Monster

The Giant Rooster’s body was as tough as iron walls, impervious to any magical weapon.

Its feathers gleamed with a cold, murderous light, like a forest of daggers in the dim, misty air.

The Giant Rooster dragged its hostage—someone Shi Yuzhen found thoroughly annoying—with its sharp talons. For once, he was forced to consider the life of someone other than Xu Ya or himself, which left him feeling constrained.

Clearly, the rooster saw A Xi as bait to hold Shi Yuzhen back. It seemed to have sensed his attacks and deliberately avoided them.

A bizarre scene unfolded: the Giant Rooster spread its wings and soared into the air, its massive claws gripping the bloodied, unfortunate hostage, engaging Shi Yuzhen in a chase across the sky.

It almost looked like a playful pet playing tag with its master—only the roles were reversed, and the master had taken the bait.

The creature resembled a rooster in form, with a fierce comb whipping wildly in the wind. Its wings, nearly three meters long, were powerful, and even after several passes through the air, it showed no signs of fatigue.

Shi Yuzhen gave relentless chase, the Ink Sword flashing as it struck again and again at the claw that refused to release A Xi.

Finally, a weakness revealed itself.

Shi Yuzhen channeled his supreme technique into the Ink Sword, unleashing a force as mighty as the splitting of heaven and earth upon the monster.

Unable to withstand the blow, the Giant Rooster’s entire claw was severed. Blood gushed from the wound, and the lifeless talon lost all strength. A Xi slipped free and plummeted from its grip.

The monster let out a series of harrowing screams—like a chorus of people wailing in a sea of fire, voices overlapping in a chilling cacophony.

Seeing A Xi fall from the rooster’s grasp, Xu Ya quickly formed a hand seal and cast a slowing spell, trying to ease his descent.

But A Xi didn’t land as smoothly as Xu Ya had hoped. He crashed onto a rooftop with a loud thud.

The county was eerily silent.

Xu Ya felt a deep sense of unease.

The monster continued to wail. Its massive wings flailed wildly, losing coordination, and it soon crashed to the ground after A Xi.

Now the grotesque rooster lay sprawled on the ground, its giant wings twitching. Blood spurted from the gaping wounds on its limbs, quickly pooling into a foul puddle.

Xu Ya frowned. “Great Senior Brother, isn’t that… a little too much blood? That can’t be normal, right?”

Shi Yuzhen kept his sword tightly in hand and replied, “Indeed. Be careful not to step in it.”

“Got it.”

She gently laid the battered and bloodied A Xi on the ground and checked his breath. He was still alive, though barely.

Xu Ya let out a breath of relief. When she saw A Xi covered in blood just moments ago, she’d nearly stopped breathing herself.

Now, A Xi’s body was riddled with dark, bloodied holes. Xu Ya began casting spells one by one to heal them.

But the rooster still writhed in the blood-soaked dirt. Its form began to shift grotesquely. Losing a leg seemed to have caused it unbearable pain. Shi Yuzhen watched coldly as its strength faded and its cries grew weaker.

The Giant Rooster had been subdued and could no longer fight. Shi Yuzhen didn’t kill it. He still didn’t know the full story, so he sealed it into a Spirit-Gathering Pouch, planning to investigate further once they returned to the Immortal Marsh.

A Xi’s condition was dire. His breathing was shallow and sporadic. Neither Xu Ya nor Shi Yuzhen could stabilize him with spiritual energy. He might not survive the journey back to the Immortal Marsh.

Xu Ya looked worried. After a moment of thought, Shi Yuzhen suggested they find a mortal doctor to keep A Xi alive for now.

There was no better option. They had to try.

But the county was unnervingly quiet. Xu Ya knocked on several doors, but none received any response.

This was highly unusual and unlike any of Shi Yuzhen’s previous excursions. After knocking for a long time, the two finally decided to break in and check for themselves.

What they found was worse than expected. The county had become a ghost town. Every house, every building—completely empty.

How could this be? A Xi’s condition was worsening. They couldn’t afford to waste more time knocking on doors.

As the two fretted over what to do, they failed to notice that a dark ring had formed around A Xi’s eyes. The wound on his head was rapidly expanding at an unnatural speed. His pores were slowly stretching open.

In an instant, A Xi’s limbs twisted into grotesque shapes.

“A… A Xi?!” Xu Ya, ever observant, immediately noticed something was wrong and cried out in alarm.

But then, thick, familiar feathers began sprouting from A Xi’s body—feathers that didn’t belong to him.

The growth on top of his head widened and thickened. His eyes drooped unnaturally to the center of his face, and a bird’s beak, clearly not human, began to grow from the middle of his face.

The more Xu Ya looked, the more disturbed she became. Her hair stood on end.

He was turning into… a rooster? A half-plucked one at that?!

Xu Ya was stunned. She had just witnessed a man transform before her very eyes—and not just any man, but her own shop assistant, someone she saw every day. What in the world was happening?

Shi Yuzhen immediately recalled the strange nature of the Giant Rooster. Could it have once been human too?

Without hesitation, Shi Yuzhen released the Giant Rooster from the Spirit-Gathering Pouch into the open space.

Now, two roosters stood before them. One was the three-meter-tall Giant Rooster. The other was the newly transformed A Xi, about fifty centimeters tall—still much larger than a normal rooster.

