught her countless times about the principles of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and honor.

She knew how precious chastity was to a woman, to a female being.

Because of this, these people who had the audacity to lust—damn them.

Eat.

They wanted to eat Qingmu, to devour her master, the only human being who treated her kindly.

Even more damned! This was unforgivable! No one could keep them from it!

Although the villagers accepted them, this acceptance was merely charity that didn’t harm their own interests.

In fact, these people had received more help from Qingmu and herself during the famine.

They repaid kindness with hatred and hid treacherous hearts.

Nongli opened her eyes in Qingmu’s embrace, facing the cave entrance as she waited silently.

She waited for the villagers who were about to turn into bloodthirsty beasts to break in, and waited for Qingmu’s sleep behind her.

Fortunately, Qingmu fell asleep first.

Nongli quietly slipped out of her master’s embrace, turned her head to look at Qingmu’s weak sleeping face, then slowly pressed her cheek against his nose before leaving the cave.

Outside, she saw four ragged men, both old and young.

Some villagers had fled, some had died, and these men should have starved to death, but they had survived only by sticking close to Qingmu and her until now.

Thinking back a month ago, they had been calling Qingmu a great saint and a female bodhisattva with reverence.

Now, without food to give them, each pair of eyes was filled with the desire of a beast and greedy hatred.

Although she had heard the phrase driven by lust before, now it seemed their eyes were more filled with hunger.

They wanted to eat her, like real beasts.

“Hungry?”

Nongli stepped forward.

“Hungry!”

The four men crawled forward on their knees, clutching Nongli’s legs, excitedly begging, “Female Bodhisattva, Female Bodhisattva, do you have any food left? Please!”

“Shh… come with me up the mountain. Master hunted four wild boars.”

Nongli took two steps back with an expressionless face, then turned and walked towards the mountain.

The four men glanced at each other in disbelief. The claim that there was a stag on the mountain, let alone that four boars had been hunted, seemed hard to believe.

But driven by hunger and the harmless appearance of the girl, they wobbled as they followed.

From behind, the girl’s steps were strong, looking full of energy.

She must have eaten!

That Qingmu was lying—saying there was no food?

Their hearts held some hatred, but soon false gratitude surged, and they kept following the female bodhisattva, Nongli.

It was pitch black all around. Supporting one another, they passed through a small grove and arrived at a clearing.

Nongli suddenly stopped and said, “It’s here.”

The four men began searching everywhere for the prey.

Watching this, Nongli found a wooden stump and sat down.

“Female Bodhisattva, Miss Nongli, where’s the prey?”

“What prey?”

Nongli tilted her head and asked them.

“You said four wild boars?”

“They’re here, right?”

“Where are they?”

“Look, here…”

Nongli pointed her finger at them: “One, two, three, four. Four dying stupid pigs.”

“What are you saying!”

“You’re lying to us!”

“You bitch!”

“Grab her! Eat her!”

The pent-up hatred inside the four men suddenly surged forth, and like evil ghosts, they closed in on Nongli.

Nongli looked up at the moon, flipped onto the stump.

On all fours, she raised her hips and stretched toward the moon like a fox stretching lazily.

“Ah…”

Her figure, slightly larger than before, now at fourteen or fifteen years old, had a graceful charm.

But the allure didn’t evoke lust—it stirred hunger.

Yet even the men, their minds clouded by instinct, knew they were about to prey on a girl, not just—

“A demon?”

Her fox ears perked up, two fluffy tails swayed, and the half-human, half-fox creature licked the back of her hand on the wooden stage.

Her scarlet eyes glowed eerily in the night.

Under the moonlight, the two-tailed demon fox radiated powerful demonic energy and killing intent.

“I will… eat you all!”

Nongli bared sharp teeth, like a tiger among sheep.

…

……

Qingmu was dreaming.

He dreamed of the moment Nongli grew her second tail.

With Maxie’s help, he had successfully obtained some materials from the town to refine pills, and had devoted himself entirely to making medicine for Nongli over several months.

Not only had Nongli recovered from her injuries, but she had grown a second tail.

At that time, Nongli only complained about her aching hips and curled up trembling on a stone bed.

He had gone to hold her, jokingly falling asleep.

When they woke, both were shocked to find a second tail had sprouted.

There was no grand tribulation scene—just the time it took to sleep.

Both he and Nongli were amused by this joke-like turn of events.

Nongli didn’t just grow a second tail; she also looked a year or two older, taller, and her figure had improved.

But she had been somewhat gloomy for a few days.

Under Qingmu’s persistent questioning, she revealed a secret that made him uncomfortable.

Nongli said she had eaten a person.

Just like the joke back then in the Six Flavor Hall.

It seemed she had really eaten someone connected to the Ghost Sword Immortal, but as a fox, she wasn’t clear on their relationship.

She only said that the scent of meat had drawn her in, making her lose control, and that the person was already a corpse.

Recalling what the book about the Eastern fox tribes said, that the fox race truly could not control their instincts and that she had only eaten a corpse, Qingmu was briefly disappointed but then felt it was nothing.

The matter gradually faded from memory.

Qingmu didn’t know why he had the dream—maybe it was because he was too hungry recently.

All the animals on the mountain had disappeared, something that seemed to have started only after Nongli became the two-tailed demon fox.

Before, during the famine, tigers still came down the mountain looking for people to eat.

Qingmu suspected it might be because of Nongli’s leaking demonic energy.

This was also why he hadn’t dared to bring Nongli away from the mountain.

“Nongli? Nongli?”

Qingmu suddenly woke, feeling around the stone bed.

Not finding Nongli beside him, he was startled and momentarily forgot his hunger.

“Nongli?”

He called several times, then hurriedly got up.

Feeling his way in the dark toward the cave exit, he suddenly saw the glow of torches outside.

“Master? I’ve got meat!”

Nongli’s joyful voice came from behind the curtain.

“Really?”

Qingmu’s heart leapt with joy, his stomach instantly growling.

“Mm-hmm!”

Nongli leisurely entered the cave, holding out a piece of meat weighing seven or eight taels.

A strange scent of meat wafted through—it was roasted.

“Master, eat!”

Handing over the meat, Qingmu lost all reason as he grabbed it and devoured it greedily.

It had been too long since he’d eaten meat. It smelled divine.