Chapter 33: Two Years Later

After “Gong Yang” brought the Snake Demon back to Hongjia Village and burned it clean with one great fire, he returned once again to Hong Mountain.

But he only stopped at the mountainside not far away, watching as the villagers gradually left Hong Sanjiang’s house.

After a long time, a giant python slithered over from the jungle cover, lazily coiling itself around “Gong Yang.” Its red forked tongue flickered with an elegant tremor.

“Hmph, with this, the people of Hongjia Village should believe I am already dead, right? After all, they personally witnessed me being burned to death.”

“I even went so far as to give each of them a snake scale.”

“With so many witnesses and evidence, even if people from the Bureau of Heaven Monitoring come later, as long as they can’t find me on the mountain, this matter will simply be left unsettled.”

“After all, those snake scales were indeed plucked straight from my body, hissss...”

At this moment, the giant python coiled on “Gong Yang’s” body, gazing toward the foot of the mountain, was none other than Mo Lin!

As for “Gong Yang,” he was merely being controlled by the last of Mo Lin’s corpse poison, forced to obey, then commanded to carry Mo Lin’s real body down the mountain, staging a scene of a Taoist successfully capturing the snake.

To prevent any mistakes, Mo Lin swiftly directed the villagers to “burn” his real body.

Of course, this was nothing more than a cicada-shedding-its-shell act performed before the villagers.

In the midst of the flames, Mo Lin even considered using the Soul-Respecting Banner to stage a “fire burning evil spirit” play.

But fearing unforeseen accidents, Mo Lin abandoned the thought.

As for why he staged this performance, it was because he believed Gong Yang’s words made sense.

The Bureau of Heaven Monitoring was filled with lunatics who risked their lives to catch demons.

Even though he had managed to consecutively kill Ding Fan, Xu Han, and Gong Yang, who all came from the Bureau, he had often been placed in peril.

If the Bureau continued sending people, then sooner or later, he would meet disaster.

In that case, it was better to cement the news of his own death, forcing the Bureau’s gaze away from Hong Mountain.

After this storm passed, he could come out again.

Obviously, the cost of slipping away like this was that he could no longer eat humans—at least not until the day he had the strength to devour an entire village without being discovered by the Bureau.

But that was no great loss, since Mo Lin already had a far better path to grow stronger.

With the Dragon Cave and the cultivation method of the Great Yin Indestructible Bone, he had no need to risk eating humans anymore.

Mo Lin had already made his decision.

His next goal was to gather eight Hair Jiangshi as soon as possible and collect the supplementary materials needed for cultivating the Great Yin Indestructible Bone.

For this, he needed to bide his time in the Dragon Cave, wait for his strength to rise further, and then act.

There was also one other thing that weighed on Mo Lin’s mind.

“Gong Yang once said, even if I stayed in the Dragon Cave for a thousand years and drained Yongzhou’s entire Earth Vein, I still wouldn’t be able to transform into a Flood Dragon. What exactly did he mean by that?”

Mo Lin pondered for a moment, but still found no answer.

In the end, he shook his head:

“Forget it. I am still far from being able to become a Flood Dragon.

When that time truly comes, I can think about it again.”

“For now, I should return to my Dragon Cave and wait for this storm to pass.”

“Gong Yang” withdrew his gaze from Hongjia Village and, carrying the scaleless python, disappeared completely into the deep mountains.

......

Two years later.

“Grandpa, Grandpa.”

A childish boy’s voice rang out in the forest.

“Eh, slow down, child.”

An old man wearing a raincoat, rain boots on his feet, a snake basket tied to his waist, and a snake fork in his hand followed behind the boy.

From his clothing, he was undoubtedly a snake catcher.

But for a snake catcher, his age seemed far too great—wrinkles sagged down from his forehead so much that they nearly covered his dim eyes.

The boy in front heard his grandfather’s words and quickly ran back to his side.

He looked to be about five years old, with his hair tied up in a little ponytail that stood upright, the strands dry and split.

But his mood was clearly excellent:

“Grandpa, Grandpa, the mountain is so fun! Can we come to the mountain often from now on?”

