Chapter 144 — An Encounter

"Hoooaaaa..." With that deep, powerful growl, from behind the composed youth, from the region of his shoulder, a hideous head rose slowly. It had four eyes, two pairs set one above the other on either side of its face, each as round and large as a bronze bell. Its mouth was enormous, nearly as wide as its whole face; when it opened its jaws one could see a maw full of sharp teeth—and most terrifying of all, six keen fangs protruding beyond its lips. In the faint light of the fire, one could dimly see drops of drool falling from between its teeth onto the monster's gray-black hide, covered in hard, lumpy scales.

Mingli's expression finally changed slightly. He rose slowly and said coldly, "Taotie?"

Before the youth could answer, his eyes still measuring Mingli, he suddenly seemed to sense something. He turned to look at the Taotie (Note 1) and could not help but start. The fierce beast's ever-savage gaze now held an added tenfold greed—but its target was not Mingli or Little Grey, but the wild boar roasting on the ground.

The enticing aroma of roast meat drifted everywhere through the air.

The youth suddenly smiled and said to Mingli, "Your handiwork is fine indeed! I wondered why Taotie was so restless tonight—who'd have thought you had drawn it here."

Mingli said mildly, "Taotie may be an ancient evil beast, fierce and swift, but it has always been gluttonous. A single roast pig is nothing."

The youth shook his head. "Not so. This Taotie of mine is different from others. Ordinary delicacies it no longer even deigns to notice—who'd have thought your seemingly rough roast could tempt it into such a state."

And indeed, just as the youth said, Taotie seemed to favor this roast pig above all things. Saliva poured wildly from its jaws and ran down between its teeth. Suddenly, with a whistling cry, Taotie leaped from the youth's shoulder, became a dark shadow, and pounced toward the flames. But then a gray shadow flashed, and an angry "chitter-chatter" rang out—it was Little Grey, darting through the air to stand before the roast pig.

Taotie gave a low "hoooaaaa," dropped to the ground, and revealed its true form. It had four feet with sharp claws, and its body seemed at least four times the size of the wild boar. Strangest of all was its extremely long neck, rising upward and nearly doubling its height.

Beside it, Little Grey was pitifully small—yet for some reason Taotie seemed somewhat wary of it and dared not be careless. Still, it could not bear to abandon the delicacy before it, and so it growled low in its throat, its expression gradually turning savage.

Mingli glanced at the two strange beasts snarling at each other over the roast pig, and said suddenly, "The boar's not even done, and it hasn't reached full flavor yet. What are you two fighting over?"

His words came out of nowhere, and even the young man could not help but glance at him a second time. But the two facing beasts reacted at once: Taotie fixed all four of its eyes on Little Gray, and Little Gray glared back with all three of its own. The seven eyes of the two beasts grew rounder and rounder, each trying to outdo the other, until at last Little Gray squeaked a few times at Taotie, bared its teeth, trotted a few paces backward, and plunked itself down on its haunches beside Mingli, eyes fixed straight upon the roast pig.

Taotie's four eyeballs tracked Little Gray's every movement. Once Little Gray had sat down, the vicious beast let out a couple of rumbling growls, then—incredibly—slowly walked over to the other side of the flames, folded its hind legs, gave its forelegs a gentle shift, and actually lay down before the fire as well. Only the drool at its mouth still flowed of its own accord; the sight was fearsome, and yet somehow rather funny too.

The young man watched Taotie settle down, then walked over slowly. Paying no mind to the filth of the ground, he sat down beside Taotie, looked at Mingli, smiled faintly, and said, "Which master might you be, sir? I never imagined anyone possessed such means as to make even Taotie put aside its savage nature for a time."

Mingli did not look at him either. He sat down, his gaze drifting lightly back into the flames, and said, "We met by chance deep in the mountains. What need is there for names? It's only a roast pig, nothing more than a fill for the belly."

The young man gazed at Mingli for a while, then suddenly burst out laughing, a laugh so loud and ringing that it startled countless night birds from the distance.

"Well said, well said." He tapped his leg lightly, a look of unexpected admiration on his face, and said, " 'Nothing more than a fill for the belly'—how true. When you think about it, all the teeming multitudes of this world rush about from morning to night—is it not all just to fill their bellies? In that case, the so-called 'humans' you speak of are surely no different from this vicious beast Taotie of mine, are they?"

Mingli gently turned the roast pig, and the fragrance of the sesame oil on the meat instantly grew richer, provoking a stir of restless agitation in Taotie across the fire. Yet whether to savor the delicacy or for some other reason, this strange beast—renowned not only for its ferocity but for its gluttony—actually restrained itself. At the same time, Little Gray shot it a fierce glare.

The flames burned quietly, reflected on Mingli's face. He said slowly, "Humans are different."

The young man said, "How so?"

Mingli said, "Love and hate, passion and vengeance—humans feel these things."

The young man laughed aloud and said, "Do you not know that beasts feel them too? You killed this wild boar—surely you know the boar felt pain and terror. If I killed you, you would be just like the pig. All living beings are equal by nature. Where then do human and beast differ?"

Mingli raised his eyes and looked at the young man. "There is a difference."

The young man's gaze turned sharp. "What difference?"

Mingli said, "In all my life I bear one great regret, carved into my heart day and night, that makes life worse than death—and yet I cannot but live. To live is still to have hope; to die would be to betray my own heart, to die a coward. Such passion and vengeance—how could a pig ever bear them?"

The young man was taken aback. The sharpness in his eyes slowly faded, and then a strange expression came over his face.

Note 1: Taotie. From the Strange Beasts Chapter of the Records of Gods and Demons: Far to the south of the Divine Land dwells a vicious beast, black-skinned with four eyes, long-necked and four-footed, fierce by nature and insatiably gluttonous. It moves swift as the wind and brings disaster wherever it roams.