Chapter 9

The ascetic monk said, "Do you know about White Tiger Temple, and are you so cruel and fond of killing? Could it be that you come from Broken Compassion Mountain?"

The demon's eyes flashed red, but it only glared at the monk with intense resentment and did not answer.

The monk sighed and said, "If you are not from Broken Compassion Mountain, this poor monk could spare your life." Upon hearing this, Tang Xiaojiu thought to himself, "This monk is really stupid. If he asks like this, even if the person really comes from that mountain, they would say they don't."

The demon angrily said, "What Broken Compassion Mountain? I've never heard of it. If you want to kill me, just do it. I won't make it easy for you."

The monk was taken aback, seemingly feeling that the demon was not lying. He said with a tone of compassion, "You've never heard of Broken Compassion Mountain? Then you must have become enlightened on your own, not being a villain from Broken Compassion Mountain. Since you can transform into a human and have been allowed to cross the boundary to the human world, why don't you travel and experience the world, enhancing your cultivation, instead of killing and harming lives, thus reducing your good fortune?"

The demon coughed twice, spitting out some blood clots, and said coldly, "What a joke. Don't people in this world eat snakes too? They even skin them, eat their meat, and make soup. I am a snake, and I eat people and drink their blood. What's wrong with that! Why should people eat snakes and not be eaten by snakes, hmpf!" It turned out that the demon was actually a snake demon.

Lying on the ground, Tang Xiaojiu heard these words and sat up, shouting, "Nonsense! Nonsense! You're spewing your stinky snake nonsense! Why don't you go eat those who eat snakes and drink their blood? What kind of skill is it to come and eat us! If I had known there was such a stinky demon, I would have gone to catch snakes every day to eat. There are plenty of snakes near the City God Temple. I would have eaten you to extinction! Ow, it hurts so much!" He was always very brave, and with the monk by his side, he dared to talk back to the demon, but the movement of his wound made him cry out in pain.

The snake demon and the monk were both taken aback and looked at Tang Xiaojiu. Tang Xiaojiu didn't expect his words to attract so much attention, especially from the demon. He felt that the demon's eyes revealed something else, which made him feel uneasy. He muttered, "What's the matter? Just because I'm handsome, you don't have to stare like that. You two bald heads are not Xue Ying and Chan Juan!"

The monk ignored the mischievous boy and said to the demon, "Since you say such things, go back to being a snake in the wild!" He raised his fist, which was surrounded by a golden light. He had made up his mind to force the snake demon's inner pearl out of its body, making it reveal its true form.

The snake demon knew things were not going well, let out a strange cry, and leaped from the ground. With a wave of his left hand, the black whip lying on the side flew back into his hand. At the same time, he spat out a bright green pearl from his mouth. The green pearl was as big as an egg, with fine cracks like a spider web, emitting a dazzling light, and rapidly shot towards the monk.

The monk knew this was the snake demon's life pearl. The demon, not waiting for him to act, had already spat out the pearl, either to use its innate power or to self-destruct and fight to the death with the monk. He frowned slightly, stepped aside to avoid the pearl, but suddenly felt a gust of wind from behind, which was the demon's whip.

The monk stepped back, and with a wave of his hand, threw the prayer beads, which exploded into golden light and shot towards the snake demon. The snake demon's black whip coiled and formed a vortex, releasing a dense green mist to protect itself. The green mist, unknown in nature, temporarily blocked the golden light, which was repelled several times.

Seeing this, the monk moved forward, raised his fist, and a golden light flickered on it, resembling a flame. This was a move from his Vajra Fist, the Flame Heart Vajra Fist. The snake demon, being of a yin nature, was most afraid of yang fire. Seeing the monk's powerful punch, it quickly spat out a mouthful of essence blood onto the whip, which suddenly burst into black light, forcing back the golden light from the prayer beads. At the same time, it manipulated the life pearl to spew out a thick green mist, aiming directly at the monk, while it flicked the whip in another direction, not towards the monk but towards the lying Tang Xiaojiu!

Seeing the snake demon attack the child, the monk knew the green mist was the demon's innate yin poison, which was very powerful. He did not dare to be careless, changed his fist technique, and struck three consecutive punches. Each punch sent a dense golden light flying, and the three punches formed a golden light barrier to block the mist and the life pearl. He then rushed forward, reaching out to grab the demon's whip to prevent it from hurting the child on the ground.

Unexpectedly, the whip changed direction mid-air and attacked the monk. The monk, caught off guard, was hit by the whip and had to retreat three steps. Despite this, the monk did not panic and still drove the golden light from the prayer beads towards the demon.

It turned out that the snake demon's attack on Tang Xiaojiu was a feint to lure the monk into a trap. He had calculated that the monk, being compassionate, would indeed be deceived. After a successful hit, the snake demon sneered, danced the whip to deflect the golden light, retracted the life pearl, and quickly retreated, heading towards one side of the yard. He knew he was no match for the monk and had used the feint to create an opportunity to escape.

At this moment, the monk steadied himself, clasped his hands together, and shouted, "Hū!"

With this shout, the monk threw a punch, and a golden flame shot out like lightning, moving twice as fast as the golden light from the prayer beads. The snake demon did not expect this. Although its plan had succeeded, it was about to climb over the wall when the golden flame hit its back, causing it to spew blood and fly far away, landing on the ground like a broken bag, lying still and not getting up.

