True Man, Eternal Fame

Wang Baoshan stood stunned for a long moment, his lips trembling as he spoke: "Since... since the True Man is willing to help us escape this sea of suffering, this old bones will be at your disposal as you see fit."

"Good. One hour from now."

A cold glint flashed in Li Mo's eyes.

He had already discerned the true situation and had no intention of letting the easy gains slip through his fingers.

Cultivators had come to River God Village before, but likely out of fear of the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast, they had chosen to pass off a Pseudo Bizarre Beast corpse as their tribute.

Li Mo, however, felt he had a fair chance against the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast of River God Village.

In the mere moment it took for the Waking Lion to form, he had already grasped the situation, thanks to the Ghost Tiger's ability to sense fellow Bizarre Beasts.

Li Mo's gaze fell on the Banyan tree beside the Ancestral Hall. The reason the Red Rope could bind the Waking Lion, aside from the Zombie Ghost's involvement, was that the Banyan tree itself contained the aura of the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast.

The Dry Well east of the village, the Ruined Temple south of the village, and the Hillside at the village entrance were the same.

Ignoring the Lion Dance, Li Mo pressed his palm against the Banyan tree while directing his consciousness toward the Book of Fortune, for the blank pages could reveal the organs he touched.

Soon, a bloody, malformed Tiger Head appeared on the blank page.

Li Mo thought to himself, Just as I suspected. Adding the remains from the Dry Well, the Ruined Temple, and the Hillside, he had now located all the body parts of the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast.

He strongly suspected that after the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast had ravaged River God Village, it had been slain by a cultivator.

The scattered corpse had fallen into the river, but instead of decaying, it had turned the villagers of River God Village into Zombie Ghosts, trapping them in place.

There were still many points of doubt, but that didn't stop Li Mo from coveting the Bizarre Beast's corpse.

Even if he didn't use it to nourish the Ghost Tiger Tattoo, selling the Bizarre Beast corpse at the Black Market would fetch a considerable number of spirit stones.

Li Mo sat beneath the Banyan tree, deep in thought.

The Ghost Tiger, meanwhile, circled the Waking Lion, constantly provoking its ferocity.

Wang Baoshan dared not disturb the True Man and busied himself with the villagers, hurriedly preparing the instruments and costumes needed for the temple fair.

He felt as if he had returned to over a decade ago. The once-every-five-years Welcoming the River God ceremony had required nearly all of River God Village's manpower, a tradition that had lasted over a thousand years.

"Aid the Tiger in its Cruelty, aid the Tiger in its Cruelty..."

Wang Baoshan closed his eyes in pain, then forced himself to rally and step outside the Ancestral Hall.

The time agreed upon with Li Mo had not yet come, but he had already begun to beat the Lion Drum. The dull, muffled sound echoed through the water.

The villagers did not hesitate for a moment, following Wang Baoshan in the Lion Dance.

"Clang-dong-clang, clang-dong-clang-dong-clang-dong-clang..."

The Waking Lion grew increasingly frantic. It wasn't just the Ghost Tiger's provocation; the sound of gongs and drums also caused it unbearable pain.

"ROAR!!!"

The Waking Lion slammed its head into the Banyan tree. Blood mixed with Brain Matter oozed down, and the withered Banyan tree unexpectedly sprouted a trace of vitality.

A deafening tiger's roar erupted without cause from within River God Village. Wang Baoshan struck the drum even harder, as if pouring his very life into the Drumstick in his hand.

The Waking Lion bit into the Banyan tree, sucking up the plasma-like liquid within the trunk.

Dense, clustered tumors bulged out, followed by the faces of five villagers, their expressions twisted in agony, accompanied by over a dozen arms propping up the ground.

Crack, crack, crack...

Bones ground together. A fissure suddenly split open along the Waking Lion's spine, as if some monster was using it to slowly break free from its restraints.

Li Mo hummed the tune of the Lion Dance, flicking a Miasma Silk Thread from his Magic Finger. As the water currents surged, the Waking Lion froze in place.

The Waking Lion was at a critical point of advancement, about to evolve into a Childhood Stage Bizarre Beast.

Li Mo's intervention seemed perfectly timed.

The Waking Lion opened its gaping maw, but with a surge of water, its head slid clean off its neck. The surrounding waters were stained a dark red.

Swoosh!

The Miasma Silk Thread lashed out again.

