Green Spotted Snake

The Green Spotted Snake slithered back and forth in a circle, then suddenly shot toward Song Hezheng.

Even on land, its instantaneous burst of speed had not diminished in the slightest.

Even Song Hezheng, with his Body Tempering Fourth Layer Realm cultivation, only had time to raise an arm to block. He could do nothing else.

Song Hezheng's arm was about to be bitten. With the Green Spotted Snake's bite force, after charging up like that, it could have bitten clean through and torn off his entire arm.

At the critical moment, Wang Yu used his legwork to arrive in time. Predicting the snake's movement in advance, he threw a fierce Hong Family Fist straight at it, combined with the speed technique of Shadowless Fist.

He had originally aimed for the snake's head or the vital spot seven inches from its head. But this Green Spotted Snake was simply too fast. Even though he had predicted its movements, landing a precise strike was still difficult.

In the end, the punch struck the middle of the snake's body. Fortunately, he had already trained the Hong Family Fist to the third level, and its fierce force was enough to knock the Green Spotted Snake to the ground.

Stung by pain, the enraged Green Spotted Snake whipped around and bit at Wang Yu's arm.

Song Hezheng and Sun Chengshan both turned pale at once.

"Junior Brother!"

"Xiaoyu!"

But with a crack, the Green Spotted Snake's open jaws simply got stuck on Wang Yu's arm.

The scene froze.

No matter how vicious the Green Spotted Snake looked, no matter how foul a stench it spewed from its mouth, with saliva dripping from its jaws onto the ground, it still could not bite through Wang Yu's arm.

It had bitten through his coat, however, revealing a gleaming white steel plate.

Several of the Green Spotted Snake's sharp fangs were embedded in the steel plate.

Only then did Sun Chengshan recover himself. He immediately clenched his fist and charged forward.

No matter how fast the Green Spotted Snake was, it could not evade the three men's encirclement. It was beaten to death outright.

Only after the three of them dragged the Green Spotted Snake's corpse back to the stone slope did they finally let out a breath.

"Master, are you all right?" Wang Yu asked, seeing that blood was still flowing from the torn wound on Sun Chengshan's arm.

"I'm fine." Sun Chengshan smiled, allowing Song Hezheng to tend his wound as he looked at Wang Yu. "We have you to thank this time. Otherwise, Hezheng probably would not have escaped this ordeal."

"Thank you for saving my life, Junior Brother!" Hearing this, Song Hezheng hurriedly thanked him again.

After all, Wang Yu had saved him at no small risk to himself.

Given Wang Yu's usual cautious nature, that had not been easy.

"You're too kind, Senior Brother." Wang Yu waved his hand.

They came from the same school. With Sun Chengshan and Song Hezheng in danger, he could not possibly stand by and watch them die.

These two were the important people Wang Yu had met after stepping onto the path of martial arts. They had guided him and taught him.

Even if it meant taking a risk, it was only right.

"Still, although I told you to prepare thoroughly, I never expected you to prepare this thoroughly."

Sun Chengshan looked at the steel plate exposed through the tear in Wang Yu's clothes.

It still bore the bite marks left by the Green Spotted Snake. Thankfully, it had not been bitten through.

"Master said this sea tide might be more dangerous than usual, so naturally I had to take some protective measures. When one is away from home, it is not as safe as being in the martial arts school."

Wang Yu spoke with an unchanged expression as he calmly removed the somewhat damaged steel plate from his arm. Yet beneath it was not normal skin, but a second steel plate tightly wrapped around his forearm, gleaming brightly.

Then Wang Yu brought over a heavy box he had carried separately. Inside were several more similar sets of steel plates, leaving the surrounding disciples, Sun Chengshan included, staring in utter astonishment.

"Xiaoyu, don't tell me you were wearing these when you went to the Night Sleep Gathering?" Sun Chengshan suddenly could not help asking.

"Of course. That was a long journey, after all," Wang Yu said as though it were only natural.

To him, this was nothing more than the most basic form of self-protection.

If wearing too many steel plates had not affected his agility and speed so much, he would have layered five or six of them over every part of his body long ago.

It would not have been the case that his legs and torso wore only a single thin layer of armor.

In his view, these civilian Martial Artists were the unreasonable ones. Relying on their strength and sturdy bodies, they wore no protective gear at all, charging lightly into life-and-death battles every day.

Though winning like that displayed the bearing of an expert, coming and going freely in dashing style.

It was not safe enough. Losing meant death. The price of that dashing style was far too high.

The Garrison Commander's specially made full-body armor, on the other hand, looked utterly reassuring. It was just that the cost was anything but ordinary.

With Wang Yu's current wealth, he still could not afford it.

"Why don't Master and Senior Brother try them too? I still have several spare sets," Wang Yu suggested.

"I'll pass. As the head of a martial arts school, wearing these in a fight is ultimately inappropriate."

Sun Chengshan still cared rather deeply about maintaining his image as an expert and school master in public. He feared people would gossip and think him greedy for life and afraid of death, which he believed might affect the martial arts school's reputation.

Song Hezheng did not care about his own image, but seeing that his Master would not wear one, he thanked Wang Yu for the offer and declined as well.

Wang Yu felt slightly regretful, but he did not force them. This was simply the prevailing fashion now.

"This Green Spotted Snake is a treasure from head to tail. Its nutritional value is no worse than that of the Poison Vine Octopus. Catching one like this is truly a blessing in disguise.

"The snake meat alone must weigh fifty or sixty jin. Selling just that would fetch at least eighty or ninety thousand." Sun Chengshan smiled. Though he had been injured because of it, he did not think he had lost out.

When he saw several disciples carrying the Green Spotted Snake's corpse and spilling quite a bit of snake blood along the way, he was so angry that he glared at them.

The Green Spotted Snake's blood was also a powerful tonic greatly beneficial to Martial Artists. Every drop they spilled was money.

"Master, should you go back and recover first?" Song Hezheng was still somewhat worried about Sun Chengshan's injury.

"Recover from what? This sea tide has only just begun. How can I go back just like that?

"Back in the day, your Master weathered great storms and towering waves. What does a little wound like this amount to? Hezheng, you needn't worry about me." Sun Chengshan waved his hand.

Song Hezheng had no choice but to fall silent.

Just then, an even larger wave crashed in with savage force.

The enormous spray even splashed over everyone.

Within the waves, light shimmered across the water.

A huge number of Fine Leaf Fish were swept ashore. Wang Yu gave them a rough glance—there had to be at least several hundred.

"Heavens!" Liu Mei cried out, covering his small mouth as his eyes shone.

These fish were treasures worth more than gold. How could such a massive haul not excite them?

"Master, guard the cargo boxes. Let the disciples gather these fish," Song Hezheng said at once.

"Fine. All of you watch your safety. I'll keep guard here. Call for me at once if there's danger," Sun Chengshan said with a nod.

Once the Fine Leaf Fish reached shore, they had little ability to attack. Even disciples like Liu Yemei and He Tie, who were only at the Body Tempering Second Layer, could quickly catch them.

This was when the advantage of strength in numbers showed itself.

With more than ten disciples acting together, they seized a considerable number of fish in no time.

"We're rich! We're rich!" Zhang Erdan was overjoyed.

Many disciples at the martial arts school had actually been born into poverty, or came from ordinary families in Island Town. They had never seen much money.

After this sea tide, once they returned to the martial arts school, Sun Chengshan would distribute the spoils among them one by one. The earnings from this trip alone would likely equal, or even exceed, what their parents earned through a year of hard labor. How could they not be delighted?