A Chain of Traps

Extreme fury nearly made Luo Tai lose his reason. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, and the piercing pain barely brought him back to his senses.

Luo Tai had dominated Stone Desert City for half his life and killed countless people. His temperament had long been tempered as hard as steel, and few things could truly provoke his anger. Yet the scene before him left him almost unable to contain himself.

That was his son! His only child, born to him late in life! His sole bloodline! The precious treasure he feared to drop from his hand or melt in his mouth!

From childhood to adulthood, when had he ever allowed Luo Yi to suffer the slightest grievance? Even a minor bump or scrape would make his heart ache for days.

And now, his child, his only bloodline, had been hung from a tree like an animal and subjected to this inhumane, flesh-devouring torment!

What a vicious method! What a cruel heart!

"Ah—!"

Luo Tai threw back his head and roared, his cry filled with violence and killing intent!

Damn Xiao Ding! Damn the Desert Iron Mercenary Group!

You... all deserve to die!

Yi'er is my reverse scale! A dragon has a reverse scale—touch it, and death is certain!

Boom!

The sand beneath Luo Tai's feet exploded, leaving a pit half a meter deep! Dense cracks spread in every direction!

Vast earth-yellow Dou Qi surged from his body into the sky, blowing his black hair straight upward!

The next instant, Luo Tai vanished from where he stood!

He turned into a yellow cannonball, leaping high into the air and charging toward the barely breathing Luo Yi!

"Hiss! Hiss!"

As though they sensed the deadly pressure, the venomous snakes madly biting Luo Yi's body stopped attacking in unison!

They raised their savage heads one after another, their tongues flickering wildly, with no fear in their cold vertical pupils!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Dozens of venomous snakes arched their bodies and shot off Luo Yi like arrows released from a bow, lunging at Luo Tai in midair!

Luo Tai's expression did not change in the slightest before these seemingly ferocious attacks. He did not even swing the Jade Spear in his hand. With a mere thought, a half-inch-thick garment of earth-yellow Dou Qi emerged over his body.

A Battle Master could turn Dou Qi into a garment!

This was the greatest distinction between a Battle Master and a Fighter: the ability to condense intangible Dou Qi into a tangible garment, forming all-around protection.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

The moment the flying snakes touched the Dou Qi garment, they were like moths throwing themselves into a flame, instantly blasted into clouds of blood by the Dou Qi! Snake corpses rained down from the sky with a rapid patter, and their foul-smelling blood dyed the ground red in moments.

These were merely ordinary venomous snakes, no different from ants before a Five-Star Battle Master.

In a flash, Luo Tai broke through the snakes' blockade and arrived before Luo Yi.

With a sweep of his hand, the Jade Spear whipped up a fierce gust and severed all the vines binding Luo Yi!

Luo Yi's mangled body immediately fell toward the ground like a kite with its string cut.

Luo Tai's heart tightened, and he hurriedly reached out, carefully catching his son in his arms.

However, at the very instant he caught Luo Yi, while he was still in midair—

A bone-chilling coldness struck from behind him without warning.

There was no time for Luo Tai to think! The combat instincts he had forged through years on the edge of life and death forced him to twist his body in midair and tilt his head aside.

Sshk!

The next second, a strangely shaped throwing knife grazed past the skin of his throat.

Though he avoided the throat-piercing killing blow, the sharp force clinging to the flying knife tore a gap even in his Dou Qi garment!

A crimson line of blood appeared across his throat, then drifted through the air.

Luo Tai's pupils shrank to pinpoints!

What a concealed throwing knife! What terrifying sharpness!

That strike was impossibly fast—and impossibly strange!

Had I reacted even a tenth of a second slower, I would already be a cold corpse.

A chill shot from Luo Tai's soles to the top of his head, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Though rage had clouded his mind earlier, he had not lost his reason. He had always kept part of his attention on guard against his surroundings.

Yet even so, he had failed to detect the throwing knife's path at the first moment. Only the sense of danger he had honed over decades allowed him to barely evade it.

What a terrifying hidden-weapon technique!

Before he could recover from that soul-shaking strike—

Rumble!

The sand beneath him suddenly exploded.

A huge, blood-red maw filled with savage fangs burst from the ground in an instant. It was a Tier-Two Magical Beast—the Sand Sea Giant Python!

It opened its enormous jaws and bit toward Luo Tai and Luo Yi, father and son, in midair.

How is that possible?!

Luo Tai's face turned as pale as paper.

Why was there a Tier-Two Magical Beast here?! And judging by its Dou Qi fluctuations, it was a high-level beast equivalent to a Four-Star Battle Master!

Even at his peak, he would need to make thorough preparations before he could barely contend with such a vicious creature.

What was more, he was holding a burden now and suspended in midair, without even a place to dodge or borrow force from.

I'm going to die!

The thought suddenly flashed through Luo Tai's mind. The shadow of death drowned him like a tide, and fear gripped his heart tightly like an invisible hand.

No! It's not over yet! There is still a chance!

I can't die!

Yi'er is in my hands! If I die, he will certainly die too! I absolutely cannot die here!

At that critical moment, an unprecedented desire to survive erupted in Luo Tai's eyes.

He roared and poured all the Dou Qi in his body into the Jade Spear in his hand.

"Get... out of my way!"

Gritting his teeth, Luo Tai thrust the spear upright just as the Sand Sea Giant Python's enormous jaws were about to close, jamming the shaft firmly between its upper and lower jaws.

Crack!

The sturdy shaft of hundred-year ironwood groaned under the giant python's terrifying bite force.

Luo Tai made a split-second decision, planting both feet on the spear shaft in an attempt to use it as leverage to escape.

But another crimson shadow suddenly shot out from the Sand Sea Giant Python's mouth.

It was another Tier-Two Magical Beast, a Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python! Its entire body was covered in crimson scales, and it flashed before Luo Tai like lightning.

Luo Tai never could have imagined that another Tier-Two Magical Beast had been hidden inside the Sand Sea Giant Python's mouth!

This completely defied everything he knew!

Magical Beasts had strict hierarchies and powerful territorial instincts. Especially a brutal Magical Beast like the Sand Sea Giant Python—how could it possibly allow another beast of the same rank to hide in its mouth?

This scene, which overturned all common sense, left his mind blank for an instant!

And that instant of distraction was enough to be fatal!

He had no time to react at all. He could only watch helplessly as the Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python opened its jaws, lined with venomous fangs, and bit viciously toward his neck.

A snake hidden within a snake! A chain of certain death!