In the dungeon of Luoyun Cave.
Laifu gave the order for the little demons to casually find an empty cell and lock Zhang Zongnian inside.
Then he yawned, preparing to head back to the guard hut to catch up on some sleep.
Guarding the dungeon had this advantage: it was easy and quiet, usually nothing troublesome happened.
The downside was that there was no real profit in it.
In a whole year, the cave only distributed a few meager spiritual herbs.
They barely increased one’s demon power, and life was spent just drifting by day after day.
Laifu was already quite satisfied with this.
After all, there was no chance he would ever become a great demon.
With his late Body-Refinement cultivation, living another hundred years or so would already be good enough.
That was far better than being a stray dog out in the wild.
Just as he was about to enter the hut, the “spy” who had been escorted in suddenly spoke.
“Boss Laifu, I have a few words I’d like to talk to you about. Would you be willing to spare some time?”
Laifu was stunned and turned to look at Zhang Zongnian, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Why did this so-called wild demon, supposedly awakened in the wilderness, act as if he knew him so well?
“Boss Laifu.”
The way he was addressed made Laifu feel momentarily dazed.
Previously, there had been a human cultivator in this dungeon who had called him that as well.
Laifu stared at Zhang Zongnian and asked suspiciously,
“Do you know me?”
Zhang Zongnian met his gaze and said sincerely,
“Whether you know me or not, Boss Laifu, we’ll find out once we talk.”
Laifu looked at the unfamiliar young man before him and felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Looking at him always reminded Laifu of that human cultivator who had once come into the mountain together with that extremely beautiful snake demon.
Since he had nothing better to do anyway, Laifu decided to chat with this man and see what he had to say.
He brought Zhang Zongnian and two little demons to the cell at the very end of the dungeon.
One of the little demons took out a key and opened the cell door.
Zhang Zongnian looked up and smiled bitterly in his heart.
He truly seemed to be fated with this cell.
Every time he entered the dungeon, he ended up locked in this very room.
The tattered animal hide on the ground was the same one he had slept on before.
Laifu untied the ropes binding him and patted him on the back.
Zhang Zongnian walked into the cell on his own.
The cell door was locked again.
Laifu glanced at the ragged grass skirt around Zhang Zongnian’s waist and turned to order his subordinate,
“Go to our room and find some clothes. Bring them over for this little brother to wear.”
The little demon acknowledged the order and soon returned with a set of clothes and shoes, passing them through the bars.
Zhang Zongnian accepted the clothes, feeling a warmth in his heart.
This old dog was still quite righteous.
He turned around, took off the grass skirt, and changed into the clothes.
They fit reasonably well and were of decent quality, seemingly left behind by some wealthy young master.
In the past, many human townsfolk abducted from the human side had been imprisoned in this dungeon to be used as human medicine by Red Third.
After they died, their bodies were sent to the kitchen to be used as ingredients, while their clothes were kept.
What Zhang Zongnian was wearing now was likely one of their leftovers.
When he had first arrived at Luoyun Cave, Zhang Zongnian had once expressed anger at the demons’ practice of kidnapping and eating humans.
But Laifu had shut him up with a single sentence.
Laifu had said,
“You humans enslave us beasts and eat our flesh—does that happen any less?
You even set up Demon-Slaying Bureaus and demon-hunting squads, capturing our demon kind to refine pills and weapons.
How do you explain that?
Is it only allowed for your human race to commit evil, but not for us demon beasts to take revenge?”
Zhang Zongnian had been unable to refute that.
After all, this world had humans, and it had demons.
Humans ate demon beasts, and demon beasts ate humans.
That was simply how the world worked.
As a mere Qi Refining cultivator, there was nothing he could change.
Now, wearing clothes that once belonged to some unknown villager, he only offered a brief silent prayer for that person in his heart.
He no longer felt the same righteous fury as before, no longer wished to slaughter all demons under heaven.
After putting on the clothes, Zhang Zongnian finally felt like a human again.
Laifu dismissed the two little demons, crossed his arms, and stared at Zhang Zongnian through the bars.
“Speak. What do you want to talk about?”
Zhang Zongnian took a deep breath, smiled, and said,
“Boss Laifu, the last time we talked was also in this cell. Just a few days ago.”
Laifu’s dog eyes instantly widened.
He opened his dog mouth and froze for a long while, then pointed at Zhang Zongnian and stammered,
“You… you… you mean, you’re that…?”
Zhang Zongnian nodded and said,
“Yes. I am Zhang Zongnian.”
Laifu blurted out,
“Nonsense! How is that possible?!”
That day, after the chaos in the upper levels of Luoyun Cave had ended, Lin Xue suddenly came to the dungeon to visit her brother, Zhang Zongnian.
Laifu brought her to the cell, only to find Zhang Zongnian lying on the ground, already dead for quite some time.
A prisoner dying suddenly in the dungeon was a serious dereliction of duty for him as the jailer.
Moreover, he had always been on good terms with Zhang Zongnian.
Seeing him suddenly turned into a corpse made Laifu feel deeply distressed and guilty.
He had thought Lin Xue would grieve, would rage, would question him about why he hadn’t taken good care of her brother.
Unexpectedly, Lin Xue only said calmly,
“It’s fine. Bury him.”
Then she turned and left.
Laifu had been very surprised.
He knew about Zhang Zongnian’s feelings for Lin Xue, and he also knew that Lin Xue usually cared quite a bit about this “brother.”
Her seemingly indifferent attitude at the time left him confused and perplexed.
According to the cave’s rules, when a prisoner in the dungeon died, the body was to be sent to the kitchen to be used as food.
But with Lin Xue’s instruction, and knowing that humans valued burial, Laifu took Zhang Zongnian’s body out of the cave and personally buried him in a scenic spot.
He did not hand the body over to the kitchen to become food for the demons.
Yet now, a completely unfamiliar person with a different appearance stood before him, personally telling him,
“I am Zhang Zongnian.”
How could Laifu believe that?
But that “Boss Laifu,” and the manner in which this person spoke, were indeed very similar to Zhang Zongnian.
Laifu stared at him closely, filled with shock and doubt.
Seeing the disbelief in Laifu’s eyes, Zhang Zongnian knew he couldn’t accept it right away.
After all, seizing a mouse’s body and changing from a human cultivator into a demon was something hard to accept.
So he continued,
“Boss Laifu, do you remember the day Mouse Big became the cave lord, when Miss Hong was tied up and the brothers of the mountain were sent to punish her?
When you came back, you told me some very private things.”
That day, after returning, Laifu had gleefully told Zhang Zongnian that it was his first time doing such a thing with a female demon after gaining intelligence.
He had been too excited, and on the first try, before even entering, he had already lost control at the entrance.
After resting for a bit, he finally succeeded the second time.
It was an embarrassing matter, so Laifu had never mentioned it to any other little demon.
He had only told Zhang Zongnian.
Yet now, this stranger brought it up directly.
In his heart, Laifu already believed, to some extent, that this man was indeed Zhang Zongnian.
But he still couldn’t accept it.
What he truly wanted to ask was this:
If you are Zhang Zongnian, then who was the person I personally buried?