Flying Snow Slays the Demon

Try it?

How?

His nephew's Chasing Wind Sword Art at the Great Accomplishment stage had already been enough to shock Chen Xianhe.

And now, he was actually claiming he would kill this late First-tier demon serpent. How could Chen Xianhe believe that?

Just as he was about to dissuade him,

the black-robed elder's roar rang out beside everyone's ears once more. "Everyone, be careful! This beast is about to break free!"

No sooner had he spoken

than cracks began spreading across the ice coating the Bloodspot Sea Serpent's upright body. Ice shards scattered across the sea, splashing up huge sprays of water.

"Hiss!!!"

The Bloodspot Sea Serpent let out an earth-shaking shriek.

Everyone felt a chill shoot straight to their scalps. Chen Xianhe even noticed that the second layer of Qi Refining cultivator, the weakest among them, had been so frightened by the demon serpent's aura that his legs trembled uncontrollably.

It's over!

The black-robed elder wailed inwardly.

But no matter how unwilling he was, there was only one path left now: flee for his life.

The Bloodspot Sea Serpent shook its enormous body. Countless ice shards either fell into the seawater or landed atop the frozen surface, striking with dull thuds.

Before their eyes, the demon serpent was about to break free.

Just as everyone fell into despair,

a streak of Sword Light pierced the sky.

The sword was snow-white from end to end, its Sword Light extending nearly a zhang. Even from hundreds of zhang away, everyone could feel the Flying Sword's frigid aura and utterly terrifying power.

"Nine-foot Sword Light! A high-grade First-tier Flying Sword!"

"So this is a High-grade First-tier Magical Artifact?"

"It's dead! The demon serpent is dead for sure! Die! Die! Hahaha!"

.

At the sight of that strike, a surge of fear rose in the black-robed elder's heart as well.

Clearly, the power of this sword was already enough to threaten his life.

At that moment,

Chen Daoxuan felt the air before his Flying Sword become incomparably viscous, as though something were preventing him from unleashing its full power.

Yet the sensation vanished in an instant.

To others, the Flying Snow Sword was not only horrifyingly powerful, but also as swift as a rainbow streak.

Compared to theirs, Chen Daoxuan's Flying Sword was more than twice as fast.

This was the result of the Chasing Wind Sword Art reaching the Great Accomplishment stage. Not only did it double a Flying Sword's speed after it was controlled, it also increased its power by nearly seventy percent.

The high-grade First-tier Flying Snow Sword, coupled with the Chasing Wind Sword Art's seventy-percent boost to Flying Sword power,

created this astonishing strike!

"Hiss!!!"

Facing this sword, the Bloodspot Sea Serpent, its body raised upright, sensed a deadly threat as well. It desperately twisted its massive body, trying to evade the Flying Snow Sword's edge.

But it had only just broken free from the black-robed elder's Ice Binding Technique. Its body was still stiff, and the Flying Snow Sword was simply too fast to give it any chance to dodge.

"Scht!"

A sound like a hot knife slicing through butter rang out.

The Bloodspot Sea Serpent, over twenty zhang long and roughly a zhang thick, was beheaded by Chen Daoxuan's single sword strike.

Seeing this, the black-robed elder first froze, then was overjoyed.

Having recovered a mouthful of Dantian True Qi, he immediately cast the Ice Binding Technique again, freezing the demon serpent's headless remains as they thrashed wildly.

Half the time it took to drink a cup of tea later,

as the demon serpent's final shred of vitality vanished beneath the corrosive chill of the Ice Binding Technique, the sea finally grew quiet again.

"Is it dead?"

The second layer of Qi Refining cultivator, the weakest among them, asked cautiously.

"It's dead!"

Chen Xianhe nodded, then looked toward the pale-faced Chen Daoxuan beside him, his expression full of mixed emotions.

"Wonderful! It's finally dead!"

"It's dead, finally dead!"

"Haha, we did it!"

.

In the air,

aside from the cultivator whose Cargo Ship had been destroyed, who wore a long face, everyone else celebrated as though tossing their hats in the air, overjoyed beyond measure.

After all, getting rid of the Bloodspot Sea Serpent not only meant preserving their own Cargo Ships, but also gaining an unexpected windfall.

As a late First-tier Demonic Beast, this Bloodspot Sea Serpent was treasure from head to tail.

