The door swung open to reveal a horrifically delicious sight. It was a meat lover’s paradise inside—chicken breasts, pig loins, and rib steaks practically overwhelming Jun’s senses. Larger cuts of meat were hung from metal hooks, while smaller pieces of jerky were suspended on a drying rack. Overall, it wasn’t too dissimilar to the modern butcher. Drool started dripping on the floor before Jun realised his dog instincts were taking over. Chen Hao, in comparison, stared in horror at the scene.

“Oh come on, you’ve eaten meat before. As for me, I’m craving some proper steak.” Jun said, mentally picking out the best pieces.

“What can I do for ya?” a rough, sandpaper-like voice came from a room in the back. Jun stared at the creature emerging from it in pure awe.

The woman who walked over shattered every expectation of beauty, youth, and physical standard Jun had of cultivators. Gone was the assumption that every cultivator was beautiful, with clear skin and perfect features. What he saw was a rotund woman covered in loose patches of skin, wearing a white apron. Greasy hair, crooked nose, and bulging eyes appraised both of them—it was like she was looking at two pieces of exquisite meat.

‘I was wrong about the snake guy. He is nothing in comparison to the legendary swamp hag.’ Jun thought.

‘Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. She might be a lovely woman with four, beautiful children with a fifth on the way.’

In truth, Jun found that people who looked like villains more often than not acted like them. Perhaps it was because everyone assumed them to be evil that they acted to fill such a role—a sort-of fuck you to society in general.

‘What am I even thinking about? I’m here for some bones, not a complicated philosophical discussion.’

“Well? Cat got ‘yer tongue? Speak up,” she said, slamming her hand against the stone counter. Chen Hao jumped in surprise.

“R-right. We were wondering if we could get some magical beast bones.”

“Huh? You’re not here for meat? What’dya need bones for?” the woman asked, and Chen Hao pointed at Jun. She whistled appreciatively.

“A fine mutt you have there. I can sell you some bones,” she said, scratching numerous layers of chin, deep in thought.

“Two spirit stones per bone.”

The shop fell silent at those words. Chen Hao’s eyes went wide, and Jun was mentally howling in rage.

‘Fuck me. You should have asked for the meat prices first. There’s no possible way a bone costs two spirit stones. We’re practically getting bent over backwards.’

He didn’t dare vocalise a single howl. If there was anyone who dared to make him into dog stew, it was the woman before him.

“I don’t have all day,” she impatiently growled, leaning on the stone counter.

Eventually, Chen Hao cracked under the pressure. He bought a single bone.

“Here. A pig’s femur. We get all our meat and bones from magical beasts—cultivators wouldn’t buy them otherwise. Next time, come back with more spirit stones and buy some meat,” she said, tossing the large bone to Chen Hao, who hurriedly retreated.

“We’ve been scammed, my dear boy,” Jun said as they left, but Chen Hao was just glad to be out of there.

“How could she just... It was a slaughterhouse,” he murmured.

Jun could not even begin to comprehend what was bothering Chen Hao. Perhaps this was the effect of having nearly no animals in the village. Or perhaps Jun just had a unique Earth-like perspective.

‘I’m pretty sure butchers have existed as long as civilization. Whatever. Let’s go and cultivate!’

Their journey back home was uneventful, and by the time they reached their room, Jun’s tail was already a rocket ship. Chen Hao picked up the book, referencing Jun’s body with the meridians drawn on the page.

“Come on, Jun. I know you want to eat that bone,” the boy said, holding out the femur.

Jun rolled his eyes but started chewing the bone regardless. It was quite nice. His teeth had been itching for a couple of days now, and this helped relieve the pressure. Still, the best part was yet to come. Chen Hao put both his hands on Jun’s upper stomach and near his tail. Then, he yelped as something cold and sinister entered his body.

And then... Nothing. Jun, puzzled by this, looked behind him.

“Is it supposed to be this hard?” Chen Hao panted, his brow covered in sweat. It looked like he was having trouble with something.

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Jun calmed his mind, sensing the spiritual force around him. He traced the qi inside his body, watching how it moved excruciatingly slow.

‘Wait a minute! I haven’t cleared my meridians yet. They’re still full of the black gunk!’ He internally panicked, preparing to run away at any moment. But, upon second thought, if he ran away just because of a minor setback, what other options would he have? At best, he had ten years left to live, and the fact that he wasn’t a “proper” magical beast haunted his dreams every night. This was the best opportunity he would get. Thus, he held still as Chen Hao struggled to move his inner qi through Jun’s body.

The boy completed one cycle before Jun heard him collapsing onto the floor. Chen Hao was breathing heavily, spiritual force moving like a hurricane towards him with every inhale. Jun wanted to help him up, but he had his own issues to deal with.

