Chapter 84: White Tiger Mountain Lord

When Zhu Dongfeng connected the abbot of the Child-Giving Temple with the lustful monk Wuzhen of the White Horse Temple, who now seemed to be together with his master Jingchen, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.

Wuzhen was originally a monk of the White Horse Temple in the Western Regions.

For some unknown reason, he later betrayed the temple, wandering around Yongzhou and Chenzhou, indulging in desires and leaving behind many sinful debts.

He had been repeatedly expelled by the Six Gates.

However, due to his cultivation at the upper Profound Rank, even the constables of the Six Gates had failed to deal with him many times.

After discovering the incident at the Child-Giving Temple, Zhu Dongfeng, based on the descriptions of the female worshippers, faintly guessed that the suddenly-appearing abbot of the temple was none other than Wuzhen.

Therefore, he had dispatched Su Bing and Lin Shuang, both also upper Profound Rank and skilled in the fusion of blade and sword, to handle the case.

But in Zhu Dongfeng’s original calculations, since Wuzhen had betrayed the White Horse Temple, he should have severed ties with his master Jingchen.

However, Zhu Xifeng’s report said that the two were suspected to be colluding together.

Wouldn’t that mean both Jingchen and Wuzhen were highly likely to appear at the Child-Giving Temple at the same time?

One must know—Jingchen was a true Earth Rank expert.

Moreover, monks from the White Horse Temple were by no means benevolent men who could not bear to kill.

Otherwise, where did all the corpses at the Copper Gong Inn come from?

Facing Jingchen and Wuzhen simultaneously, Su Bing and Lin Shuang would absolutely gain no advantage.

Realizing that something had gone awry, Zhu Dongfeng immediately rushed to the Child-Giving Temple.

Both Su Bing and Lin Shuang were promising newcomers of the Six Gates—he could not allow any mishap to befall them.

......

A gentle breeze swept past, and in the blink of an eye, the existence whose aura surpassed Mo Lin’s appeared before him.

Mo Lin looked closely and discovered that it was not Jingchen or Wuzhen as he had imagined, but rather a hanging-eyed White Tiger.

Wedged between its claws was a trembling Yellow Immortal.

This White Tiger was truly majestic and extraordinary, its muscles bulging like clusters of small hills.

As its nostrils flared, the white breath it exhaled lingered around its body like immortal mist.

“Roar!”

Although this White Tiger’s roar was not loud, the blood in Mo Lin’s body suddenly halted its flow for a brief moment.

Behind Mo Lin, Su Bing and Lin Shuang, both bloodied at the corners of their mouths, had already frozen dumbfounded upon seeing the newcomer.

Their lips trembled as they uttered two words:

“Mountain… Lord...”

Mo Lin narrowed his eyes.

Yes, a tiger demon that could roam the mountains with such unrestrained might—other than the long-renowned Mountain Lord, who shook the lands for thousands of miles around, who else could it be?

What Mo Lin had not expected, however, was that he would encounter the Mountain Lord in such a situation.

“That earlier collision—was it caused by the three of you?”

A voice laced with the faint timbre of a tiger’s roar sounded.

The Mountain Lord glanced at Su Bing and Lin Shuang, who were supporting each other, and the muscles on its forehead furrowed slightly:

“Two Profound Rank constables?”

The faces of the pair instantly turned pale.

They held onto each other even tighter, barely preventing themselves from collapsing to the ground.

The Mountain Lord then turned his gaze toward Mo Lin.

Instantly, Mo Lin understood why Su Bing and Lin Shuang had paled so quickly.

An overwhelming pressure surged forth from the Mountain Lord and bore down on him.

Seeing this, the snake scales across Mo Lin’s body rippled slightly, dispersing the pressure the Mountain Lord had, whether intentionally or not, placed upon him.

“Hm?”

Mo Lin’s act of dissolving the Mountain Lord’s aura caused the White Tiger to look at him again:

“An Earth Anaconda?”

The White Tiger Mountain Lord circled around Mo Lin, examining him carefully:

“It has been a long time since an Earth Rank demonic beast appeared in this land. And it is a solitary anaconda cultivating on its own… not bad, not bad, quite rare.”

“Would you be interested in following me?”

Mo Lin was surprised.

