Azure mist coiled like living snakes at the underground river's mouth. Liu Fengchun drove his Snake-Head Staff into a crack in the rock with a clang, its emerald eyes reflecting the shifting light and shadows on the four men's faces. "The young plant's roots, divided into four shares. Would that be enough for everyone?"
A hoarse sneer seeped from beneath Yin Jiu's mask. Inside his clay jar, the Red Centipede's antennae rustled with his laughter. "Elder Liu, since you want the Snake King Poison Gland, why use scraps of root as your raft?"
His withered fingers flicked open the jar, and three centipedes climbed along his arm guard onto his shoulder. "I only want the Snake Shed Skin to temper these Red Centipedes' bladed legs."
The silver needles on Chen Moyang's Formation Plate suddenly trembled like a swarm of bees beating their wings. "A breach opened in the formation by the southern cliff last night. The snake nest might be over there."
Everyone frowned at that. Ordinarily, none of them wanted to go there even on patrol. Beneath that half-carcass of a Demonic Beast was a swarm of Water Scorpions, and they were no easy foes.
As he raised his eyes, his gaze passed over Lu Zhao's Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield. Something else occurred to him, and he said, "Fellow Daoist Lu, your new puppet... would you be willing to send it into the cave to test its edge?"
"How did you know I had a new puppet?"
Lu Zhao's expression tightened.
"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Lu. I haven't been spying on you. There have simply been some changes in the wood shavings washed out of the underground river lately."
Damn it, I was still careless. I'll have to be more cautious from now on, Lu Zhao thought.
A deep-blue curtain of water spread silently from the tortoise-shell shield. Lu Zhao said, "My puppets will engage the snakes head-on, but I'll need you all to pin down the snakes on both flanks."
His gaze swept over the Fire Centipede emerging from Yin Jiu's sleeve. "Ink-Scaled Snakes fear fire poison. Your Fire Centipedes ought to taste some real blood, Fellow Daoist Yin."
Crack!
At that moment, Liu Fengchun said, "My grandson needs pills to break through. The Snake King Poison Gland alone won't be enough. I need an extra share."
He took something from his Storage Bag. It looked like a tattered scroll.
"This is a detailed map I spent six years surveying and drawing. Even part of the underground river is marked. Is that enough?"
In the deathly silence, only the underground river could be heard sobbing against the rocks. Lu Zhao spoke then as well. "We leave tomorrow between seven and nine in the morning. Each of us will claim the Snake King's materials according to our own abilities. I don't want the young plant, but all its roots must go to me. If my share falls short, I can make up the difference with Spirit Stones."
They parted, agreeing to set out the next day.
Inside his stone chamber, Lu Zhao laid out his assets before him: shadowy patterns flowed across the Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield, underground river water essence condensed on the twin blades of the Water-Splitting Spikes, and the magnetic clasp at his waist hummed softly with his breathing.
The vortex in the Hundred Waters Dharma Disc swallowed and released blue light, while the Formation Core against his chest pulsed faintly like a heartbeat.
Three red-patterned Explosive Flame Talismans, three Water-Escape Talismans, two Golden Sword Talismans, and the near-second-stage Ice Dragon Talisman.
His fingertips brushed the tortoise patterns on the Ironwood Guard's breastplate as he recalled the puppets he possessed.
Four Frost Rat Puppets, two Flowing Cloud Sparrows, and two Ironwood Guards.
"I'll test the puppets on the snakes, then. I haven't tried these Ironwood Guards yet..." Lu Zhao murmured.
In a stone cave, Chen Moyang dipped his brush in snake blood and wrote rapidly on the back of his Formation Plate.
Spirit Stone powder mixed with gold sand seeped into the trigram patterns. "The gate of life lies at the Xun Position between nine and eleven in the morning; deathly energy floods the Kan Position like a tide..." Spiderweb cracks suddenly appeared across the Formation Plate. He hastily struck his chest and fed Essence Blood from his fingertips into the trigram's eye. The silver needle abruptly fixed on the seventh red dot.
Meanwhile, in his room, Yin Jiu immersed the Red Centipedes in boiling, dark-green slurry. The snake corpses inside the clay jar rapidly shriveled into ash.
"The blood-burning fire poison should be enough to eat through snake scales..." He stared toward the stone wall through the holes in his mask. "Those clumsy lumps of Lu Zhao's had better not get in the way of the centipedes sucking marrow." The slurry churned in the jar like a living thing.
Liu Fengchun sat cross-legged in a corner of his room, rubbing the crack in the staff head's emerald eye before pressing the Bronze Fragment hard into the fissure.
The instant the Heavenwind Blade fragment sank in, blood-red, web-like patterns surfaced along the staff. "The fragment's lingering power will last no more than ten breaths... You had better not waste the map I spent six years drawing."