Xu Ya and Shi Yuzhen exchanged a look, the same chilling thought striking them both.

“This Giant Rooster… could it be someone too?!” Xu Ya said. “Is that why it bled so much?”

As if to confirm her words, the barely alive Giant Rooster began to convulse and shift on the ground.

At first, its form was shrouded in thick mist. The Spirit-Gathering Pouch had absorbed its spiritual energy, rendering it defenseless. Now, the monster was like a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Then, right before Xu Ya’s eyes, the creature began to undergo “mitosis.”

Yes—actual mitosis…

The spiritual energy around the Giant Rooster had been completely drained by the pouch. Its remaining body lay on the ground, feathers falling out, skin inflating and deflating as if breathing. Xu Ya could see what looked like at least five pairs of limbs forming.

No—this wasn’t an illusion!?

Fortunately, Shi Yuzhen had held back earlier, prioritizing A Xi’s rescue and avoiding a killing blow. But the severed limb was horrifying. On closer inspection, it contained several overlapping human limbs fused together.

What should they do?

Xu Ya swallowed hard and instinctively glanced at Shi Yuzhen.

He noticed her gaze and felt a small flicker of satisfaction.

Normally, Shi Yuzhen would have already destroyed such a creature with a spell, erasing it from existence. No matter how indestructible it seemed, there was always a way. Whether it was man or ghost, anything that blocked his path had no right to live.

But this time, the Giant Rooster had a clear purpose. It couldn’t be handled with ordinary methods.

Moreover, after spending so much time with Xu Ya, Shi Yuzhen had begun to seriously question the so-called survival doctrine of Yunmeng Immortal Marsh.

The sect had been founded by Master Xu and a few others in pursuit of greater cultivation. But because of a secret buried deep in the founder’s heart—and the existence of the Spirit-Ranking Stone that could measure one’s power—the entire sect had gradually lost its way.

Now, Xu Ya’s fried chicken shop was wildly popular among the cultivators of the Immortal Marsh. Even wandering cultivators from outside came to buy her food.

Without exception, everyone who tasted Xu Ya’s cooking sang her praises. No one cared about her cultivation level anymore. And maybe, just maybe, that was how things were meant to be.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, the rooster that A Xi had transformed into suddenly spread its wings and lunged toward Xu Ya, seemingly out of control.

The Ink Sword intercepted just in time, slashing between the two and forcing a gap between the monster and Xu Ya.

Xu Ya, worried for A Xi, couldn’t help but cry out. The sound drew the attention of the barely-breathing giant monster. The Giant Rooster staggered a few steps, balancing on one leg, then joined the fray. The creature formed from A Xi’s time-space powers saw its prey being targeted by something else and immediately shifted focus, launching itself at the Giant Rooster in a reckless clash of beaks and claws.

The scene quickly descended into chaos.

Shi Yuzhen had to end this quickly. The rooster A Xi had become was in a frenzy. The bloodied holes that once riddled its body were now filled with thick, matted feathers, forming a crude kind of armor. In the scuffle, it had actually gained the upper hand.

Xu Ya knew she couldn’t drag Shi Yuzhen down. In her heart, she kept calling out to the system that had accompanied her for years, begging it to tell her how to handle a situation like this.

She understood why Shi Yuzhen hadn’t made a move yet—it was because A Xi was also one of the monsters. He probably didn’t want to disappoint her, so he was holding back.

The scene was absurd: a proud, aloof cultivator from beyond the mortal realm locked in a messy brawl with two enormous roosters. Xu Ya couldn’t even laugh. She dodged frantically, both alarmed and touched by Shi Yuzhen’s hesitation to strike.

But just when it mattered most, the system went completely silent again, as if it had never existed in her world at all. No response whatsoever.

Xu Ya stomped her foot in frustration.

The Giant Rooster, with its massive size, had the advantage. It flapped its wings and soared upward, then dove from above with a thunderous charge, slamming into the rooster A Xi had become and sending it flying dozens of miles.

By sheer coincidence, A Xi landed right at Xu Ya’s feet.

Xu Ya looked down at A Xi, who had grown up by her side, and her heart ached. She couldn’t bring herself to step away, even though she hadn’t yet approached.

But then something went wrong with Shi Yuzhen.

His figure, suspended in midair, suddenly froze. A wave of unease washed over him as an indescribable force seized control of his limbs and bones.

By all rights, a cultivator at the Deity Transformation Stage should never be susceptible to such control. At that level, they were virtually invincible under the heavens.

Yet now, Shi Yuzhen felt as if a pair of invisible hands had gripped his very core, a tingling numbness shooting straight to his head.

In that fleeting moment, a heart demon struck and took over his body.

The demon he had been suppressing all this time finally broke free of its cage.

Xu Ya immediately noticed something was wrong with Shi Yuzhen in the sky.

The system appeared in an instant. It ignored Xu Ya’s questions and instead emitted a long, shrill alarm—

【Host, please help the male lead survive this deadly tribulation——】

【Host, please help the male lead survive this deadly tribulation——】

【Host, please help the male lead survive this deadly tribulation——】

Xu Ya found the phrase painfully familiar. So familiar, in fact, that she almost thought the system was malfunctioning again.

She looked up at the male lead, frowning.

What is it this time?

— Translator’s Notes —

– splitting of heaven and earth: A common phrase in Chinese fantasy literature describing an attack of immense, world-shattering power.