He had not expected that upon his very first meeting with the Mountain Lord, he would immediately be invited.

“Surprised? As an Earth Rank demonic beast, you are worthy of my invitation. After all, in this land, there are not many who can escape the hunts of the Six Gates and the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring to grow to the Earth Rank.”

Although the sovereign of these mountains, the Mountain Lord, expressed admiration and even extended an invitation, Mo Lin did not sense much sincerity in his tone.

Perhaps it was because the Mountain Lord had already seen far too many capable demonic beasts who had failed to survive until now.

Therefore, Mo Lin politely declined the invitation:

“I, a lone snake, have always been used to living by myself. I have no intention of following anyone. I ask that Mountain Lord not take offense.”

“Hm?”

The Mountain Lord’s lantern-sized eyes glared at Mo Lin, and a pressure even greater than before crashed down on him.

In the Mountain Lord’s claws, the Yellow Immortal immediately fainted in fright.

Yet Mo Lin remained neither servile nor overbearing.

Both of them were Earth Rank demonic beasts.

So what if your strength was a little greater than mine?

If you can’t stand me and we truly fight, if I can’t win, can I not escape?

After all, you are not the winged Qiongqi, while I am a little Yinglong with wings!

After staring at Mo Lin for a while, the Mountain Lord finally withdrew his gaze, and that terrifying pressure disappeared without a trace.

Mo Lin could not help but marvel—the Mountain Lord truly deserved his reputation as a demonic beast who had immersed himself in the Earth Rank for many years.

His control over his aura was indeed masterful.

Since Mo Lin had refused his invitation, the Mountain Lord no longer paid him attention—for in his eyes, a mere lower Earth Rank demonic beast was not worth his concern.

The Mountain Lord roused the Yellow Immortal trapped in his claws:

“That Black Bear spoke of a mine near here?”

Mo Lin’s heart instantly skipped a beat.

A mine? A Purple Crystal Dragon Ore mine?!

The Yellow Immortal trembled in the Mountain Lord’s claws:

“M-Mountain Lord, just a little farther ahead. That was the place where the Black Bear pointed out to me.”

“It asked me to inform you, Mountain Lord, that a demonic monk is secretly stealing your Purple Crystal Dragon Ore here.”

The Mountain Lord’s tiger eyes flickered:

“Then why did it not come to me itself?”

The Yellow Immortal stammered out:

“B-because the Black Bear was trapped by the monk’s Golden Circlet and could not escape. It hoped that after telling you this secret, Mountain Lord, you would punish the monk and grant it freedom.”

After listening, the Mountain Lord suddenly turned to Mo Lin:

“Hey, little snake. You’ve been in this area—have you seen any such demonic monk?”

Mo Lin had not expected the Mountain Lord to suddenly question him.

But after listening to the conversation between the Mountain Lord and the Yellow Immortal, many things that had once seemed unclear in his mind suddenly became clear.

Without a doubt, the vast quantities of Purple Crystal Dragon Ore beneath this mountain belonged to the White Tiger Mountain Lord.

The Black Bear was the mouse in the granary, occasionally taking advantage of the mine to snatch a little ore.

But after being trapped by Wuzhen’s Golden Circlet, the Black Bear realized it might lose both its life and the ore.

So it deliberately revealed the mine’s location to the Mountain Lord, luring him here from afar.

Its goal was to pit the Mountain Lord against Wuzhen and his master Jingchen over the Purple Crystal Dragon Ore, while it used the chaos to escape.

The Mountain Lord, relying only on the Black Bear’s one-sided words, knew only that there was a demonic monk and that the Black Bear knew of the mine.

What he did not know was that besides them, there was another demon aware of its location.

And this demon—who had actually devoured the most Purple Crystal Dragon Ore—was none other than the Earth Anaconda Mo Lin, standing right before him.

But as the greatest thief, Mo Lin, having now pieced together the truth, naturally would not betray the “martyr” Black Bear.

The Black Bear had hoped to watch the tigers fight from the mountain, but was instead bitten by a snake and met an unfortunate end.

Moved by the Black Bear’s sacrifice, Mo Lin resolutely chose to inherit its legacy—becoming the one to watch the tigers fight from the mountain.

So he nodded and said:

“Yes, yes. There are indeed two such demonic monks nearby.”