Chapter 72: Bodhisattva Manifesting Spirit? Coiling Snake Pillar?

The female incense worshipper let out a sigh of relief after hearing those words:

“That’s good, that’s good.”

The female incense worshipper tightened her grip on Granny Huang’s hand:

“Then let’s come again tomorrow, Granny Huang.”

Granny Huang nodded:

“That’s how it should be. If the young lady prays to the Bodhisattva for half a month with sincerity, it won’t be long before you feel something in your belly.”

The female incense worshipper blushed, touching her stomach:

“If that really could happen… that would be wonderful.”

The two of them chatted idly as they walked down the mountain.

Only after the two were far away did Mo Lin reveal his figure, pondering in his heart.

Repentant Bear Demon, Child-Giving Bodhisattva, man-eating Abbot—no matter how he thought about it, all of it reeked of strangeness.

If one were to say this world truly had some existence capable of bestowing children and possessing great strength, Mo Lin would believe it.

But that such a being would remain inside the Bear Demon’s Mountain God Temple—that Mo Lin did not believe in the slightest.

With such power, why confine oneself here? The world was vast—where could he not go?

Even if he built a grand Child-Giving Temple right next to Yongzhou’s Bureau of Heaven Monitoring, they might not be able to do anything to him, would they?

Something was off.

And most likely, the strangeness lay with that so-called Abbot.

From Granny Huang and the female incense worshipper’s conversation, it seemed that the Abbot wasn’t in the temple today?

Mo Lin’s thoughts stirred immediately—he still had a score to settle with the Bear Demon.

Should he take this chance to witness that Abbot’s methods firsthand?

Thinking so, Mo Lin decided to investigate the Child-Giving Temple that very night.

……

The sun set in the west.

The Bear Demon saw off the last female incense worshipper and shut the temple gates.

What was strange was that, compared with before, there was now a golden circlet on its head.

It plopped down heavily upon the golden body of the statue, letting out a sigh:

“Ah, another day has passed. When will such days ever come to an end?”

The Bear Demon pounded its fist against the golden body of the statue, wailing:

“To think back to Buddha’s days of glory, vigorous and imposing, feasting on young boys and girls when hungry—how carefree life was then!”

“And now I’ve fallen to eating vegetarian meals and chanting scriptures, forced to smile every day at the coming and going of female incense worshippers. This life is not fit for a bear!”

“I am a bear, not a cat!”

Just as the Bear Demon lamented endlessly, a voice drifted through the temple:

“If that’s the case, why not free yourself from this sea of suffering?”

The Bear Demon instinctively retorted:

“Hmph, you filthy bald donkey! If not for you placing this golden circlet upon Buddha’s head, Buddha would have left long ago to enjoy freedom elsewhere.”

No sooner had the Bear Demon spoken than it froze:

“Wait… that’s not right. That filthy bald donkey shouldn’t be in the temple today. Then who’s talking to me?”

The voice echoed again:

“Other than me beneath you, who else could be in this temple?”

The Bear Demon leapt off the Bodhisattva’s golden body in fright, crying out:

“Good heavens, the Bodhisattva has manifested spirit!”

It jumped down and immediately began to pour out its grievances before the Bodhisattva:

“Bodhisattva, please save Buddha—no, save little bear! That filthy bald donkey is no proper Buddhist disciple at all, he is a lustful monk!”

“Oh? Is that so?”

The Bear Demon replied hurriedly:

“Yes, yes, that’s exactly it! That lustful monk uses the Bodhisattva’s name, pretending on the surface to be an Abbot chanting sutras and blessing women with children, but behind the scenes he sullies good families!”

“Such shameless, despicable acts—even little bear would not dare to do them!”

The voice echoed through the temple:

“But I sense that my worshippers say the Abbot’s chanting and prayers are all done in front of everyone, blessing them openly. How could such filthy deeds that disgrace my Buddhist teachings occur?”

The voice grew stern, thundering:

“Could it be that you, vile bear, ungrateful to instruction, are slandering a good man with empty words?”

Under such reproach, the Bear Demon waved his hands desperately:

“No, Bodhisattva! You and your worshippers have all been deceived by that lustful monk!”

“That monk has mastered a transformative art. Outwardly, he looks proper and dignified, appearing as an Abbot praying for women seeking children—”

“But secretly, he has already bewitched everyone with his art.”

“On the surface, while chanting for the female worshippers, he is actually committing lewd acts!”

The Bear Demon gnashed its teeth, clearly having suffered bitter days for quite some time, eager to spill everything at once:

“Those women don’t know—they are not praying to the Bodhisattva for children at all, it’s that lustful monk giving them children!”

“The vile things that monk does— even I, little bear, can’t bear to watch!”

The Bodhisattva glared in fury:

“If that is the case, why did you not stop him? Was all your cultivation fed to the dogs?”

The Bear Demon grimaced:

“May the Bodhisattva understand. That lustful monk is indeed powerful, with Profound Rank cultivation. In a fight with me, we are evenly matched.”

“But he has a magic artifact, extremely troublesome, and even I can do nothing against it.”

The Bear Demon pointed at the golden circlet upon his head:

“This golden circlet, once placed on my head, cannot be removed unless that monk does it himself. Even if I die, I cannot take it off.”

“And even if I flee a hundred li away, as soon as he recites his incantation, I suffer unbearable pain and am dragged back at his mercy.”

The Bear Demon kowtowed before the Bodhisattva again and again:

“Since the Bodhisattva has now manifested, I beg you, for the sake of your worshippers, to rid us of that lustful monk!”

At that moment, the Bodhisattva gave a cold snort, the voice shifting:

“I think, rather than for the sake of the worshippers, it’s more because that monk blocked you from feasting on young boys and girls, isn’t it?”

The Bear Demon froze.

Ever since being subdued by the monk, it had never again enjoyed boys or girls.

How did the Bodhisattva know?

And why had the Bodhisattva’s voice changed—sounding somewhat familiar?

Moreover, the voice no longer echoed through the whole temple, but seemed to come from a certain spot…

Doubtful and wary, the Bear Demon cautiously shifted from kneeling to squatting, searching for the source.

Soon, it locked onto a coiling snake pillar within the temple.

Snakes often symbolized fertility.

After taking over the Mountain God Temple, that monk had designed a few pillars—not with coiling dragons like ordinary temples, but with lifelike snake bodies entwining them.

Earlier, when the Bear Demon thought the Bodhisattva had manifested, it hadn’t paid attention. But now, with suspicion in its heart, it noticed something wrong.

Weren’t the snakes on this coiling pillar a bit too large? Even a python wasn’t this big—and they looked terrifying.

And why were they staring straight at him?

The Bear Demon even saw mockery and ridicule in the snake’s eyes, as though it were alive.

Wait—alive?

The Bear Demon shivered.

Looking closely, it suddenly roared in fury.

So that was no mere carved decoration of a coiling snake pillar at all—it was a real snake, a great python, a colossal anaconda!

And the Bear Demon even recognized that horrifying face—wasn’t that the very same Python Demon that had slaughtered an entire bandit den half a year ago—Mo Lin?

“Well now, Bear Demon, have you been doing well lately?”