Slaying the Snake

Ordinary venomous snakes didn't dig burrows, so Yan Chihuo hadn't been on guard for that. But after this Poison Python became a spirit, it had learned the trick as well. If Yan Chihuo hadn't had such keen hearing, he would have suffered a heavy loss.

The ground near the cave was extremely hard. Even though the Poison Python had become a spirit, digging a burrow had been no easy task; it must have spent a great deal of time on it and had only just finished. That showed how much Yan Chihuo's harassment over the past few days had enraged it.

Though the snake demon burst from the earth, it was still a step too slow. Yan Chihuo beat it to the punch and escaped with Earth Shrinking Step. Still, compared to the past, when an attack left him in a wretched state and he could only watch Yan Chihuo flee into the distance, this was already much better. More importantly, the snake demon cultivated an earth-element technique too, and had even learned the Earth Shrinking Step spell. Its execution was crude, but its profound cultivation made up the difference, so it was no slower than Yan Chihuo.

Once it used Earth Shrinking Step, it couldn't cast another spell, or the Earth Shrinking Step would stop. If its attack missed, Yan Chihuo would escape, so he wasn't particularly worried.

The snake demon swept its long tail at Yan Chihuo. Hearing the rush of wind, Yan Chihuo knew trouble was coming. He darted sideways, pulling a Talisman from his Storage Ring with his right hand as he cast Stone Armor Art. A layer of stone armor immediately appeared over his body.

The enormous tail grazed his shoulder. With a crack, stone chips flew, revealing the Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover beneath. Fortunately, Yan Chihuo's sideways dash had deflected most of the blow. Otherwise, Stone Armor Art alone wouldn't have stopped it. The Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover could absorb the snake demon's venom, but it offered no defense of its own. If it were damaged, Yan Chihuo had no idea what he would use to store the venom.

Yan Chihuo cast Stone Armor Art, and Earth Shrinking Step came to a halt. In an instant, the Poison Python closed the gap. Just as Yan Chihuo was about to be struck down, he slapped the Talisman in his hand against his body. A flash of radiance passed over him, and his speed surged, becoming a third faster than it had been with Earth Shrinking Step. He widened the distance between them again.

It was the Earth Shrinking Talisman he'd obtained after killing the senior brother of the Heavenly Evil Blood Demon. Its power surpassed Yan Chihuo's own Earth Shrinking Step, leaving the snake demon at a disadvantage in speed. But the snake demon kept striking at him with its tail, forcing Yan Chihuo to change direction again and again to avoid being hit. That canceled out his speed advantage.

In truth, the valley where Yang and Mao were waiting wasn't very far away. But under the snake demon's attacks, Yan Chihuo had nearly been killed several times. The distance felt like a thousand miles, and he wished he could sprout wings and fly there in an instant.

A snake and a man raced along, moving so fast it was astonishing. Anyone watching would have seen only two streaks, one white and one red, and wouldn't have been able to tell 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 ruin in its wake. It kept lashing at Yan Chihuo with its long tail. Though his reactions were quick, he was struck three times. Each blow shattered his stone armor and nearly damaged the Five Poison Cloud Smoke Cover.

Just as Yan Chihuo caught sight of the Peach Forest and realized the valley was close, the Poison Python seemed to lose patience. It thrust its body forward, and its enormous form stretched dozens of yards longer. Two sharp fangs gleamed coldly, only inches from Yan Chihuo's back.

A foul stench reached Yan Chihuo's nostrils. Knowing he was in danger, he raised his right hand and flung out the Imprisoning Earth Talisman. A flash of light, and the snake demon froze for a moment, turning in place. Yan Chihuo darted dozens of yards farther away.

With a bang, the snake demon's enormous head burst out of the radiance, followed by its whole body. A patch of quicksand several yards across was all that remained where it had been trapped. The Imprisoning Earth Talisman hadn't held it for long!

But that instant was all Yan Chihuo needed to dart into the valley. The snake demon had gone to great lengths to drive him this far. If it let him escape now, Yan Chihuo would be wary next time, and it would be forced to endure his harassment as before. How could it give up? It charged into the empty valley after him.

As soon as it entered the valley, it saw Yan Chihuo smile faintly and realized something was wrong. Then a pungent smell hit it, nearly knocking it unconscious. It could no longer spare a thought for Yan Chihuo.

Yan Chihuo leaped aside. Two cultivators stood nearby, and a pile of dark yellow powder lay before the three of them, giving off the pungent smell.

The snake demon turned to flee, only to realize it had entered a circle. Dozens of piles of the same dark yellow powder surrounded it. It was extremely sensitive to the smell and didn't dare break through, so it could only roll around where it stood.

When the three of them saw that the Realgar Essence powder was working, they were overjoyed and each took out a gourd. They pulled out the stoppers, releasing another wave of pungent odor. The three rubbed the medicinal wine from their gourds over their hands, then entered the circle together. One poured the wine over the snake demon while the others reached out to grab it.

At first, the snake demon dodged left and right. Before long, it was drenched in the medicinal wine. It grew dizzy, its body became far less agile, and the three pinned it down.

All three had Realgar Medicinal Wine on their hands. The snake twisted only a few times before passing out. Yang Kun took out a Scimitar and slashed at the snake demon's neck. Just a few strokes were enough to sever its head. Only then did the three of them breathe a long sigh of relief.

"Looks like we've finally done it. Wait—" Yan Chihuo's words were cut short as his body went limp and he fell to the ground. Yang Kun and Mao Chuan burst out laughing.

"You poisoned me!" Yan Chihuo said.

"A serpent this huge took my brother and me who knows how much effort to capture," Yang Kun said. "Why would we let you reap the benefits for nothing?"

"Enough talk," Mao Chuan said. "Kill him quickly, before anything goes wrong."

With that, the two stepped forward, each holding a Scimitar, and brought them down toward Yan Chihuo. But the body lying on the ground suddenly moved. Yan Chihuo swept his longsword through the air. With two sharp cracks, Yang Kun and Mao Chuan's heads were severed, and blood spurted from their necks as their headless bodies fell to the ground. With their strength, the two could have put up a fight against Yan Chihuo in a direct confrontation. But they had resorted to a sneak attack, only to be outsmarted by him. They never dreamed he hadn't been poisoned.

Yan Chihuo sneered. "With a Breath Concealment Array and Realgar Essence, even Rogue Cultivators wouldn't lack a decent Talisman Artifact. Yet you two treasured these two snake fangs so much."