Python Swallows the Flood Dragon (4,000 words; asking for monthly votes)

The Sewers were dark and gloomy.

Sparrow Lo clutched his chest and waded through the water, wheezing.

"Good thing I've spent my life in the underworld and never go anywhere without body armor. Otherwise, how would these old bones have survived Little Loudspeaker's slash?"

Judging by her aura, Little Loudspeaker had clearly reached Python Muscle, contrary to the intelligence that placed her at Snake Muscle.

Of course, before the terrifying Black-Robed Boy, Snake Muscle and Python Muscle made no difference.

"Python Muscle at fifteen! I hate these geniuses!"

Some people were nearly sixty and still at Snake Muscle. Their cultivation was like a stock-market chart: falling and falling without end.

Sparrow Lo cursed as he passed a corner. A chilly gust of force swept toward him, making every hair on his body stand on end.

He reacted quickly, turning and thrusting his short blade straight at the shadow in the dark.

The figure slipped aside like a ghost. A large, jade-white hand clamped onto Sparrow Lo's knife arm and wrenched it hard.

"Gah!"

Sparrow Lo howled, his face twisting. The shrill crack of bone tore through the darkness, followed by a skin-crawling series of snaps.

Sparrow Lo's throat worked as he prepared to spit a Jujube-Kernel Nail. What met him instead was a jade-white palm gleaming with a Black-Gold Profound Pattern.

Clang! The nail ricocheted back and buried itself like a stray bullet in his age-spotted face. Blood spurted out.

Sparrow Lo's eyes nearly bulged from the pain. Reflected in his pupils was a lean, well-proportioned figure wearing that Pai Gow mask like the face of death.

The jade-white palm pressed against Sparrow Lo's face, grinding a force both hard and soft into it.

Sparrow Lo's features seemed to be sucked into a whirlpool, twisting together.

"Burst."

The figure in