Everyone atop the gate tower rejoiced as they watched Yan Qing's sword shatter and saw him fly backward, spewing blood.
"Good! Well fought, Brother Chen! That beast finally got what he deserved!"
But scarcely had their joy risen when the battlefield underwent another sudden change.
"No!" someone cried. "Look at that snake demon!"
Amid the blood and fire flying through the sky, an enormous shadow surged upward.
It was a white-scaled giant snake, its entire body battered and broken!
Over half its scales had shattered. Scarlet flames blazed in the cracks, wreathed in demonic energy.
Suddenly revealing its true body, it coiled once in midair, swept its tail through the swirling snow and dust, then crashed to the ground.
The earth for a hundred yards around shook violently, turning everyone atop the gate tower deathly pale.
Who could possibly withstand such might?!
"It's over..."
Everyone fell silent with terror.
Chen Mu had been hurled away by the shock wave of the earlier blaze and had only just regained his feet.
He looked up into those scarlet snake eyes and heard human words emerge from its mouth.
"To force this general to such a state... you should die without regrets."
Its voice rolled across the wilderness like muffled thunder.
As it spoke, its head dipped slightly. Rather than attacking, it actually turned away from Chen Mu.
But Chen Mu did not relax for an instant.
A demonic gale bore down, parting the wind and snow.
Yan Qing's serpentine body crushed its way across the snowy plain, coiling upward until its enormous head rose high into the air.
It was even more terrifying than its previous transformation.
"So this is your true body?"
Even Chen Mu could not help feeling alarmed.
Standing before Yan Qing's true form, he was as insignificant as