Poison Dou Emperor

The ground was strewn with shattered snake corpses, enough to make one's scalp crawl. Suppressing his discomfort, Xiao Le slowly ventured deeper, remaining vigilant against any hidden danger.

Still, Xiao Le did not forget to collect any downloadable entries. After all, waste was shameful!

"What?"

Xiao Le's pupils contracted sharply as he stared intently at the two enormous figures sprawled across the cavern ahead.

They were actually the corpses of two fifth-tier snake magical beasts. Both had died from tiny wounds seven inches below their heads, black poisonous blood trickling from the injuries.

Fifth-tier venomous snake magical beasts had actually been brought down by poison. It was truly laughable.

As he approached the snake corpses, their vertical pupils were filled with unwillingness and terror at the approach of death. After collecting all their entries, Xiao Le could not help but feel somewhat inclined to retreat as he gazed into the cold, unfathomably deep darkness of the cave.

"What are you afraid of? I'm here. There's a trace of Heavenly Flame aura in the air." Just as Xiao Le was about to leave the cave, the Beast Venerable's voice sounded in his mind.

A Heavenly Flame?

Xiao Le's heart immediately settled. His pace quickened involuntarily, and after traveling for less than the time it took to burn an incense stick, he reached the end of the cave.

Not a single magical beast appeared along the way. Yet a dense, powerful aura permeated the place, making Xiao Le's steps grow heavier and heavier.

A seven-colored snake tail, over three meters long, lay before him. Its densely packed scales glimmered with a hazy, jewel-like radiance, while the upper half of its body was that of a human.

Her exquisite jade-like body and peerlessly beautiful face had long since lost all signs of life. Her blood-red, alluring lips were clenched tightly, and dark green flames shrouded her entire body.

"Netherworld Venom Flame?"

Medicine Elder had long ago described the forms and appearances of several Heavenly Flames aside from the high-ranked ones. The faint green flame covering the snakewoman was precisely the lingering flame of the Netherworld Venom Flame.

Ranked twentieth on the Heavenly Flame List, it was born within the Netherworld Poison Marsh and formed after being steeped in innate poisonous miasma for tens of thousands of years. A mere spark was enough to inflict deadly poison.

"Medusa!" The Beast Venerable stared at the snakewoman's corpse sprawled before them and cried out her identity in shock.

Medusa?

Xiao Le looked over in astonishment. Even in death, that peerlessly beautiful face remained soul-stirring. He clicked his tongue in admiration, but his gaze was soon drawn to the two dazzling red lights on Medusa's body.

Red · [Medusa Bloodline]

Red · [Incomplete Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python Bloodline]

Seven-Colored Heaven-Swallowing Python bloodline? It seemed this Medusa had also sought to use a Heavenly Flame to achieve a bloodline transformation. Unfortunately, the flame she chose was the Netherworld Venom Flame, a flame of extreme poison. She had ultimately failed and was on the verge of death.

"Watch out!"

The Beast Venerable's urgent voice rang out in his mind.

Xiao Le had no time to react and hurriedly rolled across the ground.

Whoosh!

A dark green streak shot past Xiao Le's arm and struck the ground. A terrifying surge of force immediately erupted and swept outward.

Boom!

Xiao Le was sent flying straight into the rock wall. His internal organs were jolted out of place, several ribs in his back snapped, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Fortunately, the Beast Venerable had helped him at the most critical moment. Otherwise, Xiao Le might have perished here.

Sizzle!

In the blink of an eye, the ground had been corroded into a deep pit by that green streak, large enough to bury Xiao Le.

Staring toward the direction from which the green streak had come, he saw only pitch-black darkness. Having narrowly escaped death, Xiao Le cursed loudly, "Who's so shameless as to ambush a mere Dou Practitioner?"

Tap, tap, tap!

Soft footsteps echoed through the silent cave. An elderly man with a weathered face and white hair slowly emerged, his imposing aura surging like a gale as dark green battle qi spread around him.

"Dou Emperor!"

The Beast Venerable spoke those two words gravely, sending a chill straight to Xiao Le's head.

