Slaying the Demon Serpent, Guarding the Cave Abode

Slaying the Demon Serpent, Guarding the Cave Abode

A hiss roared out.

The tightly coiled body of the Black Fire Serpent, over twenty zhang long, suddenly unfurled.

Its massive body charged at Jiang Sheng with unmatched momentum. Opening its savage, bloodstained maw, it unleashed a barrage of fireballs.

The dense fireballs fell like a rain of flames, and in the blink of an eye, deafening explosions rang out.

Sparks flew, and smoke billowed.

Under the bombardment of this barrage of fireballs, the once luxurious and elegant cave abode saw building after building destroyed, while every neatly arranged plant turned to drifting ash.

The cave abode, which had remained intact for centuries, was reduced to ruins in an instant.

Harried by the fireballs, Jiang Sheng continuously shifted his body. From time to time, the Azure Duckweed Sword in his hand sent out sword qi, shattering the fireballs flying toward him.

Seeing Jiang Sheng's relaxed and composed expression, the fury in Black Huan's heart grew even stronger.

Its path had always been smooth sailing. Not only had it found a spiritual treasure like the Fire Spirit Fruit to strengthen its bloodline and physique, but it had also found a heavenly treasure like the Jade-Green Lotus before opening its Purple Mansion.

No matter what, it should have successfully opened its Purple Mansion, then transformed from a roaming serpent into a flood dragon, shedding its snake body and becoming a Black Fire Flood Dragon.

Black Huan had even chosen its future cultivation ground. Wasn't the eight-thousand-li Taiping River outside Qingping Mountain perfectly suited for it to command water and transform into a flood dragon?

Yet who could have expected that, just as it was preparing to break through, a tribulation like Jiang Sheng would suddenly stand in its way?

How could Black Huan not be enraged?

Fiery drool continuously dripped from the corners of its mouth, corroding streak after streak into the fine jade floor.

To Black Huan, whose body stretched over twenty zhang, Jiang Sheng was undoubtedly no more than a tiny mosquito.

And now, that little mosquito kept buzzing around its body, unbearably irritating!

Just as Jiang Sheng shifted position again, Black Huan suddenly whipped its tail.

Its snake tail, hard as steel, howled as it tore through the air and swept across the courtyard. With one blow, the already ruined buildings along its path were completely reduced to rubble.

Facing this tail sweep carrying astonishing force, the spiritual radiance on Jiang Sheng's Azure Duckweed Sword intensified.

A streak of azure sword qi slashed out diagonally and collided with the snake tail as thick as a millstone.

The sword qi shattered, but the snake tail was also left mangled and bloody. Great swathes of scales vanished, and even the tailbone was faintly exposed.

The pain from its wounded tail continuously provoked Black Huan, making it increasingly savage.

The Black Fire Serpent bloodline boiled, and Black Huan's strength unknowingly rose several notches.

Black Huan had no time to think about why its power was still increasing. Right now, it only wanted to kill Jiang Sheng, this irritating fly.

"Die!"

Black Huan opened its jaws wide, and surging flames poured forth, covering nearly half the front courtyard in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Sheng gave a soft snort. Forming a hand seal with his left hand, he guided his spiritual power. Water vapor rose and transformed into an unbroken stream of rain needles.

As though it had encountered a torrential downpour, the raging flames Black Huan had spewed were gradually extinguished beneath the ceaseless needle-like rain. Even Black Huan's head gained a dense scattering of blood spots.

Why?

Why could it not defeat this human before it?

Why, when it was so close to opening its Purple Mansion, did someone have to appear and obstruct it?

Damn it!

The foxes deserved to die!

Humans deserved to die!

They all deserved to die!

With hope right before its eyes yet forever beyond its reach, Black Huan felt its heart filled with fury that had nowhere to vent. Savage emotions surged within it without end.

Another barrage of rain fell upon its body. The dense rain needles punctured countless wounds into Black Huan, and its steel-hard scales seemed unable to withstand such attacks, battered until they resembled a honeycomb.

