Chapter Thirty-Two: The Beast Unleashed

After the two had finished their slaughter, the only remaining enemies in the room were the pair wearing sheepskin hoods, known as Wang Tumor and his accomplice.

Terrified and unarmed, the two dared not resist, so Liang Zhi refrained from finishing them off immediately.

He needed to make use of them to uncover the situation here: why were there so many lambs in this stronghold of Peach Blossom Spring, and what exactly was that half-man, half-sheep creature upon the platform?

With death hanging over them, the two could do nothing but stammer out the truth about their deeds. They even tried to conceal some details, but the children who had not yet been turned into lambs exposed their intentions.

Hearing all this, Qiu Shilu ground her teeth in rage, gripping the hammer so tightly that her fingers left marks on the handle.

Liang Zhi patted her hand, signaling her to relax.

He wasn't worried she would lose control—he simply didn't want to repair the hammer again.

She suppressed her anger until the pair finished speaking, then swung her great hammer directly at one of the men.

This time, Qiu Shilu struck with all her pent-up fury; she put her full strength into the blow. The man didn’t even fly backward—he was smashed into a bloody mist on the spot, spraying Wang Tumor’s face with gore.

Wang Tumor was paralyzed with fear. Trembling violently, he knelt before Liang Zhi, banging his head on the floor as he pulled a photograph from his coat.

“Mercy, sir! I only work here because I must survive. Look, this is my wife. She’s pregnant with twins—she’s about to give birth! Please, spare my life. I just want to see my children…”

He pleaded desperately, hoping to soften Liang Zhi’s heart.

Liang Zhi sighed, “Ah, not even seeing your children—truly pitiful.”

“Then you’ll let me go?” Wang Tumor wept openly.

Liang Zhi shook his head. “I can’t let you go. But after I leave, I’ll find your wife and children and kill them all, so you can be reunited in hell. Who knows, perhaps you’ll even deliver the babies yourself.”

“No, please, no! Do whatever you want to me, but they have nothing to do with this!” Cold sweat drenched Wang Tumor as he shook like a leaf.

Liang Zhi tilted his head. “Well then, kill yourself. If you do it, I won’t go after your wife and children.”

Wang Tumor hesitated for a long while, but finally steeled himself, picked up a knife from the floor, and plunged it into his own abdomen, twisting it fiercely.

Such an act was nothing less than ritual suicide.

But committing seppuku is not as it appears in television dramas; a single stroke does not bring instant death. The viscera are torn apart, but the person will not die immediately—they must endure extreme agony before finally losing consciousness.

This is why, traditionally, there is a second to deliver the killing blow and release the suffering man.

But Liang Zhi had no such mercy. He had no intention of acting as the second. He wanted Wang Tumor to suffer until death claimed him.

However, with the Hooked Serpent still lurking nearby, letting him scream would be too dangerous, so Liang Zhi destroyed Wang Tumor’s vocal cords. No matter how much pain he was in, he could not make a sound.

“You really are ruthless,” Qiu Shilu remarked with surprise. “If he hadn’t killed himself, would you really have gone after his wife?”

Liang Zhi rolled his eyes. “How could I? I hate trouble… Besides, unless he told me, how would I find them?”

Wang Tumor, not yet dead, spat out another mouthful of blood at those words, looking even more wretched.

His movements slowed, and those women and children who had been abducted finally began to sob softly.

Most of them were children.

The stronger women had either already been turned into lambs, or, if they were especially beautiful, had been chosen by Fan Jiu for other purposes.

The maids who served Fan Jiu on the upper floor had been selected in this way.

These people had endured too much suffering; only now did they dare to release even a little of their anguish.

Liang Zhi unlocked their shackles one by one, then picked up one of the strange sheepskins—Wang Tumor and his companion had used these to turn people into lambs.

Master Crow hopped onto the sheepskin, drooling from his beak. “A fine thing, a fine thing indeed!”

“You know what this is?” Liang Zhi stroked Master Crow’s head. Qiu Shilu had seen him speak with the bird many times, so he no longer bothered to hide it from her.

“This is a Beast-Making Pelt, unique to Peach Blossom Spring. As long as it’s supplied with energy, it can turn several ordinary people into beasts for a short time. If used on just one person, it can keep them in beast form indefinitely!

Such precious items only exist at Peach Blossom Spring’s transfer points. Each Beast-Making Pelt requires all the abilities of both a Twisting Healer and a Flesh Warlock!”

Liang Zhi narrowed his eyes. “I have two more questions: how do you replenish the pelt’s energy, and what happens to the ability users whose powers are extracted?”

Master Crow grabbed the pelt and tucked it under his wing.

“To maintain high-intensity beast transformation like this, you have to regularly feed the pelt fresh human flesh and blood. As for those whose abilities are taken… what do you think happens?”

Liang Zhi didn’t ask further. He could already guess.

While Liang Zhi and Master Crow conversed, Qiu Shilu produced a camera from somewhere and began photographing everything in the room.

“You’re not planning to publish these pictures in the paper, are you? You realize if our identities are exposed, we’ll be dead in no time,” Liang Zhi warned immediately.

Qiu Shilu waved him off. “Relax. I’m not stupid—I won’t risk my life. But everything that happened here is part of the truth. Someone has to record it, until the day the truth can be revealed.”

Suddenly, Liang Zhi narrowed his eyes. “Wait. Why hasn’t that great serpent come for us yet?”

“It’s so terrifying—isn’t it better if it doesn’t come?” Qiu Shilu was puzzled.

Liang Zhi shook his head. “If it really doesn’t come, that’s fine. But I’m worried something even worse is about to happen.”

“Agh! Stay away from me!” came Craven’s scream from the corridor.

Liang Zhi raised a finger for silence, and the two of them quietly retraced their steps, returning to the corridor where they had defeated Craven. Peering out, they witnessed a terrifying sight.

The hallway was packed with five or six mechanical beasts, with more shadows looming behind them. Each one radiated an aura as powerful as the Hooked Serpent from before.

One of them resembled a black goat, but was the size of a rhinoceros, its two horns like red-hot iron spikes, flames flickering at their tips.

“That one must be the Bo Yi Fire Beast!” Qiu Shilu whispered, snapping a photo with her camera.

There was another, with white ears and a white snout, like a gigantic mechanical rat.

“That’s a Ju Ru… All of these are mechanical demon beasts!”

Qiu Shilu couldn’t identify every creature, but there was no doubt—the danger they faced now was no less than before.