Chapter Twenty-One

Zhou Mu glanced at the new message on his phone, stuffed it back in his pocket without thinking, kept walking.

Chun Shijiu suspected Zhou Mu was in too much of a hurry — his speed was faster than usual, and even he had a hard time keeping up. But it took someone like him to chase after Zhou Mu and still have the nerve to joke: 'You didn't mix in some qilin blood, did you? You're fast.'

Zhou Mu normally got tired after eating his fill or even after walking a few steps — weaker than the average Human Race member. Now it was clear that was pure laziness.

The two arrived near Jinyuan and could already clearly feel the overwhelmingly oppressive Demon Aura. In midair, the golden light of the suppressing Ritual Pillar was faintly visible. Zhou Mu stopped, squinting as he stared at it.

'Enough, stop running.' Chun Shijiu grabbed his hand. His expression was nothing like his usual playfulness — cold and severe, like a snake coiled in the grass.

They were already at Jinyuan's edge. Zhou Mu raised a hand, reaching toward the Ritual Formation that blocked the view...

The instant his fingers touched it, the ground shuddered. An invisible ripple spread out, flattening the grass and trees. The Ritual Formation fell like a curtain of water, revealing Jinyuan in full — including the people inside fighting the Greedy Beast with drawn swords.

The Greedy Beast's second horn finished forming at that moment. The Demon Aura crystallizing on its body suddenly spread across a five-hundred-meter radius, blotting out even this patch of sky — as if a gray filter had been laid over everything.

The teachers reinforcing the Ritual Formation were all hit by backlash — they vomited blood and collapsed.

The Greedy Beast swept them with a brutal gaze and lifted them into the air.

Everyone except Cui Jue, Xie Rulin, and Senior Cong — still in his long-sword form — floated up, limbs bound by the spreading Demon Aura. Even Tian Qi, who had been unconscious, woke up. Realizing she couldn't move, she let out terrified sobs.

Their hearts went cold. It was over — the Greedy Beast had fully manifested, and it was the Demon Aura version. Could Director Xie and Director Cui hold out?

Zhou Mu saw through the Demon Aura that his own mentor, Luo Guanzhong, was among the teachers. He called out: 'Teacher Luo!'

Luo Guanzhong managed to look over. Startled: 'Zhou Mu? Why are you here — did you come for me?'

Zhou Mu: 'I came for Tian Qi.'

Luo Guanzhong: '...' I really would be touched.

Tian Qi was deeply moved, sobbing so hard she hiccupped. 'Xiao Mu, run! Tell my mom — I sewed my secret stash inside my pillow! And my project proposal has to be carried out for me! After I die, keep it simple—'

Xie Rulin saw it was a student and blinked, muttering: 'So it's him.'

Cui Jue nodded. 'Naturally.'

The Greedy Beast noticed the two extra people too. But Zhou Mu's aura was so faint it didn't even bother to bind him. Chun Shijiu next to him, on the other hand, was at least worth a beating.

Chun Shijiu sensed the extreme danger. He didn't know what was going on, but the Greedy Beast's utterly inhuman, cruel gaze would chill anyone who met it. He stiffly began backing away.

A snake's greed only swallows an elephant. This was the beast legendary for wanting to eat the sun.

The Demon Aura drifted slowly through the air, like the Greedy Beast's cold, sweeping gaze from above...

Faster than Chun Shijiu could react, Zhou Mu pulled out a Stealth Charm and tore it open.

Chun Shijiu's pupils dilated in shock. 'You—'

The seductive scent flooded out. The Greedy Beast's body shuddered; its throat worked slowly. This scent... it tempted every living thing without distinction — and the stronger the creature, the more it craved it.

Everyone floating in the air dropped back to the ground. At the same instant, the Greedy Beast wheeled around and lunged at Zhou Mu with even greater eagerness.

'Roar!' The massive beast pinned Zhou Mu into the dirt. The Greedy Beast, wrapped in Demon Aura, breathed but had no body heat. Its green eyes brimmed with greed. It lowered its head and sniffed Zhou Mu deeply, fascinated — the way one treats food.

So enticing — enough to make it drop everything and come feast first.

