Chapter 29: Hair Jiangshi

As Gong Yang spoke, several Jiangshi, each with different forms but all covered in hardened fur, surrounded Mo Lin from the east, south, west, north, and center:

“Heh heh!”

Gong Yang retreated behind one of the Jiangshi and snapped his fingers:

“Let my toys accompany you for a good game. Let’s see whether your demonic body is tougher, or their Dharma bodies are.”

“Heh heh!”

As soon as Gong Yang’s voice fell, the Jiangshi instantly lunged at Mo Lin with incredible speed.

The strength, speed, and reflexes they displayed far surpassed the Jiangshi that had appeared in the Dragon Cave before.

Just as Gong Yang said, these Jiangshi were his proudest creations.

“Heh heh!”

The Jiangshi were covered in hardened fur, so when Mo Lin’s tail struck them, it felt as if he was lashing steel.

They had neither the fear of ordinary humans, nor were they affected by Mo Lin’s venom.

Thus, after only a short exchange, Mo Lin found himself in a bitter struggle.

Watching from the outer circle as Mo Lin fought the Jiangshi, Gong Yang drawled:

“Well then, how about my Hair Jiangshi? Their Dharma bodies are quite impressive, aren’t they? Quite different from that Jiangshi you destroyed before, right?”

“They were once my own comrades-in-arms, my beloved kin and friends!”

“For them, I betrayed the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring, wandering the wilderness alone for ten years. The bitterness of that time is hardly something outsiders could ever understand.”

Gong Yang pretended to wipe his eyes, then sneered coldly:

“Oh, but in the eyes of those peasants down the mountain, I still haven’t betrayed the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring. To them, I’m a righteous wandering demon-hunter, outraged upon hearing of a snake demon causing chaos in the mountains.”

“This time I ascended the mountain under their hopeful expectations, to capture you.”

Under the joint assault of the Hair Jiangshi, even though Mo Lin had devoured many lives and had been nourished by the Earth Vein, he still began to sustain injuries.

His scales were torn away piece by piece by the Hair Jiangshi, exposing his bloodied flesh beneath.

“Ah!”

Even Mo Lin could not help but cry out in pain.

Gong Yang rubbed his hands together:

“Tsk tsk, seeing you hurt like this pains me deeply. But don’t worry, I said I wouldn’t take your life.”

“After all, the peasants down the mountain said the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring would still send men to catch you.”

“If I overstepped and killed you myself, the wrath of the Bureau might well burn me too.”

“So I only need to drive you out of the Dragon Cave, and study why you can control the Corpse Rabbits.”

“As for me, once the Bureau kills you, they will naturally assume I also died at your hands.”

“You’ll have another blood debt, while I seize the chance to escape and raise more corpses in my Dragon Cave. Hahaha!”

Amidst the bloody battle with the Hair Jiangshi, Mo Lin’s heart stirred at Gong Yang’s words.

But he did not show it, still fighting fiercely as if he hadn’t heard Gong Yang’s chatter.

“Of course, to prevent you from turning against me—though you have no hands or feet—I must first let the Hair Jiangshi shave off your scales. It won’t kill you, but the pain will surely not be small.”

“Consider it interest for the Jiangshi you ruined.”

......

Ten minutes later, Mo Lin lay helpless on the ground, his once jet-black, hardened scales nearly all torn away.

The Hair Jiangshi firmly restrained him, leaving him unable to move.

Since arriving in this world, it was the first time he had ever been this wretched.

Even when Hong Wen had pinned him with the snake fork, he had swiftly escaped by severing his tail, unlike now, where it was like suffering death by a thousand cuts.

Mo Lin’s twitching body seemed to still attempt escape, but it was futile.

Yet in his snake pupils, unnoticed by Gong Yang, a glint of coldness shone—revealing a will utterly at odds with his battered form.

Seeing Mo Lin firmly bound and no longer threatening, Gong Yang ordered a Hair Jiangshi to raise Mo Lin’s serpent head, then laughed:

“Now are you willing to tell me how you control the Corpse Rabbits?”

Mo Lin glanced at the cautious Gong Yang, who still kept his distance, and spoke softly:

“......”

