Dust Settles

Hiss!

The sharp venomous fangs easily tore through Luo Tai's battle aura gauze and sank deep into the main artery in his neck.

A bone-chilling pain mixed with a burning numbness spread from his neck throughout his entire body.

Luo Tai could clearly feel a cold, foreign energy rushing wildly through his blood toward his heart and brain. It was the Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python's deadly venom!

"Urgh..."

Luo Tai let out a muffled groan of pain. He instinctively reached out, trying to grab it, but the Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python was as thick as an adult's calf, and its body was slick beyond belief. He could not get hold of it at all.

Worse still, the Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python had begun coiling around him, winding tighter and tighter!

Crack! Crack!

A series of bone-chilling fractures sounded from within his body.

Luo Tai's eyes were filled with despair! He had thought that with his Five-Star Battle Master cultivation and all his prior preparations, he would be able to deal with any schemes the enemy might have.

But reality proved that he had overestimated himself and underestimated his opponent's ruthlessness and strangeness!

He had not even seen the enemy's face, yet he was about to die here.

All the painstaking preparations he had made before setting out now seemed like a colossal joke.

Luo Tai knew that he most likely would not escape this disaster.

Looking at his disappointing son in his arms, Luo Tai used the last of his strength to shove Luo Yi away.

The instant Luo Yi's body was pushed away, the Jade Spear propping open the snake's mouth snapped with a bang!

Without its support, the Sand Sea Giant Python's huge bloody maw slammed shut!

"Ah—!"

An incomparably shrill scream rang through the entire Poplar Forest!

Luo Tai's body and head were instantly separated. Along with the Scarlet-Scaled Sand Python tightly coiled around him, he was bitten cleanly in two by the Sand Sea Giant Python's fangs!

Blood and mangled flesh sprayed across the ground.

Perhaps Luo Tai's scream had been too loud, because Luo Yi, who had lost consciousness, temporarily regained a shred of clarity.

He struggled to open his swollen eyes, which were narrowed to mere slits.

Unfortunately for him, after Luo Tai's severed head rolled across the ground several times, it came to rest right beside Luo Yi.

Those clouded old eyes were staring straight at Luo Yi.

"Th-That is... Father!"

Luo Yi stood there blankly, as though all the blood in his body had frozen at that instant.

How could this be? How was this possible?!

In his mind, his father, Luo Tai, was the sky of Stone Desert City! An omnipotent god!

No matter how much trouble he caused or how great a mess he made, once his father stepped in, every problem would be resolved with ease!

In Stone Desert City, he could practically do whatever he wanted. Few dared to provoke him, because everyone knew that he was Luo Tai's son! But now, the pillar he had relied on for survival had actually... been bitten to death alive by a magical beast just like that?

"No! This isn't real! This isn't real!"

Luo Yi clutched his head with both hands. The muscles in his face twitched violently, and his eyes bulged wide. He did not believe it! He absolutely refused to believe what he was seeing!

"This is fake! It must all be fake! It's an illusion! Those two little bastards made it up to trick me!"

"Ha... Hahahaha..."

His expression twisted horribly as he suddenly began laughing like a madman.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! Looks like the shock was too much for him, and his mind completely broke?"

Qing Mo slowly emerged from the forest. Watching Luo Yi cry and laugh on the ground like a lunatic, he gently shook his head.

That was only normal. After all, watching one's own father get bitten to pieces by a magical beast would break anyone's mental defenses.

"Forget it. I'm kind-hearted and can't bear to see anyone suffer like this. Qing Lin, send him on his way and let him join his father below."

Qing Mo spoke indifferently, without the slightest trace of sympathy. The father and son had brought this upon themselves by provoking him.

"Okay, Brother Mo."

A crisp voice sounded from behind Qing Mo. Qing Lin slowly walked up to Luo Yi and looked at the enemy who had once brought her nightmares. A ripple flickered through her jade-green eyes.

She gently raised her hand, and a First-Rank Spiketail Viper immediately burrowed out of the sand, biting through Luo Yi's neck in a single strike.

The crazed laughter stopped abruptly.

Luo Yi's body stiffened, then collapsed to the ground without another sound.

Looking at Luo Tai's head on the ground, Qing Mo could not help feeling a little emotional.

He had thought that dealing with Luo Tai, a Five-Star Battle Master, would involve considerable trouble. He had not expected it to be this easy.

But upon thinking about it carefully, it made sense.

He was not a protagonist like Xiao Yan, blessed with immense fortune and capable of exploding with power in the middle of battle to kill enemies above his level.

Even a single Sand Sea Giant Python was enough to give him a headache, let alone one trapped in the carefully arranged chain of killing moves he had prepared.

Even the Snakefolk could not pull off such a completely rule-defying method!

Was this the Jade Snake Triple-Flower Eyes? The ability to completely control a magical beast's mind and make it willingly go to its death was simply terrifying!

And this was only its incompletely awakened state. Once it fully awakened in the future, just how terrifying would its abilities become?

"Ah! I almost forgot the important business!"

Qing Mo suddenly slapped his forehead. He had nearly forgotten something so important.

"Qing Lin! Hurry! Make that big fellow spit out Luo Tai's corpse! He must have some good stuff on him!"

If you killed someone and did not loot the body, wouldn't that make the killing pointless?

He had seen it clearly: that old fellow Luo Tai wore a Storage Ring on his hand!

"Mm! Brother Mo, stand a little farther away. It'll be a bit dirty."

Qing Lin obediently nodded. She did not spare Luo Yi's corpse another glance.

Her mother's great vengeance had been avenged. From this day onward, Brother Mo was the only one left in her heart.

A dead man was not worth even a moment more of her attention.

Under Qing Lin's mental control, the Sand Sea Giant Python reluctantly opened its mouth and vomited out everything in its stomach.

At once, a vile stench of stomach acid, blood, and rotten flesh spread throughout the Poplar Forest!

Among that heap of filth, aside from several unidentifiable magical beast carcasses, was Luo Tai's mangled half-body.

Suppressing his nausea, Qing Mo stepped forward to search through it. Before long, he found an ancient-looking ring on Luo Tai's right ring finger!

"It really is a Storage Ring!"

Qing Mo's eyes lit up. Not caring about the filth, he hurriedly removed the ring and repeatedly wiped it clean with a piece of cloth.

All his assets combined amounted to only a little over thirty thousand gold coins. He did not even know how long he would have to wait before he could afford the most ordinary Storage Ring.

"Huh, there's something else."

Beneath Luo Tai's tattered clothes, a corner of an object gleaming with metallic light was exposed.

He grabbed it and pulled out the Blackrock Soft Armor.

"What a pity. It's a little damaged, but after some repairs, it should still fetch a good price." Qing Mo touched the armor's surface and found several faint cracks, likely caused by the Sand Sea Giant Python's fangs just now.

After thoroughly searching Luo Tai again and confirming there was nothing else valuable, Qing Mo finally stood up in satisfaction.

"Alright, there's nothing left to squeeze out. Qing Lin, it's time for us to head back." He clapped his hands and spoke to Qing Lin.

The job was done. It was time to go home and rest; the weather outside was simply too hot.