Essence Devouring Art

SPLASH~

The autumn rains in the Southern Border were unusually frequent this year.

The Indian summer had lasted only two days.

It was chased away by overcast skies, and the world’s melody once again became a symphony of rumbling thunder and a roaring, torrential downpour.

Amidst the towering mountains.

A caravan of several dozen people struggled onward through the rain.

At the head of the caravan, Instructor Hong watched the downpour intensify. The distance was a hazy blur. Gazing at the torrents of muddy water—like yellow dragons—surging through the mountain forests, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

Wiping the rain from his face,

Instructor Hong rode to the window of the central carriage and shouted, ”Sir, we can’t go on! If we continue, we risk getting caught in a ’mud dragon’s rollover’!”

A ”mud dragon’s rollover.”

It was a local saying.

It meant a mudslide.

Inside the carriage, Landlord Liu pushed aside the curtain. His weary eyes gazed at the dark, heavy sheet of rain, his face also etched with worry.

Their journey this time...

was forced upon them by the state of the world.

They were moving their entire family from Youzhou Prefecture to Guangqing Prefecture.

Guangqing Prefecture was overseen by the Overlord Whale Alliance.

It was said that as long as you paid a certain amount of offering silver each month, your life and property would be safe.

Unlike other places,

where mountain bandits plundered, and powerful gangs and clans squeezed you dry, leaving no way for people to survive.

After several consecutive days of travel,

both men and horses were exhausted.

Their spirits were stretched to their Limit.

They had been on the verge of entering Guangqing Prefecture’s territory,

only to be suddenly halted by this violent storm.

Their already taut nerves were stretched to the breaking point, and a sense of unease began to creep into their hearts.

”We’re relying on you, Instructor Hong. See if there’s a place to rest up ahead. If not, we’ll set up shelters here and wait out the rain.

Yun’er has likely received my letter by now and should be sending people to meet us.”

Driven by his unease,

Landlord Liu refused to risk pressing forward and gambling the lives and fortunes of his family on sheer luck.

”It is my duty, Sir. You are too kind.”

Instructor Hong nodded, ordered the other drivers and guards to halt, and rode off alone, disappearing into the torrential curtain of rain ahead.

”Please keep us safe. Let this journey be smooth.”

Inside the carriage, Landlord Liu put his palms together, murmuring ceaselessly, though it was unclear which benevolent Divine Spirit he was praying to.

Perhaps his sincerity moved a Divine Spirit.

A short while later,

Instructor Hong returned with an excited look on his face. ”Sir, there’s an abandoned inn less than a mile away! The roof is intact, so we can take shelter there.”

’An abandoned inn?’

A flicker of doubt appeared in Landlord Liu’s eyes.

To avoid bandits,

they had been taking remote mountain trails. How could there be an inn in such a desolate place?

CRACK!

”NEIGHHHH—”

A deafening clap of thunder from the sky and the panicked whinnying of the horses completely scattered Landlord Liu’s doubts, replacing them with a sense of urgency. He quickly nodded in agreement with Instructor Hong’s proposal.

The caravan set off once more into the rain.

A short while later,

sure enough, on a distant hill shaped like a pouncing tiger, an inn appeared.

On the wine banner fluttering in the rain,

the three large, blurry words ”Tiger King Manor” could be seen.

But the strange thing was...

The inn, which was supposed to be abandoned,

was now brightly lit. Faint sounds of drinking and boisterous chatter could be heard from within, giving it an air of lively celebration.

GULP~

Instructor Hong swallowed hard. All sorts of ghost stories and supernatural legends unconsciously surfaced in his mind. A baseless fear chilled him to the bone, and his face, already pale from the cold, turned even whiter.

’Don’t mind us, we mean no harm!’

He muttered the words under his breath.

Instructor Hong averted his gaze, tightened his reins, and tried to lead the caravan away from the inn.

But...

They didn’t budge an inch!

The horses, which had been skittish just moments before, now froze as if they had encountered a predator. Their bodies went stiff as stone, trembling all over, too afraid to even make a sound.

A nearby guard also noticed something was wrong with the horses. With a terrified expression, he came forward and asked loudly:

”Instructor Hong, why aren’t the horses moving?!”

