Chapter 109: The True Form of White Bones Battles the Heavenly Dog

The moment the Celestial Dog descended, the chaos had only just begun. As a creature of the Ghost Realm, it naturally exuded an aura that drove mortals to madness.

Most terrifying of all, this aura was contagious.

As it perched upon the eaves of Hangzhou, residents who felt the commotion rushed out of their homes, their gazes instinctively drawn to the beast. First, an inexplicable terror surged into their hearts, followed by their bodies stiffening. They stood rooted to the spot, frozen, with bizarre smiles plastered across their faces. Under the influence of this maddening aura, within moments, hundreds of people within a few hundred meters of the Celestial Dog stood motionless like puppets.

In the distance, the residents of Hangzhou dared not approach, scrambling instead toward the corners of the city. Anyone who fell within the ghost’s sphere of influence would, without exception, quickly turn into a walking corpse. Faced with such a crisis, Wen Meng commanded the bailiffs to isolate the streets, using debris to pile up makeshift walls to prevent others from getting near.

Moonlight bathed the earth, and the Celestial Dog stood within it, drawing upon the lunar energy to bolster its strength. Its body began to swell, and its influence of madness continued to spread. It opened its maw, and like a toad shooting out its tongue, a long, slender appendage lashed out, coiling around the people on the ground and dragging them into its mouth. Only when these ordinary people felt the pain of being devoured did their consciousness flicker for a brief second, though it was to no avail.

Daoist Hou was the closest. Known for his timid and cautious nature, he inexplicably rushed forward. He dug his sharp fingernails into the wall, scaled the roof, and stared at the Celestial Dog with a grave expression, his face a complex mask of hidden thoughts.

The creature clearly noticed him. After swallowing a dozen more people, the Celestial Dog locked its gaze onto Daoist Hou, as if warning him that this was its territory. Daoist Hou swallowed hard, his palms slick with cold sweat, but he did not retreat. Instead, he stepped forward, closing the distance. He had his own concerns; Hangzhou was currently like a caged beast, with no way out. If he allowed the Celestial Dog to grow stronger, he would die regardless, as the ghost would soon slaughter the entire city. It was better to take a gamble. His corpse-transformation ability, if nothing else, was exceptionally resilient.

With this thought, Daoist Hou quickened his pace, channeling his yin energy. His spine began to glow with a faint, searing heat. Unlike standard ghost-path arts, his own technique caused his body temperature to rise—a unique trait of his Drought Demon bloodline.

As the flow of yin energy within Daoist Hou reached its limit, the cloth shoes on his feet were crushed into rags. The scraps ignited without a flame, quickly turning to ash. From then on, every step Daoist Hou took left a scorched footprint on the ground.

The Celestial Dog licked its chops, human blood dripping from its mouth onto the eaves like a sudden drizzle. It looked at Daoist Hou with indifference, seemingly displeased by the scent he emitted.

Daoist Hou stopped two meters away. The sickly green hue of his fingernails surged toward his head along with his blood; when it reached his throat, he spat it out with force. A puff of green miasma billowed out, coating the Celestial Dog’s face. This smoke was the corpse-poison Daoist Hou had accumulated for a long time. While useless against a ghost of this caliber, it was low in damage but high in insult.

The Celestial Dog’s twisted, human-like face broke out in bloody blisters under the effect of the poison. One of its eyeballs popped out, only to be scooped up by its tongue and swallowed back down. A new eye quickly sprouted in its place. The creature glared at Daoist Hou with eyes full of human-like malice, and from its open mouth came the chilling sound of a child weeping.

Daoist Hou’s scalp tingled, but he knew he had achieved his goal; he had successfully drawn its full aggression. He turned and fled, his speed exceeding his own limits—he wished he had grown six legs to run faster.

The Celestial Dog leaped from the eaves. Its massive body moved with surprising agility, but Daoist Hou kept darting through narrow alleys, avoiding capture. His plan was to lure the creature out of the city; the damage it could cause within the city was too great, and besides, Zhou Bai was in that direction. He knew he couldn't handle such a formidable ghost, but Zhou Bai, who had already mastered his true form, would likely have little trouble. Most importantly, why should he always be the one to suffer?

However, Daoist Hou had overestimated himself. Zombies were not naturally gifted with speed. Moreover, many low-level zombies suffered from stiffening joints over time, eventually reduced to hopping, which was why they were commonly known as "hopping corpses."

Just as Daoist Hou was about to reach the city gates, a massive shadow leaped over his head and landed before him. He swallowed hard. The Celestial Dog’s terrifying human face was now less than half a meter away, and he could even smell the thick, foul stench of the ghost’s breath.

"If you're going to die, you might as well go out with a bang!"

Daoist Hou gritted his teeth, ignited all his yin energy, and rushed toward the Celestial Dog, showing signs of partial corpse-transformation. But against the beast, his strength was negligible. With a single flick of its tail, Daoist Hou coughed up blood and was sent flying into the air.

The Celestial Dog seemed to treat him like a toy, not in a hurry to kill him, but repeatedly batting him into the air with its tail. Fortunately, his corpse-transformation ability affected his entire body; while lacking in offense, his defense was sufficient to barely endure the onslaught.

After several rounds, Daoist Hou saw stars, unsure of how many bones he had broken. Just as he felt he could no longer hold on, the Celestial Dog suddenly stopped, and Daoist Hou fell heavily to the ground. His face, swollen into a pig’s head, cracked open an eye to see a familiar figure striding toward them: it was Zhou Bai.

"Damn you, Zhou Bai! If you hadn't arrived, this old Daoist would have been done for..."

Facing Zhou Bai, the Celestial Dog reacted as if encountering a formidable enemy—the exact opposite of its attitude toward Daoist Hou. It assumed an aggressive stance, exposing as much of its body to the moonlight as possible.

Zhou Bai took a deep breath. As he drew closer to the Celestial Dog, pale, ghostly flames ignited, quickly spreading over his entire body. Nearby houses began to catch fire, the flames threatening to grow out of control. He knew his Bone Dharma true form was not yet perfectly mastered, and using it in the city would lead to unnecessary casualties.

Within a few breaths, the flesh on Zhou Bai’s body vanished under the searing heat of the ghost fire, leaving behind nothing but a crystalline, white skeleton.