It wasn’t until Xu Baizhou was carried into the so-called Demonic Palace, held up by the arms by those two grotesquely ugly “kidnappers” one in red, one in green and shoved among a crowd of deformed, hideous monsters, lined up to be presented as tribute to the Demon Venerable seated on the high platform at the front, that he finally realized: he must have transmigrated.
Three days earlier, Xu Baizhou, who had been receiving treatment, had sneaked out of the hospital, accidentally tumbled down a hillside, and passed out. When he came to, he found himself locked in a pitch-black, dilapidated room.
Xu Baizhou’s first reaction was: Holy crap, I’ve been kidnapped!
But when he looked at the hospital gown he was wearing, his two bare feet, he’d been in too much of a hurry to grab shoes and the only personal item in his pocket, a lab report, he decided he didn’t really look like someone worth kidnapping for money.
So what would anyone want from kidnapping a twenty-something man in the terminal stages of illness?
Could it be… Xu Baizhou thought… they’re after my kidneys?
Xu Baizhou immediately pulled out the lab report and held it up to his chest. The moment the locked wooden door in front of him was opened, he shouted, “Big bro, I’m sick! Even if you harvest my kidneys, you won’t be able to sell them!”
But the person who opened the door didn’t seem to understand a word. He just aggressively slammed a bowl down in front of Xu Baizhou. “Eat!”
Over the following days, two strangely dressed people took turns bringing him meals, one had red hair and crooked eyes, the other green hair and a twisted mouth, both wearing bizarre, old-fashioned clothing. From their scattered snippets of conversation, Xu Baizhou learned that in a few days it would be someone’s birthday, and that the two of them intended to present him as a birthday gift to that person.
Xu Baizhou’s imagination immediately conjured the scene: at a lavish banquet in a luxury hotel, he would be tied up and handed over like an object to a rich old man, impeccably dressed but withered and haggard. Then the scene would shift: he and the old man would be lying side by side in the operating room of an underground private hospital, his organs extracted one by one and transplanted into the old man’s body.
In the end, the rich old man would walk away glowing with renewed youth, while Xu Baizhou died miserably, unknown and unmourned.
He had thought this would be how his life ended. But when Xu Baizhou saw the Demon Venerable clad in magnificent black robes seated on the high platform at the front of the grand hall of this majestic yet dark and oppressive Demonic Palace, he couldn’t decide whether his imagination had run too wild or not wild enough.
I’ve really transmigrated into the Immortal-Demon World?
Xu Baizhou looked around. He was in an enormous palace hall. At the front of the hall stood a high platform, upon which were arranged a seat and a low table, the Demon Venerable’s place. Along both sides of the hall were several low seating areas, filled with people in all manner of dress. The tables were laden with delicacies from mountain and sea, yet every face was ashen gray. Behind those people stood many black-clad figures wearing ghost masks. Armed with weapons and shrouded in a layer of dark Baleful Aura, they appeared to be the guards of the Demonic Palace.
By now the song and dance had ended, and it was time for the presentation of birthday gifts.
A short man in a black robe that completely concealed his figure was the first to walk to the center of the great hall. Behind him followed four servants pushing a square box covered in black cloth, which they set down behind him.
“Lord Demon Venerable, I am Gan Xin, Left Protector of the Wailing Soul Hall. On our Hall Master’s orders, I have come to celebrate your birthday. May the Demon Venerable shine like the sun and moon and unite the Immortal Realm!” At this point, the short man called Gan Xin reached out and grasped a corner of the black cloth, saying, “The Wailing Soul Hall presents to the Demon Venerable a ‘Human-Hound.’ We hope the Demon Venerable will graciously accept it.”
With that, Gan Xin lifted the black cloth, and a wooden cage appeared before everyone.
The Demon Venerable on the dais seemed quite curious, leaning forward to peer at the wooden cage, and asked, “What is inside the cage?”
Gan Xin did not answer directly. Instead, he gestured for his subordinates to open the cage, and out crawled a dog covered entirely in black fur.
When Xu Baizhou got a clear look at the black dog, a sense of eerie dread welled up from the bottom of his heart.
The dog was slightly larger than an ordinary dog, its whole body covered in canine fur but on its head was a human face!
“Haha, hahaha!” Upon seeing the “Human-Hound,” the Demon Venerable clapped and laughed as if he had seen something delightful, an expression of fervor on his face. “Interesting, very interesting! Left Protector, what is this thing? Why does this dog have a human face?”
