Blackwater Strange Serpent, Blackwater Fruit

"Second Brother!! You're finally back~~ Wow~~ What a huge snake!!!"

It was already afternoon when Zhao Er returned to the village from the woods. Apparently, seeing that he still had not returned after so long on the mountain, his family had specifically sent Zhao Shan to wait at the village entrance. She was thrilled to see him and called out at the top of her lungs.

Zhao Shan's voice was loud, and quite a few villagers also saw Zhao Er return with such a huge snake over his shoulder. This time, however, they only watched from a distance, with no intention of approaching.

They already knew Zhao Er had become a martial artist. The stag he had hunted last time and the supplies delivered by the Longwind Gang had all been shared with them.

So they deliberately refrained from coming over to greet him or help, lest it look as though they were angling for a share of the meat.

"Mm, I'm back. It's too hot out. Let's go home first."

Seeing Zhao Shan's face flushed bright red from the heat, Zhao Er felt a pang of concern.

"I'll go tell Father and Mother~~"

With that, Zhao Shan dashed off toward home.

The White Marten had not followed Zhao Er down the mountain. It had left just before he emerged from the woods.

The White Marten had seemed somewhat listless to Zhao Er. He guessed it was because it had eaten that black fruit and figured it had gone to find somewhere safe to digest it.

Zhao Er did not stop by the wild boar on his way down this time, because there was simply no need. After so much time, with such a strong smell of blood, he did not need to think to know that other animals would have dragged it away or eaten it.

Fortunately, his haul this time was enormous, so Zhao Er no longer cared about that bit of wild boar meat.

Once he got home, his parents naturally fussed over him, then scrambled to help butcher the Black Viper.

"Father... there's no need to cut it up. Go borrow the village chief's donkey cart. I'll need it in a little while to take this snake to County Town."

"Mother, wash those sacks and cut them open. I'll use them to cover this black snake!"

Zhao Er stopped Zhao Dazhu from helping and sent him to borrow a donkey cart instead.

He did not tell either of them that this was a variant beast, nor did he plan to process it at home. He had no experience processing variant beasts himself, and doing it carelessly would only waste a great deal of useful material. It might even slash the price.

The best approach was still to transport it to County Town, preferably to ask someone who knew this strange serpent's value.

"Ah~ All right!"

Zhao Dazhu and Zhang Xuan'e did not ask any further questions. They simply did as Zhao Er instructed.

While they were busy, Zhao Er took up his somewhat battered Twin Iron Halberds and began removing the black snake's Poison Gland.

Everything else could be sold for money, but the Poison Gland would greatly benefit Zhao Er's cultivation, so he decided to keep it.

He did not yet dare swallow the snake venom directly, but if he diluted it with liquor and took it little by little, its effects would certainly far surpass those of ordinary snake venom or Heavenly Dragon Toxin.

By the time Zhao Er had removed the Poison Gland, the donkey cart had arrived at the courtyard gate, its bed padded with several pieces of burlap.

After placing the Black Viper on the donkey cart and covering it with burlap sacks, Zhao Er finally drove the cart toward County Town.

At first, the village chief's donkey seemed afraid of the Black Viper's aura and hesitated, unwilling to move forward.

Crack~~

But once Zhao Er brought down the whip in his hand, the donkey huffed and set off anyway.

While on the road, Zhao Er had already decided how to deal with the Black Viper.

He did not trust Zhao Er enough. Though they had dealt with each other a few times and Zhao Cai seemed quite amiable, that did not necessarily make him a good man.

Besides, Zhao Cai might indeed be a good man when only a few taels of silver were at stake, but whether he would remain one in the face of hundreds or even thousands of taels was another matter.

Thus, Zhao Er had only one choice: his eldest brother, Zhao Da—or, more accurately, his eldest sister-in-law, Ning Mu.

The Ning Family was, after all, a Lineage. Even if it had fallen somewhat into decline, it remained one of County Town's Lineage powers. That much was clear from how the token Ning Mu had given him back then had been enough to secure him a discount.

So while the Ning Family might be reluctant to pay a high price for this variant beast, it could certainly find Zhao Er the most suitable buyer.

That way, Zhao Er would not have to sell the variant beast for a pittance, and the Ning Family could earn goodwill from both sides. Moreover, Zhao Er would not let it lose out.

"So, Sister-in-law, who in County Town do you think might need this? Sorry for the trouble, but could you help me contact them? Whatever the final sale price is, I'll give you twenty percent. How does that sound?"

Upon arriving at his eldest brother's courtyard in the Ning Family compound, Zhao Er first explained to his brother and sister-in-law why he had come, then lifted the burlap covering the donkey cart.

"This... this really is a variant beast..."

Ning Mu had been somewhat skeptical when her brother-in-law said he had hunted a strange serpent. But after seeing its unusual appearance on the donkey cart, all doubt vanished from her eyes, leaving only shock.

The Black Viper was already dead, and even the blood around its wounds had congealed, yet the scales on its black hide still reflected a cold gleam.

The massive snake's head lay slumped on its body, both eyes tightly shut. Coupled with the menacing protrusions on either side, which looked as though horns were about to sprout from them, the mere sight sent a chill through Ning Mu's heart and raised goosebumps on her arms.

"Wait a moment, Brother-in-law. I'll go find something..."

After confirming that the creature on the cart truly was a variant beast, Ning Mu left him with those words and hurried to the study.

"Tsk, tsk... Second Brother, you really are something!"

His eldest brother, Zhao Da, picked up the Twin Iron Halberds lying on the cart. Seeing that the tip of one halberd was bent and the crescent blade of the other had broken, then looking at the Black Viper's gruesome wounds, he could not help marveling.

The weapons alone showed that this had definitely been a vicious battle. Yet his younger brother had killed it and returned with every hair intact. Zhao Da knew then that his brother's abilities had probably already surpassed his own.

"I got a little lucky. This Blackwater Strange Serpent has an extremely tough hide and tremendous strength. A sweep of its tail can snap a tree as thick as the mouth of a bowl, but its deadliest weapon is still its venom..."

As he looked at the Black Viper, a trace of lingering fear flashed through Zhao Er's eyes.

Calling it luck was not wrong. The snake had first been distracted by the White Marten, then dazed by his surprise attack, so instead of immediately opening its jaws to bite him, it had chosen to spit venom and create a poisonous mist to envelop him.

Had it actually bitten him, given how potent its venom was, the "iron body" he had only just cultivated might not have been able to withstand it.

"That's right, it's a Blackwater Strange Serpent. This kind of snake is famous for spraying venom like black water from its mouth. Its blackwater venom is lethally poisonous. According to the records, it can dissolve stone and produce black smoke that shrouds its entire body, so it has no fear of being surrounded and attacked."

At that moment, Ning Mu emerged from the room with a book in her hands. When she reached the cart, she compared the creature against the book as she spoke:

"Blackwater Strange Serpents commonly dwell near water and take their name from the blackwater venom in their mouths. They have menacing protrusions on both sides of their heads, and their hides offer astonishing protection, making them the finest material for crafting armor worn beneath clothing. Blackwater Fruit often grows wherever they appear, and Blackwater Fruit is the best aid to evolution for Poison-Type Variant Beasts."