Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: The Returned Deity (2)
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Corpse Ghost.
These are the resentful spirits of humans devoured by a tiger, their souls bound to it.
Not only were they trapped inside the tiger's stomach without their fleshly bodies, but even in death, they had to serve as its limbs.
The most infamous misdeed of a Corpse Ghost was offering up its own family to the tiger, wiping out the entire household.
This wasn't entirely a baseless legend.
The reason Corpse Ghosts trailed tiger plagues wherever they went was because it benefited both the tiger and the ghost.
From the Corpse Ghost's perspective, the benefit lay in the fact that a tiger could only command a limited number of them.
If there were no limit to the number of Corpse Ghosts, this world might have been ruled by tigers leading legions of them instead of human cultivators.
So, for a Corpse Ghost, it was better to offer up someone else to fill its vacant spot and disperse, rather than suffer eternally as the tiger's slave, unable to be dragged to the netherworld.
That twisted logic was why humans turned Corpse Ghosts betrayed their families.
From the tiger's perspective, the benefit was that using Corpse Ghosts to hunt humans counted as part of their cultivation practice.
Thus, if a mountain lord commanded Corpse Ghosts, it meant they were no longer mere beasts driven by instinct but yao beast cultivators who had stepped onto the Dao.
For yao beasts to reach the Entrance Stage, they had to either awaken spiritual intelligence on their own or devour a being that possessed it.
This was the path of cultivation for yao beasts. Excluding those who practiced yao beast techniques, to advance realms, a yao beast generally had to devour around ten beings stronger than itself.
And among them, humans were premium, high-protein, high-fat, high-spiritual-energy foodstuffs equipped with spiritual intelligence by default. Complete meals for the Entrance Stage.
Wait, something feels off? To go from Entrance Stage to Qi Refining Stage, you eat ten Entrance Stage yao beasts, so why does eating ordinary humans build up cultivation?
If you were an Orthodox Dao cultivator, that might feel unfair.
Eat ten humans and reach Qi Refining Stage? Why bother grinding spirit stones for it?
But think about it—even Orthodox Dao cultivators devour others of their kind, and there's a sect even more specialized in this field.
That's right, the Demonic Dao.
Congratulations. You've just figured out how to enter the Demonic Dao.
And that's how ignorant mortals get the wrong idea, thinking the Demonic Dao seems easier than the Orthodox Dao at first glance.
That's why even among the slave disciples of great sects, some dark-evolve into Demonic Dao cultivators.
Of course, most get their heads chopped off by their traitorous sects. Can't tolerate bugs in the house, after all.
Just as yao beasts devour humans without leaving scraps, when humans slaughter and eat humans without mercy, you become a fine Entrance Stage Demonic Dao cultivator.
Devour another ten, and you can become a Qi Refining Stage Demonic Dao cultivator.
No spiritual root? Don't worry—with a healthy diet focused on humans with spiritual roots or fellow Entrance Stage cultivators, you might even develop one upon reaching Qi Refining Stage.
Yes, it was within the realm of possibility.
There were no guarantees of progress from devouring ten.
Cultivation was an endless series of arduous trials with no visible ceiling, a truly brutal principle.
In any case, yao beasts hit a severe bottleneck after Qi Refining Stage.
The nutritional foodstuffs around them run dry.
Eventually, they have no choice but to seek out stronger prey or wait for it to wander into their lair.
But this world is awfully vast, isn't it?
Human cultivators cluster in sects, rubbing shoulders with each other, but yao beasts live scattered across vast territories. Filling up on even ten peers over a lifetime is like plucking stars from the sky.
Meeting ten at the same realm before lifespan runs out is as hard as devouring them.
As an aside, that's why ambitious yao beasts destined for greatness sometimes form their own settlements like cultivators, engaging in voluntary battle royales.
But would a lowly Qi Refining Stage tiger know that?
It just waits with bloodshot eyes, praying for a Qi Refining Stage beast—ideally a weak animal—to pass by.
And so it waits. Then dies. It had to die.
All tigers fear death. Some are especially cowardly, and this one happened to have good luck too.
At least once upon a time, it must have thought so.
Yuyeon's strategy was simple and straightforward. First, eat. And eat plenty.
It wasn't about raiding the enemies' food supplies before they could strip the village bare.
There was a perfectly rational reason.
Maintaining and operating a spiritual body without any nutritional intake consumed spiritual energy.
Yuyeon had so much spiritual energy she didn't mind, but other cultivators made sure to eat regularly.
Simple math: spiritual energy was at least hundreds of times more expensive than the finest mortal delicacies.
Conversely, replenishing nutrients through food saved that much spiritual energy.
And that directly translated to increased combat power!
With boosted combat power, enemies who were already one-shot kills became even more trivially so. Profound logic.
"Your humble devotee offers this meal to the Deity."
Jang Jina knew Yuyeon was watching, but her body burned with subtle anticipation, so she darted around the village with pious grace and nimble feet.
She'd collected some dried meat and pickled vegetables from the elders' homes. In the countryside, "meat" meant dried boar at best.
Still, it was precious, and boiling it made for decent soup stock.
The result: meat soup, salty pickled vegetables, and steaming white porridge laid out on the table.
A very modest spread.
As the unmistakable young lady of a wealthy house, Yuyeon was used to far more lavish meals. Being a young lady really had its perks over being a deity.
