Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Beast Demon That Feeds on Corpse Demons

At that time, Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan had only been at Qingfeng Monastery for less than a year. They did not yet possess the Demon-Slaying Sword on their backs, nor did Wei Xiaofan have the Execution Bow. The martial arts and immortal techniques they were learning from Master Xuanzhe were only at the most elementary stage, so naturally, they were no match for this monstrous beast. The two brothers had no choice but to cling tightly to the tree branches while the creature rammed the trunk again and again, hoping it would eventually tire of the effort and leave. Only then would they dare to come down.

Unexpectedly, after a dozen or so heavy blows, the beast, failing to shake them loose, circled the tree several times and then lay down at the base, motionless, as if determined to wait for Wei Xiaoping and Wei Xiaofan to descend of their own accord.

Seeing the creature sprawled beneath the tree, refusing to leave, the brothers grew anxious. At this rate, who knew how long the stalemate would last? If the beast remained, would they be stranded in the branches for as long as it stayed? If their master came looking and found them missing, wouldn’t he be frantic with worry?

Fortunately, Wei Xiaofan had been cautious enough to bring along a couple of alarm rockets when they left the monastery. The brothers climbed higher into the treetop and fired the rockets into the sky. Senior Brother Yang Jianhui, seeing the signal from Qingfeng Monastery, came with other disciples to drive the beast away, thus rescuing them from their predicament.

Recalling this, Wei Xiaofan compared the strange howls now echoing from Black River Prison to the cries of that previous beast; the two sounded remarkably similar. He also remembered, with some regret, that after being rescued, he had forgotten to ask Senior Brother Yang Jianhui what the beast’s name was.

“Chief Ma, are you sure that howling belongs to a Wolf-Lion Beast? Why would such a monster appear in Black River Prison?” Wei Xiaoping asked.

“Absolutely, General,” Chief Ma replied. “The reason you hear that cry from Black River Prison is likely because these Wolf-Lion Beasts killed too many people in the world of the living. After death, King Yan refused to let their souls reincarnate, so they were cast into Black River Prison as punishment.”

By now, the bubbles in the center of Black River Prison had grown larger and larger, the waves surging ever higher, and the howling grew deafening. Soon, from the bubbling waters emerged four enormous, grayish-white beasts. Each had the head of a wolf—massive, nearly the size of a grown ox’s—and behind the wolf’s head, the neck and body were the spitting image of a lion’s, equally immense, even larger than a full-grown bull.

“They look just like the monster Wei Xiaofan and I encountered in the mortal realm,” Wei Xiaoping thought. “Only these are far bigger, and seem even more ferocious.”

The four Wolf-Lion Beasts burst from the water and charged toward the surrounding prison ghosts. The ghosts, upon seeing the monsters, ran even faster, wailing in terror. When the beasts reached them, they opened their gaping jaws and seized a ghost in each bite. With a powerful shake, they tore the unfortunate souls apart, flinging the halves into the river or swallowing them whole.

All the while, the four Wolf-Lion Beasts rampaged through the crowd, their howls thunderous. In the time it would take to drink a bowl of water, more than a hundred ghosts were either torn limb from limb, decapitated, or cut in two, their remains cast into the black waters, trampled underfoot by the fleeing masses.

Chief Ma the Hellhound and Ox Dahua had, before the appearance of these monsters, managed to fend off the ghosts drifting in with the current, who were only desperate to cling to Wei Xiaoping, Chief Ma, or Ox Dahua, hoping to escape Black River Prison. Most of the ghosts had no intention of fighting the pair. But once the four Wolf-Lion Beasts appeared, their savage nature turned even on the ghosts, mauling and devouring them with abandon.

Though the souls imprisoned here under King Yan’s decree had long since grown indifferent to life and death, witnessing their companions being eaten alive filled them with terror. Imagining themselves suffering the same fate, they scattered in all directions, heedless of their own safety. Some, too slow to flee, were trampled into the river by the panic-stricken mob.

Seeing the Wolf-Lion Beasts’ ferocity, the ghosts fled even faster. The crowd had already been dense, making it difficult for Chief Ma and Ox Dahua to manage, but now the ghosts surged forward in a frenzy, overwhelming the pair and forcing them to retreat as they fought.

Hovering above, Wei Xiaoping saw Chief Ma and Ox Dahua slowly falling back, so he called for them to leap up and join him in the air. Just as they did, one of the Wolf-Lion Beasts looked up, saw them ascending, and with a roar, lunged at them, jaws wide.

Seeing the beast leap up, Wei Xiaoping thrust Chief Ma and Ox Dahua aside with his left hand, while his right reached for his back. Instantly, the Demon-Slaying Sword appeared in his grasp. Raising the sword high, he brought it down in a blazing arc toward the attacking Wolf-Lion Beast.

The beast was already midair, but as the sword’s radiance slashed toward it, it twisted its head and body, veering aside to narrowly avoid the blow. Wei Xiaoping was astonished; for a creature to dodge in midair, where nothing could be used as leverage, was no trivial feat. Could this monster be some sort of divine beast or spirit in disguise?

Having missed his mark, Wei Xiaoping immediately checked his swing, withdrew the sword, and turned to face the beast again. The Wolf-Lion Beast that had dodged his attack plunged into the Black River, crashing down on several ghosts below and vanishing beneath the surface with them.

Moments later it resurfaced, seized a floating ghost corpse, and swallowed it whole. Since emerging from Black River Prison, these Wolf-Lion Beasts had already slain and devoured countless ghostly remains.

Watching the beast feast yet again, Wei Xiaoping was both baffled and filled with revulsion.