Slaying the Serpent

Ordinary venomous snakes cannot dig holes, so Yan Chihuo had not guarded against this possibility. However, after this Poison Python attained sentience, it had actually learned this trick; had Yan Chihuo's hearing not been exceptionally keen, he would have suffered a great loss just now.

The ground near this cave was extremely hard, so although the Poison Python had attained sentience, digging was no easy task. It must have spent a great deal of effort, only just finishing the work. It was evident that the harassment Yan Chihuo had inflicted over these past few days had filled it with deep hatred.

Although the snake demon burst through the soil, it was still a step too slow, allowing Yan Chihuo to seize the initiative and escape using the Earth Shrinking Talisman. However, compared to the previous situations where he would be left in a disheveled state after an ambush and could only watch Yan Chihuo flee into the distance, this was already much better. More importantly, this snake demon also cultivated earth-attribute techniques and actually understood the Earth Shrinking spell. While its execution of this spell was truly crude, it relied on its profound cultivation to keep pace with Yan Chihuo.

Once it cast Earth Shrinking, it could not cast other spells, or the Earth Shrinking would be interrupted. If a single strike failed, it could only let Yan Chihuo escape, so Yan Chihuo was not particularly concerned.

Suddenly, the snake demon swept its long tail toward Yan Chihuo. Hearing the rush of wind, Yan Chihuo knew things were dire; he darted sideways while his right hand pulled a talisman from his Storage Ring. Simultaneously, he cast the Stone Armor Art, and a layer of stone armor immediately manifested over his body.

The massive snake tail grazed his shoulder with a crisp crack, sending stone chips flying and revealing the Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover beneath. Fortunately, Yan Chihuo had darted sideways, shedding most of the force; otherwise, the Stone Armor Art alone would not have withstood the blow. Although the Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover could absorb the snake demon's venom, it possessed no defensive capabilities of its own. If it were damaged, Yan Chihuo would not know what to use to store the venom.

As Yan Chihuo cast the Stone Armor Art, his Earth Shrinking stopped, and the Poison Python instantly closed the distance. Just as Yan Chihuo was about to be wounded by the Poison Python, he slapped the talisman in his hand onto his body. A flash of rosy light swept over him, and his speed instantly increased, becoming thirty percent faster than when he had used Earth Shrinking, once again widening the gap between them.

This talisman was the very one he had obtained after slaying the senior brother of the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon, and it was indeed an Earth Shrinking Talisman. The power of this talisman surpassed Yan Chihuo's own Earth Shrinking, making the snake demon's speed seem inadequate by comparison. However, the snake demon attacked with its tail from time to time, and to avoid being struck, Yan Chihuo had to change direction frequently, which offset his speed advantage.

In truth, this place was not too far from the valley where Yang and Mao were located, but under the snake demon's relentless attacks, Yan Chihuo had several narrow escapes, feeling as if it were thousands of miles away and wishing he could sprout wings to fly there instantly.

One snake and one man raced forward, their speed so fast it was staggering. If any bystander were to see them, they would only see a white blur and a red blur, unable to distinguish which was the snake demon and which was Yan Chihuo.

Yan Chihuo was one thing, but wherever the snake demon passed, branches snapped and grass flew, leaving a trail of devastation. The snake demon struck with its long tail periodically, and despite Yan Chihuo's agile reactions, he was hit three times, each resulting in shattered stone armor and nearly damaging the Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover.

Just as Yan Chihuo spotted the Peach Forest and knew he was not far from the valley, the Poison Python seemed to grow impatient. It lunged forward, its massive body surging forward by several dozen feet, its two sharp fangs gleaming with a cold light, only inches from Yan Chihuo's back.

Yan Chihuo caught a whiff of a foul, fishy stench and knew it was bad. He raised his right hand and threw out the Imprisoning Earth talisman. With a flash of rosy light, the snake demon's body faltered, and as it spun in place, Yan Chihuo darted another several dozen feet away.

With a bang, the snake demon's massive head burst through the rosy light, followed by its entire body, leaving behind only a patch of quicksand several feet wide. This Imprisoning Earth talisman had not been able to trap it for long!

However, in that single instant, Yan Chihuo had already dashed into the valley. The snake demon had finally managed to corner Yan Chihuo to this point; if Yan Chihuo were prepared next time, it would be back to the same old routine of being harassed. Therefore, it was unwilling to give up and charged into the valley as well.

The moment it entered the valley, it saw Yan Chihuo smiling faintly and realized something was wrong, then caught a whiff of a pungent odor that nearly made it faint, leaving it no time to care about Yan Chihuo.

Yan Chihuo leaped to the side, where two other cultivators stood. In front of the three of them lay piles of deep yellow powder, which were emitting that very pungent odor.

It turned to flee, only to discover it had entered a circle surrounded by dozens of piles of that deep yellow powder. It was extremely sensitive to this scent and dared not cross them, only rolling around in place.

Yan Chihuo and the other two were overjoyed to see the Realgar Essence powder working, and each pulled a gourd from their robes. The three of them uncorked the gourds, releasing another wave of pungent odor. They smeared the medicinal wine from the gourds onto their hands, entered the circle together, and began pouring the wine onto the snake demon while grabbing at it with their hands.

The snake demon dodged and weaved at first, but before long, its body was soaked in the medicinal wine. A wave of dizziness washed over it, its agility plummeted, and it was pinned down by the three men.

All three men had Realgar Medicinal Wine on their hands, and after the snake struggled a few times, it passed out. Yang Kun took out a Scimitar and swung it toward the snake demon's neck; with just a few strokes, he severed the snake's head. Only then did the three of them let out a long sigh of relief.

Yan Chihuo said, "Finally, the task is complete. Oh no..." Before he could finish his sentence, his body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground. Yang Kun and Mao Chuan laughed heartily.

Yan Chihuo said, "You actually used poison!"

Yang Kun said, "The two of us brothers spent no small amount of energy to capture such a large snake; how could we let you reap the benefits for nothing?"

Mao Chuan said, "Don't waste time talking. Kill him quickly to avoid any complications."

With that, the two walked forward, each holding a Scimitar, and swung toward Yan Chihuo. However, Yan Chihuo's body, lying on the ground, suddenly moved. He swung his long sword, and with two crisp sounds, the heads of Yang Kun and Mao Chuan were severed. Columns of blood sprayed out, and the two headless corpses fell to the ground. Given their strength, they might have had a fighting chance against Yan Chihuo in a fair duel, but they had resorted to underhanded poison and were instead outmaneuvered by Yan Chihuo, never dreaming that he had not been poisoned at all.

Yan Chihuo sneered, "With this Breath Concealment Array and this Realgar Essence, even a rogue cultivator wouldn't be without a decent Talisman Artifact, yet you two valued these two snake fangs so highly."