To ordinary people, Black Python Mountain was incredibly dangerous, but the two Nascent Soul Cultivators paid it no mind.
They casually summoned their magic treasures and blasted each other with all manner of powerful spells.
As the saying went, when the city gates caught fire, the fish in the moat suffered.
Their battle not only startled countless birds into flight, but also caught jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards in the crossfire, sending them fleeing in panic...
The trees on the mountain lay flattened in swaths, and fires had broken out in places. Rocks tumbled down the slopes. If the battle continued, several nearby peaks would surely collapse.
But naturally, neither of them cared. Their eyes were fixed solely on each other, and both wanted to kill their opponent.
Yet the two seemed evenly matched. They had fought for a long while, but the battle remained at a stalemate, with neither able to gain the upper hand.
Suddenly, a mountain ahead of them...
seemed to shift.
Neither Nascent Soul Cultivator paid it any mind. They had eyes only for each other, and both assumed their spells had shaken the earth, making the mountain move.
Up ahead, the cultivator in the blue robe wore a solemn expression.
The person before him had to die.
He took a spirit talisman from his robes, a trace of reluctance flickering in his eyes.
"A talisman treasure refined by a Spirit Transformation Ancestor?"
The middle-aged woman in the bright red robes facing him saw this, and a trace of fear flashed in her eyes.
"This treasure... where did you get it?"
The blue-robed cultivator gave no answer. A sinister smile tugged at his lips.
"Madam Wei, today is the day you die."
"You lured me here on purpose?"
The middle-aged woman was terrified, bitterly regretting her haste for revenge. She should never have separated from her companions and come alone to hunt down her powerful enemy.
But it was too late for such regrets.
She knew that a talisman treasure made by a Spirit Transformation Ancestor was no match for her.
Was she really going to die here today?
What could she do?
But before the thought had even fully formed, her eyes suddenly widened in shock. Her mouth gaped open, as if she had seen something utterly impossible.
"Fool!"
Seeing her stare blankly over his shoulder with such a strange expression, the blue-robed cultivator remained unmoved. Instead, he cursed inwardly.
What a clumsy trick. Did she think she could fool him into turning around, distract him, and escape?
Dream on!
"Hh... hh..."
Madam Wei was pointing behind him, her entire arm trembling uncontrollably. All she could manage were a few strange, meaningless sounds.
Her eyes widened further and further, as though she were too shocked to speak.
The blue-robed cultivator finally sensed that something was wrong... Her acting was far too convincing!
Though he suspected it was a trick meant to distract him, in the end he could not resist turning around.
A chill shot from the soles of his feet up his spine and straight to the top of his head. His scalp prickled all over. His eyes widened too, and he let out a few choked sounds, unable to speak.
About a dozen zhang behind him...
a mountain peak had risen straight up from the ground.
That was right. The mountain peak had stood up.
Even as a Nascent Soul Ancestor of broad knowledge, the blue-robed cultivator was stunned speechless by the sight.
But soon, an even more terrifying scene came into view.
Rumble!
The mountain peak trembled. Huge chunks of rock broke away, along with all the flowers, grasses, and trees clinging to them, and came crashing down.
Then the peak that had risen from the earth finally revealed its true form.
It was actually an enormous python's head.
So the mountain peak had not risen from the ground at all. The giant python before them had simply raised its head.
"Cl-cl-cl..."
Their teeth chattering, both cultivators turned deathly pale.
They could hardly believe what they were seeing.
What kind of monster was this?
What kind of snake?
How could a mere head be as enormous as a towering mountain peak?
Roar!
The python suddenly raised its head and let out a deafening hiss.
The sound echoed through the mountains like rolling thunder.
"Pfft..."
The two Nascent Soul Cultivators flushed red and spat out blood at the same time.
Their bodies trembled, drenched in cold sweat.
It wasn't that they had never seen a great demon before. But this one had a head alone as huge as a mountain peak. Then what about its body...?
The two shuddered with dread, not daring to think further.
"Black Python Mountain..."
The woman murmured to herself.
She remembered hearing local mountain folk and hunters say that a monster lived in these mountains.
As a Nascent Soul Cultivator, she had never taken the rumor seriously. But now, looking at the mountain range stretching away before her...
Could it be...?
She shuddered, struck by the most unbelievable—and most terrifying—possibility.
Rumble!
The thunderous sound reached their ears once more.
But this time, it was not the python hissing. The entire mountain range before them, stretching up and down, had suddenly begun to move.
Trees toppled, rocks tumbled, and the soil was churned up.
A colossal python appeared before their eyes.
Its immense body was as vast as a mountain. Huge scales glittered with a black sheen, stretching toward the distant horizon.
No one knew how long it was.
A hundred miles?
Several hundred?
Or more than a thousand?
It stretched beyond the reach of the two Nascent Soul Cultivators' divine senses.
A great demon had emerged!
Black Python Mountain had finally revealed its true form. The endless mountain range stretching to the horizon had actually been the Black Python Demon King all along.
Who could have imagined it?
People always said there was a demon in the mountains.
But the mountain range itself was the king of demons.
Pinned by those two enormous snake eyes, each as large as a small hill, neither the blue-robed cultivator nor the red-robed woman dared move.
Just moments ago, they had both wanted to kill each other. But now, their hatred had long since been forgotten.
"A... great demon..."
Their mouths turned bitter, and their limbs went weak. They had never imagined they would meet their end in a demon's belly here today.
High above the nine heavens, amid the astral winds,
a Locust Wood Immortal Sword of ordinary, even crude, appearance rode the wind, cleaving through the sky.
No spiritual light flowed along its length. Only Sword Qi soared into the heavens.
Then, in an instant, its sword intent slowly faded, no longer revealing the slightest trace. Yet it grew all the denser, seeming almost tangible as it covered the sword's surface.
It cleaved through the sky, the astral winds its personal guard, its tip aimed at Black Python Mountain.
With its sword intent concealed, the great demon naturally could not detect it.
Meanwhile, the two Nascent Soul Cultivators had reached the brink of collapse.
The blue-robed man was especially close to the python's head, no more than a few dozen zhang away. He watched as it slowly opened its bloody maw.
It was bottomless, as if it led straight to the underworld.
Enormous fangs jutted from its jaws, still dripping with foul-smelling saliva.
"Ah!"
The blue-robed man could no longer bear the terror in his heart.
He did not want to die like this.
And he certainly did not want to end up in a snake's belly.
So next, he made an extremely foolish choice.
He abruptly turned and fled.