Shaking its enormous head, Black Huan's eyes were now filled with brutality.

The blood within its body continuously heated, rushing madly through its veins. Black Huan's massive heart constantly pumped out streams of scorching demon blood, which mixed with demon power and coursed throughout its body.

Jiang Sheng keenly sensed Black Huan's abnormality.

"Is this... an overabundant bloodline beyond its control? Has it already begun opening its Purple Mansion unconsciously?"

At this moment, Black Huan only felt the demon power within its body surge wildly, repeatedly striking against its spine.

As waves of demon power, bolstered by its bloodline, rose against the flow from its tailbone, the surging, scorching demon power opened Black Huan's vertebrae one by one, charging straight toward its skull.

The agony of its spine being forcibly stretched apart, flesh torn, and meridians severed made Black Huan howl without cease.

As its vertebrae were opened one after another, Black Huan's already immense body shot toward thirty zhang in length.

Once Black Huan truly opened all the vertebrae throughout its body and its demon form grew beyond thirty zhang, it would truly become a creature of the Purple Mansion Realm!

Excruciating pain ran through every inch of its demon body. Scales fell away, its spine cracked open, and flesh melted apart. Black Huan was in such agony that it nearly went mad.

It needed a target upon which to vent its pain and hatred.

"Human, die! Die for me!"

Black Huan roared. Completely disregarding the fact that it was in the midst of advancing, it directly spewed out a pillar of black-red fire.

The black-red flames surged forth with terrifying ripples capable of burning everything to nothing. It seemed that touching even the slightest bit would leave nothing but ashes and bones.

A flicker of surprise crossed Jiang Sheng's eyes as he sidestepped the incoming pillar of fire.

But Black Huan had already gone completely mad, continuously spewing black-red flames to incinerate everything around it.

Great swathes of black-red fire poured down, reducing every remaining building in the cave abode to ash.

They even scorched deep pits into the walls on either side of the cave abode.

Jiang Sheng could see bubbling magma churning within those deep pits.

Bai Shang, Qing Yun, and Qingman had sensed the terrifying fluctuations coming from the cave abode and fled early.

Then they saw a pillar of fire surge out from the cave abode, black-red flames spilling dozens of zhang into the air!

That was clearly the demon fire Black Huan had spewed. Black Huan had gone mad!

Within the cave abode, Black Huan's demon fire had already covered the entire front courtyard. Everywhere the eye could see was filled with fiercely burning black-red demon fire.

The crazed Black Huan no longer considered its advancement at all. It only wanted to kill Jiang Sheng.

"Alas, the shackles of bloodline."

As Jiang Sheng spoke, his left hand formed a sword seal, two fingers sliding inch by inch across the blade.

As spiritual power continuously poured from his body into the sword, the azure lotus coiling around the Azure Duckweed Sword faintly showed signs of blooming.

A startling aura surged across the Azure Duckweed Sword, while a sharp sword intent firmly locked onto Black Huan's head.

"Very well. This poor Daoist will send you on your way."

Black Huan seemed to have gained vastly heightened senses during its advancement as well. Sensing a fatal danger rushing toward it, it gathered all its demon power and spewed forth an enormous pillar of black-red fire.

The next instant, the black-red pillar of fire met a streak of azure sword light.

The azure sword light pierced straight through the surging black-red demon fire, carrying chilling brilliance as it swept across Black Huan's body in an instant.

Invisible sword qi surged, and the raging demon fire throughout the courtyard was extinguished beneath the pressure of that sword light.

Black Huan stood dumbly with its jaws wide open. It could no longer spew demon fire.

"Who exactly are you?"

Having regained a trace of clarity, Black Huan turned to look at the Daoist who had appeared behind it.

The Daoist wore an azure robe and a jade crown, strolling as though in an idle courtyard. "This poor Daoist is Jiang Sheng, a Qi Refiner of Qingping Mountain."

"So it was you..."

A fine bloodline atop Black Huan's head gradually widened and spread, until it covered the entire head, three zhang in size. At last, the bloodline could no longer hold and split open.

