38 Chapter 38 Strange Tales

Indeed, it was a fine wine, full-bodied and fragrant, its aroma so enticing that it drew one deep into intoxication.

Wang Guan lifted his cup, his gaze sweeping over the silent Daxiong Bao Hall, then he announced loudly, "I heard a joke in Nanjing City. There was a landlord's son who couldn't read, and someone advised the rich man to hire a teacher. The teacher started with the character 'one,' which has one stroke, 'two' has two, 'three,' three strokes. After that, the landlord's foolish son threw away his brush, proudly telling his father he had mastered all characters and didn't need the teacher anymore. The rich man was delighted and dismissed the teacher. One day, the rich man wanted to invite a friend with the surname Wan for a drink and asked his son to write an invitation in the morning, but by noon it was still unwritten. When he inquired, his son complained, 'There are so many surnames in the world—why did that guest have to have the surname Wan? I've been writing since morning and have only reached over five hundred strokes!'"

Confronted with this dry and tasteless joke, the horde of demons looked at each other in silence, wordless, until after two or three seconds they finally caught on and burst out laughing in unison.

The awkward yet polite laughter filled the entire hall, and the Taoist Wang Guan, delighted, raised his cup to the guests, "To drink with you all!"

"To drink!"

The demons, with playful grins, raised their cups and emptied them in one go.

The members of the mission team, watching the demons gulp down the strong liquor, also raised their cups, pretending to drink.

The liquor, imbued with spiritual energy, was indeed extraordinary. After the monsters finished a cup each, they all had flushed faces and confused expressions, recounting stale jokes to each other and making the rest of the ghostly creatures burst into hearty laughter.

Those ghosts and monsters who had no jokes to tell, shared recent stories of eating humans—when, where, and what kind of people.

"Just the day before yesterday, I ambushed a group of traders in the mountains. The tastiest among them was a fat man, and the tastiest part of him was his liver—so oily, rich, and smooth."

"Wrong, the best parts of a fat man are his brain and intestines—it's 'fat head and greasy guts,' after all."

"I think skinny ones taste better, lean and chewy."

"Tsk tsk, I really want to eat a couple of boys and girls again...."

The drunk demons completely cast aside their harmless disguises, holding forth boisterously about their culinary experiences.

Seated in a small corner, the mission team's faces were grim and unsettled. In the eyes of the demons, they were evil cultivators who had returned to the Central Plains from overseas.

Should they dare reveal even the slightest indignation, they would immediately be assailed and killed by the united horde of demons.

They must endure.

The Mountain Demon Taoist seated at the head of the hall surveyed the Daxiong Bao Hall and smiled, "A good banquet with good wine—how can there be no good meat?"

With a grand wave of his hand, the Fierce Ghost in white robes floated back to the sedan and brought out a beautiful woman wearing a red dress with her belly protruding.

Unconscious until now, the woman was brought into the hall, and upon being stimulated by the demonic atmosphere, she immediately woke up. Looking around, her eyes met with the fierce and terrifying faces of the ghostly demons, and with a scream, she almost fainted.

Ha ha ha ha, the demon crowd saw the pregnant woman's terrified condition and laughed uproariously, their wild laughter seeming as if it would lift the roof off the entire Daxiong Bao Hall.

"Hong Niang, don't be afraid, come to your husband," said the Taoist Wang Guan from the head seat, beckoning with his hand and speaking to the woman with a benevolent face.

"Husband, save me!" The woman saw Wang Guan and, as if grasping at a lifeline, she ran towards him in a panic and hid behind him, "This place is...."

"This is the Solitary Cold Temple, the Demon Palace," Wang Guan replied, his bony hand resembling chicken skin as he gently stroked the woman's hair, "Hong Niang, how long have you been with me?"

"Three, three years," said Hong Niang, chattering her teeth in fear, "It's been three years since my husband redeemed me from the pleasuring quarters of Qin and Chu."

"Three years, eh?"

Wang Guan mused, reaching out to touch Hong Niang's protruding belly, "At last, you are with child."

Hong Niang seemed to realize something, covering her belly, she said with a deathly pale face, "Husband, my lord?"

"People always say, 'sour for a son, spicy for a daughter.' Hong Niang, have you been craving sour or spicy food recently?"

"...Sour."

"Then could it be a son?"

Wang Guan measured with his hands and said to the gathering of monsters, "Having a son is good, oh yes. Having a son means more flesh by an ounce or two compared to a daughter."

?

The monsters were firstly stunned, then quickly came to a realization and burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Yes, yes, Wang Guan Taoist is right; a male infant would have more flesh than a female one."

The monsters' flattery sounded to Hong Niang like whispers from hell. She shuddered all over and dared not move a muscle.

"Hong Niang, haven't you always found it strange?"

The more frightened the woman became, the gentler Wang Guan's voice turned, "My family is not prominent, the shops under my name are faring poorly, and I even lack interest in buying farmland. Tell me, how did I accumulate such vast wealth in just a few years?"

"...My lord, my lord can craft elixirs."

"Correct, crafting elixirs. But what kind of elixirs do I craft?"

"I don't know, I don't know...."

"No, you do know," Wang Guan said with a smile. "You know what elixirs I craft, which is why you insist on staying in the Southern Suburb Courtyard, refusing to move into the Royal Mansion."

"..." Hong Niang's face was ashen, and she remained silent.

"Foolish woman, pitiful, lamentable, and sigh-inducing," Wang Guan said with a smile, caressing Hong Niang's belly, "Lately, haven't you been secretly gathering evidence against me for that Criminal Department Shilang, Wang Xuanwang Cunyao, who returned three years after his mother's death? Thinking about denouncing me, having me thrown into the dungeon, and rescuing your sisters from the Royal Mansion?"

Hong Niang's face drained of color, shaking like a sieve, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.

In the Daxiong Bao Hall, the demons whispered among themselves; to these monsters, matters like the Criminal Department Shilang or Wang Xuanwang Cunyao were trivial affairs of the mortal world. They neither understood nor cared how any of this related to today's banquet.

"So, that's how it is."

Li Ang sighed deeply and turned to his teammate to say quietly, "Jiajing thirteenth year, Solitary Cold Temple, Wang Guan, the accompanying capital Nanjing City... I've understood too late."

Xing Hechou lowered his voice in urgency, "What have you understood?"

"The system has been hinting at the backstory of this mission from the beginning. All the clues were right in front of us; we just failed to notice them."

Li Ang gave a bitter smile and tapped his forehead with his knuckles, "Has anyone read a historical record from the middle of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, compiled by Jiao Hong Jiao Ruohou of the Hanlin Academy, called 'Records of National Tribute'?"

???

What is that? Is it edible?

"'Records of National Tribute' collected primary historical materials from the Hongwu to the Jiajing periods including training records, local gazetteers, unofficial histories, Shinto tablets, and so on, categorized by imperial clan, nobles, cabinet members, filial sons, and righteous people. It has a broad range and detailed content."

Li Ang explained rapidly, "And within such a reputable historical text, there is an account of a sensational, horrifying tale that shocks the norms."