Chapter 47: The Chief is Dead Too!

Weak all over, his face pale yet still carrying traces of purple-black, Xu Jiaren stared blankly at the Chief who had abandoned him:

“Just letting me go like this?”

“Then I’ll really leave?”

Dragging his frail body, Xu Jiaren limped step by step toward the mountain stronghold’s entrance.

Along the way, he saw many of his fellow companions also fleeing toward the entrance.

Xu Jiaren recognized their faces.

Just half a day ago, they had still been among the crowd congratulating him and the Chief on their “wedding union.”

Yet now, with the Black Eagle Pearl already dead, no one cared anymore about Xu Jiaren, the bride-to-be.

But compared to the mountain bandits scrambling to escape, Xu Jiaren’s body was far too weak.

He felt as though he would collapse at any moment.

That he could even persist this far was entirely thanks to sheer force of will.

“But even if I force myself to leave this stronghold, having been poisoned by that snake, can I really still live on?”

Xu Jiaren had never once considered going back into the stronghold to seek Mo Lin’s help to detoxify.

Although he had only spent a short time with Mo Lin, his instincts told him that snake would absolutely never help him.

In fact, it would more likely swallow him whole in one bite.

At this moment, Xu Jiaren was walking toward the Black Wind Stronghold’s entrance as if it were his final destination:

“Even if I die, I will not die in this filthy stronghold.”

“Huh? How surprising. In a den full of greasy middle-aged brutes, there’s actually such a lotus emerging from clear water?”

Weakly turning his head, Xu Jiaren saw a great Bear Demon standing upright, holding a man in one hand, gazing at him curiously.

Through his blurred vision, Xu Jiaren recognized the ones in the Bear Demon’s grip—they were none other than the Second-in-Command and the Third-in-Command of the Black Wind Stronghold.

……

The Chief stood before Pearl’s corpse, his face ashen.

Pearl had been an eaglet he had picked up when he was young.

He had painstakingly raised it into a majestic white-headed eagle.

From its youth, Pearl had shown extraordinary talent, unmatched by ordinary birds or beasts.

After ten years together, it had miraculously transformed into a Demonic Eagle, and advanced with astonishing speed to become a lord of the skies.

Later, when the Chief raised his banner in rebellion to overthrow the Great Qian Dynasty and, after failing, was forced to flee into the mountains, Pearl had always stayed by his side.

One could say that Pearl was his own brother of different parentage, different race.

And now, that brother was dead.

“Chief……”

Although many in the Black Wind Stronghold had submitted because of Pearl’s reputation, there were also some old followers who had been with the Chief since the days of rebellion.

They quietly gathered around him upon learning of Pearl’s death.

The Chief spoke, his voice hoarse and dry:

“Where did that bastard go?”

He was naturally referring to Mo Lin, who had killed Pearl.

The men glanced at each other in silence before turning their heads in unison toward one direction.

The Chief followed their gaze.

Not far away, a patch of shrubs had been flattened, revealing a heavy stone slab that had been lifted aside, and beneath it, the entrance to a hidden vault.

Without a doubt, the Python Demon had burrowed into the Chief’s treasure vault.

At this moment, the Chief was utterly oblivious to the fact that his vault had been exposed to his men.

He only took heavy steps toward the vault’s entrance.

Just then, a head emerged from the vault.

At once, the men behind the Chief jumped back in fright:

“The Python Demon has come out!”

Unlike the others, the Chief reacted quickly.

He drew his bow, loosed an arrow, and the shaft streaked like lightning toward Mo Lin.

“Hm?”

Mo Lin, just emerging from the vault, instinctively twisted his body, narrowly dodging the Chief’s all-out arrow shot.

It squinted, sizing up the Chief clad in a red wedding robe, and suddenly understood:

“The Chief of Black Wind Stronghold?”

The Chief drew again, his voice filled with fury:

“Damn you, Python Demon! Return my brother’s life!”

Seeing another arrow streak toward him, Mo Lin’s expression darkened.

The vault indeed contained many treasures, gold and silver enough to fill chests.