Scorching demon blood fell like rain, only to be blocked by the spiritual power barrier Jiang Sheng raised.

Jiang Sheng strode over to Black Huan's enormous snake body and collected the nearly thirty-zhang demon corpse, along with all its demon blood.

"Black Huan is dead. Come in."

Hearing Jiang Sheng's voice transmission, Bai Shang and the others hurried inside.

Passing through the cave tunnel, smooth as though it had been expanded by a full circle from the demon fire's scorching, Bai Shang, Qing Yun, and Qingman arrived before the ruined cave abode and could scarcely believe their eyes.

Ash lay everywhere throughout the ruined cave abode. The walls on both sides were filled with pits scorched by fireballs, and burn marks could be seen everywhere.

The once grand and magnificent cave abode, filled with pavilions, towers, fragrant waterside halls, and winding corridors, had been half destroyed outright.

Only now did Bai Shang gain a rough understanding of just how terrifying Black Huan's strength had been.

And seeing Jiang Sheng completely unharmed, Bai Shang felt even more reverence in his heart. Black Huan had been so terrifying, yet Daoist Jiang had slain it with such ease. Just how astonishing was Daoist Jiang's strength?

"Let us go take a look at the Jade-Green Lotus."

Bai Shang hurriedly led Jiang Sheng to the rear courtyard of the ruined cave abode.

Seeing the Jade-Green Lotus preserved intact within the lotus pool, Jiang Sheng finally let out a breath of relief.

During their battle just now, both Jiang Sheng and Black Huan had instinctively avoided the rear courtyard.

Even Black Huan, driven mad by its bloodline, had continued shielding the rear courtyard until the end. That alone showed its obsession with and regard for the Jade-Green Lotus.

Now that the Jade-Green Lotus was intact and he had also gained the demon body of a Black Fire Serpent that could be considered half a step into the Purple Mansion Realm, Jiang Sheng's gains from this journey could be called perfect.

"Next, some arrangements must be made. The Jade-Green Lotus must absorb all the nourishment in this lotus pool before it can fully mature."

"There are still six months left. Nothing can go wrong here."

Bai Shang hurriedly said, "I am willing to remain here and guard this place for you, Daoist."

Yet Jiang Sheng smiled. "This poor Daoist should guard this place personally."

"After all, this is within Sea Commandery. The battle just now likely alarmed quite a few people. If this poor Daoist does not remain here, there may well be brazen fools who come knocking."

Hearing Jiang Sheng's words, Bai Shang nodded repeatedly.

"Then, Daoist Jiang, shall the four of us all guard this place?" Bai Shang asked again.

Jiang Sheng said, "This poor Daoist alone is sufficient here. The three of you may make whatever arrangements you wish."

Bai Shang said, "Daoist, you have just gone through a fierce battle. Why not let me remain outside on guard, while you continue cultivating here?"

"As for my wife and younger sister, they can either return to your Daoist temple or go support the Azure Fox Ancestral Land."

Qingman nodded. "Right now, only the old ancestor remains in the clan. It truly is not safe."

After the three foxes discussed it, Qing Yun and Qingman immediately departed.

Bai Shang then helped Jiang Sheng make some arrangements outside the cave abode, clearing away the areas affected by the battle and erasing all traces.

Afterward, Bai Shang began cultivating in the outer cave abode. Within the vast inner ruined cave abode, only Jiang Sheng remained.

By the lotus pool, Jiang Sheng took out a meditation cushion and sat cross-legged. He brought out an Essence-Gathering Pill, swallowed it, and quietly regulated his breath to nurture his qi.

"The Jade-Green Lotus still needs half a year before it matures. I only hope that nothing unexpected happens during these six months."

With that, Jiang Sheng's eyes slowly closed, and the ruined cave abode fell utterly silent.

Second update~

Still six thousand characters today.

Esteemed readers, Lin Yuan is full of sincerity here—please support with monthly votes, recommendations, and continued reading!

(End of Chapter)