Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Pig Demon?

The old man said, “Whether it’s corpse-borrowing soul return technique or seizing a body, both require a strong soul. But your yin soul looks much weaker than most. If you don’t want her to turn into a living dead who can’t even move after corpse-borrowing soul return technique, then find ways to feed her more flesh from extremely yin beasts like fish-kui beast. Stabilize her spirit. That way, when she regains a body, she’ll be able to control it freely and live like a real person.”

Gu Shi Yi listened, then bowed so low her forehead nearly touched the ground.

“Thank you for your guidance, Old Teacher!”

After a moment, she added, “Old Teacher, you’ve pointed me down the right path, and I have nothing to repay you with. Please allow me to feed the exotic beasts for one more day, as thanks for your kindness!”

The old man glanced at her, surprised, then burst out laughing.

“Good, good, good. You really know how to work people. Go on!”

Gu Shi Yi hurried off with the jar into the back courtyard. Another day of running herself ragged. The three-headed cow was delighted. The ill-tempered sheep knocked Gu Shi Yi over twice. The angriest little monkey watched her eat three more of its fruits, then lunged and nearly clawed her face.

Gu Shi Yi shrieked, slapped her hands over her cheeks, and fled while yelling, “Don’t scratch! I’m not married yet!”

If my face gets ruined, who’s going to compensate me with a Strongsen-ge?!

The whole day was chaos. By the time night fell, Gu Shi Yi had scrubbed the little shop spotless, inside and out, and finally prepared to leave. She went to the old man and bowed properly.

“Thank you, Old Teacher. This humble one won’t disturb your peace any longer. I’ll be going now.”

The old man nodded, then looked her over. “You ate fruit again?”

Gu Shi Yi gave a sheepish grin and slapped her own mouth. “Well… Old Teacher, the things here are too good. I couldn’t help it. I got greedy… I got greedy!”

The old man asked, “What did it taste like?”

“Like chicken… extra crunchy!”

A faint smile tugged at the old man’s lips.

“There’s soup left in that jar,” he said. “It’d be a waste to dump it. Go heat it up and eat it.”

“Ah…” Gu Shi Yi’s jaw dropped. She looked genuinely reluctant. “But there’s… there’s poop from three cows in there!”

The old man’s eyes narrowed with amusement. “Drink it, and I’ll tell you a secret that will benefit you enormously.”

“A benefit? A secret?”

He nodded.

Gu Shi Yi hesitated for half a breath, then squared her shoulders like she was walking to an execution ground.

“Fine! I’ll eat it!”

What a joke.

An enormous benefit. If she didn’t grab it, she’d regret it for life.

Besides, after spending two days around him, Gu Shi Yi had figured something out: the old man couldn’t be bothered to harm her. With his status, even if he offered her nothing and simply ordered her to drink the soup, she wouldn’t dare protest. She’d still swallow every last drop.

So she heated the soup again. The fish-kui beast belly limb had melted down completely. The fragrance wasn’t as intense this time, but it was still rich enough to make her mouth water.

The little monkey hopped from the old man’s shoulder to Gu Shi Yi’s.

“Zhi…”

It pointed and gestured like it owned the place.

Gu Shi Yi snorted. “Fine. I stole a few of your fruits. I’ll pay you back with a sip of soup.”

They shared a single spoon—she took a bite, then fed it a bite. One person and one monkey finished the entire pot. The old man watched with half-lidded eyes, saying nothing the whole time.

When the soup was gone, Gu Shi Yi even had the sense to wash the jar clean. Only then did she return to the old man and stand with hands lowered, respectful as could be.

“Old Teacher, the soup is finished.”

The old man asked, still smiling, “Do you know that you have a half-demon body?”

“I do,” Gu Shi Yi answered. “It should’ve been passed down from my mother’s side…”

“Mm.” The old man nodded. “Then do you know whose bloodline you carry? Which great demon you descend from?”

Gu Shi Yi shook her head. “This humble one doesn’t know…”

“In this realm, plenty of half-demon bodies don’t know where their bloodline came from,” the old man said. “It’s not strange.”

He paused, studying her with an odd look. “Do you want to know what kind of Demon Clan bloodline you have?”

By now, Gu Shi Yi already had a sinking suspicion. Hearing the question out loud, she nodded so hard her neck nearly snapped.

“Yes, yes, yes! I want to know more than anything! Old Teacher, you can tell? What kind of Demon Clan bloodline do I have?”

Her eyes practically shone.

The old man chuckled. “I don’t know.”

Gu Shi Yi nearly choked.

[Then why are you putting on a whole show?]