The bark of the Banyan tree split open, revealing a mass of bone and flesh—the head of the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast.

As the Tiger Head was exposed, the rest of its body parts also became active.

For a moment, tiger roars rang out without end.

Li Mo's action was like poking a hornet's nest. River God Village, which had maintained a fragile balance, plunged into uncontrollable chaos.

The Tiger Head split apart and reassembled, barely piecing itself into a complete skull.

Wang Baoshan's consciousness slowly sank, and he beat the Lion Drum purely on instinct.

Just then, he heard Li Mo's loud shout: "My Sworn Brother asks what hour it is, the Kan trigram marks the Jia Yin. The twenty-fifth of the seventh month, born in the Zi and Chou hours, the Geng Shen is off by a breath."

Wang Baoshan jolted awake and screamed hoarsely: "Welcome the River God!!!"

"Woo... woo... woo..."

The Ghost Tiger could no longer contain itself. Its two-meter-plus body lunged at the Tiger Head, swallowing the Bizarre Beast's remains in one gulp, its aura boiling over.

The Tiger Head churned violently inside the Ghost Tiger's body, but before the latter could suppress it, the remaining Bizarre Beast carcasses from the village all burrowed up from underground.

The carcasses drew close to one another, attempting to reassemble into a whole.

"Fox."

Li Mo's flesh and blood withered slightly as the Crimson Fox emerged from his left arm, coiling around the Tiger Leg with visible discomfort while wrapped in river water.

He himself used Miasma Silk Thread to block the Tiger Tail.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Wang Baoshan stared dazedly at the Ghost Tiger, his memories filled with images of lion dances; the Ghost Tiger, set against the backdrop of gongs and drums, grew fiercer with every battle.

Li Mo glanced at the villagers—their bodies were all weakening in unison.

He continued casting Paint Green Clothes, his frame visibly shriveling as the Ghost Tiger swelled to over five meters tall, while sharp blade-like spikes extended from its joints.

"ROAR!!!"

Wang Baoshan felt his own life slipping away: "My Sworn Brother asked me, where does the lion come out?"

"The lion comes out of River God Village, Nine Layers of Stone Slabs, Nine Layers of Mountains."

The Ghost Tiger savagely tore apart the Tiger Body, its tail instantly piercing through its own flesh to completely suppress the struggling Tiger Head within.

Li Mo hurled the Tiger Leg toward the Ghost Tiger, watching its surging momentum and shaking his head.

The Ghost Tiger dispatched the Tiger Leg in no time, and the Crimson Fox pinned the Tiger Tail beneath its paws; the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast was thus divided and conquered.

Wang Baoshan nodded gratefully at Li Mo.

He raised both thumbs, brought them close together in a gesture of salute used by street performers, and murmured, "True Man, may your name echo through the ages."

The moment his words fell, the villagers and the houses beneath the water vanished together, the sound of lion dance instruments still seeming to echo in Li Mo's ears.

Li Mo withdrew most of his Flesh and Blood Spiritual Power, the Ghost Tiger shrinking back to two meters, then spat out the Tiger Head, whose features were now indistinguishable.

"Wasted a tenth of my Flesh and Blood Spiritual Power."

Li Mo gave the Ghost Tiger a firm slap; the latter drooped its head in grievance, while the Crimson Fox strutted arrogantly around it.

With the Bizarre Beast dead, all the strange phenomena of River God Village vanished without a trace.

The leftover Bizarre Beast carcass chunks were so valuable that even Li Mo, a human-shaped mine, couldn't help but show a burning greed in his eyes.

"Speaking of which..."

"The Bizarre Beast was probably deliberately sealed in River God Village, wasn't it? Were they experimenting on whether Zombie Ghosts could counter the Mountain Lord Bizarre Beast?"

Li Mo collected the Bizarre Beast remains into his Storage Bag, then swam toward the riverbank, a sudden unease stirring in his heart.

By the time he surfaced, his expression was nothing but a helpless bitter smile.

Li Mo's heart leaped—the Spirit Tablet in his bosom stirred. He nervously pressed the tablet to his forehead, and a transmission from Steward Hu flooded into his mind.

"Huh?"

Li Mo held the Spirit Tablet in silence for a long time, hesitating for a good while before finally sending Steward Hu the detailed account of River God Village.

Steward Hu did not reply; this matter was likely left at that.