A Dou Emperor? Had he no martial honor at all, ambushing a Dou Practitioner?

"Kid, there's no time to hesitate. Open your mind and leave this to me! Luckily, he's only a newly advanced, insignificant Dou Emperor."

The Beast Venerable's unconcerned tone made Xiao Le's face immediately darken.

His gaze abruptly became ancient and weathered as a tyrannical aura shot into the heavens. Xiao Le's battle qi rapidly grew more powerful at a visible rate, while a magical core appeared before his chest—the very seventh-tier magical core.

Heavenly Beast Spirit-Burning Art!

The faint roar of a savage beast echoed through the cave. Empowered by the secret technique, his cultivation instantly reached the Dou Emperor realm. Though he was only a one-star Dou Emperor, one had to remember that the Beast Venerable had once been a Dou Venerable.

"A poison-wielding Dou Emperor. That's quite rare." Xiao Le, now controlled by the Beast Venerable, looked at the Poison Emperor opposite him with great interest.

The Poison Emperor watched the youth who seemed to have been possessed, his expression grave as he probed, "May I ask which senior you are?"

The Beast Venerable had been a battle maniac in life. After existing as a remnant soul for so long, his dormant thirst for battle gradually awakened. A domineering, overbearing, savage aura burst forth.

"Enough nonsense. Good, very good!" The Beast Venerable curled his lip disdainfully.

The Poison Emperor was immediately both shocked and enraged.

"Hmph, you are merely one who clings to life!" Poisonous qi gathered around the Poison Emperor, and a foul, baleful stench rushed into the nostrils.

The Beast Venerable circulated his battle qi and sealed Xiao Le's seven orifices, preventing him from inhaling the poisonous qi. Poison-type Dou Emperors were just this troublesome to deal with.

"Kid, watch closely!" the Beast Venerable shouted as he charged toward the Poison Emperor with a raised fist.

His battle qi was drawn inward, and his fist moved as slowly as a turtle—plain and simple.

The Poison Emperor curled his withered fingers into a claw, dim poisonous light flickering across them. Seeing the fist moving at a turtle's pace, he could not help but sneer as he swung out a ribbon of poisonous radiance.

The seemingly turtle-slow fist overtook that poisonous radiance in an instant and smashed heavily into the Poison Emperor's chest. Xiao Le, who could still see the outside world, felt an immense surge of satisfaction.

Boom!

A thunderous crash rang out as the Poison Emperor shot away like an arrow and embedded himself in the rock wall, leaving behind a human-shaped crater.

The Poison Emperor stared at the Beast Venerable warily. His earlier imposing momentum was long gone. His robes were tattered and disheveled, his chest slightly caved in, and several grotesquely protruding broken ribs had dyed the cloth before his chest red.

"It's been a long time since I last fought. I'm a little rusty. I actually failed to kill you in one move?" The Beast Venerable looked at the still-breathing Poison Emperor and remarked with a light chuckle.

Knowing he was no match for him after being severely wounded in one strike, the Poison Emperor hastily clasped his hands and said, "Senior, spare my life! I have news of a Heavenly Flame. I beg you to spare me!"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Le could not help but become excited. This was a Heavenly Flame, one of the Battle Qi Continent's foremost spiritual treasures—and the very thing that would one day allow the Flame Emperor to prove his Dao.

The Beast Venerable also withdrew his attack upon hearing this. However, a flickering phantom of a savage bear roared within his raised palm, emitting astonishing fluctuations.

Seeing the savage bear phantom, the Poison Emperor did not dare act rashly. He could sense the threat of death within it.

"This Medusa found a Heavenly Flame and intended to refine it. Unfortunately, she emerged gravely injured and died within this Death-Defying Snake Cavern. I once, in the Chu Yun Empire—"

Before the Poison Emperor could finish, a terrifying ribbon of battle qi slashed across him. Even the Beast Venerable had not noticed it in time and could not stop it.

Splat!

The seven-colored ribbon pierced the Poison Emperor's throat. His terrified eyes remained wide open as he died in unwillingness.