Chapter 20: The Five-Colored Dragon-Dog Pan Hu

At the edge of the black fog in Black Cloud Marsh.

It was not only Xi Luo and Li Boyang who were locked in battle with those corrupted creatures.

As more and more corrupted creatures crawled out from the black fog, the spirits and monsters living nearby basically realized that danger had arrived.

Among these hundred mountains, a mountain god as stubborn as Xi Luo was, after all, a rarity.

When the mountains and rivers they resided in were eroded by the black fog.

The vast majority of mountain gods and river gods made the same decision as the monsters—to stay far away from the black fog.

However, just as there were exceptions like Xi Luo among the mountain gods.

Naturally, there was no lack of those among the monsters who went against the tide.

Pan Hu, who had the head of a dog and the body of a man, was just such a special existence.

As an existence among monsters already capable of sensing the Qi of the earth's veins, Pan Hu was only one step away from transforming into a dragon-dog and advancing to become a mountain god.

Alas, with the appearance of the black fog, Pan Hu, unwilling to leave Yunfu Mountain like the other mountain gods and monsters, had no choice but to fight alone.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

One could see Pan Hu draped in a five-colored robe, wielding a millstone-sized axe.

Even when facing the siege of multiple corrupted creatures, he displayed a formidable combat prowess unlike that of ordinary monsters.

With every swing of the axe, he could directly split the skull of a corrupted creature.

Looking at those corrupted creatures, apart from the characteristic of not fearing death after being corrupted, their physical fitness was not even as good as that of normal beasts.

With one side waning and the other waxing, the black fog within a hundred-meter radius seemed to be deterred by Pan Hu, failing to spread toward the direction of Yunfu Mountain for a long time.

"Awoo!"

Just after Pan Hu split the head of another corrupted creature, he suddenly let out a long howl toward the sky.

The howl, sounding like both a wolf and a dog, spread in all directions.

Immediately following, more wolf and dog howls came from the nearby mountain forests and villages, responding to Pan Hu's call.

"Roar!"

At this very moment, a tiger's roar suddenly came from the black fog.

The next second, a pitch-black tiger, its body corrupted and revealing white bones, lunged out.

Due to its characteristic of being almost one with the black fog.

Pan Hu, who was calling out to his kind, was caught off guard and was actually struck by the opponent's claw.

Rip...

In an instant, the sharp claws left a wound on Pan Hu's body that was deep enough to reach the bone.

Thanks to Pan Hu's rich combat experience, he retreated and rolled at the first moment, dissipating the force on his body.

Otherwise, with just that one blow, even someone as tough as Pan Hu would likely have had his bones shattered and lost his ability to fight entirely.

Even so, looking at the pitch-black tiger whose ferocity had not diminished.

Pan Hu still gripped the millstone-sized axe in his hands, his heart already prepared for a death match.

"Awoo!"

Because Pan Hu recognized this pitch-black tiger.

It was originally an individual in this mountain forest that was about to transform into a monster.

Now, however, due to the spread of this black fog, it had been corrupted into this ugly state.

The gap between monsters and beasts is actually not as large as ordinary people imagine.

At the very least, as the overlord of a stretch of mountain forest, even those monsters that had already transformed would not dare to easily provoke this pitch-black tiger.

Whoosh!

Just as the tiger was about to pounce on Pan Hu again, a crisp sound of something piercing the air suddenly arrived.

In the blink of an eye, the tiger, sensing danger, wanted to dodge to the side.

But it was still half a beat too slow, and was pierced through the neck by a golden stream of light, its head and body separated.

"Roar..."

Even as its head rolled to the ground, the tiger was still trying to let out a roar.

It had no realization at all that its body and head had long since been separated.

"..."

Seeing this, Pan Hu, who had witnessed everything, did not relax his vigilance.

Instead, he looked up at the sky even more nervously, staring at the golden stream of light still circling in the sky.

"..."

It was not until Pan Hu noticed that a crimson figure seemed to have appeared in the direction where the golden stream of light was heading.

Only then did he set his mind at ease and lower the millstone-sized axe in his hands.

Vaguely, Pan Hu seemed to hear that crimson figure saying something.

"You're asking about that dog pup?"

"He is the adopted son of the old woman Gao from the Gao Family Village next door, and can be considered an anomaly among monsters..."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

[Adopted son? Monster?]

[These two terms, which sound like they have nothing to do with each other, actually appeared on the same person.]

To tell the truth, although Li Boyang had repeatedly overestimated the absurdity of this world, he still did not expect that a monster would be a human's adopted son.

Just from the way Pan Hu fought to the death without retreating, it was not hard for Li Boyang to imagine the deep affection between him and his adoptive mother.

"What's so strange about this?"

"If you really want to talk about strange, didn't your father and mother raise a freak like you?"

Glancing at the self-unaware golden sword pellet, Xi Luo's retort was as sharp as ever.

"Apart from the different way of being born, you and that dog pup are actually not much different."

Traveling through the mountain forest one after the other, Li Boyang finally managed to roughly understand Pan Hu's origins during Xi Luo's subsequent narration.

About twenty years ago, the old woman Gao of Gao Family Village suffered from an ear ailment, and a vesicle swelled up.

Due to the lack of the most basic medical conditions and common sense, the old woman Gao did not pay attention to the ear ailment at first.

Until the ear ailment became increasingly severe, swelling enough to affect her daily life.

The old woman Gao pricked the vesicle and picked out a hard-shelled insect, its size like that of a silkworm cocoon.

Perhaps out of curiosity, or perhaps just simply being carefree...

The old woman Gao just casually placed the hard-shelled insect in a gourd ladle in her home and never bothered with it again.

Until the spring of the following year, the hard-shelled insect hatched into a dog pup, its fur appearing in five different colors.

At first, the old woman Gao just raised the dog pup as an ordinary guard dog.

However, as time passed, the old woman Gao gradually discovered that this dog pup was unusually intelligent, and could even understand her words.

Logically, the widowed old woman Gao raised this dog pup as her own son.

For the old woman Gao, who had no children of her own.

The appearance of the dog pup undoubtedly filled the void of her later years.

Thus, twenty years passed in the blink of an eye.

The dog pup from back then had also grown up day by day, and began to learn to walk on two legs like the old woman Gao.

Because the dog pup was born in a gourd ladle, the old woman Gao simply called him "Pan Hu."

To this day, Pan Hu had long since become a member of Gao Family Village, accompanying the old woman Gao by her side all year round.

To tell the truth, if it weren't for the fact that the old woman Gao was advanced in years and truly could not bear the hardship of leaving her homeland.

Pan Hu likely would not have appeared frequently at the edge of the black fog, repeatedly preventing those corrupted creatures from invading in the direction of Gao Family Village.

Monthly Ticket/Recommendation Ticket

Thanks to the big shot Yi An Yi Wang You for the 100 tip!

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(End of this chapter)