Xiao Yu circled high overhead under cover of the morning light, gliding silently, her gaze fixed on the fat old man as she waited for an opening.
The instant Black Snake burst out of the dense forest, Xiao Yu snapped her wings shut and plunged straight down from the other side, so fast that she became a streak of multicolored light cutting a line through the dawn.
Finding no opening, she immediately climbed back into the sky as though nothing had happened.
The killing intent was real, but feints mingled with genuine attacks, half true and half false, leaving their attack patterns impossible to read.
Black Snake opened his mouth, baring his venomous fangs. Just as he was about to lunge within reach, a faint golden glow suddenly spread over the old man, as though he had been dusted with gold from head to toe. Power gathered in his arms.
Black Snake had no choice but to veer aside, drawing his enormous body back without actually biting.
Knowing that those who wielded psychic power excelled at attacking souls, he immediately summoned the scant thunder force remaining in his body and closed his nostrils to shut out the scent of incense. His body twisted sharply, the bone spurs along his spine sweeping past like saw teeth.
He suddenly opened his mouth again, gathered energy deep in his throat, and forcefully spat out white mist!
Rather than drifting lightly like ordinary mist, it carried a hint of color and shot out like a column of water.
The old man maintained as much composure as he could, sliding a zhang backward and conjuring the pale golden phantom of a great bell around himself.
The poisonous white mist struck the great bell, making it hum...
His attack had been blocked, but Black Snake was