But having thrown away her young lady status herself, she couldn't complain now.
'Though I'm curious why it's white porridge of all things.'
Especially with the meat soup right there.
She considered asking via letter but decided it might seem pushy, so she just ate.
Eating whatever was given without complaint was one of the laws of freeloading. Of course, it only applied until the host pretended to know better first.
'In that sense, this young shrine maiden served meat soup as a bonus without even asking for a review. Five stars or not, I should come back tomorrow for more.'
Yuyeon had shame, and tact. Probably.
Certainly image-conscious, she maintained the Concealing Form Formation while using Object Manipulation to gently open the shrine window and slip inside like a stray cat, taking her seat.
Only a sliding paper door separated the shrine from the inner room, so Jang Jina could sense Yuyeon's presence the entire meal. No need to maintain concealment.
Yet Yuyeon ate cautiously, keeping the formation up.
'If my face gets recognized...'
Yuyeon wasn't some Grand Unity cultivator; she wouldn't massacre a village.
It wasn't embarrassing to reveal she'd depleted the village stores, not the deity.
As a runaway girl, she just found the idea of her face spreading uncomfortable.
Even if only in her own mind. Even if no one else knew.
'At least I know.'
Yes, once more: Yuyeon knew right from wrong. And she had pride, shame, and tact. Surprisingly.
Yuyeon scooped up a spoonful of porridge and brought it to her mouth.
The porridge was surprisingly delicious, catching her off guard.
'Porridge can be this well-seasoned?'
Even the simple sides were tasty.
Were the village ancestors who became rice worms just good cooks?
Anyway, with her belly full, Yuyeon waited for the right moment and had Jang Jina gather the villagers after their meal.
She'd given prior instructions via letter and conveyed three key points.
First: the village was surrounded, so no one should leave individually.
Better to make them face the fear and huddle together than give false hope that scatters them. Yuyeon only had one body; she couldn't protect dispersed sheep.
Second: avoid the shadows, gather in sunlit areas, and never scatter even at night.
This kept everyone within her Divine Sense range.
Third: prepare to depart tomorrow.
Yuyeon had no plans for complex tactics. She overwhelmed in strength—victory was certain upon encounter. The issue was finding the enemy.
Sight was king among the five senses, but she lacked it, relying on other means. A tearful disadvantage in scouting.
Searching these layered mountains for the Corpse Ghosts' lair, avoiding half-beasts, and interrogating them sounded tedious.
Finally, as a fugitive, she didn't want to linger and leave traces.
'So if I can't go to them, make them come to me.'
Yuyeon had outlined the plan in a letter to Jang Jina, asking her opinion.
"I will follow the Deity's will completely."
'I don't know' translated.
Yuyeon chuckled alone on the roof.
In the end, she asked the innocent shrine maiden for one item instead of advice.
One of the shrine maiden's ritual tools: a white cloth streamer attached to a plain staff.
Innocent as she was, Jang Jina handed it over without questioning why the deity wanted her fairy ritual implement.
If Yuyeon were evil, she could've stripped the girl to the bone.
In that light, asking to borrow just one ritual tool instead of strange offerings or service made Yuyeon feel commendably virtuous.
That night. As anticipated—or as the fiends had planned—chaos erupted.
As darkness fell, the villagers gathered in the sunlit house under the village guardian tree per Yuyeon's instructions. Able-bodied men took turns on watch, while elders, women, and children huddled silently in the inner rooms.
Yuyeon sat in meditation above them.
She cleared her mind, absorbing the yin-dark spiritual energy forming within her body through her Spiritual Root. It transformed into vital spiritual power, flowing along her meridians.
Yuyeon gauged the amount of spiritual energy circulating her meridians.
She'd never directly measured another's, but she had an unfounded confidence that hers surpassed most veteran cultivators.
Not entirely baseless.
Yuyeon already possessed all three elements of the Entrance Stage, standing at the threshold of true cultivatorhood, though she hadn't crossed it yet.
Whether she couldn't or wouldn't, she consciously avoided dwelling on it.
Clearing stray thoughts, she reviewed the previous battle.
'Last time, I overdid the power. Palm strike at 10%. That's plenty.'
She pondered better moves and new options.
Then, at the edge of her Divine Sense, an alien presence snagged—souls laden with ghostly energy arriving at the village outskirts.
One approached amid smoke, mimicking its living form.
"Samdeok, and you lot. Still alive, I see."
His clothes were ragged, exhaustion plain, but the voice was unmistakably that of a familiar neighbor.
But the villagers weren't fooled. Someone thrust a torch forward and shouted.
"Stay back! Why'd you return alone after taking your kid and leaving? Where's the child!"
Instantly, the Corpse Ghost's face twisted grotesquely.
Black-red bloody tears welled from its eyes, dark blotches like liver spots spreading across its once-human skin.
"Grraaah..."
"Wh-what...!"
The villagers had seen people taken at night but never a ghost boldly approaching like this; panic gripped them.
"Don't be scared! You, stop this madness and return to the afterlife!"
But when a frail elder stepped forward with torch in hand, blocking the path bodily, the others followed suit, torches raised in tense standoff.
The moment all eyes fixed on the Corpse Ghost at the village entrance, another shadow silently scaled a house wall beyond their sight.
'A voice east, strike west ploy.'
Yuyeon launched her form toward the infiltrating shadow, not the bait.