Gong Yang sneered:

“What was that?”

“......”

Gong Yang frowned.

He still could not hear clearly.

Yet, cautious as ever, he did not approach.

Instead, he barked:

“Speak louder! You’ve tasted enough pain from scale-plucking, haven’t you? Don’t tell me you want me to pull out your fangs before I listen to you.”

But even under Gong Yang’s threat, Mo Lin’s serpent head still hung weakly, his voice faint, as though he truly lacked the strength to speak louder.

Gong Yang’s brows furrowed tighter.

He finally stepped closer—five paces—just enough to stay beyond the reach of Mo Lin’s fangs, refusing to move any nearer.

Meanwhile, the Hair Jiangshi tightened their grip on Mo Lin.

Gong Yang coldly said:

“Don’t even think about using venom to ambush me. Speak louder, or I’ll have the Hair Jiangshi pull out your fangs.”

At last, having moved closer, Gong Yang heard Mo Lin’s voice:

“In that Jiangshi’s mouth, I found a Mouth-coin... it carries corpse poison...”

Then his voice grew faint again.

Gong Yang tilted his head:

“Right, I stuffed a Mouth-coin into that one’s mouth. But what about it?”

“......”

Mo Lin’s voice trailed off again, and Gong Yang unwittingly stepped two paces nearer:

“What about the Mouth-coin?”

“The Mouth-coin...”

Gong Yang heard him muttering again:

“That Mouth-coin... is in my mouth!”

At those words, Gong Yang’s pupils shrank as he tried to retreat in haste.

But how could Mo Lin miss this one and only chance he had carefully set up since the battle began?

Yes—everything unfolding before him had been part of Mo Lin’s plan.

Though his strength had soared, to fight several steel-skinned Hair Jiangshi and the watchful Gong Yang at once was hopeless.

But just as he prepared to flee, Gong Yang’s words offered him a glimmer of opportunity.

So everything that followed went according to Mo Lin’s meticulous plan—even enduring the agony of torn scales, he never gave himself away.

Though Gong Yang reacted quickly, Mo Lin’s demonic body was swifter still.

He raised his head and spat:

“Clink!”

A copper coin, under Mo Lin’s control, shot from his mouth and pierced straight through Gong Yang’s throat.

A thin stream of blood spurted from the back of Gong Yang’s neck, spraying across the Hair Jiangshi behind him.

The Mouth-coin, now a true artifact, had once caused Mo Lin himself agony when used by a Black Jiangshi.

How could Gong Yang survive it when struck by Mo Lin’s ambush?

Hidden all along, the Mouth-coin transformed into a weapon, became Gong Yang’s death warrant.

“Heh heh...”

Gong Yang clutched his bleeding throat, making sounds like his Jiangshi—not mockery, but the result of his pierced windpipe.

His eyes burned with venom and disbelief.

Never had he imagined that despite all his caution, he would still lose by one misstep, felled by Mo Lin’s ambush.

Curiosity killed the cat—the old saying did not lie.

“Heh heh!”

The Hair Jiangshi twitched, still bound to Gong Yang’s control.

But how could Mo Lin, who had endured long for this moment, give Gong Yang any chance?

Enduring the pain of his scale-less flesh burning in the air, Mo Lin suddenly sprang up, his tail slashing across Gong Yang’s neck.

With a thud, a head flew, blood spraying.

The Hair Jiangshi froze, motionless.

“Bang!”

When Mo Lin landed, the weight on his wounds made him grit his fangs in agony.

He cast a cold glance at Gong Yang’s corpse, whose eyes still refused to close, and said:

“You were cautious indeed—guarding against my venom, against my demonic body.”

“But what you never expected, was that the Mouth-coin left in the Dragon Cave Jiangshi would transform into an artifact, nourished by the mingling of the Earth Vein’s yang energy and the Jiangshi’s yin energy.”

“When I saw these Hair Jiangshi without Mouth-coins, I already suspected. Such transformation must be rare.”

“Otherwise, had they Mouth-coins, you wouldn’t have needed so much time to subdue me.”

“Unfortunately, not even you could foresee this, could you?”

But Gong Yang, now dead, could no longer answer Mo Lin’s soliloquy.

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