'What a fragrance,' the Greedy Beast said with a smile. 'You have Human Race blood? You'd tear open a Stealth Charm and use yourself as bait? Human blood only brings the Yao Clan needless weakness — and hateful scheming!'

Zhou Mu, who had shut his eyes when he was pinned down, still kept them closed. But he turned his face with precision to meet the Greedy Beast's gaze. Softly: 'Just because I'm a lazy person, that's all.'

He opened his eyes.

His dark almond eyes had become a pale amber.

In that instant, every cell in the Greedy Beast's body screamed that something was wrong — but it was too late. At this distance, face to face—

'You're not Human Race...!'

Before the words finished, Zhou Mu's body had grown in the blink of an eye. A glossy, blue-green fleece covered his sheep-like form. Two dragon horns sprouted from his forehead. His four claws were nimble and sharp.

He shook his head. Though a size smaller than the Greedy Beast, he sent it flying into the air with a casual swipe, then rose and pinned its throat beneath his paw with uncanny precision. The force was so immense the beast struggled and could not move.

It was hard not to suspect this was payback for the Greedy Beast having lifted and choked the others.

And that seductive scent on his body — in an instant it revealed its true nature, as cunning as its master: overwhelming, saturated with killing intent. Everyone present trembled involuntarily. Even those not pinned by his gaze could barely move — and lost even the will to resist.

Everyone except Cui Jue, Xie Rulin, and Senior Cong — especially Chun Shijiu, closest of all and witnessing everything — went blank under Zhou Mu's crushing presence, as if in a dream.

This was Zhou Mu — the one the entire School had been eyeing since enrollment?

Anyone with a little knowledge could spot the shadow of a Taotie in Zhou Mu's true form. From there it wasn't hard to guess that lethal fragrance was a trick to lure prey.

The more enticing it looked, the more dangerous the truth.

Cui Jue said quietly: 'Heh. You all say I've been especially good to Zhou Mu. You think I was looking after Zhou Mu?'

I was looking after you useless, tasty little things!

Every time he silently counted the school rules, that was the Fierce Beast's only contractual sense restraining itself. Every reckless-seeming word or action was that half-hidden appetite at work. Every quiet meal in the Canteen was backed by the School's secret feeding program — a small subsidy for the Yao Clan, renamed as 'Fierce Beast appeasement expenditure.'

...

Zhou Mu laughed softly. His eyes were terrifyingly calm. He lightly brought up something they'd discussed in class: 'Of course I'm Human Race too. Haven't you heard of hybrid vigor? Looks like your blood isn't mixed as well as mine.'

The Greedy Beast was named for greed, and yet...

When greed runs deepest, it is called Taotie.

The world's first Greedy Beast, legend says, tried to swallow the sun and fell into the Eastern Sea. The Demon Aura at Jinyuan had only gained sentience after being suppressed by the School's founding ancestor. So for all their viciousness, they carried the shadow of a defeated creature trying to make a comeback.

The half-blood Taotie before them was different. His aura was unmistakably that of an undefeated creature.

Since ancient times, they had devoured everything in the world that could be devoured. Nothing was outside their diet; no one could stop them. This was why every living thing carried the fear of that bloodline in its bones — so that the first instinct was not to flee, but to give up, to offer up one's life.

The Demon Aura churned on the Greedy Beast's body. Unwilling to lose like this, it roared — and the aura tried to force its way into Zhou Mu's seven orifices.

But Zhou Mu simply opened his mouth and drew the threads of Demon Aura into his belly on his own. He tore off huge chunks, leaving everyone stunned — confirming the legend that the Taotie eats everything.

The Greedy Beast's eyes nearly split from fury. It shook its head and tried to bite Zhou Mu — but when its teeth clamped onto Zhou Mu's shoulder, the sharp fangs caught on the surface and couldn't sink in. Several onlookers belatedly understood how their Senior Xiao Xiao had lost a tooth.

Zhou Mu snorted. His claws looked soft — as a newly adult Fierce Beast, he even had pink paw pads — but when he 'returned the favor' with a single stomp, the Greedy Beast's chest caved in.

The Demon Aura, once arrogant, now fled in panic, dodging Zhou Mu's pull — but there was no escape from the Taotie's mouth.