Namely, it was the large femur in his mouth. It was oozing something strange that travelled from his teeth into his mouth, and then further into his body. The bone’s essence flooded into every cell of his being, nourishing them like nothing had ever before. Before this, he was a man dying of drought in a desert, and now, for the first time, he tasted crisp water. The sensation was almost orgasmic.

Almost instantly, his sense of smell sharpened. Unfortunately, it came at the worst possible moment—the black gunk that was being expelled from his body was magnified a hundred times, smelling worse than death itself. It took all he had not to throw up.

Next were the changes to his body. His legs felt like giant pillars of earth, solidly connected to the ground below him. If Chen Hao were to push him, he would not budge an inch. Jun would have to test his strength, agility, and endurance later, but he had a vague sense that he was now ‘more’. A superior kind of dog, if you will.

‘This is amazing! Also, holy shit! Is that a hint of red?” Jun stared at the book. It was still mostly grey, but if he squinted just enough, he saw traces of red appearing on it. This, of all things, brought a tear to his eye. The world around him was less vibrant and more gloomy as a dog. Now, it was all going to change.

All in all, it was potentially one of the greatest feelings he had ever experienced. And the flow of energy didn’t want to stop! It kept on flowing, and flowing, and flowing.

“Hold on. This is a bit concerning.”

After this miraculous transformation, his entire body felt full. Yet, the bone essence kept coming, and it had nowhere to go. Soon, he was like an overfilled balloon on the cusp of popping.

“Stop! Fucking stop!” he yelled, trying to will the force to stop. He had long since dropped the bone, but that was of no use. The ecstasy from earlier turned into unimaginable pain, tearing apart everything within him with no regard for his well-being. Blood gushed out like a waterfall, and he collapsed to the ground as his bones snapped in half. And still, the energy kept coming. Mere seconds remained.

“I said fucking STOP!”

With the will and the desperation of a dying dog, he held down onto this wild stream of energy. Like a free man being chained, it lashed against its bindings, doing everything in its power to escape. Jun quickly gathered all the rampaging bone essence in his body, and his mind struggled with what to do with it. There was no time for any fancy plan!

With a mighty step forward, he opened his mouth and channelled all the bone essence through his meridians. A thunderous burp emerged, travelling outwards like the cry of an angry god, eager to awaken everyone who had the audacity to be sleeping or meditating. Jun collapsed in exhaustion soon after, barely hearing the frantic knocking on his door and the chaos in the quarters.

...

When he awoke, he was lying on a stone bed in an unfamiliar room. A soft, green light surrounded him while two faces stared at him in concern. One was Chen Hao, who let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him. The other was an extremely beautiful woman in her twenties, wearing a black robe. Her curly, black hair fell on her broad shoulders like a waterfall, and her bright yellow eyes cautiously examined Jun’s body.

“He’s fine now,” she said, turning to Chen Hao, looking him in the eyes with a disappointed gaze. “Completely drying up your inner qi and collapsing is bad, but what you did to the poor dog is even worse. He’s extremely lucky to even be alive now. I don’t know what you were thinking by trying to make a regular animal into a magical beast.’

Chen Hao looked to the ground, not daring to meet her eyes. “I didn’t know,” he said.

“Exactly. You didn’t know. You should have asked around, or gone and browsed the sect’s library. Instead, you forcefully completed some sort of technique, overwhelming the dog’s meridians. The reason they’re called regular animals is because their bodies can’t properly absorb and handle spiritual force. By some miracle, this dog’s body could. And since he could do that, he would’ve become a magical beast at some point anyway!” She started slowly, but towards the end, she was yelling at Chen Hao, overcome with rage.

‘She’s right. My body wasn’t able to handle it. If I wasn’t able to control the spiritual force using sheer desperation, I’d be a goner by now,’ he thought, recalling the entire experience. It was scary how close he was to death. For some reason, he didn’t think he had a third life in him.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do way more research next time,” Chen Hao said, his eyes tearing up. Jun even saw a single tear run down his cheek.

The woman was taken aback. She bashfully turned away, scratching her head.

“Well, you’re just a new disciple. How old are you? Fourteen? Shame on whoever handed the technique to you.”

Thank god Jun couldn’t blush or else he would’ve been red as a tomato.

“Just make sure you properly think everything through before you do something. Cultivation isn’t a joke—don’t mess around and experiment when you’re still in the first stage of Qi Refining,” she said. Chen Hao nodded.

“I’m still going to charge you contribution points for this. It’s standard procedure, and you’ll learn better if you feel the effects of your actions.”

“But... I don’t have any contribution points.”

“Who said you can’t go into the negatives?” she smiled before proceeding to chase them both out of the strange room.

On the way back, Jun pretended like he was still exhausted. It was too awkward to say he was feeling better than ever while Chen Hao was somberly carrying him. Also, Jun agreed with everything she said. With any luck, he would take this lesson to heart. It would help both of them in the long run.

‘As for the fact that it’s all my fault... What can I say? I’m too handsome to be charged with such a petty crime.’