Seeing the Demon Venerable smile, Gan Xin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The Demon Venerable Jia Wujie had been at the height of his power in recent years, vigorously practicing Evil Arts and slaughtering Immortal Sects even the famous orthodox sects could do nothing about him. And while Jia Wujie was normally capricious and unpredictable, he had one strange quirk: he liked collecting odd-looking creatures to keep as pets. Gan Xin had heard that last year, an insignificant little sect had presented Jia Wujie with a three-headed dog, and Jia Wujie had been overjoyed, rewarding them with countless demonic potions. That little sect had since been utterly transformed by his gifts. So Gan Xin had advised his Hall Master to use this method, creating this bizarre “Human-Hound” to please the Demon Venerable. Sects as small as theirs were despised by the Immortal Sects; only by taking refuge with the Demon Race could they secure a place for themselves.
He led the “Human-Hound” forward and respectfully explained to Jia Wujie, “This is a ‘Human-Hound.’ Our Hall Master heard that the Demon Venerable is fond of black dogs, so we sought out three-year-old children everywhere. First we poured boiling water over their bodies to rot and strip away the skin, then applied dog fur and administered potions so the wounds would heal, whereupon dog fur grew from the body making it, in appearance, a true dog.”
As Gan Xin introduced the method of making the “Human-Hound” to Jia Wujie, he grew more and more excited, his voice rising uncontrollably. “Only one in ten survives this process. Countless children were killed to produce this dog!”
At these words, everyone present drew a sharp breath.
Xu Baizhou felt a chill of horror rise from the depths of his heart. This child who had become a “Human-Hound” was merely the one fortunate survivor among countless children who had met this dreadful fate.
Hearing this, Jia Wujie laughed even louder. His slightly manic laughter echoed throughout the entire Demonic Palace, making the already eerie scene seem all the more sinister and terrifying.
“I’ve never heard of such a method. Who devised it?” Jia Wujie asked.
At this, Gan Xin’s face flushed red with excitement, and he fawned as if claiming credit, “To answer the Demon Venerable: this method was devised by me through repeated experimentation.”
“And what else can this ‘Human-Hound’ do besides looking amusing?” Jia Wujie asked again.
“Reporting to the Demon Venerable, this hound can speak human language and knows dozens of nursery rhymes and over ten folk tunes. If you keep it by your side, Demon Venerable, it can sing to ease your boredom far better than that beast!”
“Oh?” Jia Wujie’s brows arched slightly, as if somewhat surprised. “I never expected this little ‘Human-Hound’ to have such talents. However…” His tone shifted, and a cruel yet faintly amused expression appeared on his face.
Jia Wujie continued: “But a three-year-old child, no matter how much he knows, only has a child’s understanding. I, on the other hand, find that the Left Protector is well-learned and pleasant in speech. Why don’t I turn the Left Protector into a ‘Human-Hound’ as well, and keep him by my side for amusement? How does that sound?”
At these words, Gan Xin froze on the spot. “Wh… what?”
Jia Wujie drew back his perpetually leaning body and settled against the broad back of his chair. With a light raise of his hand, several ghost-masked guards stepped forward and pressed the Left Protector, along with his four attendants, to the ground.
“Demon Venerable… Lord Demon Venerable, what do you mean by this?” Gan Xin asked, prostrate on the ground, his voice tinged with terror.
Resting his chin on one hand, Jia Wujie smiled as he gazed at Gan Xin kneeling before him. “Surely the Left Protector understands what I mean? Someone, bring a pot of hot oil and pour it over the Left Protector. I happen to want to test whether this method of making a ‘Human-Hound’ is true or false!”
A pot of scalding hot oil was poured over Gan Xin amid his endless begging for mercy. Instantly, agonized screams and the sizzling sound of hot oil flowing over skin echoed through the great hall, while the strange aroma of scorched, splitting flesh mingled with a thick bloody stench, filling everyone’s nostrils.
Under this overwhelming assault on sight, sound, and smell, Xu Baizhou felt his stomach churn and couldn’t help retching.
At this scene, the faces of those seated on both sides of the hall seemed to grow even grimmer.
After the pot of hot oil was poured, Gan Xin first let out a tremendous, pig-slaughter-like shriek, then the screams grew fainter, fading into low moans, until finally there was no sound at all.
A guard whose attire differed slightly from the other ghost-masked guards, apparently their commander stepped forward, checked Gan Xin’s breath, then advanced a step and reported: “Your Eminence, this man is dead.”
