Black Snake Sentinels

The noon sun was scorching and blinding.

Wang Wu hid in a crack between the rocks. Several stones blocked most of the opening, and at least it looked safe.

But he was far from comfortable. He was dying of thirst, and the heat waves outside tormented him to the point of madness. This was very bad.

Wang Wu regretted not collecting dew last night. Such suffering was too much for his frail body to bear and could easily lead to heatstroke or dehydration.

But he truly did not dare go searching for water.

In his daze, Wang Wu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Then a force lifted him up. As terror scattered his soul, he saw a snake tail above him as thick as an adult's arm!

Fuck, he had been careless. He had only watched for danger outside the rock crack, never expecting this snake to sneak in from above.

The sharp pain lasted only three seconds before turning numb. This snake was venomous.

At the same time, information appeared.

"You have entered the edge of the Black Snake Clan's territory and have been attacked by Black Snake Sentinels. Because your Bloodline Talent level is too low, your Danger Sense Talent has been suppressed!"

"Due to your defense level, you have suffered 5 points of piercing damage and 10 points of poison damage."

What the fuck!

Wang Wu was terrified at first, then quickly calmed down.

This body of his, which looked so frail, was apparently not so easily broken.

And what was with the information provided by the Attribute Bar? It actually made him feel like he was playing a game. He liked this kind of cheat ability best.

Suppressing the panic in his heart, Wang Wu forced himself not to struggle. The Black Snake Sentinel was above his head, biting him and slithering upward. He had no chance for now.

Finally, when the Black Snake Sentinel carried Wang Wu to a wider part of the rock crack, its head turned back and its belly was exposed. Now!

With a swish, Wang Wu sprang out his silver-gray claws and raked them across that gray snake belly, putting every ounce of strength he had into it.

With just that strike, Wang Wu ripped the great serpent open from belly to gut. Its entire body shuddered, and it immediately began wrapping itself around Wang Wu in a frenzy, trying to strangle him.

But the great serpent had forgotten that Wang Wu had not retracted his claws. The faster it moved, the longer the wound was sliced open. Although it eventually managed to bind Wang Wu tightly, it lasted less than ten seconds before dying and collapsing into a limp heap.

By then, half of Wang Wu's body was numb, like a dog miserably buried alive...

Struggling free with all his strength, he could not spare a thought for disgust. First he drank the snake's blood, then ate its gallbladder, and finally devoured its flesh.

The great serpent weighed more than ten pounds, yet he ate nearly all of it in one go.

"You have killed a Black Snake Sentinel."

"You have eaten a Black Snake Sentinel. Your Satiety +300 points."

"You have drunk snake blood and absorbed 1 point of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy."

"Your Self-Healing Talent has activated automatically. You consumed 100 points of Satiety to neutralize the poison damage. You consumed 50 points of Satiety to restore Health Points. This process will take one hour."

"Your Self-Healing Talent has recorded some characteristics of the snake venom. Once completed, you may gain perfect resistance to this type of snake venom. (1/5)"

Lines of information silently appeared, sending Wang Wu's thoughts rising and falling with them.

The earlier gains did not matter much, but that final message truly made it impossible for him to maintain a steady mindset.

Then there was nothing more to say. From now on, the Black Snake Clan was Old Wang's brother.

Next, Wang Wu continued devouring the Black Snake Sentinel's remains. He even smashed up and ate the bones, all for the sake of his Satiety.

There was no helping it. At this stage, although he could absorb and convert Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, that power was still incomplete. Only through his Bloodline Talent might he possibly complete his plan.

Wang Wu did not actively search for Black Snake Sentinels, but since this rock crack lay on the edge of the Black Snake Clan's territory, perhaps a second Black Snake Sentinel would come along.

He was too weak right now and could only rely on the terrain.

He waited for half the afternoon. Just as night was about to fall, Wang Wu suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back, followed by numbness. Well, this attack without warning was still as distinctive as ever—even the spot it attacked had not changed.

Delighted, Wang Wu chose not to resist. Just like at noon, when the Black Snake Sentinel climbed to the open space above and began turning around, his little claws suddenly sprang out and stabbed solidly into its belly. No matter how the Black Snake Sentinel struggled and coiled afterward, it could not change its fate.

