Fang Xian Heretical Path

Chapter 1: I Come From The Mortal World
West Gourd Continent, spirits abound, demons emerge from their lairs.
Those seeking immortality and the Dao are like ants in a withered tree, everywhere and foraging in every place.
Fang Shu is just such a person seeking immortality and the Dao.
Only now his cheeks are sunken, he is skin and bones, and his face, neck, and hands are all covered in finger-length black fur.
He walks with a limp, no longer resembling a human at all, just like a big macaque.
Although he temporarily has no human appearance, he still has the necessary gear.
He has equipped himself with a Daoist robe, a yellow-skinned gourd slung over his shoulder, and a copper bell in his hand that jingles as he shakes it, looking just like he escaped from a monkey troupe.
This day he waded across the river and arrived in front of a mountain restaurant.
Before even entering the door, he smelled waves of meat fragrance and blood scent, along with a pungent fishy and musky stench.
There were no waiters in front of the restaurant, only two filthy oil-dripping cloth curtains hanging, with constant noise from behind the curtains:
“Noodles are ready!”
“Sirs, come play quick!”
Fang Shu shook straight into the restaurant.
Roe deer and cow heads jumped out one by one, sheep and donkey faces appeared, bird demons flew about pouring water, rat demons scurried to and fro.
Beasts tainted with a bit of demonic energy were holding a market and feast in the hall, bustling about, what a lively scene.
The fragrance and fishy smell in Fang Shu’s mouth and nose grew even thicker, truly making his mouth water and throat move.
He walked along, craning his neck to look everywhere.
At the left curtain was a soup pot, stirring hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys.
The pig demon selling noodles sliced open its own belly, pulled out strips of pale white tapeworms, dried them in soup bowls steaming hot, and had the waiters carry them out.
At the right curtain were prostitutes.
A big and small old sheep and old fox were primping and posing, vying to pull in customers.
They even cursed at each other: “Little slut! Watch out that donkey-sized thing stabs you dead!”
In addition, there were lizard monsters chopping off their own tails with knife swings, hanging the meat for sale; hen hags sitting to lay eggs, boiling them on the spot to sell…
But the liveliest spot inside the restaurant was right in the center of the main hall.
A dog, a pig, and a sheep were tightly bound to three wooden benches.
Nearby demons watched both fearfully and greedily:
“Human whip, I want the human whip. This thing gets horny every day, great for virility!”
“Human flesh is like sheep meat, best when a bit musky.”
The pig and dog on the wooden benches heard this and trembled in fright, each letting out a puddle of urine.
That musky urine smell only made the demons praise it:
“Yes! That’s the flavor.”
Fang Shu walked over unhurriedly, found a nearby seat and sat down, convenient for joining the fun.
Ding-a-ling! After sitting steady, he shook the copper bell in his hand and shouted: “Shopkeeper, wine!”
An old fox in the hall heard, turned its head not yet fully, and cheerfully called back loudly:
“Coming!”
It was dressed in clothes and hat, looking almost human, like the restaurant boss, and immediately dropped the other demons to glide toward Fang Shu.
But when it saw Fang Shu had not even a shoulder bag on him, just a light empty gourd hanging, its pointed face fell, and its steps slowed.
The old fox grumbled: “What do you want to eat? The shop has all kinds of meat, monkey brains too, fresh enough.”
Fang Shu touched his furry face, unperturbed, and chuckled: “Wine first, then a serving of every kind of meat, hearts and livers best.”
The old fox eyed Fang Shu up and down repeatedly, its eyebrows twisting like hemp ropes. It turned around and brought over two big platters of hearts, livers, intestines, and lungs.
But no wine at all.
As soon as the meats arrived, Fang Shu sniffed and then gobbled them down on the table, slurping away.
He didn’t even need to swallow; the chunks of meat wriggled and jumped, disappearing into his mouth piece by piece.
This starving ghost reborn look made the old fox’s whiskers tremble. Just as it was about to leave, Fang Shu called it back, mumbling unclearly:
“Those three tied up, are they livestock or humans?”
The old fox squinted its eyes:
“Of course humans, otherwise why tie them so tight.”
Fang Shu’s face showed no surprise, instead delight, and he looked up to ask:
“I’ve heard humans are born able to cultivate immortality, quite rare, not comparable to mortal monsters and fiends.
But yours look just like three livestock, not even mortal monsters.”
The old fox’s face showed mockery as it asked Fang Shu: “Out-of-towner?
This is called beast-making technique, turns humans into livestock for easy transport and slaughter, every mountain stronghold uses it, it’s commonplace now.”
It boasted:
“After all, humans have no scales or feathers, no claws or fur, too ugly. If not changed, it’d scare us demons half to death, who would dare eat humans then.”
Fang Shu suddenly understood.
