Chapter 124

Although there was no gourd on his head and his clothing style was different, everyone still thought of the eldest baby from the Gourd Babies.

"That evil thing?" Qin Menglan asked.

"Not like it, not." Tang Luo looked at the red-clothed chubby child who resembled the eldest baby approaching and said.

"You..."

The red-clothed chubby child, the eldest baby, stopped his steps, looked at Tang Luo and the others, and slowly spoke.

His skin was fair, but his appearance was truly ordinary; the plateau red added no cuteness, his eyes were squeezed into a slit by the flesh on his face, and the gaze bursting out was extremely cold.

"All of you will die."

After a pause, the red-clothed eldest baby continued.

"You little rabbit bastard!"

Regardless of whether he was the eldest baby or not, shouting to fight and kill right from the start, with the style of gods and demons walking, he would not be polite.

Jin Gang loudly cursed, took a step forward, indicating that this brat would be educated by him.

Just now, having lost momentum to Tang Luo's stone pillar and nearly leaving a psychological shadow, he perfectly regained confidence through this battle.

Even if it was the eldest baby, comparing strength, Jin Gang had never been afraid—unwilling to lose.

The red-clothed eldest baby's small eyes looked at Jin Gang, and a dangerous, cold aura came over.

Jin Gang suddenly felt as if he were being stared at by a poisonous snake; he shouted loudly, did not retreat but advanced, and threw a straightforward punch without any flourish.

A sharp sound of breaking air.

Clearly a fist, yet it gave the feeling of a sharp weapon.

This is one of Jin Gang's skills, the Piercing Punch—fast speed, high explosive power, and able to concentrate force into a point; though it looks like a punch, it is actually a "thrust"!

Facing Jin Gang's punch, the red-clothed eldest baby did not dodge or evade, and likewise threw a punch.

The difference in their physiques was huge—one fist downward, one upward—making it look like a burly man bullying a child.

When the fists collided, even a gust of energy surged outward.

Accompanied by the crisp cracking sound of bones, Jin Gang's eyes widened, and he retreated several steps.

His right arm showed an abnormal twisted state; one impact collision, and it was directly crippled!

However, the red-clothed eldest baby before him was also injured—a large hollow appeared on his palm; he stepped back one step, his wooden face showed no expression, merely staring at his own palm.

Inside the hollow, not a drop of blood flowed out.

"Such strong power!" Jin Gang's face turned ferocious, "Again! Will I lose to you?"

Hard against hard, neither gained an advantage, yet Jin Gang lost in his most confident strength—how could he bear it?

He charged again, his intact left fist once more bombarding the eldest baby!

A man should face forward head-on, punch to the flesh—this is the battle of a true man!

The eldest baby did not show weakness either, and threw another punch from below upward, aimed at Jin Gang's fist.

Just as the fists were about to collide, Jin Gang's fist rotated, palm facing upward, while he lowered his body, changing from a straight downward punch to a hook punch.

Energy surged from the fist, transforming into a faintly visible dragon shape!

Skill: Rising Dragon Punch!

"I..." Zhao Gailun stared wide-eyed, so shameless?

The eldest baby was hit on the chin by the Rising Dragon Punch, his body leapt into the air, and his head exploded under the violent energy's bombardment and tearing.

Accompanied by the dragon's roar, the headless corpse of the eldest baby rose into the air and fell, crashing to the ground.

"Hmph." Jin Gang coldly snorted, shook his hand.

He is a brute, but not brainless; those who take him as a brainless brute who only knows hard collisions are already dead, just like this eldest baby.

"I don't know if there are fate fragments." Jin Gang looked at the eldest baby's corpse, suddenly thought of it, and quickly walked over.

Just as he approached the eldest baby's corpse, the Heavenly Roaring Dog suddenly let out a warning cry.

Jin Gang's heart immediately sensed danger, about to retreat, but unfortunately it was still too late.