If she weren’t so hopelessly outmatched, she would’ve wanted to swing a fist.

The old man watched her nostrils flare like bellows and laughed again.

“But I can tell this much: your Demon Clan ancestral founder was likely some rare variant from the primordial era.”

Gu Shi Yi’s smile turned brittle.

[Yes, yes. I know. You told me that already.]

Seeing her expression, the old man knew she understood. He asked, “Then do you know what’s special about your Demon Clan bloodline?”

Gu Shi Yi blinked, blank as a freshly swept floor. “I don’t.”

“I don’t know much else either,” the old man said, “but I know one thing. In this realm, you can eat whatever you want.”

Gu Shi Yi stared at him for a long moment, clearly trying to force the words into meaning.

“Old Teacher… I don’t understand. What do you mean? Eat whatever I want—anything at all?”

The old man pointed at the little monkey bouncing around the room like a spring-loaded menace.

“More precisely, you can turn anything into something you can use. Do you think this sky-flying macaque is a normal mountain monkey? The fruit it eats isn’t something a mortal can handle. Yesterday you ate two of its fruits. Today you ate three. Did your body feel any different?”

Gu Shi Yi tilted her head and pressed a palm to her stomach like she was checking for a ticking bomb. “No.”

The old man smiled. “Exactly. I found those fruits specifically for it. And that extremely yin fish-kui beast belly limb—yes, it was prepared first, but if an ordinary mortal eats it, the mild outcome is vomiting and diarrhea, and the worst is their guts rotting through. Yet you were completely fine. That tells me this is an ability your Demon Clan bloodline gave you.”

In truth, the old man had been a little malicious at first. When he saw Gu Shi Yi sneaking the sky-flying macaque’s fruits, he’d deliberately kept quiet, hoping she’d suffer for it. He never expected her to eat several and remain perfectly fine.

That was why he’d told her to drink the soup made from the fish-kui beast belly limb.

And when she still acted like nothing had happened, he’d all but confirmed the reason.

Normally, after the fish-kui beast belly limb was simmered his way and the yin soul absorbed the yin energy clinging to it, the remaining soup was still toxic. A cultivator could drink it without immediate discomfort, but would need spiritual power to force the toxins out afterward. A mortal naturally couldn’t drink it at all.

Yet Gu Shi Yi could.

And after drinking it, she was completely fine.

It had to be her constitution.

Gu Shi Yi stood there, stunned into silence.

[So… what on earth was my ancestor?]

Something that could eat anything, and was… that energetic too.

Eat and sleep?

And why didn’t it leave something nicer for us descendants—what kind of strange ancestor was that?!

Gu Shi Yi’s eyes went watery. The old man roared with laughter.

“And you’re complaining? Do you have any idea how many cultivators would kill to have a constitution like yours?”

“What constitution?” Gu Shi Yi muttered. “A pig constitution?”

She forced a pained smile and asked out loud, “Old Teacher, don’t joke. What’s so good about this? Besides not upsetting my stomach, what benefit is there?”

The old man nodded, pleased. “Exactly. Not upsetting your stomach…”

His eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade edge.

“Girl, if you ever gain the chance for blood-and-marrow exchange—if you can abandon your human race bloodline, take a Demon Clan as your master, and cultivate Demon Clan arts—then you might achieve something.”

Gu Shi Yi let out a crooked, incredulous laugh. “You’re telling me not to be human anymore?”

[So I’m supposed to stop being a person and become a beast?]

“What’s so great about being human?” the old man said calmly. “And what’s so bad about being Demon Clan? The Demon Clan bloodline you carry—I don’t know what primordial era variant it came from, but I do know it belonged to a formidable power. In this realm, it can eat anything. Extremely yin or extremely yang, freezing cold or bitter chill… even things like devil qi and devil core can go into your belly. And once they’re inside, you can convert the power within them into your own. That’s an enormous advantage.

“Why do cultivators treat spirit stones as so crucial on the path of cultivation? Because they contain spiritual power that aids cultivation. If you can absorb devil qi the way others absorb spiritual qi, then entering places thick with devil qi would be like strolling into a restaurant. Isn’t that a tremendous advantage?”

Gu Shi Yi’s brows lifted.

Put like that… it really did sound like a good thing.

Her expression finally eased. Then, a heartbeat later, she sagged again.

“But… Old Teacher, I don’t want to become Demon Clan.”

