Chapter Thirty-Eight: Hidden Motives

“Gulp~” As soon as he exchanged the Shapeshifting Pill from the system shop, Zhou Tian immediately swallowed it in one go.

The pill had barely entered Zhou Tian’s mouth when it transformed into a surge of heat, swiftly coursing through his body beyond his control. With each cycle the heat completed, following some mysterious pattern, it weakened slightly, and at the same time, his body began to change. Though his outward appearance showed no sign of change, Zhou Tian could sense that his internal organs were slowly transforming. Yet, as his body was being remodeled, Zhou Tian had to endure the pain that came with it.

“I... damn!” Since the system had offered no warning whatsoever, Zhou Tian had never expected he would have to withstand such agony during the process of shapeshifting. When the intense pain struck suddenly, Zhou Tian couldn’t help but curse aloud, and as the pain within him intensified, he found himself rolling uncontrollably on the ground.

His actions so stunned the elves that they stood gaping in shock. Zhou Tian’s body had inexplicably grown larger, and then, from who knows where, he produced a pill and swallowed it, after which he transformed into his current state. If Zhou Tian hadn’t taken the pill himself, the elves might have suspected he’d been poisoned by someone else.

But knowing Zhou Tian had chosen to take the pill on his own, the elves could only watch helplessly as he writhed in pain. No matter how many healing spells or elven potions they tried on him, their efforts could not lessen his suffering.

The pain lasted for nearly an hour before the transformation was complete and the agony gradually faded.

Under the astonished gaze of the elves, Zhou Tian, now in his chosen human form, crawled naked out of his former serpentine body.

“Ahem~” Embarrassed, Zhou Tian covered himself and, after rousing the elves from their shock, said, “I know you must have many questions for me, but before you ask, could you find me something to wear? After all…”

Hearing Zhou Tian’s request, the elves blushed. One of them hurried off to the ruins left by the beastmen, and after searching for a while, returned with a suit of armor.

“Here you go!”

“Thank you!” Gratefully accepting the armor, Zhou Tian ducked behind a large boulder to dress himself properly, then stepped forward in his human form to face the elves.

“If I remember correctly, your current strength should only be close to that of an intermediate magical beast. Even those with noble bloodlines must reach the level of advanced magical beasts before they can take human form. With your strength, you shouldn’t have been able to transform, should you?” For magical beasts, transforming into a human is a mark of power. Though the elves had many questions for Zhou Tian, they first addressed his shapeshifting.

After a brief consideration, Zhou Tian knew he could not tell the truth and instead made up a story: “The pill I just swallowed is an alchemical product I found in some ruins. The ruins claimed it could help magical beasts transform. At first, I was hesitant to take something so unknown, but since my strength had recently advanced and my size had grown, I found it inconvenient to move with you. So I took the risk and swallowed the pill.”

“Is that so?” The elves clearly didn’t fully believe him, but unable to find any flaw in his explanation, they silently marked it in their minds and asked no further.

“Same rule as always: the magic core goes to me, the rest you can divide among yourselves.” Feeling uneasy under the elves’ gaze, Zhou Tian quickly pointed to the ruins below to change the subject.

A glimmer of cunning flashed in their eyes, but the elves said nothing, merely chatting with Zhou Tian for a moment. Once the battlefield was tidied up, the group hurriedly departed.

“The Shapeshifting Pill doesn’t just let me take human form. Ten thousand units of spirit energy—this is truly extraordinary. If I can fully master this transformation, I’ll have another ace up my sleeve.” Zhou Tian muttered to himself, casting a curious glance at the elves beside him, then returned to his calm demeanor.

As Zhou Tian and his companions rushed toward another safe haven, the beastmen armies surrounding them grew furious.

They had deployed tens of thousands of troops against Zhou Tian and his small band, believing victory was assured. Yet not only had they failed to find Zhou Tian’s party, they had lost a force of several thousand. Such losses meant little to the Beastman Empire, but Zhou Tian’s actions had embarrassed them, and such humiliation could not go unavenged.

Zhou Tian was not unaware that his deeds would anger the Beastman Empire, but he underestimated their reaction. He had thought that no matter how much trouble they caused, the empire would be too busy fighting the elves and the Frost Empire to spare many resources for them.

In truth, had Zhou Tian only kept fleeing, the Beastman Empire might have responded as he expected. But after Zhou Tian repeatedly humiliated them, the beastmen, now utterly enraged, reacted far more fiercely than he had anticipated.

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Holding a crystal ball, a foxfolk shaman pointed in the direction of Zhou Tian’s group and said to his companions, “The prey is over there. Let’s go! Those little creatures have been causing trouble for long enough. If we don’t act soon, people will start to look down on the beastmen!”

“Ugh, what a bother! You all take your time; I’ll go ahead and see these prey for myself.” An eaglefolk, scanning his beastman companions with disdain, casually left this remark before flying off toward Zhou Tian’s location.

“That guy…”

“Let him be. With his strength, dealing with those youngsters shouldn’t be difficult. If he takes care of the ‘prey’ ahead of us, it’ll save us some trouble.”

“I suppose that’s for the best.”

“…”