At the severed neck of the eldest baby, several snakes as thick as an adult man's forearm suddenly burst out, opened their mouths, and bit into Jin Gang.

Then, the five snake heads flicked, flinging Jin Gang toward Tang Luo and the others.

Zhao Gailun rushed forward, reached out to catch Jin Gang, and after retreating several steps, managed to dissipate the force.

"He's poisoned!"

Seeing Jin Gang's skin turn purple-black at a visible speed, Zhao Gailun exclaimed in shock.

Poisonous snakes!

If it comes to treachery, the eldest baby is in no way inferior to Jin Gang.

The poisoned Jin Gang had his eyes tightly shut, his breath rapidly weakening, inhalation becoming less than exhalation, and his body began to stiffen.

He looked as if he were about to die, yet the last breath simply would not go down.

On the other side, the eldest baby slowly rose up; on his headless body, five entangled, coiling poisonous snakes replaced his head, emitting a "hissing" sound.

Tang Luo walked to Jin Gang's side, reached out, and performed healing light therapy.

The purple-black on Jin Gang's skin quickly faded; in a moment, he opened his eyes and recovered, including his right hand from earlier being restored as well.

After regaining his footing, Jin Gang moved his body slightly and said to Tang Luo: "Thank you, Master."

"Hmm, go on, benefactor." Tang Luo said, having saved him so many times, Jin Gang basically no longer provides merit power.

At least this mission, Tang Luo has almost squeezed Jin Gang dry.

Jin Gang looked at the eldest baby, whose snake heads kept twisting in midair, and charged forward again.

But this time, it was not just him alone; others also similarly rushed forward and acted.

Although the red-clothed giant snake formed from the eldest baby's transformation could match Jin Gang in brute strength, in other aspects it was rather ordinary.

It had no immortal body, super strong recovery, nor more special abilities.

More importantly, it won't undergo any massive enlargement, nor will it stubbornly try to match strength with the opponent's strongest force; dealing with it isn't difficult.

After being surrounded by several demonic beings and holding on for a while, its five snake heads were destroyed, and it collapsed straight down, announcing its death.

"This definitely isn't the big doll..." Zhao Gailun said, his childhood cannot be ruined.

"I'm worried now—this half-human, half-snake thing, there probably aren't seven of them, right?" Though it lacks the ability to enlarge, its formidable strength and appearance clearly resemble the terrifying "snake-altered version" of the Big Doll from the Calabash Brothers.

Thinking along these lines, there might even be six more like it!

"No problem—you're also six people, so it's six versus six." Tang Luo said.

"And there's the snake demon." Zhao Gailun reminded.

"I'll handle the snake demon." Tang Luo said with a smile.

"Then isn't that five versus six?" Zhao Gailun wouldn't make a mistake on such simple arithmetic.

"And there's the dog." Tang Luo pointed to the Heavenly Howling Dog.

Zhao Gailun nearly spat blood directly—does this little cat count too?

After all that fuss, in Master Xuanzang's mind, are we and his pet cat on the same level?

"Actually, the snake demon might not be our concern, I think. To rescue Grandpa, we don't necessarily have to confront the snake demon head-on; dealing with those strange Calabash Brothers would be about the same." Qin Menglan said.

The snake demon is Tang Luo's target; it has nothing to do with us.

"If these count as Calabash Brothers, then they're all like the Seventh Brother—turned into 'our own people' by the snake demon. Then what about that purple calabash we encountered? Could it be that the old man living in that hut isn't Grandpa at all, but actually the snake demon?" Li Qing suddenly said.

"I don't want to think about it, I don't want to think about it."

After thinking for a while, lacking sufficient information, relying solely on imagination won't yield any conclusion.

It'd be better to follow Tang Luo and the Vajra's style—when in doubt, just charge in.

"Wait a bit, wait for these earth-binding spirits to reappear, see if your grandfather is among them, and you can also wait for your skills to cool down." Tang Luo said.