Zhou Mu's method of solving the problem was simple, brutal, and effective. He opened his jaws wide, already preparing to chomp the Greedy Beast's horn — crystallized from Demon Aura. Hmm, that looked fresh.

On that qilin-like face, Shu Lin's features suddenly flashed. He cried: 'Save me! Please, someone save me!'

Shu Lin was good and upright by nature. Heaven had simply not pitied him — struck by this sudden calamity, tears streamed down his face, heartbreaking to see.

Xie Rulin's heart ached at the sight. Then alarm bells rang in his head. He shouted: 'Careful — it's a trick—'

But before he finished, Zhou Mu had already carelessly bitten off the Greedy Beast's head, horns and all. One more bite, and the whole body was gone. In barely thirty seconds, the scene was spotless — as if nothing had happened at all.

Only then did he smack his lips. 'What trick?'

Xie Rulin: '...'

Xie Rulin's Xiezhi bloodline had only ever let him see, at their first meeting, that Zhou Mu wasn't the innocent he appeared — but a Fierce Beast. Even he couldn't tell what Zhou Mu actually was, or what power he held.

Not until he saw the scene before him did Xie Rulin understand.

No wonder Hualing didn't bind this beast. No wonder Cui Jue had recruited him as reinforcement. Hualing's way of dealing with this stubborn Demon Aura was probably to find a Taotie bold enough to eat it all away.

A genuinely surprising solution. If today's accident hadn't happened, it probably wouldn't have taken long — given the Taotie's ability and appetite — for it to be eaten clean.

Xie Rulin was still reflecting.

A shadow flashed.

From the bushes, a thin wisp of Demon Aura shot suddenly into Xie Rulin's unguarded forehead.

'Ah!' Xie Rulin screamed. He instantly recognized it — the sliver of sentience the Demon Aura had spawned.

But now countless desires were churning in his mind.

Xie Rulin was a Xiezhi — but in these few seconds, countless injustices surfaced in his mind, stirring up his discontent.

Is there truly fairness in the human world? If there is, why was I blocked at every turn when I sought promotion, why do the wicked always trample the truth..." He shut his eyes in agony, resisting — and on his forehead, faint but unmistakably real, a second horn emerged.

Chaos erupted anew. Faces drained of color.

"Mother of—" Senior Cong bellowed. "Xie! Snap out of it!"

Zhou Mu had already lunged forward, raised a paw, and slapped Xie Rulin across the face.

The blow stunned Xie Rulin. Shame flooded him. Then his body swelled and burst into a qilin form even larger than the Greedy Beast had been, head lowered, its single horn driving furiously at Zhou Mu.

Now Cui Jue panicked too. Shu Lin was one thing — but if Xie Rulin also fell, he couldn't possibly fight him. "Zhou Mu, don't provoke him! We can still talk him down!"

By rights Xie Rulin's mind was sturdier than Shu Lin's; the Demon Aura was just a desperate counterattack. With everyone's help there was a good chance of waking him. But Zhou Mu wasn't listening — he was already brawling with Xie Rulin.

Senior Cong sensed something was off. Given what he knew of Zhou Mu...

"Is he doing this on purpose? Did that Greedy Beast not fill him up?!"

Cui Jue: "..."

A Xiezhi, as a Ritual Beast, was no gentle fighter. For all his scholarly air, he was the only one fit to be chief referee of the Yao Clan Sports Meet.

But Zhou Mu reached out and drew — the water from the campus waterways rose into the air of its own accord, coiling around Xie Rulin's head. A Xiezhi was a beast of the land; how could it bear such a move? No matter what spells Xie Rulin cast, he couldn't shake it off. Bubbles gurgled from his mouth.

And Zhou Mu seized the chance to rain blows down on Xie Rulin's skull — every strike landing on a vital point, vicious beyond measure.

Even Shou Teacher couldn't stand it. He flew over, grabbing Zhou Mu by the scruff, yanking his tail — but Zhou Mu was lost to the fight. A single sweep of his tail sent Shou Teacher face-first into the dirt. Shou Teacher crawled out of the mud and slowly raised his middle finger.