The monk shouted again, and the golden light from the prayer beads returned to his hand, forming a bracelet, which he wore on his wrist, showing no sign of any magic. He recited a Buddhist chant, walked to the demon, bent down, and touched its forehead, muttering something. A golden light quickly entered the snake demon's body. Soon, the green life pearl that the demon had spat out earlier emerged from its body and rose slowly. As the life pearl left its body, the demon, in a coma, trembled slightly and then fell silent.

The monk reached out and caught the life pearl, gripped it tightly, and a golden light shone through his fingers. When he opened his hand, a white mist dispersed, and the life pearl had vanished. The snake demon's life pearl was thus destroyed by the monk.

The intense battle finally came to an end, and the monk walked to Tang Xiaojiu. Tang Xiaojiu, worried, asked, "Master, is the demon dead?"

The monk replied, "Not exactly. It has been knocked unconscious by my power and won't wake up for a while. Don't worry, I have sealed its ability to transform and destroyed its life pearl. It will soon reveal its true form and will no longer be able to cause trouble. Amitabha, let me check your injuries." He gently lifted Tang Xiaojiu's arm.

Tang Xiaojiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the monk's kind words and gentle actions, and knowing that he had saved his life, although he usually hated bald heads, he couldn't help but praise, "Master, you're really amazing! That ugly demon was so scary, but you just extended a little finger and took care of it. Thank you for saving me... uh, saving my life. Hey, Master, what are those golden lights? They're really impressive. Can I see them?"

The monk, while examining his injuries, replied, "These prayer beads are a Dharma instrument of the Buddhist sect, capable of suppressing evil. Evil cannot overcome righteousness, and they can naturally suppress demons. Besides, the demon was barely able to transform into a human, just starting to gain power. It had already been injured by me, yet it could withstand several of my punches and not die, which is quite rare. It must have a strong physical body."

Tang Xiaojiu only understood half of what the monk said, but he knew the monk was much more powerful than the demon. Seeing that the monk didn't show him the treasure and only gave a few perfunctory words, he thought the monk was stingy and that his flattery had backfired. He pointed to Lu Zheng and said, "Master, I'm fine. You should go see him first."

The monk looked at Tang Xiaojiu, a hint of approval in his eyes. He thought, "This young man is quite righteous. Even though he is injured, he still thinks of saving others first. His heart is truly good." Thinking this, he had a sudden thought. The boy seemed to be an orphan and a beggar, though he was a bit slick, his heart was not bad. If he was willing, he could become the monk's disciple, but he didn't know if the boy would be willing to become a monk.

This thought flashed through the monk's mind, and he was taken aback. He found it strange to have such a thought, not knowing where it came from. As a high-ranking monk with great cultivation, his mind was very clear, and he rarely had such thoughts. The fact that this lazy boy could stir his thoughts was surprising. He thought, "Why did I have such a thought? Could it be that I have a karmic connection with this young man? But first, I should treat his injuries, and then I will use my divine eye to observe him."

Tang Xiaojiu had no idea that a great master from the outside world had taken an interest in him and wanted to take him as a disciple. But at the moment, he was only worried about Lu Zheng and didn't pay much attention to other things. The events of the night were truly bizarre, something he had only heard in the stories told in teahouses. He thought, "It's a pity that Lu Zheng is unconscious and didn't see the exciting scene. This kid loves stories about immortals and always wants to be one. Now a real immortal monk has appeared, but he didn't have the luck to see him fight the demon. Speaking of which, could this monk be a bodhisattva or an arhat incarnate? There really are immortals and bodhisattvas in the world!"

While he was thinking, his hand started to itch, and then his chest felt a surge of blood, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. This didn't stop, and he continued to spit out large amounts of dark red blood clots. Looking down, he saw that the monk was using his hands to emit golden light, massaging his hands, feet, chest, and ribs. He didn't know that the monk was using a highly skilled technique to realign his broken bones and use his divine power to smooth out his disordered meridians and vital energy, forcing out the blood clots. But he knew the monk was treating his injuries and thought, "This monk's golden light is amazing. It can not only fight demons but also heal injuries!"

Seeing himself spit out so much blood, Tang Xiaojiu was both scared and angry at the demon. He was about to curse to vent his anger, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the monk stuffed a pill into it. The pill dissolved in his mouth, turning into a cool liquid that flowed down his throat, immediately relieving the stuffiness in his chest.

After doing this, the monk went to check on Lu Zheng, who was lying on the ground. To his surprise, Lu Zheng was lying straight, with his eyes and mouth tightly closed, his face contorted, and his skin a terrifying green. The monk knew this was the result of the snake demon's innate 'oral poison.' As a snake turned into a demon, one of its abilities was to transform the venom in its mouth into a toxic mist, a highly yin and toxic substance.

This yin poison was extremely cold and became more toxic as the snake demon's cultivation increased. The green mist the demon had spewed earlier was also this yin poison, but the poison in the life pearl was much stronger, so even the monk dared not touch it easily. It was the snake demon's life poison.

Now, Lu Zheng's hands were clenched into fists, his limbs curled, and his breathing was very weak, as if it could stop at any moment. The yin poison had already invaded his internal organs, and even if there was a slim chance of saving him, he would likely become paralyzed and disabled.

"This demon's poison is so powerful!" The monk was shocked and immediately used his divine power to seal Lu Zheng's twelve main meridians to prevent the yin poison from spreading with the blood and qi. However, he was at a loss on how to detoxify. He felt regretful for using too much force and destroying the demon's life pearl, which could have been used to extract the yin poison, giving the child a chance of survival. Feeling guilty, he looked at Tang Xiaojiu, unsure of how to explain.