Meat Addiction

Song Zi'an saw that Chen Zhou remained silent for a long time, simply staring at the meat in his hand, and he suddenly felt a bit unnerved.

He carefully swallowed the meat in his mouth and asked tentatively.

"Ex... Excellence? Did I say something wrong?"

"This meat... is it inedible? Is it poisonous?"

"Should I... should I spit it out?"

As he spoke, he reached out to stick his fingers down his throat.

Chen Zhou snapped out of it and waved his hand. "You didn't say anything wrong."

"You've provided a very important clue."

Chen Zhou turned around, his gaze scanning the dilapidated scene around them as he reorganized his thoughts.

He and Wu Gou had both guessed that to prevent being captured, the Golden Buddha would likely hide in the depths of a dream.

After all, among the three branches of the Buddhist Sect, Sukhavati specialized in dreams; as a supreme treasure of the Buddhist Sect possessing self-awareness, the Golden Buddha would instinctively choose the most familiar and safest place to hide.

And now, everything in the Path of Hungry Ghosts was showing properties similar to the Golden Buddha.

Could this be a coincidence?

Chen Zhou didn't think so.

"The illusions in the Path of Hungry Ghosts are born of obsession," Chen Zhou murmured to himself, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding Altar of Heaven.

"This scene is a memory projection of the owner of that obsession."

This was a palace, but it was definitely not the extremely luxurious palace of Yin Wudao.

Song Zi'an had entered the Path of Hungry Ghosts specifically to find his master.

The obsession in his heart should be that Zhenlong Mountain, or the stove where the master and disciple cooked together; even if it were a palace, it would never look like this ruined imperial court.

So, could the owner of this obsession be the Heavenly Chef?

The Heavenly Chef had been summoned to the provincial capital palace and had not returned for five years.

If his obsession was in the palace, it would be perfectly logical.

But why would it look like this?

Did the Heavenly Chef remember, or perhaps subconsciously believe, that the provincial capital palace was such a sinister, dilapidated place filled with the corpses of the starved?

Chen Zhou asked Song Zi'an.

"Song Zi'an, you said just now that this meat has your master's scent in it?"

"Yes!" Song Zi'an nodded vigorously, his eyes firm.

"That feeling of peace in one's heart after eating, the lack of panic—that is the specific heart-intent my master has when he cooks. I could never mistake it."

"In this world, only the dishes made by my master can produce this feeling."

Chen Zhou's eyes narrowed slightly, his tone becoming somewhat strange.

"If this place is the site of your master's obsession, and this meat contains your master's heart-intent..."

Chen Zhou paused, his voice sounding eerie as he spoke.

"Have you considered one possibility?"

"That this dark mountain of meat... might be your master himself?"

"Pfft—cough, cough, cough!"

A piece of meat Song Zi'an had just stuffed into his mouth was spat right out as he choked, his face turning bright red from a fit of violent coughing.

His eyes widened as he looked at the meat mountain in horror, then down at the shredded meat in his hand.

His face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Ex... Excellence... please don't joke around..."

"This... this is Master?!"

He looked down at the gnawed, pitted black meat in his hand, imagining that he was chewing on his master's thigh... his stomach immediately began to churn.

Even the nearby Nine-Age Crane let out a terrified squawk, its feathers standing on end as it retreated three steps, trembling at the sight of the meat mountain.

The old master... had turned into a mountain of meat?

Then didn't that mean it had just... too...

"No!"

After gagging twice, Song Zi'an suddenly stopped.

Suppressing his nausea, he grabbed another piece of meat and scrutinized it closely, even sticking out his tongue to lick it and using his hands to pinch the texture.

His professionalism as a trained chef took over his reasoning at this moment.

"It's not him."

Song Zi'an let out a long breath and spoke with absolute certainty.

"Excellence, this isn't my master's body."

"Although I... well, I haven't done human meat cuisine, I've seen plenty of corpses over the years in the mass grave."

"The muscle texture, the direction of the fibers, even the connection of the bones—none of it is right."

Song Zi'an broke the meat apart, pointing to the cross-section inside.

"Look, the meat is as dense as stone; there are no blood vessels, no fascia, and certainly no fat."

"It is definitely not human meat."

As he spoke, he stuffed the meat back into his mouth and chewed hard, saying indistinctly.

"When I eat this meat, even though it doesn't have much flavor itself..."

"The moment I swallow it, while that burning hunger in my stomach is soothed, my heart feels inexplicably settled."

"It's as if... as if Master is standing by the stove, smiling at me and saying..."

"'Zi'an, eat slowly, don't choke; there's more in the pot.'"

"That intent of 'May the world know no hunger, may all beings be full' is so thick it's unmistakable."

"Squawk!" The Nine-Age Crane also leaned in and nodded vigorously.

As an auspicious beast, its spiritual senses were even sharper than Song Zi'an's.

It couldn't smell the bloody scent of its old master in the meat; it only smelled a sense of compassion.

That was the scent of its old master.

It had followed the Heavenly Chef for hundreds of years and had eaten more meals made by the old master than Song Zi'an had seen grains of rice.

It would bet its own crane head that this definitely wasn't the old master's corpse, but it was certainly something he had left behind!

"As long as it isn't a corpse, that's good." Chen Zhou nodded slightly. Since it wasn't the Heavenly Chef's body, it meant there was a high probability the Heavenly Chef was still alive, or at least his soul had not dissipated.

"It seems this is good news."

"If this palace was formed from the Heavenly Chef's obsession, it means he is also trapped here."

"And this pile of black meat that can resist the Golden Buddha's addictiveness and restore sanity to the hungry ghosts must be the Heavenly Chef's method for countering the rules of the Path of Hungry Ghosts."

"He is using his own Way of Food to combat the appetites of the Path of Hungry Ghosts."

Chen Zhou's eyes sparkled. "As long as we find the Heavenly Chef, we should be able to find the Golden Buddha's hiding place."

He turned around and patted the limp Dream Demon beside him.

"How is your recovery? Can you move?"

"Hmph..."

The little pig let out a weak grunt, its eyelids barely lifting to a slit.

It was too exhausted, feeling as if its body had been hollowed out.

Even a Dream Demon had its limits, especially in such a losing business where it only gave and never received.

Chen Zhou didn't waste words, pulling out a handful of high-grade soul-shaping pills and stuffing them all into the little pig's mouth.

"Mmph, mmph..."

The little pig was forced to swallow; as the medicinal power dissolved, the dim purple fiendish qi on its body finally grew slightly richer.

It flopped around and managed to stand up, though it was still a bit wobbly.

"And now?" Chen Zhou asked.

The little pig shook its head and slowly clambered to its feet.

Although it was still lacking energy, it could at least stand steady.

"Help me find something," Chen Zhou said. "Find a specific dream within this Path of Hungry Ghosts."

The little pig tilted its head, looking confused.

"The Golden Buddha is very likely hiding inside the Heavenly Chef's dream."

Chen Zhou explained.

"There are thousands upon thousands of ghosts here, and their dreams are a disorganized mess."

"But a dream inhabited by the Golden Buddha will surely be different from the rest."

"It might be purer, more complete, or... hungrier."

"I need you to find it."