The surrounding demons heard the talk and found it amusing, craning their necks to look over.
Even those three livestock strained to look over, eyes brimming with tears.
Especially the old sheep among them, its round pupils fixed tightly on Fang Shu, unmoving.
“So it’s illusion technique.” Fang Shu grinned:
“Rumor has it illusion technique fails on contact with water, so on transport roads, no water feeding, no rain, no blood water or feces water. Right?”
Though asking the old fox, his eyes glanced at the three livestock.
The old fox’s eyes showed suspicion, doubting this robed monkey was deliberately teasing it.
Before the old fox could answer, a nearby demon suddenly pointed at the three livestock and cried urgently:
“Quick, old fox, look!”
Everyone looked at the three livestock and saw the old sheep stretching its neck, struggling to lick the hot urine from the nearby dog and pig.
“Stop him, quick!” The old fox panicked, jumping over like hot coals, “Drinking urine will make it revert.”
It hurriedly pinned the old sheep and called other demons to help.
But the surrounding demon guests all retreated in fright, only the shop’s waiters dared step forward.
Arriving pig demon pinned the legs, bird demon grabbed the face, musky old sheep sat right on the old sheep’s face to block its mouth.
Fang Shu watched the chaotic scene in the hall and laughed with mouth agape.
The old fox barely managed to pin the old sheep and called waiters to tie it vertically to a pillar.
While dragging the old sheep, it deliberately passed by Fang Shu, muttering curses:
“Plague-ridden thing! Careful it reverts and scares you all to death.”
Who knows who the old fox was cursing; Fang Shu shrugged.
Seeing the old sheep tied tight, the demons regained courage and laughed: “Yo! Just a human, no matter how fierce can it be.”
“Old fox, don’t be so timid, why not let everyone see what a human really looks like.”
The old fox heard this, tied the old sheep while back to everyone, continuing to mutter curses:
“Pah! Humans eat anything, more savage and vicious than us demons, especially those called ‘Daoists’ who dig out hearts and lungs, skin and debone us to eat—I don’t even dare look… Plague-ridden! Don’t move!”
Fang Shu ate meat without wine and heard its mutter, so he shouted loudly:
“Then may I ask shopkeeper, what’s the best human part to soak in wine?”
The old fox snorted at this:
“Out-of-towner. Human heart is most toxic, better than scorpion or centipede, naturally human heart soaked in wine is best!”
“Good, I want these three human hearts, bring the wine!”
The old fox stopped, furrowed its brows, turned to look at Fang Shu.
It sized him up and down for a good while before asking: “Customer, got enough money?”
“Money?” Fang Shu patted himself down.
The surrounding demons saw he had nothing on him and looked embarrassed, bursting into laughter.
“Hee hee.” Some demons jeered loudly: “No money and you drink wine? Stinky out-of-towner.”
Fang Shu sat in his seat, still unperturbed, just smiling at those demons.
Pfft! Suddenly three crisp sounds rang in the hall!
Fang Shu’s mouth parted slightly, a long tongue shot out, stabbing into the chests of three demons, gouging out their peach-like demon hearts, rolling them stem and all to him.
The hall slowly went quiet, demons all silent.
Especially the old fox, staring fixedly at Fang Shu, unmoving.
Fang Shu dangled the three strings of demon hearts, long tongue hanging, mumbling: “Who says no money means no wine.”
But after waiting a while, the hall stayed quiet, no demon came to take the demon hearts.
Fang Shu found this odd.
He had only killed three demons; would this crowd that eats human flesh be shocked?
Sensing something off, Fang Shu subconsciously touched his face, then looked at the shiny empty bowl on the table and spotted the clue.
Blood had splashed on him; the black fur on his hands, neck, and face rapidly faded into paper ash.
His cheeks plumped up, revealing his hairless, scaleless, bald face, with only two curved tufts remaining above his eyes.
Illusion technique broken.
The demons in the hall saw this and were utterly terrified!
The deed was done.
Fang Shu smiled knowingly, simply raised his empty wine bowl, and laughed at the demon crowd:
“Fellow demon brothers, satisfied with my human form?”
Scare!
No demon dared make a sound in reply.
In their eyes, Fang Shu’s lips were blood-red, unwipeable, his face white as fresh bone, teeth neat as knives, both fierce and ugly.
“Human! A live human!!”
In an instant, tables and chairs toppled every which way, pots and pans clanged.
Demons were scared into leaping about, fleeing in panic, clamor erupting.
Only Fang Shu sat steadily at the table.
He chuckled in amusement.
Seeing the chaos around, Fang Shu slammed the three strings of bloody demon hearts on the table and shouted loudly:
“Shopkeeper, wine!”
Fang Xian of the outer path, spellcraft seeking immortality, this is Fang Shu’s story.