The guesthouse remained lively and bustling, rounds of drinks and dishes creating an air of celebration. Chopsticks descended like rain on soft, tender pieces of stewed human flesh glistening with rich fat.
Chen Yi gently stirred the soup bowl before him. The clear broth reflected the faces of the guesthouse's patrons—a black dog, a sheep demon, and a towering figure with a narrow, sinister bull's head that occasionally glanced down at the scene from above.
By sheer coincidence, as Chen Yi and Lu Ying journeyed from Taihua Mountain, they stumbled upon this grand feast celebrating the bull demon's birthday.
Ordinary folk feast on beef; in contrast, this Lord Bull stews human flesh.
As Chen Yi looked closer into his bowl, he noticed how Lord Bull's gaze often drifted toward a group of scholars—ten or so budding intellectuals—all unmistakably human and without a trace of supernatural origins.