Ten seconds later, Wang Wu smoothly completed his second kill.

Immediately afterward, he began eating like mad, all to pave the way for his Self-Healing Talent. This time, his Self-Healing Talent consumed only 80 points of Satiety to neutralize the poison damage.

His perfect resistance to snake venom had reached 2/5.

A little later, Wang Wu let out a satisfied burp. Before him lay a pile of shattered bone fragments, while his Satiety had reached 245 points.

Yet he felt somewhat stuffed. The Bloodline Talent of the Ancient Giant Bear was truly no ordinary thing.

Night had fallen by then. Wang Wu burrowed as deeply as possible into the rock crack. Only a fool would wander about in the dark.

As for whether any Black Snake Sentinels would come looking for him that night, Wang Wu had no time to think about it. As his Satiety increased, he had already become so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open.

After settling himself down, he closed his eyes and slipped into sweet dreams.

But the night was truly quiet, just like the night before.

When Wang Wu woke again, the sky was faintly bright. Sunrise was just around the corner.

"Damn, I almost missed it."

He had been thinking constantly about how he absorbed and converted Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy at sunrise yesterday. Could it be that sunrise was the only time of day with such a benefit?

He quickly squeezed out of the rock crack. Then his stomach suddenly growled at the worst possible moment, startling him. When he opened the Attribute Bar and checked, fuck—his Satiety had been 245 points last night, but today it had fallen to 12. Was there any justice left? Any law left?

Wait, Growth Rate +0.5%?

Oh, then it was fine. Everyone here was a respectable fellow, so do not accidentally hurt an ally.

Bang,

Rolling out of the rock crack, Wang Wu suddenly felt that the morning before sunrise was so quiet.

So quiet that it was eerie. The next second, he slowly turned around and looked up, cold sweat breaking out all over his body.

On the cliff where he had sheltered and slept for two full nights, every jutting rock and every relatively flat spot held a Black Snake of varying thickness. At a rough glance, there were at least fifty or sixty of them.

The Black Snake Sentinels he had killed yesterday were only as thick as an adult's arm, but up there were ones as thick as calves, as thick as thighs, and at the very top of the cliff, one as thick as a water bucket—a great serpent coiled up like a four- or five-meter-high mountain of shit!

Holy fuck!

Just how confident had he been yesterday, to actually think of going to war with the Black Snake Clan?

But Wang Wu soon noticed something crucial: the Black Snakes were basically all positioned on the upper half of the cliff. Without question, the higher one stood, the sooner one could bask in sunlight and the more Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy one could absorb and convert.

At that thought, how could Wang Wu dare delay? With his brows drooping and his head hanging, he ran toward the other side of the cliff. The sun was about to rise, yet he had failed to claim a spot. It felt terrible.

The cliff was not high, only twenty or thirty meters from the ground. But around the cliff's corner stretched several low rolling hills, with sparse trees growing on them. Even the trees around those low hills were sparse.

Clearly, this was also to prevent sunlight from being blocked.

But at this moment, Wang Wu became increasingly terrified.

If that cliff was the Black Snake Clan's territory, then competition here was even fiercer.

Upon the crowns of some tall trees, hundreds or thousands of Red-winged Birds stood quietly, waiting for sunrise. The largest Red-winged Bird was as big as an eagle.

And on the first low hill near the Black Snake Clan's territory, a Large Crimson Scorpion at least a meter long stood upon a massive boulder. Like an enlightened master sitting in meditation, it prepared to greet the sunrise.

Around the boulder, as well as on every high point of that hill, dozens upon dozens of Crimson Scorpions half a meter long, or only twenty to thirty centimeters long, had firmly claimed their positions.

Then there was the second hill, occupied by a huge black centipede and its hundreds of centipede sons and grandsons.

On the third hill stood five White Rats with flowing white hair—no, with white fur rippling in the wind. At a glance, none of them looked easy to deal with.

Forget it. Wang Wu had no mood to keep looking. Was the Cultivation World this brutally competitive too?