Chapter 1464: The Taotie's Body

At those words, He Qing also fell silent.

Her own Dao?

In truth, if asked to explain it, she genuinely didn't understand what the 'Dao' actually was.

It felt as though she had only ever learned what her predecessors left behind. She studied the Daoist methods of Qingyu Mountain, the Divine Abilities and sword arts left by the two seniors, and how the world's many cultivators practiced their Cultivation.

It seemed that from beginning to end, not a single one of her abilities truly belonged to her.

She pondered this for a long time. Even after Chen Changsheng departed, she still couldn't figure it out.

"My own Dao..."

"But what is the Dao..."

The moment she began pondering this question, Chen Changsheng seemed to relax significantly.

He felt that He Qing would slowly find the right path, and the karmic ties between them would gradually fade away within the long river of time.

...

Time passed, and another two years went by.

Over these two years, Jiu Fengchun roamed the world. He hunted for Spiritual Veins, constantly on the move just to fill his stomach.

But as the various Immortal Mountains gradually tightened their defenses, he lost many opportunities, often leaving him starving and delirious.

Several times when he regained his senses, he found himself covered in blood. Countless corpses lay scattered across the ground around him—all of them, without exception, having been fed upon.

The stench of blood clung to him so deeply that it could no longer be washed away.

Jiu Fengchun grew increasingly numb to it all, and his appetite only grew larger.

Then, one day, he suddenly noticed a change in his body. Scales were gradually sprouting across the backs of his hands and over his face.

The transformation left him utterly terrified.

"Rip."

He pulled off a scale.

"Aaah!!"

A miserable scream tore from Jiu Fengchun's throat. The piercing pain left him terrified; pulling the scale free felt like plunging a knife straight into his heart.

"Clatter."

The scale hit the ground, and Jiu Fengchun curled up on the floor, twitching uncontrollably.

It was a long time before his senses slowly returned. By then, he was already covered in sweat, his clothes completely soaked through.

He staggered to his feet, picked up the scale, and held it up to his eyes to study it closely.

These scales covered every part of his body.

"Am I... not human?"

Jiu Fengchun gasped for breath, increasingly afraid to think any deeper.

Yet the more he tried to avoid it, the more certain he became that he was indeed no longer a normal person.

He was a demon! Or something else!

Regardless, he couldn't be human!

Otherwise, how else could he explain that mind-clouding appetite?

Jiu Fengchun clutched his head, questioning himself over and over again.

As time went by, the scales on his body multiplied. Eventually, a pair of horns sprouted from the top of his head. When he reached up to touch them, his panic only deepened.

He no longer dared to step out of the cave, much less venture into the world.

Mournful wails constantly echoed from within that cave.

One day, a monster burst forth from that cave. It bore horns upon its head, the body of a goat, a human face, tiger fangs, and human claws. It pillaged a small Daoist temple outside the mountain. Every Daoist cultivator in the temple vanished, leaving behind only pools of blood and scattered chunks of chewed-up flesh.

"Waaah!!"

Its cry sounded exactly like a human infant. Deep in the night, it would always echo across the surroundings.

This was the Taotie.

After the Taotie descended the mountain and gorged itself, completely filling its stomach, its massive body constantly warped and shrank, eventually turning back into a small figure curled up on the ground.

"Cough... cough..."

Jiu Fengchun groggily climbed to his feet, not knowing where he was.

He looked down at himself; the scales were gone.

"I... I changed back?"

A wave of joy washed over his heart, but the moment he turned around, the stench of blood hit his nose.

His heart trembled as a sudden possibility crossed his mind.

He staggered a few steps, following the direction of the stench of blood.

After only a short distance, he found the source of the bloody stench.

It was a village. But now, the entire place was painted red. The houses were smashed to ruins, and not a single person was in sight.

As Jiu Fengchun walked closer, he spotted a long trail of blood dragged across the ground.

Unchewed chunks of flesh littered the ground. Beneath the eaves of a house lay bloodstained bones.

In that instant, Jiu Fengchun understood.

No one could have done all this except him!

"Hah... hah..."

He gasped for air, unable to bear looking any longer.

He fled the area without a moment's pause, not daring to look back.

Once again, he hid himself away in the mountains.

"I can't eat people!"

"I can't eat people!"

"I can't eat people!"

Jiu Fengchun sealed the cave completely shut. Hiding inside, he squatted on the ground, muttering those words over and over again.

His mind slipped further into a delirious haze.

He believed that doing this would let him stay sane.

But as he grew hungrier and hungrier, there would always come a point when he would black out completely, transforming back into the Taotie to smash open the sealed entrance and venture out to bring disaster upon the mortal world.

...

Xiao Dongxu heard the rumors of a monstrous demon in the Eastern Domain. The news spread quickly. People said the demon loved to eat humans and craved Spiritual Veins. A cultivator from Xianyue Mountain had once stumbled upon it, only to be bitten to death and swallowed whole on the spot.

Upon learning of this, Xiao Dongxu immediately rushed to the Eastern Domain.

Along his journey, he saw ruined villages and silent mountain forests. In this entire surrounding region, aside from the vegetation, there wasn't a single living creature with flesh and blood.

It was only then that Xiao Dongxu knew for certain: the demon he was looking for was right here.

"The Taotie..."

Xiao Dongxu had only heard the descriptions recorded in texts and did not know what it truly looked like. He was rather eager to see it for himself.

He stood guard for days. Finally, half a month later, he heard the cry of an infant.

Xiao Dongxu immediately rushed toward the noise, only to discover that the sound was actually coming from underground.

He hurriedly executed an Escape Art and entered the Spiritual Vein.

He discovered that the Spiritual Vein had already dried up. Countless bones were piled up inside it, surrounded by shredded clothes and cloth scattered all over the ground.

The bones were heaped into mountains, as though they were going to completely fill the Spiritual Vein.

"These are... the cultivators of Xianyue Mountain..."

Xiao Dongxu raised his head and advanced swiftly.

As the noise drew closer, the sound of gnawing flesh reached his ears. He saw a pitch-black demon with two horns on its head right before his eyes. But what shocked him even more was its face.

The demon's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were actually located on its chest, tucked beneath its armpits!

"Hrrr..."

The Taotie paused its gnawing, having heard the faint sound from behind.

It turned around, and their eyes met.

With a raise of his hand, Xiao Dongxu drew his Immortal Sword. In that instant, he enveloped his body with Divine Abilities and Arts and Techniques.

He had already prepared himself for a brutal battle.

But suddenly, the Taotie seemed to lose its focus. It unexpectedly collapsed right before his eyes.

The next moment, its massive body rapidly shrank, gradually morphing back into a human form.

Xiao Dongxu froze, completely caught off guard by the sight.