But to Mo Lin, a python, these trinkets of the human world were meaningless.

Only things that could enhance its strength truly mattered.

Yet in the vault, there had been nothing of the sort.

Clearly, even if the Chief had plundered such items, he must have already consumed them himself or given them to the Black Eagle Pearl.

Unable to find the Earth Vein Yin Marrow, Mo Lin was already displeased.

He had even intended to feast on some eagle flesh to mend his wounds, but now this man dared to block the door to kill him?

How could Mo Lin take a mere bandit chief seriously, even if he had already reached Yellow Rank strength?

If you seek death, then be beaten without mercy.

As Mo Lin’s demonic power surged, his figure vanished from the vault entrance.

An arrow exploded against the stone, scattering fragments across the ground.

But Mo Lin had already appeared behind the Chief, just as when he slew the Black Eagle—his serpent tail lashed out in the same way:

“Since you miss your brother so dearly, then go and join him.”

With that, Mo Lin tore a still-beating heart from the Chief’s chest and mercilessly crushed it!

“Uh… uhh…”

The Chief twisted his head with difficulty, his eyes burning with venomous hatred at Mo Lin, as if to say: Even in death, I will not forgive you.

But Mo Lin only curled his lip and produced the Soul-Respecting Banner:

“You’re allowed to kill me, but I’m not allowed to kill you? The world doesn’t work that way.”

“You won’t let me off, so why should I let you off? Such deep resentment—perfect for my Soul-Respecting Banner to put to use.”

As the banner swept over the Chief’s head, his venomous glare froze, and his body crumpled to the ground.

Mo Lin’s tail coiled around the body and swallowed him whole.

Though the Chief’s strength was not bad, Mo Lin had no interest in refining him into a Jiangshi.

Better to simply eat him.

Within Black Wind Stronghold, the Chief’s followers, who had rallied their courage to fight Mo Lin, now saw this scene.

Their resolve utterly crumbled, and they scattered in panic:

“The Chief is dead too! The Chief is dead too!”

Watching the bandits flee, Mo Lin had no intention of letting them escape.

This trip to Black Wind Stronghold had yielded no Earth Vein Yin Marrow, failed to trick and slay the Bear Demon, wasted a battle against the Black Eagle, and ended with contempt from the Chief.

Mo Lin’s rage was immense.

That fury would be appeased with the lives and souls of the mountain bandits.

And their flesh and blood could also heal the wounds it had suffered in battle with the Black Eagle.

……

Just as Xu Jiaren finally stepped out of the Black Wind Stronghold’s entrance, a Bear Demon suddenly appeared.

It casually tossed the unconscious Second and Third-in-Command to the ground, then leisurely strode toward Xu Jiaren:

“Heh heh, this lotus is truly beautiful. In a den full of brutes, it’s especially striking.”

“Although the Buddha usually prefers to eat virgin boys and girls, a fellow like you—I’m still very willing to savor.”

Drawing closer, the Bear Demon examined Xu Jiaren in surprise:

“Hm? This lotus carries poison?”

It scrutinized him for a moment, then suddenly understood:

“Boy, you must be the one who ran off during the Black Eagle and Mo Lin’s fight, weren’t you?

“This poison on your body—it must’ve come from Mo Lin?”

“Heh heh, poison or not, so what? I’ve heard that outside the mountains, some humans actually enjoy eating venomous things. Today, I, the Buddha, shall try it as well.”

Saying this, the Bear Demon reached its massive paw toward Xu Jiaren.

Xu Jiaren wanted to flee, but his steps were feeble, powerless.

This Bear Demon—was it an ally of the Python Demon?

Xu Jiaren felt his thoughts grow sluggish, yet one judgment brought him near despair.

Could it be that he was destined never to leave the Black Wind Stronghold?

His own death was of little matter.

But it was pitiful that he would never sweep clean the chaos of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Just as the bear’s paw was about to land on his head, a streak of rainbow sword qi came from the horizon, aimed straight at the Bear Demon’s right arm.

If the Bear Demon insisted on seizing Xu Jiaren, its arm would be cleaved in two.