Relationship
The butchers all showed similar expressions of confusion on their faces, as if they had never considered such a question before.
He Zhouyan said, “They are all the souls of animals.”
“What!?” Lin Yang couldn’t help shouting.
Realizing what he’d done, he nervously looked at the man, afraid he’d angered him by interrupting.
Luckily, there was no reaction—just a faint nod.
Wen Yi couldn’t help asking, “Why are you so surprised?”
When the girl he secretly liked asked him a question, Lin Yang instinctively straightened his back and replied more seriously, “Normally, animal souls enter the cycle of reincarnation very quickly after leaving the body. They shouldn’t be able to be captured and kept within the mortal realm.”
Animal souls contain fewer impurities and are much lighter than human souls. They don’t linger in the world.
He hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the tall, burly butchers across from him and continued, “And the resentment on these butchers…”
Just moments ago, he had used a willow leaf dipped in water to enhance his sight, and he clearly saw the heavy resentment clinging to their souls—it was nearly as black as ink.
Lu Congxing said calmly, “Let’s try the Memory Recall Array.”
Lin Yang wiped the sweat from his forehead. “We don’t have the necessary tools.”
He had never used such a formation before, but at the moment, there didn’t seem to be any better way to pass this realm than to help the butchers recall their past lives.
“I’ve got the tools,” Lu Congxing said, tapping the small bell on his wrist. From it, he took out a bowl of black dog’s blood and some bone powder.
Lin Yang had noticed the small golden bell from the beginning—not just because of its intricate design, but also because it suited the boy so well.
What he hadn’t expected was that it was actually a Qiankun Space.
Lin Yang was stunned, a twinge of envy rising in his chest.
If the timing wasn’t so bad, he definitely would’ve rushed over for a closer look.
It was the first time he’d ever seen such a delicate and refined Qiankun Space. Its quality had to be top-tier.
As a direct descendant of the Lin family, Lin Yang’s talent among exorcists was considered top-notch. He never lacked resources. But still, due to his qualifications, he had never been allocated a high-grade Qiankun Space. The only time he’d ever seen one was with the Lin family head—a censer even bigger than his palm.
His eagerness faded the moment he caught a glimpse of the hostile look in the butchers’ eyes.
Although the butchers didn’t dare make a move against Lu Congxing, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t target someone else if he did something suspicious.
So, feeling frustrated, he sat back down and stared longingly as Lu Congxing began drawing the formation with black dog’s blood.
But the more he watched, the more something felt off—He Zhouyan was the one giving all the instructions. Lu Congxing seemed like it was his first time dealing with this formation.
Lin Yang couldn’t help asking, “Don’t tell me… you’ve never practiced this before?”
Lu Congxing nodded with complete honesty. “Nope.”
But he knew He Zhouyan was an omniscient Bai Ze—a mystical creature of knowledge—so there was no way a formation like this could stump him.
He was basically better than any reference book.
Lin Yang was dumbfounded. The glimmer of hope that had just sparked inside him was immediately crushed by that bold, matter-of-fact response.
How could anyone possibly pull off such a high-level formation on their first try?
Even the most gifted genius recorded in the Lin family’s ancestral history had never achieved something like that.
He didn’t voice this out loud, not wanting to discourage Lu Congxing, but quietly started going over other possible ways to break through the realm. The worst-case scenario would be killing all the butchers.
But considering they’d already killed the “boss”—their teacher—in the first realm and still hadn’t been able to leave, Lin Yang quickly discarded that plan.
While he was lost in thought, Lu Congxing, with He Zhouyan’s guidance, had already completed the entire Memory Recall Array.
Using black dog’s blood as ink and bone powder to draw, the complex formation was laid out with such precision it looked as if it had been measured with instruments—not a trace of it being done freehand.
At He Zhouyan’s signal, the fierce and murderous-looking butchers obediently stepped into the formation one by one.
In an instant, a red glow erupted from the array, signaling its success.
Lin Yang suddenly felt his face sting a little. After worrying in silence for so long, not only had the formation worked, it had accommodated all the butchers at once.
People really couldn’t be compared by the same standards. If his master saw Lu Congxing now, he’d probably throw himself at him begging to be taken on as a disciple.
“You guys are all here?!” A familiar voice called out—Deng Zhi had arrived, sounding surprised.
In the harsh, pale light, he looked especially shocked. Once everyone turned to look, he took in the scene. Seeing the tightly packed group of butchers, his heart instantly clenched and he instinctively took up a defensive stance.
He stared at the group with a mixture of fear and doubt. Behind him, panting heavily, was Pang Ziwen.
Pang Ziwen stammered, trembling, “Master Lin… y-you’ve been bribed? You—You can’t do this! I paid you to protect me!”
He shook his flabby body and, upon spotting the half-eaten white bones scattered across the floor, his face turned even more terrified.
Lin Yang gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “No, it’s not like that—let me explain!”
Deng Zhi remained calm. “Alright. Go ahead, explain.”
Lin Yang: …
This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go!
His mouth opened and closed several times, but in the end, he had no idea where to even begin.
Was he really supposed to say that Lu Congxing had some ridiculously handsome friend who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, turned out to be the master of this slaughterhouse, and was now apparently on their side?
Even if he hadn’t witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe it either.