Aside from its most valuable inner core and venom sac, its flesh could be eaten, its fangs could be used to forge special Magic Artifacts, and its skin could be sewn into close-fitting defensive soft armor.

Earlier, even when everyone had concentrated their firepower, they had been unable to inflict much damage on the demon serpent. At least eighty percent of the credit went to that snakeskin.

Though the snakeskin had been badly damaged by everyone's onslaught, it would still be enough to make several suits of close-fitting soft armor.

After moving the demon serpent's corpse onto his own ship, the black-robed elder invited everyone aboard his Cargo Ship.

At his invitation, everyone perked up.

They all understood that it was time to divide the spoils.

The black-robed elder's Cargo Ship was fully three times larger than the Chen Family's Azure Dragon, and there were far more Formation Patterns on its hull than on the Azure Dragon.

No wonder the black-robed elder had been so nervous about his Cargo Ship.

Everyone thought this to themselves.

"Everyone!"

The black-robed elder had no idea what they were thinking. Usually quiet and reserved, his face was flushed at the moment, clearly showing how satisfied he was with the gains from this battle.

"According to the Qianyuan Sword Sect's regulations for dividing Battle Merit, the one who directly kills the enemy claims the chief merit and may take sixty percent of the spoils. The chief assistant may claim thirty percent. As for the remaining ten percent, the five of you will divide it equally. Does anyone have any objections?"

The black-robed elder swept his gaze around before finally settling it on Chen Daoxuan.

Rather than asking for everyone's opinion, he was really asking for Chen Daoxuan's opinion.

After all, this was a cultivation world where the strong were honored.

The strength Chen Daoxuan had displayed just now was enough to make the black-robed elder take him seriously.

Everyone looked at one another, then shook their heads. "We leave it to Senior."

"Let's divide it that way."

.

Seeing that no one objected, the black-robed elder took out one hundred Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag and gave Chen Xianhe's group of five twenty Spirit Stones each.

"This Snake Demon's corpse is roughly valued at one thousand Spirit Stones. The five of you hold ten percent, which comes to twenty Spirit Stones apiece. Please count them, fellow cultivators."

The black-robed elder cupped his hands.

Among the group, aside from the cultivator whose Cargo Ship had been destroyed, the rest—especially the second layer of Qi Refining cultivator—all wore beaming smiles.

Clearly, twenty Spirit Stones were quite a substantial gain for a second layer of Qi Refining Rogue Cultivator like him.

After putting away the Spirit Stones in their Storage Bags, everyone bade the black-robed elder farewell.

After seeing each of them off with cupped hands, the black-robed elder looked at Chen Daoxuan. "Fellow cultivator, we meet again."

"It seems this junior and Senior are quite fated after all."

Chen Daoxuan smiled, pretending not to hear the black-robed elder upgrading his form of address from "young friend" to "fellow cultivator."

The black-robed elder smiled as well. "To be frank, I have an impertinent request."

"Please speak, Senior."

"I would like to use Spirit Stones in exchange for the demon serpent's inner core and venom sac. What does Fellow Cultivator think?"

After considering it, Chen Daoxuan nodded. "That is fine, but I do not want Spirit Stones. Does Senior still have any Water Spirit Pearls like the ones you sold me today?"

It seemed the black-robed elder had anticipated this question. Though Chen Daoxuan was strong, his cultivation was only at the third layer of Qi Refining.

To him, Water Spirit Pearls that could accelerate his cultivation naturally held greater appeal than other external items.

But to the black-robed elder, Water Spirit Pearls were somewhat tasteless.

He was already at the ninth layer of Qi Refining. Unless he could break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, treasures that increased cultivation were of no use to him whatsoever.

"Here are five Water Spirit Pearls, valued at five hundred Spirit Stones. As for the remaining one hundred Spirit Stones, how about letting this demon serpent's flesh go to Fellow Cultivator?"

The black-robed elder took out five Water Spirit Pearls the size of marbles.

"Fine!"

Chen Daoxuan nodded in agreement.

Once they had settled the division of the spoils,

the next step was dealing with the Snake Demon's corpse.

All three were cultivators, and using Magic Artifacts to process the Snake Demon's corpse went swiftly. In only the time it took to burn an incense stick, the Snake Demon had been skinned and butchered.

The snake flesh and five Water Spirit Pearls went to Chen Daoxuan, while the snakeskin, fangs, venom sac, and inner core went to the black-robed elder.