Chapter 85: Tiger, Monks

“There are two of them?”

Mo Lin nodded repeatedly, his face showing sorrow:

“In this mountain, there is a temple called the Child-Giving Temple. In truth, it is merely a place of debauchery. Within the temple are two monks, one named Wuzhen, the other Jingchen.”

“The Black Bear and I were old friends of many years. It was captured by those two monks, forced to wear a golden circlet, and driven day and night, treated as a slave.”

“When I heard of its misfortune, I tried to save it from fire and water. Yet I had not expected, on this road, to encounter these two constables, who delayed my steps.”

The Mountain Lord grew furious upon hearing this:

“How dare humans enslave us demonic beasts! All humans deserve death!!”

“Roar!!”

His tiger eyes turned toward the grievously wounded Su Bing and Lin Shuang.

Su Bing’s heart trembled in shock.

Within the Six Gates, there had long been a rumor that the Mountain Lord especially hated humans—particularly humans who forced animals into servitude. If he saw someone riding a horse or leading an ox, he would never leave a living soul behind.

Some speculated that this was because the Mountain Lord, in his early years, had once been taken away by humans and had endured a shameful past.

Although no one had ever confirmed this matter, the result was always the same: once the Mountain Lord discovered such a thing, the humans before him would rarely have a good end.

Su Bing grabbed Lin Shuang at once:

“Junior Sister, run!!”

Yet how could Lin Shuang, already injured from the clash with Mo Lin, possibly outrun the Mountain Lord, an Earth Demon?

In merely the blink of an eye, Lin Shuang had not even run two steps before an enormous tiger claw cleaved her in half at the waist—her slender figure unable to withstand its power.

“Senior… Senior Brother Su…”

Su Bing trembled all over as he looked at the upper half of his Junior Sister still in his grasp, and suddenly recalled what he had said to her before the mission began.

“Junior Sister, this task that Master assigned me may be dangerous. I think it’s best if you don’t follow me. Go back to the Six Gates.”

“Then I’ll just have to trust that my Senior Brother Su Bing will protect me~ After all, we’re companions, aren’t we~”

“Junior Sister, you are right. Even if I die, I will surely protect you.”

“Hehe, I knew Senior Brother was the best to me. I like Senior Brother the most!”

The once radiant, lovely Junior Sister, admired by all, now had blood flowing from the corner of her lips, her face deathly pale—already lingering at death’s door.

Su Bing suddenly regretted deeply. Why had he not been more resolute when climbing the mountain, forcing Junior Sister back to the Six Gates? Even if she had grown angry and sulked at him, she would still have lived.

Why had he, upon seeing the flying Mo Lin, drawn his blade without hesitation, engaging him in combat?

If only he had chosen to spare Mo Lin, perhaps the Mountain Lord might have spared Junior Sister as well.

Yet, he no longer had the choice to do things over.

“Junior Sister, even if I die, I will surely protect you.”

“Junior Sister, I will always be with you.”

Su Bing’s eyes turned blood-red.

Placing his Junior Sister upon the ground, he once again raised his saber—already broken by Mo Lin’s strike—roaring at the Mountain Lord and Mo Lin:

“Demon! Return my Junior Sister’s life!!”

In the next instant, the Mountain Lord’s claw struck, flinging Su Bing’s upper body away.

“What nonsense! I’ve yet to settle accounts with you humans.”

The remains of Su Bing’s lower body fell to the ground, landing beside Lin Shuang’s upper body, fulfilling—albeit indirectly—the oath he made before his death.

Mo Lin looked on expressionlessly as the two constables perished under the Mountain Lord’s hand, his heart unshaken.

Even if the Mountain Lord had not struck them dead, he would have devoured them together.

This pair of doomed lovers would never escape their fate.

A pity though—he had meant to swallow two in one bite, yet now could only swallow one.

“Is the Mountain Lord present? I, Jingchen, together with my disciple Wuzhen, wish to seek instruction in your great skills. May the Mountain Lord grant us this teaching!!”

At that moment, a voice rang from the forest.

Mo Lin turned back in surprise.

Jingchen and Wuzhen?!

These two monks were supposed to remain in the Child-Giving Temple, waiting for him to lure the Mountain Lord there. How had they come here instead?

Could it be that they had heard the Mountain Lord’s earlier roar and rushed over?

Excitement flickered in Mo Lin’s eyes.

This was excellent.

By calling out in this way, they had directly confirmed themselves as enemies of the Mountain Lord.

“Roarrr!!”

The Mountain Lord had never intended to spare them.

Now, faced with provocation, how could he relent? With another roar, his figure vanished from before Mo Lin.

……

“Roar!!”

Not far away, Jingchen and Wuzhen had just fastened their golden circlets when the roar of a tiger shook the mountain forest.

Their faces changed at once.

“It seems our guess was correct. The Mountain Lord truly knows the location of the mine.”

“We had planned to use the advantage of secrecy, but now that matters are exposed, we might as well face him directly.”

The two monks exchanged a glance and nodded.

Jingchen gathered his breath into his dantian, then said in a deep voice:

“Mountain Lord, are you here? I, Jingchen, together with my disciple Wuzhen, wish to seek instruction in your great skills. May the Mountain Lord grant us this teaching!!”

“Roarrr!!”

A tiger’s roar answered them. In the next moment, a colossal tiger demon, towering like a small mountain, appeared before them.

Its mouth dripped with saliva, whiskers quivering, its front claws still bearing scraps of human flesh:

“You are the monks of the Child-Giving Temple—the ones who imprisoned the Black Bear and even dared covet my Purple Crystal Dragon Ore?”

Indeed, the Mountain Lord already knew of their scheme.

The two monks, disciples of White Horse Temple, said nothing. Instead, they raised their hands to attack.

The Mountain Lord narrowed his eyes, understanding instantly.

Yet rage burned within him—

He had thought himself lenient enough. So long as humans did not enter his territory, he had no interest in disturbing them.

But now, within his own domain, there were two insects trying to lay hands on his Purple Crystal Dragon Ore.

If he did not give humans a harsh warning, more such troubles would surely follow.

“Roar!!”

The Mountain Lord roared. His snowy fur flared, and he spat a beam of light at Wuzhen.

As the devastating light neared, Wuzhen neither dodged nor evaded, letting it pierce through him—before his body reappeared unharmed to the side.

“Hm? An illusion?”

The Mountain Lord glanced at the other side, where Wuzhen stood once again.

Unlike the Mountain Lord, Mo Lin saw the truth from afar—the beam had never been aimed at Wuzhen to begin with.

The Black Bear had said before: Wuzhen, who seemed to chant sutras for female worshippers, had in fact bewitched them, committing lewd acts.

The pregnancies of the female worshippers were not miracles of the Bodhisattva, but Wuzhen’s tireless sowing.

Seeing the Mountain Lord’s beam miss, and recalling the Black Bear’s words, Mo Lin made a guess:

It seemed that, rather than illusions, Wuzhen’s technique dulled the nerves, making one misjudge ordinary things.