Xiangliu watched expressionlessly as Cang Lei disappeared into the gaping mouth of one of his snake heads. After a moment, he spat several times.
"Disgusting. What the hell was that?"
"I knew you wouldn't come yourself. You were using corpse puppet arts, weren't you?"
At that moment, the snake head lifted and spat out a lump of flesh and blood. The flesh had already turned purple, and the bones within were black as rotten wood. It was clearly a corpse that had been dead for a long time.
Xiangliu narrowed his eyes and lightly flicked out a finger. Li You Gate sprang out of the lump of flesh and blood, landing in his hand.
"This thing is somewhat useful. I'll keep it."
"Perhaps I can use it to make my true body descend into the Mortal World, instead of merely sending down a subsidiary body."
He put away the gate and turned to leave.
"Cang Lei came looking for me, and I destroyed one of his corpse puppets. We can't stay here for long."
"It's all that fellow Wu Qi's fault. I'll have to find an opportunity to settle this score with him properly."
He came to the Giant Snake's side and lightly pressed a hand against its body. His entire form transformed into a mass of flesh and blood, which drilled into the gaps between the snake's scales together with the Li You Gate.
The nine-headed snake then writhed. Its body became like a bundle of threads unraveling itself, no longer tangled together.
Of its nine heads, eight rose high into the air. Only the one with the ashen color still drooped to the side.
The Giant Snake slithered to the edge of the platform and plunged into the marsh water.
As Xiangliu entered the water, the countless pale