"Chuhe, to be honest, the Ancestor is very satisfied with you. Are you interested in coming to the Corpse Herding Hall?"
Uh...
Four-Eyes was dumbfounded, and Zhong Bai was dumbfounded as well.
"Patriarch Qinghe, you are the patriarch of the Corpse Herding Hall, while Chuhe is a disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall. Although we both come from Mount Mao, still..."
"Bah! Just because of this?"
Patriarch Qinghe said with a trace of disdain, "These are all minor issues. Isn't it just a single disciple being nurtured by two halls? Back when I was in the mortal world, this phenomenon was still quite common in Mount Mao."
"At that time, the strength of a single hall found it difficult to cultivate a Golden Core True Monarch, so two halls would join forces."
"I think very highly of you, Chuhe. You have the potential of a Golden Core, and coincidentally, the Corpse Herding Hall has an item that suits you very well!"
"If you are willing, I will personally go negotiate with the Law Enforcement Hall side. I imagine your Law Enforcement Hall would be quite happy to see this."
Being valued on one hand and satisfied on the other, Zhong Bai felt there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
Furthermore, he was still a disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall. Even if his own master truly agreed to such a matter, it was not something he could assert right now.
"Patriarch Qinghe, this disciple cannot make arbitrary decisions. Everything must be decided by my master!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhong Bai felt a fishy taste surge from his internal organs. With a sudden heave, a mouthful of stagnant blood was expelled by him.
From the strike he had just taken, Zhong Bai only felt a persistent, stabbing pain around his waist.
Coupled with the sore and aching injury on his right arm, Zhong Bai was truly completely drained now.
"Very well, you little slickster. The Ancestor will discuss this matter with your patriarchs in the underworld of the Law Enforcement Hall. For now, you two little fellows had better quickly recover your True Essence and wait for your master's rescue."
With that, Patriarch Qinghe looked toward the distant stone wall. That Crimson Viper General seemed to have already awakened!
The Crimson Viper Swarm, which had previously been helpless against Zhong Bai and the two of them, was currently like pilgrims paying homage.
They swarmed toward the stone wall like a tidal wave one after another!
A trace of a low roar came from afar and drew near. With a bang, cracks appeared one after another in rapid succession upon the previously smooth stone wall.
Immediately following, the stone wall shattered into debris, and a figure whose lower body was a snake and upper body was transformed into human form slowly emerged from within...
Although the upper body had transformed into a human shape, crimson stripes were still carved onto the skin.
The head was likewise densely covered in flesh tumors, and its cold eyes carried a malevolent, cunning, and bloodthirsty impulse.
"Please, Father, avenge Second Brother and Third Brother!"
A Red-banded Snake Demon that appeared from who knows where spat out human speech. Clearly, it was also an existence at the late stage of Demon Soldier that had refined its throat bone.
Listening to his eldest son's miserable and plaintive recounting, the Crimson Viper General's entire body trembled visibly.
His blood-red pupils looked all around.
Countless descendants were already lying on the ground, no longer moving.
Even his two sons had died miserably.
"Who did this..."
The Crimson Viper General asked coldly. Almost all the snake demons raised their heads and looked at Zhong Bai and Four-Eyes with angry gazes.
Following the gaze of the snake swarm, the Red-banded Snake Demon likewise began to fixate on Zhong Bai and Four-Eyes.
Merely with a single glance, Zhong Bai felt immense pressure. Was this the strength comparable to a Foundation Establishment True Person's demon general?
Four-Eyes felt his entire body's hair stand on end. That indistinct sense of crisis made his body tremble slightly.
As cold sweat streamed down continuously, Four-Eyes unconsciously drew closer to Patriarch Qinghe's spirit tablet.
At this, Patriarch Qinghe, floating above the spirit tablet, was somewhat speechless.
Wasn't it just a small snake at the mid stage of a demon general? In the past, he did not know how many of such trash goods he had slain.
Yet now he could only sigh, watching this little snake put on airs...
"Taoist Sects cultivators!"
The Crimson Viper General gnashed his teeth, the anger all over his body instantly ignited at this moment.
"You killed my son and slaughtered my descendants! Die, you bastards!"
Accompanied by streams of flames rolling out from within the Crimson Viper General's body, the surroundings almost turned into a sea of fire.
Yet those low-strength snake demons were not burned; instead, they wore an expression of enjoyment.
