Chapter 102: Shadow

Since I had already anticipated that I might need to stay in these mountains for a few days, the cooking utensils I had prepared were quite complete. Among this group, there were already some who were particularly picky eaters, making it impossible for them to tolerate anything resembling "raw flesh and blood," such as that young lady Zheng Lan, Liu Yingde, Li Shenyi, and even Cai Hua, all of whom had rather refined palates.

Though it might resemble some grand barbecue gathering, those wild beasts were not all intended for roasting alone. For the more discerning palates among them, they were not content with roasted fare alone but demanded dishes that included vegetables and soup.

And this evening banquet turned out to be fully equipped with both soup and vegetables. There was chicken broth, snake soup, and fish soup! The chicken broth had been simmered from mountain fowl with various medicinal herbs, and Cai Hua had proven herself quite adept with her skillful hands. Moreover, some women from the families that had come to the town had gathered numerous wild vegetables and fruits.

Everyone ate with great relish, as if the tediousness of the long journey had been entirely forgotten.

It might also be that the roasted meat had been prepared with such rich aroma that the fragrant steam drifted far and wide through the night.

The night had fallen, and the mountains were rather chilly, so piles of bonfires were lit.

From a spot somewhat removed from these fire pits came a faint, light moan from a human voice.

It was a human, not an animal?

Someone had lagged behind, injured by a wild beast and left behind?

No.

The hunters who had gone out earlier were all experts, and most had been in close communication, save for Zhang Pu and Ninja as this pair of outsiders. Yet after their little playacting, they had not returned together?

At this moment, the source of the low moan was not one of their ragtag group!

But someone else entirely.

If Zhang Pu and Ninja had still been at their original spot, they would certainly have heard it clearly, for the sound emanated from the mountain cave where the two had been resting.

At that time, they had only stood at the cave's entrance, and Ninja's torchlight had not illuminated the depths. Zhang Pu had also sensed no abnormality there.

Indeed, while the two had been present, the cave's interior had been a profound silence, utterly empty.

But now, without a doubt, the voice was coming from within!

Following the moan, a very low and subdued voice spoke again—

"I just really caught the scent of roasted meat, and I woke up again..."

In the mountain cave where darkness had fully descended, with no light at all, the depths were pitch black. Yet now a faint radiance seemed to shimmer, as if a visible phantom had taken form in the haze.

A shadow began to sway.

"So, it seems I have woken again, truly awake. Just now, I smelled the roasted meat, yes, the scent of roasted meat, and now there is still—"

This shadow paced back and forth as though walking.

"Ah! I am human; I remember, I did not die! Because I still recall the roasted meat..."

This shadow spoke nonstop, as if the long solitude of sleep had left him too desolate, so he sought to unburden himself in one breath.

But he was no ordinary human, for he had no body left, only a shadow.

"Right, how did I wake?"

Later, the shadow seemed to settle upon a rock.

"I remember the last time. I woke then as well, it must have been decades or even centuries ago, I do not recall, but my body was not fully recovered, and just then that evil dragon had injured me. Luckily, I escaped back here in time."

As the shadow spoke, it drifted lightly, floating straight out of the cave.

"The aroma of roasted meat grows stronger, yes, that direction—"

Even after leaving the cave, the shadow continued to mutter to himself.

"But, it seems I cannot eat the roasted meat."

The shadow suddenly seemed sorrowful.

"Forget it, it is good enough to smell the scent."

But the shadow still decided to seek out the roasted meat.

"Right, how did I wake? I seemed to see a dreamlike light, then there was a person unlike an ordinary human, holding that dreamlike light. After some manipulation, the radiance woke me?!"

The shadow drifted while analyzing the cause of his awakening.

"Ah! Do not jest," he argued with himself next, "this is Earth! How could there be the dreamlike light of the cultivation realm? That dream stone belongs only to the cultivation world; how could it exist here on Earth? And that person... no, he does not seem like an ordinary human... But how could he be a cultivator? Could it be some demon or fiend?"

The shadow drifted unconsciously toward the gathering place of Zhang Pu and the others amid his self-contradictory analysis.

That dinner continued, with the roasted meat here the most fragrant!

The shadow was very thin and illusory, and generally no one could see its presence.

"Forget it, I will take a piece of roasted meat to try, it is too tempting—"

The shadow truly could not resist, drool streaming? Unfortunately, he had no saliva.

"Ah! I loved roasted meat most of all before, especially the roasted badger leg from the wilds; roasted venison; roasted green sheep, ah! They are all here, how blessed these people are—"

The shadow reached toward the fragrant mountain badger meat that Zhang Pu had hunted earlier and was roasting, but the next instant he still felt a loss, for he could not grasp the solid flesh.

"I only woke, I did not truly recover."

The shadow suddenly became very dejected.

In truth, he had no need to eat, yet he could not resist the temptation of delicacies.

Helpless, the shadow drifted aside to watch the large group of people devour their meal with greedy vigor.

"Am I this lonely? Back when I once dominated a region, was it not every day lit with wine and song, nights filled with music?"

The shadow sighed with boundless emotion, as though regretting the past in self-pity.

"Strange, I seem to have seen something unusual?"

Zhang Pu suddenly murmured to himself, blinking rapidly.

But it was night now! The bonfires blazed, and shadows still swayed everywhere because there were so many people.

And even far from the fires, moonlight and starlight could illuminate human forms.

Was he seeing or sensing? Zhang Pu immediately changed from an inadvertent mutter to inner thought, or he would have felt himself being stared at like a gorilla by someone nearby.

Zhang Pu sensed he had detected something out of the ordinary. Because he was a cultivator, his senses were extraordinarily sharp!

Strange!

Zhang Pu seemed unable to control himself from secretly keeping watch.