“Dead?” Jia Wujie’s finely shaped brows shot up in fury. “A three-year-old child could endure it, how did a full-grown man like him die from just one pour?”
“Your Eminence,” the guard commander replied, his voice utterly flat, “this man said earlier that it was done with hot water. What you used, Your Eminence, was hot oil.”
Jia Wujie froze for a moment at these words, and his raging fury instantly receded. “Is that so?” Then he put on a thoughtful expression, as if genuinely trying to recall whether Gan Xin had said hot water or hot oil.
A moment later, Jia Wujie waved his hand, as if he had completely lost interest in Gan Xin. “Forget it, forget it. Carry him out. What an ill omen.”
The guard commander acknowledged the order and had men carry the thoroughly dead Gan Xin out, dragging him toward the door.
“Oh, right!” Jia Wujie suddenly seemed to remember something and called out to stop the guard captain. “Once you’ve cleaned this place up, send someone over to that, what was it? Wailing Ghosts and Howling Wolves Sect, and pour hot water over every single one of them. This Venerable One would like to see for himself whether a person can really grow dog fur!”
The guard captain was extremely efficient, and in no time the great hall was cleaned spotless, as if the bloody, brutal scene had never happened. The birthday banquet continued as usual.
Because of Gan Xin’s miserable fate, those waiting to present birthday gifts grew even more terrified, afraid that one careless move would cost them their lives in this Demonic Palace. They all shrank back, not daring to step forward.
Jia Wujie, however, clearly had no such patience. Seeing that no one had come forward to offer birthday greetings for so long, he flicked his hand and smashed his cup at the crowd’s feet, roaring, “Keep going!”
A middle-aged man, expensively dressed and fat-headed, was shoved forward by a flurry of hands.
The man clearly had no desire to be the one to step up, but having been pushed out, there was no retreating. He could only stand in the great hall, trembling like a sieve.
“Who are you, and what do you have to offer this Venerable One?” Jia Wujie leaned back half-reclined in his chair, idly toying with the bone ring on his finger as he looked down at the man.
“Th-this, this, this humble one… Jia Liangping, a m-merchant from Jiangnan, t-today, today…”
This Jia Liangping was such a struggle to listen to that Jia Wujie grew even more irritated. He waved a hand. “Just present the gift!”
Jia Liangping wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve, then beckoned behind him, and two celadon vases, each as tall as a man, were carried up.
“Two finest wood-fired celadon vases, presented to Lord Demon Venerable!” Jia Liangping raised his voice and bowed as he made his offering.
Jia Wujie leaned forward and confirmed that they were indeed two blue-and-white porcelain vases. Then his brows furrowed. “Just this?”
“Ah.” Jia Liangping nodded repeatedly.
Jia Wujie narrowed his eyes and studied the two vases. That scrutinizing gaze made Jia Liangping break out in cold sweat. Just as Jia Liangping seemed about to collapse, his eyes rolling back in a faint, Jia Wujie finally leaned back against his chair and smiled. “Quite pretty, actually.”
Jia Liangping immediately breathed a sigh of relief. “Lord Demon Venerable, these vases were something I personally traveled to the Dragon Kilns to commission from the finest master craftsmen there, and I watched them being taken out of the kiln with my own eyes. I guarantee you, there is not another pair of celadon vases like these in all the Shangyang Continent!”
“Oh? Is that so.” Jia Wujie raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jia Liangping.
“Absolutely true!” Jia Liangping said, thumping his chest.
“Good.” Jia Wujie looked at Jia Liangping, whose color was slowly returning to his face. “This Venerable One loves beautiful things more than anything in this life. But do you know, my good man, when those beautiful things are at their most moving?”
“Th-that…” Jia Liangping put on an ingratiating smile. “This humble one does not know. I beg Lord Demon Venerable to enlighten me.”
Jia Wujie gazed at the pair of celadon vases and said slowly, “Their most moving moment is, the moment they are destroyed.”
The words had barely fallen when the guard captain slashed his blade at one of the vases. The vase split at the blade’s edge, its upper half falling to the ground and shattering to pieces, while the lower half toppled under the tremendous impact, its cut surface facing squarely toward the crowd waiting at the front of the hall to present their birthday gifts.
A foul stench wafted out of the vase, drifting into everyone’s noses.
Xu Baizhou stood among the crowd, watching as something slowly slid out from the pitch-black mouth of the vase.
It was a corpse, a corpse with withered limbs and no head!