"With this big doll appearing, we should have already been discovered." Qin Menglan said.

Would the snake demon remain unresponsive to such a commotion? This big doll is likely sent by her.

"Exactly, we're also waiting for the other Calabash Brothers—the calabash snakes." Tang Luo said, finally able to wait with advantage, ready to lure them in.

"Would the snake demon really be foolish enough to send them out one by one to die?" Zhao Gailun said.

Just now, they surrounded and beat the big doll to death—don't be fooled by how easy it looked.

It was because the Vajra started with a "one-for-one exchange," greatly weakening the opponent; in single combat, even victory would be a pyrrhic win.

They can surround and attack, and so can the opponent.

"The more, the better—settle it all at once." Tang Luo said.

"Alright."

Tang Luo made this decision, and no one objected; everyone scattered to the side, restored their strength, and waited for the possible battle to come.

Tang Luo walked through the village, saw villagers who weren't "fully dead," kicked them, and made them revive sooner.

With Tang Luo's help, after about five minutes, the earth-binding spirits formed from the villagers revived one by one, rushing toward Tang Luo with greater strength but fewer numbers than before.

"Hungry..."

Still a weak, feeble voice, filled with endless exhaustion.

"Indeed, going out means death." Tang Luo grabbed one earth-binding spirit with one hand, broke through its strong resistance directly, and threw it outside the village.

This time, the death of the earth-binding spirit was different.

Everyone could see a scene like melting snow—the earth-binding spirits began turning into specks of starlight, revealing at the last moment an illusory ordinary human face, carrying a hint of relief as they turned into nothingness.

Some merit power arose, absorbed by the Merit Jade Lotus.

"Amitabha."

Tang Luo stood at the village's edge, palms together, "The monk here will help you attain liberation."

Thousand Hands cannot defend!

All the earth-binding spirits that rushed forward were grabbed by Tang Luo and thrown outside the village.

For a moment, the sky was filled entirely with specks of starlight.

"Thousand-Armed Guanyin?"

"Thousand-Armed Tathagata?!"

Everyone stared wide-eyed—what skill is this? It feels even more exaggerated than the "Tathagata Palm" descending from the heavens.

"Finally, there's a bit of the look of a high monk..." Qin Menglan murmured.

Under the sky full of starlight, the continuously liberated resentful spirits, the compassionate back of one who pities heaven and mourns humanity.

"There's still someone trying to escape! Come on! What are you running for? The monk's liberation technique is top-notch!"

Before Qin Menglan could finish her sigh, they saw Tang Luo eagerly charging forward, grabbing a special earth-binding spirit—one they had never seen before.

Unlike other earth-binding spirit villagers, this one had a bat-like body but a human head.

A withered, aged face, yet retaining a girl's hairstyle.

"You look different." Tang Luo said.

Qin Menglan and the others also walked over, staring at the special earth-binding spirit in Tang Luo's hand.

"This one might be able to communicate?"

"... I don't want to die, I want to live, it's not my fault—they forced me. I originally wanted to warn you." This earth-binding spirit kept struggling in Tang Luo's hand.

What came out was no longer just "Hungry," but a full sentence—like pleading, like defending oneself.

"That letter..." Li Qing immediately understood, "Was it written by her?"

"I'll leave it to you to ask." Tang Luo threw the earth-binding spirit to Qin Menglan and the others.

Everyone stayed in the village, continuously talking with this speaking, somewhat confused earth-binding spirit—barely not completely mad—hoping to gain more useful information from her.

They questioned her for a full half hour.

Qin Menglan and the others only got a rough outline.

The snake spirit's surname is Bai; she used to live in the village, got along well with everyone, and had a happy family, but later the village encountered trouble, her identity was exposed, and then an old monk was drawn in, which ultimately led to the current situation.

This plot, however, is somewhat like the Legend of the White Snake, and has nothing to do with the Calabash Brothers.