The old man chuckled. “You don’t need to worry. Do you think you can become Demon Clan just because you want to? Without a great stroke of fortune, you might stay half-demon your whole life. At most you’ll be able to eat a few unusual things and live longer than ordinary people. Without arts and without a master to guide you, you can’t absorb spiritual power or devil qi. How would you ever do blood-and-marrow exchange? Dreaming of stepping onto the path of immortality would be pure fantasy.”

Gu Shi Yi had never been ambitious about cultivation or immortality anyway. She wasn’t disappointed. After thinking, she asked, “So, Old Teacher, I really can eat anything now? Even fish-kui beast?”

The old man nodded. “Exactly. Exotic beasts, ore, all of it. But…”

He paused, and his tone sharpened.

“Even though you’re half-demon, your body is only a little stronger than an ordinary mortal. If you get too greedy and eat too much without the proper arts to guide it, the power you take in will surge beyond what you can bear, and you’ll explode from the inside. You can eat—but you can’t eat without limits, and you can’t eat recklessly.”

So that was why the old man had mentioned taking a Demon Clan as a master. With Demon Clan arts, she could refine what she absorbed into demon qi and cultivate demon techniques.

In other words, if Gu Shi Yi was willing to become Demon Clan, she could lie there and eat-eat-eat her way to leveling up.

So she really could become a pig demon?

“Oh.” Gu Shi Yi straightened and nodded solemnly. “Understood.”

She bowed again. “Thank you, Old Teacher, for your guidance.”

The old man waved a hand. “Go. Don’t come back. Tomorrow I’m closing up shop. I’m heading out to travel.”

“Yes.”

Gu Shi Yi stepped back, bowed deeply one last time, then turned and left.

The old man watched her go, eyes narrowing.

“Zhi…”

The little monkey hopped down from the rafters onto his shoulder. The old man smiled and patted its head.

“She’s gone. She won’t steal your fruit anymore…”

Then he murmured to himself, thoughtful, “Eats anything… could it be the bloodline of Taotie?”

But a ferocious ancient beast like Taotie had been rare even in the primordial era, let alone now. Probably not.

Gu Shi Yi had no idea what the old man was thinking. She was practically glowing. She forced herself not to break into a sprint, but her steps still felt light as she hurried back to the boat. Once inside the cabin, she shut the door and quickly took out the Clay Doll.

“Yan Er, how do you feel?”

Li Yan Er bounced twice on the bed, then rolled with a laugh. “Shi Yi, I feel amazing!”

She took a running start and leapt off the bed. She hit the floor, bounced twice, and got up as if nothing had happened. Then she moved like an agile monkey, climbing the table leg in a few quick motions, springing onto the tabletop, and hopping straight into the water bowl. She splashed a few times, then sprang out again.

“Shi Yi, look!”

She showed Gu Shi Yi her body—perfectly dry, not a drop clinging to her.

Gu Shi Yi was overjoyed. “So eating that fish-kui beast finger really had such a huge benefit! This is incredible!”

Before, Yan Er was fragile—too light to handle, too heavy to handle, not waterproof, not shockproof. Now she’d upgraded: waterproof, shockproof, and her agility had jumped several levels.

“From now on, I won’t have to worry about you falling into the water and getting soaked into mush!”

Li Yan Er nodded eagerly. “Yeah. Before, when I was attached to this body, I felt stiff all over. Moving was like being eighty years old—slow and creaky. But now… now I feel like I’m about as nimble as that little monkey!”

She could hop, climb, and tumble. And if something happened again, even escaping would be easier.

Gu Shi Yi let out a delighted chuckle. “Luck! We really got lucky!”

She’d found that finger. Then she’d met a cultivator willing to guide her. The two besties grinned at each other like they’d hit the jackpot, laughing stupidly for a long while.

Then Li Yan Er remembered what the old man had said.

“Shi Yi, that old man said you can eat anything. Can you really eat anything?”

Gu Shi Yi scratched the back of her head with a grin. “Well… probably. That old geezer is unreliable, but in all my years, he’s never made me eat anything too outrageous. I don’t know if he’s telling the truth, but yesterday and today I really did eat that stinky monkey’s fruit and drink that soup…”

She patted her stomach. “And I really didn’t get diarrhea.”

Then she froze, as if something clicked.

“Actually… he might not be lying. I’ve had fevers and coughs before, but I’ve never once eaten something that upset my stomach…”

Following that old daoist priest, she’d slept under the open sky and survived on whatever she could find. She’d drunk roadside stream water, eaten half-cooked roasted meat, even chewed raw meat a few times.

And still—no stomach pain.

Whenever she had a headache or fever, the old daoist priest would draw a talisman, burn it, and make her drink the ashes. After that, she’d be fine every time.