Chapter 24: Black Jiangshi

“Heh-heh!”

The Jiangshi that crawled out of the coffin clearly did not possess high intelligence, yet it still instinctively felt disgust toward the uninvited guest in the Dragon Cave.

Thus, it spat out the Mouth-coin from its mouth, striking Mo Lin’s body.

Nurtured by both the yang energy of the earth veins and the yin energy of the Jiangshi, the Mouth-coin had become a magical artifact.

When it struck Mo Lin, the pain was so intense that he almost cried out.

He had originally thought that, no matter how powerful, the Mouth-coin would at most be on par with the talismans and wooden sword of those two Taoists.

Unexpectedly, when it struck his serpentine body, its power far exceeded the latter.

After hitting Mo Lin, the Mouth-coin returned to the Jiangshi’s mouth before Mo Lin could whip it away with his tail.

“Heh-heh...”

Even though he knew this Jiangshi’s intelligence was shallow, Mo Lin still felt as if there was a trace of mockery in its voice.

That made him a little angry.

He could deal with two Taoists—could he not also handle a half-resurrected Jiangshi?

“If you were a Hair Jiangshi, I might still fear you three parts. But a mere Black Jiangshi is nothing but a walking corpse. Your best destination is dust to dust, earth to earth!”

Against a Jiangshi, Mo Lin’s venom was naturally useless.

He swept his gaze around and saw that within the Dragon Cave, there were only himself, the Jiangshi, the Mouth-coin, the coffin, and the coffin lid he had overturned.

Looking at the coffin lid on the ground, Mo Lin conceived a plan.

If it were just a Jiangshi, he could easily subdue it with his Demonic Power.

But this Jiangshi’s Mouth-coin was particularly strong—one hit was enough to penetrate even Mo Lin’s 556-scaled Defense.

However, the Mouth-coin’s strength lay mainly in magical damage against Mo Lin; it lacked much physical impact.

If he could seal it back into the coffin, how could it cause further trouble?

Thus, under the Jiangshi’s attack, Mo Lin feigned weakness and maneuvered behind the coffin, placing the wooden box between them.

His tail quietly coiled around the coffin lid, as wide as two men standing side by side.

With his Strength, lifting humans was effortless; lifting a coffin lid was nothing.

“Heh-heh...”

The mindless Jiangshi only knew that its enemy, who had disturbed its slumber, was retreating but had not yet left the Dragon Cave.

Naturally, it pressed the attack.

“Chwek!”

Once again, the Mouth-coin was spat out, streaking toward Mo Lin behind the coffin.

As the Mouth-coin sped above the coffin, Mo Lin’s snake eyes flashed.

Now!

His tail, long prepared, suddenly lashed upward, holding the coffin lid before his head.

“Clang!”

The Mouth-coin struck the coffin lid, producing a sharp reverberation.

Then, before the Jiangshi could recall the Mouth-coin, Mo Lin pressed the lid down with great force, pinning the Mouth-coin back inside the coffin.

“Boom-thud! Boom-thud!”

The Jiangshi instinctively tried to summon it back, but the Mouth-coin only thrashed within the coffin where it had once slumbered, pounding against the wood with dull thuds, unable to escape.

Deprived of its artifact, the Jiangshi stood dumbly, helplessly trying to summon it again and again.

Mo Lin seized the chance, slithering up to the Black Jiangshi.

His long body coiled around it, then abruptly tightened!

This was the same constricting body that could strangle Ding Fan.

After devouring two Taoists, his strength had only grown further.

Crushing a dried-up Black Jiangshi was no challenge at all.

The would-be resurrected corpse twisted under his constriction like a toy without lubricant, creaking and snapping grotesquely.

With its master gone, the pounding inside the coffin also ceased.

Opening the coffin was indeed rewarding.

Mo Lin retrieved the Mouth-coin and set it upon his tail tip.

Without the Jiangshi’s control, the round-heaven square-earth coin naturally could no longer harm him.

He channeled his Demonic Power into it.

At once, he felt an unseen connection form, as though the Mouth-coin had become an extension of his body.

The Mouth-coin floated beside him, circling and whirling around his form.

Mo Lin opened his snake eyes, joy flashing within.

His Demonic Power truly could command the Mouth-coin.

Until now, his attacks had been limited to his body, effective only at close range.

Against foes like Ding Fan, who wielded talismans, or the Black Jiangshi, who used a Mouth-coin, he was forced into passivity.

But now, with the Mouth-coin, he possessed a formidable long-range attack.

Moreover, if he cleaned it and hid it within his mouth, spitting it out when least expected, it would serve as a deadly concealed weapon.

Having secured this fine artifact, Mo Lin prepared to toss the coffin out of the Dragon Cave.

But first—he intended to devour the Jiangshi.

Yes, he would not spare even a corpse.

The Jiangshi, called an “Object of Extreme Yin that transcends the Six Paths,” was surely a great tonic for one with Mo Lin’s Devour ability.

As for its revolting appearance...

From the time he had grown from a Grass Snake into a Python Demon, Mo Lin had swallowed countless things his former human self would never have dared to look at.

Swarms of termites, slimy slugs, filthy toads...

A mere Jiangshi?

Mo Lin was long accustomed.

If it could make him stronger, anything could be eaten as though it were tiger whip or deer antler.

After digesting the Jiangshi, he checked his attributes:

【Mo Lin】

【Strength: 1128】

【Speed: 1103】

【Agility: 1159】

【Defense: 1214】

【Demonic Power: 999】

【Abilities: Devour, Shedding, Poison Resistance, Snake Venom, Demon Transformation, Corpse Poison】

Perhaps because the Jiangshi was a creature of extreme yin, devouring it had boosted Mo Lin’s abilities greatly.

All of his basic stats, except Demonic Power, had broken through the 1000 mark.

Even more exciting was that he had extracted a new ability from the Black Jiangshi:

Corpse Poison!

This fit him perfectly.

Imagine—when enemies came prepared with antidotes against snake venom, only for him to strike not with venom, but with corpse poison.

Watching corpse spots spread across their hands, their flesh rotting, their muscles stiffening, their faces twisting in disbelief and horror—Mo Lin could not help but feel elated.

He could hardly wait to test its power.

So, leaving the Dragon Cave behind, he slithered outside to find an animal to experiment on.

In the sunlight, he noticed something strange: the black scales on his body now bore faint green “corpse spots,” like patches of swollen, blistered skin—terrifying to behold.

Yet upon closer inspection, he realized these were only patterns in his scales, not true corpse spots.

Soon, using his skill, Mo Lin caught a rabbit fleeing in panic.

Without hesitation, his fangs sank into the rabbit’s leg, injecting corpse poison.

The rabbit, which had been thrashing frantically, soon exhibited symptoms unlike those of venom.

Its muscles stiffened first, making it unable to move.

Then real corpse spots spread across its body, its flesh beginning to rot and emit a foul stench.

Finally, it fell stiffly to the ground—a rabbit corpse, killed by corpse poison.

Mo Lin narrowed his eyes.

Corpse poison acted more slowly than venom.

With Demonic Power backing it, his venom now surpassed even that of a King Cobra or Banded Krait, capable of killing a rabbit in under five seconds.

Corpse poison, however, took nearly a full minute.

But though slower, Mo Lin sensed something curious—in the circulation of his Demonic Power, he felt a faint connection between himself and the rabbit, not unlike the one with the Mouth-coin.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.