Chapter 35: Bear Demon

On a narrow mountain path, a group of ten people walked in silence.

They carried on their shoulders a festive red sedan chair, yet they themselves knew well that inside did not sit a bride awaiting marriage, but a pair of a young boy and girl.

They were the children carefully chosen from the village, offered as a sacrifice to the Mountain God Bodhisattva.

At the very front of the sedan chair, a shaman dressed in strange Taoist robes shook something like a rattle-drum.

She swayed her head and body as she danced the so-called great deity’s steps:

“The Mountain God Bodhisattva has cast down punishment! The Mountain God Bodhisattva has cast down punishment! Continue offering a pair of young boy and girl, lock them beneath the lotus seat, only then will the Bodhisattva weep in pity!”

Chanting in this manner, the shaman led the way up the mountain.

Mo Lin, who had already approached the Hair Jiangshi, coldly watched as these people passed by his side.

He did not reveal his figure to devour them first.

Listening to the shaman’s words, it seemed these people were about to offer a boy and girl as sacrifice to the so-called Mountain God.

Heh, in ancient times, whenever natural disasters or calamities arose, offering sacrifices of others seemed to always be the only choice of ignorant villagers.

No matter the dynasty or the world, it was always like this.

In this world, where true Demonic Beasts and demon-hunters existed, if it was merely ignorant villagers, and there was no such thing as a Mountain God, then it would not matter.

But even if there really was such a “Mountain God,” in Mo Lin’s eyes, it could only be a lifeform whose strength exceeded the villagers’ imagination, nothing more.

Mo Lin silently followed behind the group, slowly heading toward the mountain’s depths.

Perhaps because he had slept for so long, just awakened, and was filled with curiosity toward the changes and unknowns of this world;

or perhaps because he had grown so much stronger, and confidence in his own strength made him more composed;

Mo Lin intended to follow them and see exactly what they planned to do.

Very soon, the shaman led the villagers deep into the mountains, stopping before a Mountain God Temple.

She gestured for the villagers to set down the sedan chair and “invite” the boy and girl from within.

The two children, with fine brows and features carved like jade, wore paper-made red garments.

Their wrists were tied with blood-stained hemp rope.

Their eyes were red and swollen, clearly from long crying.

The shaman knelt before the Mountain God Temple, bowing three times and nine times knocking her head to the ground, loudly proclaiming:

“May the Bodhisattva accept the offerings! May the Bodhisattva accept the offerings! May the Bodhisattva accept the offerings!”

After three such cries, the shaman rose and said to the strong men of the village:

“Send the offerings for the Mountain God Bodhisattva into the temple.”

At her words, it was as if something was triggered, and the pair of children burst into loud wails:

“Uncle Shan, Uncle Shi, don’t give us to the Bodhisattva!”

“We don’t want to die! Uncle Shan, Uncle Shi!”

Their childish cries were tender yet piercing, making the men who had brought them up the mountain show looks of pity.

One man tentatively stepped forward:

“Um, Granny, perhaps we should...”

“Creak—”

The tightly closed gates of the Mountain God Temple slowly swung open.

No one was there to push the doors.

At the sight, all the men instantly fell prostrate on the ground in fear, including the one who had just stepped forward.

The shaman, however, angrily pointed at them and shouted:

“The Mountain God Bodhisattva is enraged! The Mountain God Bodhisattva is enraged! You ignorant villagers! Do you wish to implicate the entire village?!”

The villagers had never witnessed such a scene.

Terrified, they kowtowed repeatedly:

“May the Bodhisattva calm anger! May the Bodhisattva calm anger!”

So busy knocking their heads, they failed to notice the contempt flashing in the shaman’s eyes, nor did they realize that they, along with the shaman and the temple, all stood in a straight line.

Thus, without knowing, they kowtowed endlessly toward the shaman as well.

Standing before them, watching their foreheads nearly bleed from kowtowing, the shaman coughed twice:

“Enough, rise now. The Mountain God Bodhisattva is merciful and compassionate, surely able to understand your suffering.”

“Hurry and send this pair of children into the Mountain God Temple, then return down the mountain.”

Having seen the heavy temple gates open on their own without wind, none of the villagers dared disobey the shaman’s command.

They quickly pushed the two children into the temple.

The tender cries of the children made them shut their eyes, pretending not to hear.

Seeing the boy and girl sent into the temple, the shaman revealed a satisfied smile.

She then restrained her smile, waved her hand toward the villagers:

“Hurry down the mountain. Though the Bodhisattva will not blame you for what was just said, surely he will not be pleased either. Best not to linger before the temple.”

“After all, this old woman is also one of the village. I will chant and pray, beseeching the Mountain God Bodhisattva to let our village survive this calamity.”

Hearing this, the men dared not question further, and immediately descended the mountain.

Only after watching them leave did the shaman close the temple gates, hands behind her back, strolling leisurely inward.

Outside the temple, Mo Lin, coiled quietly upon a tree, stared coldly at the shaman disappearing within.

Without a doubt, this shaman had a great problem.

Mo Lin was almost certain that the so-called “calamity” of the village was also a trick of hers.

“Let’s see what happens inside.”

Mo Lin slid down from the tree, moving toward the temple.

He did not worry at all about venturing into the Mountain God Temple and falling into danger.

Not to mention that his strength had greatly increased now—ordinary minor demons were no longer his match.

If this being needed such elaborate plotting just to devour two children, its strength surely would not be very high.

Inside the temple, rows of Bodhisattvas sat cross-legged upon lotus seats, upright and solemn, their expressions stern.

Beneath the lotus platform, the pair of children trembled in terror.

The shaman, hands behind her back, slowly paced before them.

“Granny, I’m so scared...”

The shaman gently stroked the girl’s hair, her wrinkled face smiling kindly:

“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, child. It will soon be over...”

The little boy looked at her timidly and whispered:

“Granny, my father once said, Bodhisattvas are all good Buddhas, they never eat meat. Me and Qingqing will be safe, right...”

The shaman’s smile grew even brighter, her wrinkles nearly covering her eyes:

“Child, don’t worry. Bodhisattvas don’t eat human flesh.”

But the wrinkles on her face multiplied.

Not only that, even the skin of her hands began to pile and twist.

Under the increasingly horrified gaze of the children, her skin slid down like sticky mud, revealing her true form.

A Bear Demon.

On the floor lay the skin she had shed.

It was unimaginable how a more than two-meter-tall Bear Demon could shrink itself down to less than one-and-a-half meters, then crawl into the shaman’s body.

“Only, children, the one who eats you isn’t the Bodhisattva...”

The boy and girl slumped on the floor of the temple, utterly speechless now.

Their eyes were empty as they stared at the massive Bear Demon, whose size alone was more than double their own combined, stroking their heads.

The Bear Demon still wore a disturbingly human-like smile, speaking in the shaman’s voice:

“Don’t be afraid, children, it will all be over very soon...”

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