A surprise awaited him when he ascended the stairs from the basement floor. In the kitchen, the lights were extinguished, and all was silent except for the grinding of metal on stone. It was slow and methodical, but to Jun’s sensitive ears, the sound resembled a demonic screech.

Jun stuck low to the ground, shimmying forward on his belly to avoid the source of the noise. Just when he was about to reach the door, the noise stopped, and two dots of red locked on his position. It was the same friendly chef from before, but this time, he was holding a wicked-sharp knife engraved with the image of a serpent.

“Ahaha. Fancy meeting you here. I’m just going on... dog business. Yep, gotta take a shit. Don’t mind me.”

Jun gracefully stood up, pretending like he wasn’t sneaking through the kitchen just now. Letting out a huge yawn, he shook his tail and went straight for the common room.

“Ehm. Mind opening the door? Everyone knows that dogs can’t open doors,” Jun said, looking back at the chef. There was no one there.

“W-wow. He’s probably shy. Ahaha...”

Jun booked it out of the kitchen. Thankfully, all of the patrons were either kicked out or had gone to sleep, so no one else witnessed a dog intelligently opening doors. As soon as he was outside, he dashed through a series of alleys and cracks, quickly finding a nice, secluded spot for himself.

Jun intently looked at the ground, orienting by the light of the moon. Then, he mimicked how Chen Hao channelled qi into his weapon. Instead of a cleaver, he had his claws. Using his longest claw, which turned out to be the middle finger, he slowly and meticulously began to carve into the stone.

Looking up at the stars and finding a place where feng shui aligned, he carved three thick lines towards the north. Water, but in particular, malleability, would be the core of this formation. Then, he marked another line representing self, and, starting from the southwest, he circled the entire formation, encasing it all in a line that represented “earth.”

It was the most basic of illusion formations, made up of a few simple lines that didn’t dive into the concepts of runes and the like. If he understood this properly, then the water would help hide his real self from the earth around him. And earth, in this case, represented everything living. No wonder not many disciples liked formations. Even the simplest one required incredible leaps of logic and imagination.

Saying a prayer to whoever would answer, he breathed in the spiritual force, and instead of absorbing it into his body, he guided it to the circle below him. He visualised an image of himself lying peacefully on the ground, burning it into his mind. Seconds passed, and Jun feared the worst.

Then, the circle shone blue, and before he could react, he was staring at a blurry image of himself—a golden retriever with a short tail, a lifetime in his eyes. The dog was static and lifeless, but it would be good enough for anyone not closely observing it.

He wished he had this when he came up with the bone stealing plan. But, then again, it wouldn’t have prevented him from triggering the formation. As for why he didn’t use it when stealing meat—the formation would eventually run out, and the formation marks left in her warehouse would be more than enough to cause alarm.

Jun sneakily left the secluded alley, whirling around corners to confuse any would-be pursuers, and then breaking out into a quick sprint through the streets. Using his nose to guide his path, he deftly avoided any cultivators, and before he even knew it, he was back at the disciple’s quarters. The place was deathly silent during this hour. Most were meditating. Looking all around him, he dug up small stashes of bones in places he had previously marked, but that was all lesser loot.

This time, he had struck it rich! Back in the abandoned servant's room he used for writing, he found his belongings still untouched, safely hidden behind an old and creaky closet. Perhaps he should’ve gone back immediately, but the pile of bones was too much of a temptation for him. One bone, two bone, they all vanished like dust in the wind. Only after he was full of bone essence, which was nourishing his body, did he bundle up his writing supplies together with the bones. He also made a quick detour to room 19, their old staying place. Unfortunately, it was locked. Jun didn’t smell anyone else living there. Then, as he headed outside, he once again glanced at sect proper, wondering whether he should leave a note for someone

‘No. It's too risky, and there's not enough information about the Jin family yet. We’ll make her lower her guard, and when she least expects it, she’ll find my claws deep in her back. That's one way to resolve the debt.’

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With those thoughts in mind, he made it back to the Half-Moon Inn. Before entering it properly, he broke the formation by leaving random scratches on the ground, trying to hide all evidences of a formation being here. Getting back to the basement, he hid writing supplies at the bottom of the most unused-looking box, and placed the bag of bones in the corner, shifting some barrels to hide it better. He wasn’t too worried even if people here discovered it, but it was better to be cautious than to not.