Cui Jue wailed: "Stop! Stop! Zhou Mu, he's already lucid!"

Senior Cong, panicked: "Zhou Mu! I'm begging you, have mercy on him!"

Tian Qi was still young enough to burst into terrified, wailing sobs.

The remaining teachers trembled, fear written on their faces. Even the Ritual Pillars rose into the air again, emitting golden light in a futile attempt to block Zhou Mu.

At first glance, everything before them looked far more brutal than the Greedy Beast's rampage...

"Gurgle, gurgle — me!"

Xie Rulin, wrapped in water, forced out the words.

Only then did Zhou Mu pause and glance over. Sure enough — Xie Rulin's eyes had cleared. He was waving his hands desperately. "Huh. He's awake."

Zhou Mu opened his mouth and sucked — with a soft slurp, he swallowed the last wisp of Demon Aura too.

Xie Rulin, soaked through, shifted back to human form. His face was swollen like a pig's head. He retreated several steps from Zhou Mu, gasping, dignity abandoned, cursing: "How could I not wake up — you nearly beat my brains out!"

Zhou Mu licked his lips. "Sorry. Eager to save lives."

Xie Rulin: "..."

What a terrifying mixed-blood Taotie. Something surfaced in Xie Rulin's memory. He steadied his breathing and asked: "Do you carry the He clan bloodline?"

That was the surname the Taotie lineage used when walking among humans.

Zhou Mu answered, offhand: "My mother's clan is surnamed He."

No wonder, then. One branch of the He clan Taotie was rumored to have mixed with the bloodline of the Emperor's Daughter Yaocao — the most beguiling substance there was. That had to be the source of the Seductive Scent gene.

It also explained why Zhou Mu didn't take his mother's surname. Anyone well-informed would have pieced together his true identity in no time. The rest of his bloodlines likely came from his current surname.

Among these many bloodlines, the Taotie temperament clearly held the upper hand. Not only did he carry the dangerously deceptive Seductive Scent, he also possessed overwhelming dominion over air and water — and that most inscrutable of gifts, the human form.

A top-tier Fierce Beast who knew how to feign weakness, even feign allure — a master of disguise. All of this led Xie Rulin to render a fair verdict: one of the most terrifying hunters in recorded history.

...

Jinyuan fell quiet again. Only then did Zhou Mu shift back into human form — once more that soft, sweet-smelling freshman. But no one dared look at him the way they had before. No one dared look at him at all.

Simply absorbing everything that had just happened had drained them all.

It had to be said — compared to Shu Lin's transformation into the Greedy Beast, Zhou Mu revealing his true form and beating Xie Rulin half to death was the more terrifying. That sense of losing control with death hanging by a thread.

Zhou Mu swept a glance around them, then said, sheepishly: "When you go out, don't go spreading this around. If people find out my appetite's a little big, won't I just get bullied at School again?"

Everyone: "..."

Senior Cong looked around with the eyes of someone who had been there, and sighed softly within.

Sigh. He had lived through all of this himself. What was a sword to a creature like this — it could digest even Demon Aura. The only reason he himself hadn't been eaten was that he was a cultural relic, and Zhou Mu had been reluctantly persuaded by the local government not to consume him. He had never quite let that go.

And Zhou Mu hadn't exactly let him off easy either. He'd made Senior Cong his accomplice for at least three years... the man had chopped more than his share of pork ribs with him!

Now looking at these successors — Tian Qi, for instance, still young, already unable to think straight.

Then there was Teacher Luo Guanzhong. The mere thought of having once sent Zhou Mu photos of his true form — that pale, tender snail flesh — and even invited Zhou Mu to live inside his shell, made him shudder with retroactive terror.

But the most terrified of all was Chun Shijiu. His scalp prickled. The thought of having once hugged Zhou Mu and even asked Zhou Mu to live with him made him break out in cold sweat. How on earth had he survived?

Thank goodness, thank goodness Zhou Mu had gone to live with You Qi!

And it was precisely the thought of You Qi that stalled Chun Shijiu's mind. Unable to help himself, he gathered his courage and ventured: "Then what about You Qi? Have you been thinking about it this whole time — eating You Qi?"