WHOOSH—

The inn in the distance suddenly fell silent.

The candlelight, lamps, and sounds of revelry vanished completely.

Once again, it was deathly still and desolate.

It was as if the lively scene just now had been nothing but Instructor Hong’s hallucination.

”This...”

The guard also realized something was wrong with the inn. His face turned ashen, and his calf muscles began to cramp in fear.

”Shut up!”

Instructor Hong shot the guard a fierce glare, dismounted, and ran to Landlord Liu’s carriage. His face was grim. ”Sir,” he said, ”we’ve run into something evil. We have to leave, now!”

’Something evil?!’

CLATTER—

The Sandalwood Bead bracelet in his hand suddenly scattered across the floor.

Landlord Liu’s face was white as a sheet. He didn’t dare ask any more questions and hurriedly followed Instructor Hong out of the carriage.

”This!!”

But when they stepped out of the carriage,

their expressions changed drastically again.

In that short time,

the dozens of people in the caravan had all vanished, as if they had evaporated into thin air. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but the curtain of rain and a thick, roiling white fog that wouldn’t dissipate.

”Hahaha, drink up!”

”Waiter, more wine! More wine!”

From deep within the hazy, rainy mist,

the inn lit up again, and the clamorous noise returned.

”Hehe, you two, caught in the downpour. Why not come inside for a rest and warm yourselves up?”

As Instructor Hong and Landlord Liu trembled all over, a chilling laugh sounded in their ears.

An attendant wearing a melon-rind cap—so skinny he was nothing but skin and bones, like a dried-up corpse—emerged from the misty rain. He bowed and scraped, a fawning smile on his face.

But Instructor Hong and Landlord Liu felt no sense of warmth or friendliness from him.

The gazes of the two trembling, terrified men slowly drifted downwards.

Finally,

they both fixed on the attendant’s empty trouser cuffs...

...

「On the evening of the third day.」

It was another thundering, rainy day, dim and hazy.

”Giddyup, giddyup, giddyup—”

Muddy water flew, whips cracked, and horses galloped.

On the muddy mountain path far from Tiger King Manor, another group of people on horseback appeared.

But unlike Landlord Liu’s group,

this party of a dozen or so men...

were all dressed in tight-fitting black clothes. The muscles beneath bulged, stretching the fabric taut against their bodies.

The men were formidable and the horses strong, brimming with the vigor of dragons and tigers.

Despite the torrential rain,

some even had their chests and stomachs exposed, revealing tattoos of dragons and tigers. Their faces were either fleshy and fierce or marred by ghastly scars.

From a distance,

one could feel a savage, tyrannical, and murderous aura, as if a gang of ruthless bandits from Black Wind Stronghold had descended from the mountains.

”WHOA!”

Before Tiger King Manor,

mud splattered as the sound of reins being pulled and horses halting became one.

The skin-and-bones attendant in the melon-rind cap ran out from the inn, bowing and scraping as before. The difference was, this time there were feet in his trouser legs. He reached for the reins, a sycophantic look on his face, and said:

”You’ve had a long journey, masters. We have hot water and fine wine inside. We’ll be sure to make you...”

CRACK!

A long whip split the air.

It viciously struck the attendant, sending him stumbling. He fell face-first into the mud, and a sinister, ferocious glint appeared in his eyes.

Atop his tall horse,

the muscular Wang Long, who had a ferocious Black Dragon tattooed on his chest, retracted his whip. The scar on his face twitched like a centipede as he spat a glob of thick phlegm at the attendant.

”Pah! Fucking hell, you scared me! How did you get to be such a skinny monkey? Did your mother forget to nurse you?”

”Hahaha!”

”Waiter, you must be the son of a bitch, being so skinny.”

”Hey, waiter, what does your mother look like?”

The surrounding men erupted in coarse, mocking laughter.

’I have to endure this!!’

Lying in the mud, the eyes of the attendant in the melon-rind cap turned pure black, but he gritted his teeth and held back.

’These people are no joke.’

’The usual methods won’t work on them.’

’I have to endure it!’