Then, as he walked into Chen Hao’s room, he realised that the basement had no windows to the outside.

‘Fuck me. We’re going to get boiled alive if the kid doesn’t wake up by dawn.’

Groaning, he trudged back up to the common room and settled next to a window.

‘If cultivators are so great then why don’t they have proper alarm clocks? Boom. Checkmate.’

He dozed off until the first rays of sunlight warmed his body, shining straight at his closed eyelids. To his surprise, Liu Wei and He Ming were already up, preparing breakfast for those waking up. There were only three staff here—the kid, the chef, and his wife, the innkeeper/bartender. The woman was portly and homely, but stern on the other two, berating both of them about the incident that occurred yesterday. Jun didn’t have time to eavesdrop. Instead, he shook Chen Hao awake, and they both dashed off towards the meat shop.

There were only two things of note to happen during their shift there. First was the absolutely brutal tongue lashing Chen Hao got when he was caught stealing meat from the shop counter. Despite seeming asleep, the woman was prudent about her current stock, keeping a count of every item there. And when she noticed pieces of chicken leg missing, she raised hell.

The second part of the day, however, was more interesting. When Chen Hao stood before the grey pig with iron for its skin, gone was the hesitation from previous days. He murmured a quick prayer for it to have a peaceful reincarnation. Then, he forcefully gathered his killing intent.

He lifted his cleaver. One decisive blow, one pig head, rolling on the ground, still unaware of what had transpired.

The newfound determination cheered up the woman, and perhaps that was what let them implement the next plan. The boy deliberately “ruined” large chunks of meat, and in frustration, he would toss them to the side. Very conveniently, that was where Jun sat, and he would quickly “gobble up” the pieces, much to the woman’s chagrin. Once he had accumulated enough, he would sneak outside the warehouse, leaving the meat in a specific pile of leaves between the buildings, which helped conceal their true prize.

It was, frankly, a stupid plan that wouldn’t have worked if Jun was a regular dog, but it surprisingly got the job done. When the day was done, they brought the meat close to the restaurant, asking for a basin of water and a small knife. Outside, the boy used his new skills to properly process the meat into two piles—good, quality pieces, and scraps.

“Let’s see. We can fry up the former and use the latter in some sort of stew,” the chef said, inspecting the pieces of meat closely.

Both of them were anxious standing before Liu Wei. Chen Hao was anticipating the verdict, and Jun was wondering whether the chef would comment on his outing last night.

“They’re good enough. We’ll get you fed for tonight. You can take one of the unused rooms upstairs.”

Chen Hao let out a huge sigh of relief, relaxing his shoulders. As Jun had said, a good meal and nice sleep did wonders for one’s morale, and the boy clearly agreed. This time, instead of waiting in the kitchen, they occupied one of the tables in the inn, taking in the atmosphere around them,and listening to the conversations.

“It’s good that we’ve found a place to stay, but there’s no time for me to properly meditate and absorb spiritual force. I’ve been trying to do that in the shop, but it’s hard if someone keeps disturbing you every few minutes,” the boy directed his complaints to Jun, who idly listened to him.

“Jokes on you. I’ve got my bones back. The day of my ascension nears, boy. I’ll become the dog god I was fated to be. Look, they’re even spelled the same, but backwards.” Jun quipped, but his heart wasn’t in it. Even he got tired from the long work days despite lazing around for most of it.

The banter continued until they received a beautiful dish of sweet and sour pork coupled with rice and soybeans. It was both delicious and nourishing, and Jun could even feel the meal strengthening his body. They had truly lucked out by meeting the chef.

Satisfied, Chen Hao tuned out the noise around him, drifting into meditation. Jun, on the other hand, snuck to the basement, devoured a couple more bones, and then laid down next to the boy. He was satisfied with the day so far, but it was about to get a lot more interesting.

Suddenly, the door to the inn burst open. Stepping in through it was a handsome young man, with flowing hair tied up in a ponytail. He had sharp features and an even sharper nose, which he pointed to the ceiling as if looking down on everyone else. A resplendent phoenix robe adorned his body, and two burly servants trailed behind him.

“Give me the best seats you have! I want to see what this shithole has to offer me.” An arrogant voice resounded through the inn, making every conversation die down.

‘Holy shit. It’s happening! A real-life cliche. I’m so excited!’