Time flew like a shuttle, and eighty years passed in the blink of an eye.
In the northwestern corner of the Profound Moon Mountains stood a dense azure forest. Fallen leaves lay several feet thick, while Sky-Reaching Trees more than a hundred zhang tall rose everywhere. Their luxuriant branches blocked out much of the sunlight, making the forest dark and damp.
A ten-zhang-long python slithered out of a dense thicket. Its body was striped black and gold, and a huge black fleshy crest protruded from its head. It flicked its tongue from time to time as it slowly crawled forward.
After a while, the giant python stopped. Its dark-green eyes fixed intently on a half-zhang-tall white ginseng more than a hundred zhang away.
The giant python suddenly sped up and moved toward the white ginseng.
As soon as it approached within ten zhang of the white ginseng, two Yellow Giant Hands suddenly burst from the ground and pinned down the python's head and tail. The white ginseng transformed into specks of white light and vanished. It had clearly been an illusion.
Sensing that something was wrong, the giant python twisted its massive body without pause, but to no avail. It turned its head and spat out a stream of black flame that landed on the Yellow Giant Hands, yet they remained unaffected.
A mound of earth bulged from the ground, and a tall Yellow-Shirted Youth emerged from beneath it.
The Yellow-Shirted Youth had a jade-like face, sword-shaped brows, bright eyes, and a high nose. A white jade belt was wrapped around his waist, with a palm-sized Yellow Gourd hanging from it. A jade lock hung on his chest, glowing with yellow light. A miniature Flood Dragon was carved into the lock, and its astonishing Spiritual Energy revealed it to be