Chapter 360: Acupuncture

That group of cows charged to the outside of the tea stall with heavy thuds.

But they hesitated, unwilling to enter.

The lead cow, unusually massive, swayed its long, curved horns, peering into the tea stall again and again, then cautiously asked: “Sister Black, has something happened?”

The woman glanced down at the ten counting rods embedded in her body and thought: Don’t you see that already?

My brothers are truly stupid!

But the cows genuinely couldn’t tell.

Because though the counting rods pierced the woman’s body, no blood flowed.

The woman herself didn’t understand: why, after my transformation, do injuries no longer bleed?

After their transformations, the cows gained spiritual awareness and could speak human language, thus learning some things about the human world.

The big black cow said: “Sister Black, you look just like a human practicing acupuncture…”

The woman nearly cursed it, but held back. Not only did she hold back—she pinched her nose and admitted: “You’re right, I am doing acupuncture. Nothing’s wrong here, go away quickly…”

Xu Yuan moved his fingers, and the remaining counting rods flew up, hovering above the heads of each cow!

The woman screamed: “Don’t!”

The cows were baffled: Are you telling us to go or not?

In the woman’s round, wide eyes, a plea flickered.

Xu Yuan controlled the counting rods and said: “Answer my questions truthfully, and I’ll spare their lives.”

The big black cow finally understood, bellowing: “So you’re threatening Sister Black!”

It blasted two red plumes of hot air from its nostrils, dug its hind hooves furiously into the ground, then lowered its head and charged straight at Xu Yuan.

Thud!

Master Xu pinned it to the ground with one hand.

The big black cow bellowed in fury, eyes bloodshot, muscles bulging like rocks.

It was the largest in the village, and without doubt the strongest.

Even a century-old tree, if fully strained, would be uprooted by its force.

Yet Master Xu held its horns with one hand, rendering it utterly immobile.

After cultivating the Dragon Transformation Scripture, his physique became extraordinarily robust.

The power disparity between a cow and a dragon was obvious.

The woman’s eyes widened further.

She had always believed that her eldest brother, “Hei Yi,” would never lose in strength.

But how could this evil man be so strong?

He didn’t even seem human.

Xu Yuan held down the big black cow; the counting rod hovering above its head slowly drifted back, pressing directly against its forehead.

“No! Please don’t!” Sister Black begged frantically: “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you everything!”

Xu Yuan lifted the counting rod, then flicked his wrist—the big black cow rolled over with a thunderous crash.

It was indeed thick-skinned and tough, unharmed; it rolled over and scrambled up at once.

Clearly furious, yet it dared not charge again.

Sister Black told the cows: “Stay still!”

Then she told Xu Yuan about her transformation.

A few days ago, after the final plowing before the New Year, Sister Black returned home with her master.

She was truly exhausted.

So she walked slowly, curling her tongue around wild grasses and flowers by the roadside to eat, just to fill her stomach.

The village’s fields had irrigation ditches along the field ridges.

Her master walked ahead, unaware—but Sister Black suddenly saw a string of green beans emerge from the ditch like a water snake.

She was so hungry she curled her tongue around it, swallowing the entire plant—stalk, roots, and all.

But after eating it, she felt her body grow heavier and heavier.

She walked slower and slower.

Even when she heard her master’s shouts and the crack of his whip, she felt dazed, as if everything were unreal.

In the end, her master forcibly dragged her back to the cowshed.

The mistress had already prepared the fodder.

It contained some roasted soybeans.

In the past, the smell would have made her salivate.

But this time, she had no appetite at all.

She entered the cowshed, collapsed, and fell asleep.

When she woke again, it was midnight—she had become a monster.

Xu Yuan’s mind stirred; the beast sinew rope extended, ready to pierce through her nostrils.

Sister Black resisted fiercely: “I don’t want to be led by the nose again.”

Xu Yuan smirked: “Fine. But you must behave honestly—no thoughts of escape.”

“Alright, I agree—as long as you don’t pierce my nose, anything’s fine.”

Xu Yuan retracted the counting rods from her body.

This monster was large, but only ninth-rank.

The black cows outside weren’t even ranked.

Master Xu wasn’t worried they’d cause trouble.

“Take me to where that green bean sprouted from the water.”

“Alright.”

Sister Black faithfully led Xu Yuan there.

She had no intention of hiding anything or fleeing.

Her cow-brain held no concepts of scheming, betrayal, or deceit.

When they arrived, it was just a regular field ridge and a common ditch.

But Xu Yuan looked out—and across the ridge, a vast patch of seedlings had all withered.

As if some force had drained all their vitality.

Xu Yuan pointed upstream along the ditch and told Sister Black: “Block the water.”

“Oh.” She obediently went, heaving a large stone with effort, thudding it into place to seal the ditch.

She scooped up handfuls of yellow mud, mixed in dry grass, and sealed every crack.

When finished, she admired her work, proud of herself as a truly skilled laborer!

The water in the ditch quickly drained dry; Xu Yuan carefully observed and soon spotted something odd.

The beast sinew rope extended downward, burrowed into the muck, then pulled upward—

It lifted a patch of dark red, dried, web-like filaments.

Like a dried network of blood vessels!

Though utterly dead, the thing still emitted a faint taint.

The direction of the vessel network matched precisely the patch of dead crops.

Xu Yuan commanded Sister Black again: “Dig open this entire field along these things—be careful not to break them. I need to see exactly how they spread underground.”

“Oh.” She answered again, needing no urging, whipping, praise, or encouragement, and began digging.

For a full hour, Sister Black meticulously and carefully excavated the entire field.

Xu Yuan finally found the true origin of these vessel-like evils.

A seed shaped like a human heart.

Its interior was hollow, leaving only a thin outer shell.

Its surface was covered in gray-white fuzz—resembling the white hair of ancient zombies!

Xu Yuan frowned: This thing first grew a network of vessels, then drained the vitality of the crops, then sprouted a green bean—which Sister Black ate?

Turning her into a monster.

Why go through such elaborate trouble?

Sister Black was merely a ninth-rank monster, and not even mad.

She hadn’t killed a single person yet.

Xu Yuan didn’t understand this kind of evil; he thought a moment, then sealed the object in his stench pouch and took it back for Zhou Leizi to advise on.

“Where are the villagers? Take me to see them.”

Sister Black continued dutifully, leading Xu Yuan to the village’s largest cowshed, where over a dozen people were locked inside, each with a nose ring and a hood over their head, tied down.

“There are six more sheds,” Sister Black confessed honestly.

Xu Yuan glanced around, his heart sank, and he immediately asked: “Where are the children?”

The cowshed held only adults—not a single child!

(End of Chapter)