In everyone's eyes, Zhou Mu had been a creature trembling for survival under You Qi's claws. No matter how close they seemed, that closeness could at any moment tip into appetite.

After everything that had just happened, the whole picture had flipped. Now, given this unprecedented mixed-blood Taotie's nature, every embrace he had ever initiated lay under a terrifying shadow.

Tian Qi, thinking back, even felt that when little Mu sometimes rubbed her cheeks, it had been the motion of rubbing seasoning into curing meat.

"Nonsense," Cui Jue, as Dean of Students, hurried out to set the record straight. "Classmate Zhou Mu has promised to abide by School rules. He won't eat... at the very least, he won't eat any classmate whole!"

Chun Shijiu: "..."

Zhou Mu had been about to speak when he caught some scent on the wind. His expression shifted slightly.

Chun Shijiu, reading the room, sensed something was wrong. He looked around — and sure enough, from behind a nearby tree, a figure stepped out. It was You Qi. No telling how long he'd been there. But Chun Shijiu, recalling the timing of his own text and the depth of You Qi's concern for Zhou Mu, figured You Qi had probably seen everything he needed to see.

You Qi was even still spattered with the water from Zhou Mu's beating of Xie Rulin. He looked like some beast caught in a downpour — back still straight, teeth clenched tight beneath his Mouth Cage. After a long moment, he forced out a single sentence: "Is it because of School rules that you've never, until now, eaten me?"

Zhou Mu's mood was terrible.

He normally didn't feel this way. At any time, eating anything, he was utterly justified — when had he ever feared anyone's questioning? But the words You Qi had just spoken left him in a foul mood. Not because he thought he was wrong — just deeply, inexplicably irritated.

He wanted to say: Of course — you, Chun Shijiu, Luo Guanzhong, the Principal, and Shou Teacher — every last one of you, I've wanted to eat!

Who knew how to explain themselves to food? In the past, Zhou Mu would have simply swallowed anyone bold enough to question him.

But...

Zhou Mu turned slowly and finally saw You Qi — and his cold, ugly expression. Zhou Mu had no heart to put on that deceptive, harmless smile. Frowning, he said: "You all want to eat me too."

The color drained further from You Qi's face.

Zhou Mu was right. Everyone coveted him, and he was a Fierce Beast hiding his identity. No one should feel it was unfair — that was simply the nature of a hunter. As in a match, no one blamed a Yao Clan competitor for beating another out of bounds.

But he was caught in it himself. Not only had You Qi allowed Zhou Mu to move into his dorm — Zhou Mu had taken over his thoughts.

As a Fierce Beast, You Qi had no urge to fight and kill. He only kept replaying every detail, unable to sort them out. It couldn't all be fake — but how much of it was real?

His eyes grew darker and darker, like that very first day, hidden in the shadow of trees. Something seemed stuck in his throat. His heart was being gripped and pulled, aching in waves — the same as when he held Zhou Mu. All of it, feelings he had never experienced before.

Unable to stop himself, You Qi said: "No wonder you won't move out of Room 1203."

The words hit Zhou Mu's ears and his mood crashed instantly. To him, it sounded no different from rejection. He couldn't hold back either, and burst out: "What — you want me to move out?"

That terrifying aura spread again, drawing groans from the onlookers who had already been too afraid to speak.

Even worse — You Qi, who usually kept his aura tightly reined, heard those words and, as if wounded, erupted with his own Fierce Beast aura. The two forces pressing in from both sides made even Cui Jue hold his breath and wipe sweat. Truly: when the city gates catch fire, the fish in the moat suffer.

You Qi, molars clenched, stared at Zhou Mu: "You want to move out?!"

Zhou Mu kicked a tree. It shattered into powder. He said viciously: "Fine! If I'm moving, I'm moving!"

The onlookers listened, dumbfounded. What kind of argument was this — completely at cross purposes. But they absolutely dared not get involved.

Zhou Mu and You Qi locked eyes for two seconds. The next instant, Zhou Mu turned, grabbed Chun Shijiu with one hand, his black pupils shifting to a savage amber: "I'm moving right across the hall!"

Chun Shijiu: "........................"