Chapter 73: Revealing the True Form

Although the cat's tail revealed by Master Duan certainly gave little Ah Si a start, his subsequent behavior left Ah Si even more baffled and filled with dread.

Just at that moment, Master Duan suddenly stopped in front of a grave mound, hunched his back, and sat down on the stone altar before the tomb to quietly smoke a gloomy pipe.

Master Duan smoked for a long time, and Ah Si found it rather dull to watch. Just as he was growing bored and preparing to turn back to report to me, he suddenly heard Master Duan speak.

Master Duan remained silent for a long time only to utter something astonishing: "Come out! There is no point in hiding anymore; let the two of us have a chat."

Master Duan’s words gave Ah Si a severe jolt.

Such a sudden remark genuinely made Ah Si wonder if he had been discovered.

At this thought, Ah Si's mind raced, and he prepared to turn tail and run. He knew that falling into the hands of this bizarre and eerie fellow could bring nothing good.

Yet, just as Ah Si was about to flee, he suddenly heard a loud, piercing cat's meow echo from the very grave mound Master Duan was leaning against.

Immediately afterward, a fat cat with a black body and a white forehead sprang out from the overgrown weeds at the side. With a single bound, it landed squarely on the ash-gray tombstone of the low grave, fixing its gaze upon Master Duan.

Seeing this, little Ah Si suddenly realized that Master Duan had not discovered him after all, but was instead calling out to the cat. This made his palpitating heart calm down somewhat.

However, what happened next made him tense up once more, on account of both the cat and Master Duan's subsequent actions.

At this time, Ah Si was about ten paces away from the cat and Master Duan. To keep himself concealed, he had burrowed deep into the grass, and could only make out a general shape of the cat.

Even so, little Ah Si instantly recognized that the cat standing atop the tombstone was undoubtedly the "King of Bright Lamps" that had fought a fierce battle with us along the old Qi road.

For the stubby tail that I had severed twice was now exposed without a doubt.

Knowing that this scene was extraordinary, little Ah Si exercised his patience, pricked up his ears, and began to eavesdrop.

He knew that for Master Duan to walk this far and summon a cat demon meant there must be some unspeakable conspiracy afoot.

Sure enough, Master Duan suddenly spoke up, complaining to the feline: "You were the one who wanted to kill Tian Buer, and you were the one who failed to do it. Now that things have turned out like this, what do you suggest we do?"

The cat stared at its severed tail and let out a few muffled, unwilling cries.

Master Duan gazed at its truncated tail, shook his head slightly, and said, "Why are you taking it so hard? Back on the old Qi road, the two of us almost lost our lives to those soldiers, and they had experts and fox immortals helping them. Losing your tail is still far better than losing your life!"

The cat continued to meow, but its cries carried a growing sense of anger and resentment.

After the cat had cried out a few more times, Master Duan could no longer bear it. With a helpless wave of his hand, he said, "Fine, fine, fine! Have it your way! I will try one more time, but let me warn you, this is the very last time, understand?"

Upon hearing Master Duan's words, the cat gave a nod.

After that, Master Duan snuffed out his cigarette butt, put his hands behind his back, and walked deeper into the Zhao family's ancestral graveyard.

Before leaving, he instructed the King of Bright Lamps: "Let us both prepare; we will make our move immediately. You go on ahead, and I will come after I grab a bite to eat. Make it quick and do it right; don't drag your feet anymore."

As he spoke, Master Duan's figure gradually vanished among the dense array of tombstones and grave mounds belonging to the Zhao family's ancestors.

As for the cat, after letting out a few more wails, it leaped down from the tombstone, its figure disappearing into the thicket of weeds and brush.

Little Ah Si, still lying prone in the grass, continued to feel utterly shocked by what he had seen and heard!

He immediately realized that this Master Duan was a genuine "demon"! If he were not a demon, how could he converse and negotiate with a cat, and how could the cat possibly comprehend him?

Most importantly, why would a normal human being wander into a graveyard, and talk about making preparations?

After turning the matter over in his mind, Ah Si ultimately decided to follow in Master Duan's footsteps and take a closer look inside the Zhao family's ancestral tombs.

Firstly, he was curious about what Master Duan was doing in someone else's ancestral graveyard for no apparent reason. Secondly, he felt I had treated him quite well, so he wanted to complete the "mission" I had entrusted to him as thoroughly as possible.

Driven by these mixed motivations, little Ah Si mustered his courage and stepped into the Zhao family's cemetery, proceeding with the utmost caution at every single step.

The Zhao family's ancestral tombs were far larger than he had imagined.

As little Ah Si described it to me, that place held nearly all the deceased members of the Zhao family over the past six hundred years. Even in broad daylight, it was swept by chilling gusts of wind, the very soil carried a frigid aura, and fragments of bones were occasionally mixed in. Walking upon such ground was an intensely nerve-wracking experience.

The graveyard was nestled in an unassuming little mountain hollow beneath Mount Cannibal (Shi'ren Gu), narrow on the outside and wide on the inside. Bizarre rocks flanked both sides, and ravens and kites occasionally circled overhead.

That scenery made little Ah Si want to turn and flee several times, yet his own curiosity kept pulling him onward into the deeper recesses to look closer.

No one knew how far Ah Si had walked before he suddenly heard a few shrill, miserable barks of a dog.

Those barks were filled with rage and terror, steeped in the scent of blood, and they sent a deep shiver running through Ah Si's entire body.

Startled by this sudden change of events, Ah Si immediately halted his advance. Taking cover behind a large tombstone, he concealed himself once more and cautiously peered in the direction of the barking.

At that single glance, the color drained completely from Ah Si's face, and he almost vomited on the spot.

For he caught sight of Master Duan once again—and this time, Master Duan, alongside more than a dozen cats, was devouring a live mongrel dog whole!

Little Ah Si's words caused the facial muscles of everyone present to twitch involuntarily.

Ah Si did not describe it in detail, but I could easily imagine that bloody and gruesome scene.

Yet why would Master Duan eat raw meat just like a cat? Could he truly be a cat spirit transformed, as little Ah Si had guessed?

However, according to his description, one particular physical trait of Master Duan seemed to support this notion.

He was as thin as a rail, looking as though a gust of wind could easily blow him over. At first, I had been unable to guess why, but now it made sense: if a person truly consumed raw food and meat for a long period, it would lead to severe nutritional imbalances and parasitic infections, ultimately reducing them to that ghastly, inhuman appearance.

Hearing this far, even I felt a sense of nausea, and fearing that I might stir up unpleasant memories for Ah Si, I instructed him, "Ah Si, just tell me what Master Duan did next; you don't need to be too detailed."

Ah Si scratched his head and said, "He... he shared the whole dog with the wild cats, and then crawled into a tomb cave along with that pack of cats."

"A tomb cave?!" I blurted out in astonishment. "You mean he most likely lives together with the cats?!"

Little Ah Si nodded and replied, "Most likely! There's no other way to explain it!"

After Ah Si finished speaking, everyone present fell into an unprecedented silence.

Amidst this silence, we were astonished by Ah Si's discovery, while also genuinely wondering whether Master Duan was even human at all. And even if he was human, was he truly among the living?

A sudden thought flashed through my mind.