In a split second, fiery boulders filled the sky and earth, hurtling toward Zhong Bai and Four-Eyes. The scorching heat of the flames made Zhong Bai feel intensely blazing even through the invisible barrier.
Fortunately, with Patriarch Qinghe's divine will present, the invisible barrier kept the flames surging from the void completely at bay.
The Crimson Viper General, who originally thought he could suppress and kill them with a wave of his hand, was startled.
When he followed up with a few more fireballs and still failed to pierce that invisible barrier, it was then that he truly started to take them seriously!
"No wonder you had the guts to come to my Crimson Viper Den; it turns out you had something to rely on...
However, it is all futile. I want you dead, and no one can protect you!"
In the blink of an eye, the Crimson Viper General flew forward, striking out with a palm. Flames soared to the heavens and heavily slammed into the invisible barrier. A terrifying shockwave spread through the air in all directions, and some snake demons that failed to dodge in time were blasted flying by this shockwave, only to drop down and die on the spot.
"Damn it, what kind of ghost thing is this!"
The Crimson Viper General currently felt his face burning fiercely. The harsh words he had just uttered could now only be watched helplessly while the opponent remained safe and sound...
"I refuse to believe your turtle shell can keep functioning forever!"
The Crimson Viper General wanted to continue charging at the invisible barrier. Right at that moment, a jade talisman came shooting toward it at high speed. Before the Crimson Viper General could see it clearly, the jade talisman turned into a stream of light and enveloped him within it.
Thunder shook the flat ground. When the heavenly thunder struck and hit the Crimson Viper General, he felt his pride and face completely swept away and reduced to nothing.
With a loud boom, divine thunder spread downward. The Crimson Viper General, who was previously exquisite and full of vigor, was now pitch black all over, and a faint scent of burning meat lingered in the air.
The Crimson Viper General had only suffered minor injuries, but this insult was something he could not endure.
"Ah! You truly deserve to die!"
With his eyes reddened, the Crimson Viper General instantly leaped into the void, transforming into a dozen-or-so-meters-long demon body. His massive form slammed into the invisible barrier in a frenzy of impacts!
Today, if he did not torture and kill these two human cultivators before him here, he swore he would no longer be a snake!
Inside the barrier, the one who had just executed the jade talisman was naturally Zhong Bai. Now, three of the five jade talismans had been used, leaving only two to save their lives.
Moreover, seeing that the jade talisman could not severely injure the opponent, Zhong Bai had no wish to continue wasting them...
"Hehe, the barrier set up by this Ancestor's divine will—even with his cultivation at the mid stage of a demon general, it would still take him a few hours to blast it to pieces."
"The two of you had better pray that Changsheng kid can rush here soon..."
While saying this, Patriarch Qinghe looked over Zhong Bai and Four-Eyes' expressions with keen interest.
Seeing that both of them were sitting cross-legged to quietly recover their True Essence without too much panic, he then smiled with satisfaction.
"Although Four-Eyes is rowdy, he is still quite passable. This Chuhe from the Law Enforcement Hall is truly a character!"
"Mn, it's decided. Nurtured by two halls—perhaps he really might produce a Golden Core True Monarch after all!"
Muttering silently in his heart, Patriarch Qinghe was very relaxed and at ease. Although according to the rules he was not supposed to overstep and make a move against demons...
Well, heh, with Mount Mao's influence in the underworld, if they really made a move against this little snake demon, who would dare say a word?
Scaring Zhong Bai and Four-Eyes was fine, but if True Immortal Changsheng didn't arrive in time, Patriarch Qinghe would still have to make a move when the time came.
Therefore, the Crimson Viper General before them was destined to be a tragedy, destined to be slain by Mount Mao shortly!
Coming out to mix in the world requires having a background, doesn't it?
So what if one is overbearing and unreasonable? Just a single phrase of "righteousness and evil are incompatible" suffices!
Hehe, Mount Mao is written a bit too overbearing here, but coming out to mix really does require having a background...
Fine, to put it bluntly, it's all like this.
Ahem, this book will probably be published next week, or at the latest next-next Monday on the 21st. I'll update ten thousand words on publication day—maybe three chapters totaling ten thousand words, or four chapters totaling twelve thousand. In any case, it will definitely satisfy everyone.
Lastly, I continue to beg the dear readers for monthly votes, investments, retention reads, collections, recommendation tickets, and tips. Well, there are no tips... Sob, sob, sob...
Before you continue