’Once they’re inside the inn,’

’I’ll have my way with them!’

”Hehe, as long as you masters are happy.”

The attendant’s black pupils returned to normal. He got up, still smiling fawningly, showing no trace of anger.

”What a fucking groveler!”

Wang Long sneered, dismounted, and strode toward the ground floor of the inn with the gait of a dragon and the stride of a tiger.

CRACK!

Another whip struck the attendant across the face.

”Take good care of the horses, or I’ll break your legs!”

A lean, fierce man with a red buzz cut grinned, revealing two rows of large white teeth. He patted the attendant’s face, his expression one of wild arrogance.

’Endure!’

’Endure!’

The attendant’s face twisted, but he still nodded. ”Yes, yes, yes. I’ll take better care of them than I do my own mother.”

”Hahaha, you learn quick.”

Amidst the jeering laughter,

a piece of silver was tossed at the attendant’s feet.

For some reason,

the attendant felt like crying.

’Damn it.’

’When I was human, I was bullied like a dog. That was one thing.’

’But why am I still being bullied now that I’m not human?!’

...

”You think you’re worthy of drinking? Piss off!”

”What are you looking at? Never seen such a handsome big brother before?”

”Shopkeeper! Where the hell is the Shopkeeper?”

After entering the inn, Wang Long and his dozen or so men were just as arrogant and domineering as ever.

If any of the other ”guests” dared to so much as glance at them, they were met with a slap across the face. The men slammed their fists on the tables, making them thunder.

”Aiya, masters, please calm down.”

From behind the counter, an old man with the sturdy build of a tiger, wearing a peculiar Tiger Head Hat, hurried out. He smiled apologetically, but a murderous glint in his eyes steadily grew.

After pacifying Wang Long and his men,

the old Shopkeeper in the Tiger Head Hat had the kitchen bring out several head-sized melons, as crystalline as jade. He said with a smile:

”Masters, please take a look. These are our inn’s famous White Jade Melons. Their flesh is bright as jade, crisp and sweet. They nourish the spirit and calm the mind. This old man wouldn’t bring them out for just anyone.”

The melons were crystalline, their sweet fragrance filling the air.

Under the lamplight, they truly seemed to glow with the hazy luster of white jade.

Wang Long looked at the melon on the table, his eyes narrowing. He reached out a finger and tapped it, producing a dull THUD. He turned his head and grinned.

”Are you sure this melon is ripe?”

”...”

The old Shopkeeper’s cheek twitched. He gave a dry laugh.

”You’re joking, master. If it weren’t ripe, how would this old man dare to present it and make a fool of himself?”

”I’m asking you, is it ripe?!”

Wang Long’s gaze was playful as he caressed the melon, but his tone carried a thread of malice.

HUFF~

The Shopkeeper in the Tiger Head Hat let out a slow breath, his smile stiffening.

”It is. Absolutely. If it’s not ripe, you can do as you please with this melon on my old shoulders.”

”Good. You’re the one who said it!”

SHING!

A Fine Steel Long Saber was suddenly unsheathed.

The brilliant gleam of the blade flashed.

It illuminated the suddenly changed expressions of the Tiger Head Hat Shopkeeper, the guests in the inn, and the melon-rind-capped attendant who had just entered.

SWISH—

THUNK!

The Fine Steel Long Saber was sharp enough to slice a falling hair.

With extremely precise control of his Power, he sliced open the melon and stopped the blade just as it hit the wooden table.

WHOOSH~

The wind from the blade stirred the air.

A thick, bloody stench suddenly filled the room.

Red, white, and black.

As Wang Long withdrew his blade, it all spilled out onto the table.

TSSSSSS—

In the blink of an eye, the black liquid flowing from the ”White Jade Melon” softened and corroded the wooden table, dripping to the floor and raising puffs of black smoke.

”This melon of yours... it’s got quite a kick, doesn’t it? I’m afraid even a man of iron would turn into a weak-kneed shrimp.”

Wang Long glanced at the metal fragments that had chipped off the edge of his Fine Steel Long Saber. His unusual, vertically slitted golden pupils gazed mockingly at the bowed head of the Shopkeeper in the Tiger Head Hat.