Challenge

Although his human agility had allowed him to dodge the Silver-Spotted Snakes' attacks again and again, everyone knew that even the strongest defense would eventually fail.

The longer this went on, the more likely these people were to pay a heavy price.

Realizing this, Liu Zhen could no longer worry about anything else. He roared, "Get out of here! I'll hold these two beasts off!"

"Senior Brother, but what about those medicinal herbs? If we can get them, we'll have completed our mission—and even made a fortune!"

Greed glittered in Li Hai's eyes. He clearly hadn't grasped the situation.

Liu Zhen had just blocked an attack from one of the Silver-Spotted Snakes when he nearly coughed up blood in frustration. "I'm not afraid of godlike enemies. I'm afraid of teammates who are pigs!"

If they still didn't run, then once his strength was exhausted, they'd all be waiting to die. What the hell would completing the mission matter then?

Liu Zhen wanted to curse—more than he ever had before. How had he failed to realize earlier that Li Hai was such an idiot?

Regret welled up in Liu Zhen's heart over taking on someone like Li Hai. A sincere, honest figure came to mind.

If it were Shen Fan, he wouldn't question me at all!

In Liu Zhen's eyes, Shen Fan had been an obedient, good junior brother. How could he be like Li Hai, who was all talk but useless when it mattered?

Of everyone surrounding the other Silver-Spotted Snake, Li Hai was clearly the weakest. He'd nearly died at the hands of the beasts several times.

But he was a ruthless one. Whenever danger arose, he'd dart over to his teammates and use them to draw the attacks, which was how he'd managed to stay alive!

His behavior had, without a doubt, infuriated the others.

"Bastard, I've been sick of you for ages! You still want the herbs? The nerve! Go to hell! I'm done with this. Brothers, retreat!"

With that, the disciple took off first. The others hurried after him. Liu Zhen suddenly surged into action and temporarily held off the two Silver-Spotted Snakes, but he was still in grave danger.

With no other choice, Li Hai ran too, grumbling as he went. "That's all money! Why couldn't they just hold on a little longer? If only..."

Liu Zhen caught up and heard Li Hai muttering. He was already injured and looking grim; now his expression darkened further.

His furrowed brow could have crushed a fly.

The more Liu Zhen looked at Li Hai, the more he loathed him. At last, he took a deep breath and silently made up his mind: once they got back, he'd give the man a proper dressing-down, then kick him out. With someone like that in the team, he'd get himself killed sooner or later!

The two Silver-Spotted Snakes in the valley didn't pursue them. They were guarding the Snake Fruits, which were important to them as well.

One Silver-Spotted Snake stayed beneath the Snake Fruit tree while the other slithered around, alert to any enemies that might appear.

Hidden in the shadows, Shen Fan watched with an itch in his heart. The big, red Snake Fruits looked so delicious that he could hardly resist, and the other medicinal herbs looked like they'd been growing there for years.

Faced with such temptation, Shen Fan felt that even an old cadre like him might not withstand the test.

He studied the two Silver-Spotted Snakes carefully and decided to take a risk—for now.

Those herbs were his!

He'd made this decision for two reasons. First, the herbs were genuinely tempting. Second, after watching Liu Zhen and the others fight the Silver-Spotted Snakes, he had a good grasp of the two mid-level Beasts' strength.

They were certainly powerful compared to Martial Artists in the Muscle Refining and Skin Refining realms. But they were the weakest kind of mid-level Beast. They couldn't compare to the Blood Coagulation Realm—not even close—and they were weak even among those in the Bone Forging Realm.

Shen Fan gauged them with his senses. Together, the two Silver-Spotted Snakes didn't seem to pose any threat to him. They were much weaker than the One-Eyed Giant Wolf he'd encountered earlier!

So Shen Fan figured he'd probably need several moves to kill the two beasts.

Still, to be safe, he chose to launch a sneak attack.

Waiting for the right moment, Shen Fan struck from the shadows, going straight for the Silver-Spotted Snake that was slithering around. Before it could react, he shattered its head with a single punch.

The remaining Silver-Spotted Snake threw its head back and hissed. Its companion's corpse seemed to have driven it mad; it opened its gaping jaws and tried to bite Shen Fan to death.

But the Silver-Spotted Snake couldn't match Shen Fan's reflexes. He leaned slightly to one side and dodged the attack with ease.

Then, with a turn, he drove a heavy punch into the snake's belly. It was like striking a boulder; a "thunk" rang out, like iron crashing against iron.

The Silver-Spotted Snake was a Beast with thick skin and tough flesh, but Shen Fan's Bone Forging was no less formidable. In fact, he was even stronger than an ordinary Martial Artist in the Bone Forging Realm.

His punch left a dent in the snake's body. Clearly, the bones inside had been shattered!

The force of a single punch was terrifying. If Liu Zhen had seen it, his eyes would have nearly popped out of his head.

He'd fought for ages without breaking a single scale, yet Shen Fan had crippled the Silver-Spotted Snake with one move. It was ridiculous.

That kind of strength couldn't possibly belong to someone in the Bone Forging Realm!

The Silver-Spotted Snake seemed to realize how hard Shen Fan would be to deal with. The immense pain seemed to have cleared its head, and it turned to flee. But Shen Fan was faster and blocked its escape route. He unleashed his fully mastered Savage Bull Fist.

A strange aura suddenly appeared around Shen Fan, suppressing the Silver-Spotted Snake and rendering it immobile. His fists rained down on the snake.

Like heavy hammers pounding stone, the rumbling blows echoed through the valley.

A few breaths later, Shen Fan leaped back and looked at the Silver-Spotted Snake, now so battered it barely resembled a snake. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Mm, that really was a powerful opponent. It even let me use the whole Savage Bull Fist. Impressive, impressive!"

At Shen Fan's praise, the Silver-Spotted Snake seemed to grow so enraged that it coughed up a mouthful of thick blood. Then its body slowly stiffened.

After confirming the Silver-Spotted Snake was dead, Shen Fan hurried off to gather the medicinal herbs.

"Golden Three Grass, Seven Steps Return, Bull Cherry Blossom..."

"Excellent, excellent! I'm going to make a fortune!"

After carefully identifying the herbs, Shen Fan dug them up one by one and placed them in his backpack.

With each herb that went into his backpack, Shen Fan seemed to hear the clink of coins dropping.

Once he'd collected the last eight Snake Fruits, the backpack on his back was bulging.

In the end, he'd collected eighteen low-level herbs, along with eight Snake Fruits worth as much as mid-level herbs.

He'd made at least two hundred taels of silver from this trip!

With that much silver, he could even buy a whole stack of cultivation methods.

First, he'd have to get a second-rate cultivation method. He could pick up a few third-rate ones too, since they were still quite useful to him.