Certain Death! His Arrival Meant Absolute Dominion

In the dark, damp hollow of the forest, the rank smell of rotting vegetation hung in the air.

Yu Xiaogang's expression was tense.

He raised his right hand. A faintly comical purple glow appeared, and his Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao—a creature built like a fat pig—was summoned forth.

Luo Sanpao stood on all fours, twitching his two oversized ears and wagging his stubby tail as he cautiously sniffed at the faint scents drifting through the tangled, damp undergrowth.

"Little San, watch your step. According to my years of theoretical research, Mandala Snakes favor cold, damp places. They're especially good at hiding beneath thick layers of rotting leaves before launching a deadly ambush!"

Yu Xiaogang spoke in a low voice.

"With your Mysterious Heaven Skill sharpening your senses, signal me the moment you spot any crushed twigs where a snake has slithered across the ground!"

His right hand was already clamped around a packet of potent realgar powder deep inside his sleeve. Fine beads of cold sweat gathered at his temples.

Tang San narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill circulated silently within him. A faint purple mist rose in his eyes as he pushed the Purple Demon Eye to its limit, and the dim surroundings suddenly came into sharp focus.

He could see every tremor of every leaf vein.

His gaze swept the tangled thickets around them. Then his nostrils twitched.

A sickly sweet, foul odor slipped into his nose beneath the stench of muddy water.

"Teacher, watch out! Behind the dead tree thirty paces ahead and to the right—there's an intense, chilling killing intent!" Tang San warned sharply.

He shifted his footing and set his remaining left hand on the Sleeve Arrow at his waist, his fingertip catching the trigger.

Before his words had faded, Luo Sanpao's bristles suddenly stood on end.

His legs went weak. He stumbled back several steps and let out a terrified shriek!

"Hiss...!"

With a piercing rush of air, a thick, dark-green blur shot from the mire behind the dead tree like an arrow loosed from its string!

The giant snake was more than three and a half meters long.

Dense, dark-purple diamond markings covered its barrel-thick body.

A hideous fleshy horn rose from its massive triangular head.

As its icy tongue flicked, it spewed a great cloud of pale-purple, deadly poison.

Where the poisonous mist passed, plants yellowed and melted in an instant!

"A Mandala Snake! Judging by its size and the growth on its head, it has nearly four hundred years of cultivation!" Yu Xiaogang's face changed abruptly.

Delight at seeing his theory confirmed flashed across his face, only to be swallowed by horror. He waved his hand and shouted, "Sanpao, fart like thunder! Blast it!"

Luo Sanpao sucked in a sharp breath, his belly swelling like a giant balloon.

A deafening boom erupted. A yellow shock wave laden with a nose-stinging stench slammed toward the Mandala Snake in midair!

But the four-hundred-year Mandala Snake's scales were hard as iron.

It twisted violently in midair and forced its way through the foul shock wave, tearing apart the blades of wind.

A savage, bloodthirsty gleam flashed in its triangular eyes. It opened its cavernous jaws and lunged straight at Luo Sanpao's face!

"No! Sanpao, get back!" Yu Xiaogang was scared out of his wits. With a frantic flick of his hand, he scattered a broad spray of realgar powder.

But the Mandala Snake had gone berserk and ignored the powder's sting.

Its thick tail swept out like a fine-steel whip, sending Luo Sanpao flying dozens of meters. He crashed hard into a massive tree trunk in the distance, gave a pitiful wail, and dissolved into a streak of light!

A violent, reeking gust swept outward.

The corrosive poisonous mist bore down on Yu Xiaogang and Tang San!

"Teacher, get back! I'll deal with it!" Tang San's face hardened with ruthless resolve.

With a fierce sweep of his one hand, three poisoned Fine-Steel Bone-Piercing Nails flew from between his fingers. Three icy streaks formed a triangle as they shot for the Mandala Snake's eyes and throat!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Three sharp metallic impacts rang out in succession.

The Bone-Piercing Nails struck the tough scales on the Mandala Snake's skull, but only threw off a few bright sparks before bouncing away.

They had not pierced it in the slightest!

Damn it! With only the force of a one-handed throw and none of a Hidden Weapon mechanism's full thrust, ordinary iron can't break through its defenses! Tang San's heart sank.

He staggered backward using the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. A searing, tearing pain surged from his severed arm, making him sway as his blood and energy churned.

The startled Mandala Snake was now utterly enraged.

Its long scarlet tongue flicked ceaselessly, and its body carved deep furrows through the mud.

Like a purple gale, it moved with blinding speed to cut off both their escape routes.

Its vicious, venomous fangs were less than three feet from Tang San's face!

"Little San, watch out!" Yu Xiaogang's face turned ashen. He instinctively reached to pull Tang San away, but under the threat of imminent death, his legs shook beyond his control. He sagged and stumbled backward instead.

There was no way out.

Tang San's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and every hair on his body stood on end.

He was about to stake everything on one last fight, drawing on every trace of Mysterious Heaven Skill energy within him.

Boom...!

At that instant, as death hung by a thread, a terrifying explosion burst from the ancient trees overhead!

A pale-gold blast of energy ripped the dense green canopy that blotted out the sky into powder.

Green splinters and wood dust scattered wildly in every direction!

An unimaginably violent shock wave crashed down from above. Within dozens of meters, it uprooted the trees and overturned the mire.

The supreme might of an ancestral dragon, towering over all things beneath heaven and earth, slammed into the cramped hollow!

"Awooo...!"

The four-hundred-year Mandala Snake, so ferocious and untouchable a moment before, was engulfed by the sacred, boundless Dragon Might that struck at the depths of its bloodline.

Its entire body seemed to take the blow of an invisible divine-iron hammer. Before it could even finish a hiss, the enormous snake was smashed out of the air and into the mud!

With a series of cracks, the Mandala Snake's bones shattered one after another.

Its head pressed hard against the muddy ground as it trembled. Threads of blood seeped between its scales.

Yu Xiaogang felt the blood in his veins freeze.

The backlash from his injured Martial Soul, compounded by that overwhelming pressure, left him sprawled on the ground. He stared in utter terror at the torn-open sky.

Tang San's soul reeled. A hum filled his head, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill energy within him stopped circulating completely, as though it had met its natural enemy.

He could not muster even a flicker of resistance!

Shredded leaves rained down like a storm.

At the heart of the golden gale, a young man in robes white as snow stood in midair, his sleeves snapping in the wind.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Su Chen looked down at the disheveled master and disciple sprawled below.

Divine light flowed through his purple-gold double pupils.

"Yu Xiaogang. Tang San."

Su Chen's cool voice echoed through the forest.

"You ran off in such a hurry without even saying goodbye... Were you rushing into this forest to become a beast's snack?"