Obviously, a five-year-old child who had never gone deep into the mountains did not know its dangers at all.

Hearing the boy’s innocent words, a trace of sorrow flashed in the old snake catcher’s eyes.

At their ages, grandfather and grandson should have been enjoying peaceful lives.

But in recent years, Yongzhou had been plagued by disasters and demon troubles, and coupled with a muddle-headed emperor and incompetent officials, the Great Qian Dynasty already showed signs of being at the end of its reign.

One misfortune after another ultimately turned into heavy taxes pressed upon the common folk.

Originally, in his family, the old man, his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson all lived happily together.

But the ever-increasing burden of taxes slowly suffocated them.

To keep the family alive, his son—the pillar of the household—chose to join other villagers in catching snakes to pay the tax.

Yet not long ago, he died in the mountains.

His daughter-in-law, unable to bear the blow of despair, hanged herself.

In an instant, the family was reduced to just the old man and his five-year-old grandson.

When the old man saw his daughter-in-law dead, he almost gave up and joined her.

But then, he saw his grandson standing outside the door, holding a wooden toy, face full of confusion.

If he too chose death, then his five-year-old grandson would be left...

Yet he no longer had the strength of a younger man to farm the land.

He had no choice but to bring his grandson up the mountain to catch snakes.

Anyway, if he died in the mountains, his grandson would not survive either.

“Alas, it’s one thing for me to suffer, but why must even my grandson be made to endure...”

The old man held his grandson with one hand and the snake fork with the other, hoping to find a poisonous snake in the forest that could save them both.

But his eyes were dim, his movements sluggish.

He could neither see clearly nor guarantee he could catch the snake.

After wandering the mountain all day, the old man was almost in despair:

“Perhaps... we should try again tomorrow...”

Just then, his grandson tugged his sleeve:

“Grandpa, Grandpa, look, there’s a hole there! Do you think there might be a snake inside?”

Even if he knew snakes were dangerous, a five-year-old would never take it seriously.

He only knew his grandpa wanted to catch snakes, so he pointed innocently at the cave.

The old man shook his head.

The entrance was surrounded by dry vegetation, and snakes preferred shade.

The chance of finding one there was very low.

But seeing his grandson’s eager eyes, it was obvious he wanted to explore more than to find snakes.

“Fine, since we’re heading down anyway, let’s take a look, even if there’s nothing.”

The old man smiled at his grandson and led him into the cave.

“Yay, we’re going on an adventure!”

As soon as they entered, the boy excitedly let go of his grandfather’s hand and ran ahead, happily wandering the cave.

“Hehe.”

Even with such heavy burdens, seeing his grandson’s happiness made the old man feel it was all worth it.

Lighting a fire stick, he called out:

“Child, don’t run too far, Grandpa won’t be able to see you.”

But instead of hearing his grandson’s response, what echoed back was a trembling, tearful cry:

“Grandpa... save me...”

The old man’s heart jolted.

Could there be a tiger in here? Or a bear?

“Grandson! Grandson! Come out quickly!”

He shouted in fear as he moved deeper, until the firelight revealed a scene that shattered his soul.

His only hope in this world, his grandson, was being swallowed by a giant python of unknown length—only half of the boy’s body remained outside its mouth:

“Grandpa... save me...”

“No!”

Watching the python’s belly writhe, the old man lost all reason.

He hurled himself at the beast he could never hope to fight, slapping its icy scales with his withered, wrinkled hands:

“I beg you, give me back my grandson! Take my life in exchange, just give him back...”

But the giant python only shut its eyes, quickly swallowing the boy whole, and then with a flick of its tongue, coiled up the old man who had thrown himself into its jaws.

With half his head still outside the python’s mouth, the old man’s eyes had already gone vacant, muttering softly:

“Don’t be afraid, child... Grandpa is here... Grandpa is here...”

Moments later, the cave fell silent once more.

Then, in the Dragon Cave, Mo Lin—who had been in slumber for two years—slowly opened his eyes.

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.