Just as Deng Zhi’s expression began to shift toward suspicion again, the butchers who had stepped into the memory array finally began to stir—waking up from their recollections.
In that instant, the resentment in the slaughterhouse surged to its peak.
But in the very next moment, it was suppressed by He Zhouyan, who said calmly, “So, you all remember now?”
The first butcher spoke, his eyes filled with hatred as he glared at them. “Humans—it was humans who brought me to this state!”
As these imprisoned animal souls recalled their true identities, they also finally let go of the roles of livestock and butcher that had been forced upon them.
Lu Congxing’s Memory Recall Array directly erased the programs that had been implanted in their minds by the realm.
Some butchers were relatively calm. The two-faced cat butcher, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of two souls’ memories, appeared a bit sluggish. Its eyes were dazed as it murmured, “I remember now. We were a pair of stray siblings—brother and sister. One day, a human lured us in with canned food. He cut us open like dolls and stitched us together. After that, we became one.”
A male and a female voice came from its mouth simultaneously—one filled with hatred, the other with sorrow.
The dog-headed butcher’s expression had completely changed—now blank and hollow. He no longer resembled the vicious creature who had once brandished a chain and shouted about devouring all livestock.
He lifted his hand and stared at the unfamiliar palm. It was a human hand—his new body. This realm had given him a human form, yet imprisoned his soul, turning him into a killing machine with no thoughts of his own, a lifeless shell. It had completely distorted him.
He used to cherish the warmth of humans—the occasional head pats from passersby on the street. One day, a human finally offered him a home. Smiling, the man opened a can of food and fed him while he was starving, then gently brought him home.
But the beautiful illusion shattered the moment the door closed. The kind face peeled away its mask and revealed a monstrous expression, like a demon crawling out of hell. First, the man chained his mouth shut, and then the abuse began. Whenever the dog cried out in pain and tried to open its mouth, the chains would tighten, cutting deeper and deeper, until the dog’s snout was a bloody, mangled mess.
Its breath gradually weakened.
The last thing it heard was the man’s cold voice: “This dog really doesn’t last long.”
Everyone present was an animal that had suffered abuse. The resentment in the air thickened, black mist becoming visible. Above the slaughterhouse, dark clouds pressed down.
The canned food factory emitted a screeching, mournful wail.
One by one, the butchers stood up. Their eyes grew determined as they all began to walk in the same direction.
Lin Yang was shocked. “They’re going to seek revenge?”
Wen Yi was even quicker to realize: “So the people they want revenge on… are also in this realm?”
Although Deng Zhi and Pang Ziwen were completely confused, when they saw everyone else following, they instinctively trailed along too.
Deng Zhi glanced at He Zhouyan. A man’s instinct immediately sparked a sense of hostility toward him.
So he deliberately asked, “What’s your relationship?”
Lu Congxing shot him a puzzled look, finding the question a bit out of place given the current situation.
The moment the words left his mouth, Deng Zhi already regretted it—but He Zhouyan was even more direct and forceful than he’d expected.
The man casually wrapped an arm around the boy’s slim waist. The coldness that had always lingered in his eyes softened only when he looked down at the boy. Without hesitation, he replied, “We live together.”
Those three words hit like a bomb.
Not just Deng Zhi—everyone who had been secretly eavesdropping nearby snapped their heads around in shock.
Wen Yi gasped, feeling like her inner fangirl heart had just shattered into pieces.
Even the hot guys are off the market… and with each other, no less.
Lin Yang, after his initial surprise, couldn’t help but feel a bit gleeful. If Lu Congxing really was his romantic rival, he’d already resigned himself to the fact that he had no chance against someone like him—in looks or strength. But now the situation had taken an unexpected turn. Maybe things weren’t so hopeless after all.
Only Deng Zhi reacted with visible resistance to the answer. He didn’t know why he felt so agitated, but he stared at the boy, hoping to hear a denial.
Unfortunately, Lu Congxing only hesitated for two seconds before nodding. It felt a little off to him, sure, but what He Zhouyan said wasn’t exactly wrong, either. He couldn’t very well tell everyone they were a “guardian demon and the cub under the guardian’s care.”
Deng Zhi opened his mouth to speak, but the moment He Zhouyan shot him a glance, the words died in his throat. That look wasn’t threatening—it was worse. It was dismissive, laced with arrogant disregard. As if those small, unspoken feelings inside Deng Zhi were pathetic and beneath even being acknowledged.
The atmosphere grew even more awkward.
Only He Zhouyan seemed satisfied. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and in an instant, his pupils shifted from round to slitted—like a beast on the hunt—before quickly returning to their human form.
Beneath his polished, refined appearance was a surging, predatory desire.
Meanwhile, the butchers had found their true target for revenge. They howled in pain and fury, but now, in this moment, it was as if they’d lost the ability to speak.
They could only let out animalistic wails driven purely by instinct.
The man in the suit seemed to have expected them. He sat calmly at the top of the canned food factory, impeccably dressed, his expression unhinged.
He slowly turned his head, baring a mouthful of blood-red teeth. “You finally came.”
Taw’s note: I freaking knew it!!! The second he snatched Xue Shuangshuang’s report, I knew he was an absolute disgrace of a human being!!! 🤬