Chen Zhou passed through the gap in the wall of interlocking fangs, and the path behind him gradually dissipated, revealing an ancient palace court before his eyes.
Gray walls and dark tiles; the wooden pillars were mottled, and the colored paintings under the eaves had long since faded and peeled away.
The ground was paved with uneven bluestone slabs, with sparse weeds growing in the cracks.
"Is this... the palace?"
Chen Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly, taking in his surroundings.
It was far less magnificent than the provincial capital's palace he had seen before; in fact, it appeared somewhat dilapidated and shabby.
The layout was cramped, the buildings low, and it couldn't even compare to the City Lord’s Mansion of Lantao City, let alone his own majestic City of the Wrongfully Dead.
Only from the distribution and carvings of the buildings could he vaguely see some familiar patterns.
People were coming and going in the palace court.
There were many court ladies, eunuchs, and guards clad in iron armor, hurrying along the palace paths.
However, their complexions were terrible—sallow and gaunt—and every one of them was hunched over, gnawing on whatever they were holding.
From what era is this palace?
Chen Zhou pondered, but not long after landing, he soon felt a nagging sense of hunger, which was quite strange.
Chen Zhou felt as if his 'stomach' were empty, incessantly urging him to eat, to devour everything he could see.
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow slightly; he was an evil spirit, and his true form was a sentient Bone Altar.
He had no need for food, so where would a stomach come from?
He hadn't expected the Path of Hungry Ghosts to actually make him feel hungry.
"Is this the rule of the Path of Hungry Ghosts? Even I can be affected."
Chen Zhou could still endure it, but the Nine-Age Crane beside him could not.
"Ga... Ga..."
The old crane was already so hungry it was sprawled on the ground, its chest hugging its back, its body trembling.
Even its feathers had become gray and withered, and its ribs could be seen protruding one by one with every ragged breath.
The Nine-Age Crane was so desperate it used its long beak to frantically plow the soil on the ground, trying to find something to eat in this hard, dry earth.
Even if it were a grass root, a dead insect, or even the soil itself.
If it didn't eat something soon, it felt as if its stomach would digest itself.
"Have some dignity."
Chen Zhou grabbed the Nine-Age Crane by its neck and lifted it out of the dirt.
"You're a crane, not a pig; why are you rooting in the dirt?"
As he spoke, Chen Zhou stuffed a high-grade Flesh-Reconstitution Pill into its mouth.
"Gu..."
The Flesh-Reconstitution Pill melted upon entry, and the abundant flesh-and-blood energy instantly dispersed within the Nine-Age Crane's body, a warm current flowing through its entire being.
The Nine-Age Crane shuddered, broke free from Chen Zhou's hand, and struggled to stand steady once more.
Although that omnipresent sense of hunger still followed it like a shadow, it at least had the strength to move and was no longer driven to madness by the torment of hunger.
"Li!" the Nine-Age Crane let out a somewhat ashamed cry, rubbing its head against Chen Zhou's leg to show its gratitude.
"Let's go; find them."
Chen Zhou let go, casting his gaze deep into the palace.
Just then, a court lady dressed in coarse palace robes walked with her head down, focused only on her journey, and was about to collide with Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou instinctively swung a wave of death qi; the gray death qi transformed into a blade, instantly slicing through the court lady's body.
The court lady acted as if nothing had happened, keeping her head down and continuing to gnaw on the object in her hand.
She hurried forward, her body passing through Chen Zhou's, bringing a wave of chilling cold.
Then she slowly distanced herself, her figure gradually fading until she vanished into the shadows of the palace wall.
Chen Zhou was stunned.
'Fake?'
He looked at his hand, then at the people around him who were still busy.
These were indeed illusions realistic enough to pass for the real thing; even he hadn't been able to distinguish them.
Everything he saw appeared solid; whether it was sound, sight, or the tactile sensation of that passage just now, it was all terrifyingly real.
"The Path of Hungry Ghosts is formed from the resentment of a massive number of hungry ghosts; it often creates illusions to lure those with obsessions to get lost within it."
Chen Zhou remembered Wu Gou's words.
Every brick and tile here, every pedestrian, was likely formed from the memories of the vengeful spirits who had starved to death here.
As an evil spirit, Chen Zhou prided himself on his steadfast mind and didn't believe he had any obsessions.
Even if he did, they wouldn't take the form of this palace.
Then, because of whom was this illusion born?
Was it Song Zi'an?
Chen Zhou speculated.
Song Zi'an had tracked his master all the way to the provincial capital, and the Heavenly Chef had last been seen in the palace; therefore, was Song Zi'an's obsession the palace?
It made sense.
But it was a bit of a stretch.
Because the palace presented in this illusion was vastly different in layout, aura, and detail from the contemporary provincial palace he had scouted previously.
Within Song Zi'an's obsession, why would the palace look like this?
Chen Zhou looked at the passing shadows and tried to communicate with the Dream Demon little pig through their contract.
"Little pig? Are you there?"
"Heng ji?"
There was dead silence in his sea of consciousness; there was no response.
Chen Zhou discovered he couldn't make contact; the space within the Path of Hungry Ghosts seemed very special, or rather, the rules here had blocked the signal.
"It seems I have to find them myself."
Chen Zhou patted the Nine-Age Crane's head. "Stop dazing off; get to work."
"Find where your master is."
The Nine-Age Crane also knew the situation was urgent; enduring its hunger, it flapped its wings.
"Hu—"
A burst of pale yellow dust rose from beneath its wings, the smoke curling and spreading through the palace, laced with an enticing fragrance.
The smoke drifted, attempting to find the aura of Song Zi'an and the Heavenly Chef.
For a moment, a response seemed to come from afar—a wisp of extremely faint cooking smoke carrying the aroma of food.
"Ga!"
The Nine-Age Crane let out an excited cry.
But before it could take flight, as the fragrance spread, the crowds of people who had been hurrying along with their heads down, oblivious to Chen Zhou, suddenly stopped in their tracks in unison.
They all turned their heads, looking toward the source of the fragrance.
"Clatter."
The court lady dropped the half-gnawn object in her hand and lifted her head.
A green light shone in her eyes.
"Fragrant... so fragrant..."
"It's meat... the smell of meat..."
The crowd began to stir.
Accompanied by murmurs, their somewhat normal human forms rapidly shriveled, their skin turning bluish-black and clinging tightly to their bones, while their bellies swelled rapidly as if inflated.
Their limbs became thin and spindly like firewood, yet their throats were only as large as the tip of a needle.
Hungry ghosts!
"Hungry... so hungry..."
"Eat... I want to eat..."
"Give it to me... let me have a bite!"
The court lady was drooling, her mouth splitting open to her ears, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth as she roared and pounced toward the Nine-Age Crane.
The other hungry ghosts also surged forward like a dark tide, gone mad.
"Ga!"
Startled, the Nine-Age Crane immediately shook its wings, and several wind blades whistled out, directly slicing the leading hungry ghosts into two.
But these hungry ghosts knew no pain; even with their bodies severed, their upper halves continued to crawl on the ground, clawing toward the Nine-Age Crane.
The Nine-Age Crane carried Chen Zhou into the air, leaving behind a crane feather.
Simultaneously, it flapped its wings again, stirring up clouds of dust.
The feather drifted in the air, its exotic fragrance becoming even more intense.
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