Snake Demon

"Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

After Fang Mu absorbed a large amount of the poison from Wen Xuan's body, Wen Xuan could handle the small amount that remained himself, so Fang Mu began asking about the situation.

"Let Qi Zhu explain it to you from the beginning!"

Wen Xuan glanced at Qi Zhu, then closed his eyes and sat cross-legged. After swallowing several pills, he began refining them to heal his injuries.

It made no difference who told him. Fang Mu merely wanted to understand what had happened.

Qi Zhu walked over to Fang Mu and said, somewhat crossly, "Why haven't you put Fang Jing down yet? She must be very uncomfortable being tied up!"

"What happened to her? Why hasn't she woken up?"

After Fang Mu set Fang Jing down and laid her flat on the ground, Qi Zhu asked worriedly.

"She's fine! Little Jing isn't seriously injured. She'll be fine after sleeping for a while."

Fang Mu explained briefly, then looked at Qi Zhu and asked, "Now, tell me what happened!"

"Mm!"

"It happened like this. When we arrived at Gu Village, we discovered a demon. We chased it into the dense forest."

"In the dense forest, we were attacked by beasts. Later, a swift Green Snake ambushed us, and we lost two Demon Slayer Envoys."

"Of the three remaining Demon Slayer Envoys, one was injured, and they followed us to this temple."

"The demon we were chasing also fled into the temple."

"Later, when we entered the temple, we were attacked by a group of black snakes. After we slaughtered a large number of demon snakes, the demon Buddha worshiped in the temple attacked us."

"That demon Buddha's true form was three snake demons. None of us was their match."

"Senior Brother Wen Xuan used a secret technique and heavily wounded the three snake demons, but one of them bit him."

"Later, darkness descended, and we had difficulty escaping the temple. After several twists and turns, we fled into this cellar. Everyone else died as well."

After hearing Qi Zhu's explanation, Fang Mu now understood the basic situation.

In other words, three snake demons were still lurking in the shadows, watching like tigers eyeing their prey.

The sense of danger he had felt earlier had come from the main hall. It was highly likely that they were hiding inside the main hall and recovering from their injuries.

"Once dawn comes and I've recovered from my injuries, we can escape together. It shouldn't be a problem."

Wen Xuan opened his eyes at this moment and looked at Fang Mu as he suggested this.

"You're sure they're all injured?"

Fang Mu did not answer. Instead, he asked a question, causing Wen Xuan to frown. "What are you planning to do?"

"I want the two of you to help me look after Little Jing. I want to go take a look at those three snake demons."

"Are you confident?"

"Escaping back won't be a problem!"

"No! It's too dangerous. I won't agree!"

Fang Mu ignored Qi Zhu's objection and turned his gaze toward Wen Xuan.

After Wen Xuan nodded his consent, he thanked him, then flashed away, lightly touching the ground with his toes as he flew out of the cellar.

"Bang!"

With a deafening boom, a black shadow near the cellar exit was sent flying by a single punch from Fang Mu.

After covering the cellar exit with the floor tiles, Fang Mu flashed away.

He paid no attention to the side hall, the beasts hiding in the darkness, or the unlucky fellow he had sent flying with one punch, whose life or death was unknown.

When he reached the outside of the side hall, it was still deep in the night.

One black snake after another sprang out from the jars Fang Mu had seen during the day and from various shadowy corners, moving through the courtyard shrouded by the wall of light.

After sensing Fang Mu's approach, the countless black snakes hissed one after another and surged toward him like a tide.

Watching the black snakes shoot toward him like sharp swords, their mouths open as they lunged to bite him with their razor-sharp fangs, Fang Mu let out a cold snort. Instead of using the Golden Sword, he put it away in the Demon Refining Mirror.

Then he spread his arms, and countless vines began to spread outward.

The vines that grew forth were like soft whips. Under Fang Mu's control, they cracked through the air without end.

Countless vines moved like spirit snakes, lashing one black snake after another into the air.

The vines possessed tremendous force, and thorns grew along them. Every time one struck a black snake, it left a bloody mark across its body.

The black snakes entangled by the vines suffered even worse fates. Not only were they strangled to death, but the sharp thorns also pierced through their bodies.

Fang Mu had not expected Xixi's wood-element power to be so formidable the first time he used it.

The endless vines gave Fang Mu the feeling that, within the surrounding area, he alone was sovereign.

As long as the enemy could not break through his vines, all that awaited them was death. Even if he merely wore them down, he could probably exhaust them to death.

As Fang Mu slaughtered the black snakes, he urged Xixi to fight on its own. After all, it possessed wood-element power, and the black snakes could not hurt it at all.

But Xixi immediately refused. It preferred lending its strength to Fang Mu and hiding inside the contract sigil rather than coming out.

Fang Mu was helpless in the face of Xixi's timid nature.

"Swish, hiss!"

At that moment, an enraged hiss rang out. A gigantic black snake charged out of the main hall and attacked Fang Mu.

"Good grief! Is this the ancestor of the black snakes?" Looking at the black snake that resembled a small mountain, Fang Mu could not help being startled.

He activated Extreme Wind Speed and flashed aside, dodging the black snake ancestor's strike.

Under Fang Mu's control, swift vines wrapped around the black snake ancestor.

But what shocked Fang Mu was that the black snake ancestor easily shattered the vines.

As the black snake ancestor attacked again, Fang Mu dodged its strike and simultaneously activated water manipulation.

He controlled the black snake blood on the ground, transforming it into blood-colored chains that wrapped around the black snake ancestor.

Before the black snake ancestor had time to react, Fang Mu suddenly drew the Golden Sword and swung it, severing half of its serpentine body.

"Swish, hiss!!"

The black snake ancestor let out a shrill hiss. After shattering the blood-colored chains, the half of its body attached to its head broke free and shot directly into the main hall.

Fang Mu ignored the remaining half of its body as it writhed mindlessly on the ground. Raising the Golden Sword, he charged into the main hall.

"Bang! Splurt!"

A thunderous boom rang out. Fang Mu spat blood and was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall of light and smashing a spiderweb of cracks into it.

"I came from the Buddhist Sect beyond the mountains, my feet treading Buddha's light without a speck of dust."

"Even when I stroll through darkness, demons and evil spirits all retreat."

Fang Mu turned back in astonishment and saw a monk beyond the wall of light, his entire body shrouded in golden light as he slowly strode out of the darkness with his feet on empty air.

The monk walked both very slowly and very quickly. Every step carried him more than ten meters, creating the illusion that the ends of the earth were only inches apart.

Wherever he stepped, the darkness vanished. Countless hidden shadows shrieked in terror and scattered away from the golden light.

"Benefactor! I know I'm very handsome, but you don't need to keep staring at me."

A sudden voice rang out beside Fang Mu, startling him.

He came back to himself in shock and immediately saw a little monk wearing robes, holding a Buddhist staff, and radiating golden light. Somehow, the monk had appeared beside him.

"Damn! It's actually a little monk?"

Looking at the little monk, who was a head shorter than him, Fang Mu could not help twitching the corner of his mouth.

The little monk's entrance had been far too spectacular. Fang Mu had nearly thought he had encountered a living Buddha.

"Benefactor! You seem to be injured. Meeting is fate, so I'll gift you a strand of Buddha's light and have you leaping with vitality."

"Uh!!"

As the little monk finished speaking, a beam of golden light enveloped Fang Mu.

Fang Mu was somewhat astonished to discover that, after the golden light surrounded him, it rapidly repaired the injuries inside his body.

"Swish, hiss!" At that moment, a hiss rang out.

A two-headed giant snake poked its head out of the main hall and viciously hissed at the little monk.