At the bottom of Green Vine Ravine, the underground river ran swift and muddy, resembling the slick, slimy intestines of a giant beast.
A powerful stench of decay mingled with a strange, dizzying, sweet-fishy odor, forcing its way relentlessly into the four men's mouths and noses.
They had advanced barely a hundred zhang when hissing erupted from the cracks in the rocks, and seven or eight Ink-Scaled Snakes as thick as an arm shot out like lightning!
A red shadow flashed from Yin Jiu's sleeve, and a Red Centipede lunged like an arrow loosed from its bow.
The snakes visibly shriveled, becoming weightless, hollow skins. Before their Snake Bones could hit the ground, a layer of deep-blue ice crystals silently covered them—the lingering power of the underground river water essence drawn by Lu Zhao's Water-Splitting Spikes had yet to dissipate, its chill biting.
"The scales on these shed skins are dull and lusterless. They don't even have a single decent azure marking."
The silver needle on Chen Moyang's Formation Plate was fixed firmly at the Xun Position, its tail vibrating rapidly. "That Snake King's nest is only a few dozen zhang away. Its presence is so thick it won't disperse... but these..."
He kicked aside a frozen snake corpse at his feet, his voice carrying a trace of barely perceptible irritation. "They're all early first stage. Not even enough to fill the gaps between our teeth!"
Boom!
The clusters of stalactites overhead collapsed like a torrential downpour! The instant a foul wind bore down on them, the hairs on the back of Lu Zhao's neck stood on end.
The Hundred Waters Dharma Disc spun into his palm of its own accord. The Water-Splitting Spikes drew moisture from the underground river into a curved blade that swept upward to block-
Clang!!!
An ear-splitting metallic crash exploded through the narrow space, shaking rock dust from the ceiling in a snowy avalanche! The ice blade shattered into a skyful of icy mist.
Through the spreading mist, the attacker revealed itself: a giant snake three zhang long, its entire body covered in deep-azure, almost black scales. An eerie azure marking flickered like a flame on its forehead. Dark-green venom dripped from its fangs onto the black rock wall, instantly corroding pits into it and raising sizzling wisps of azure smoke!
"Azure Runes?!" Blood streaked the emerald eyes of Liu Fengchun's Snake-Head Staff. "It really is this beast!"
The Snake King's slit pupils locked onto Lu Zhao. Its tail whipped through the icy mist and swept straight at his legs, its scales scraping the rock wall in a spray of dazzling sparks.
But Lu Zhao suddenly shot backward. "Everyone, fall back!"
Before his words had faded, the rock beside him exploded! An Ironwood Guard burst out, crushing stone beneath its feet, silent as a mountain! Its heavy, Black Iron-clad fist drove straight toward the whipping snake tail without a single flourish!
Bang! Clang-!
The thunderous collision rang with the shrill screech of scraping metal! Scales flew from the snake's tail like arrows. The thick Black Iron armor on the puppet's right arm visibly caved inward and cracked. The earthen-yellow Spirit Runes at its joints flashed violently, scattering tiny fragments of spiritual light!
"Hold it!"
Lu Zhao's Divine Sense poured into the Puppet Core like a tide. The Spirit Runes across the puppet's chest and abdomen instantly flared, earthen-yellow light flowing like molten lava. Astonishing strength erupted from its arms, and, like two enormous molten-iron pincers, they clamped tightly around the joints of the snake's tail!
Maddened by pain, the Snake King rolled and twisted frantically, its enormous body lashing the hard rock walls, sending stone fragments flying and covering them in spiderweb cracks.
The puppet staggered under the pull. Every joint in its body groaned with a teeth-grating metallic sound under the tremendous force, as though it might fall apart at any moment, yet the grip of its arms did not budge!
A vicious gleam flashed in Yin Jiu's eyes. Two Red Centipedes became streaks of red light, lunging straight for the Snake King's icy slit pupils! The Snake King abruptly opened its mouth, spewing a dense cloud of azure-black poison mist! The Red Centipedes burst into flame upon touching it, giving brief, agonized shrieks before instantly charring into two clumps of black ash that drifted down!
"Now!" Wind-Splitting Green Radiance burst from Liu Fengchun's Snake-Head Staff as it split the wind. The Snake King shuddered as though struck by lightning, azure light flickering wildly.
Lu Zhao moved. The vortex in the Hundred Waters Dharma Disc spun madly. Three deep-blue Ice Cones crystallized on its surface, drawing on the disc's power as they shot through the air!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Ice Cones pierced the air with shrill whistles and drove into the Snake King in a triangular formation!
Before snake blood could spurt, the "Restraining Formation" on Chen Moyang's portable Formation Plate had already enveloped the snake's head. Liu Fengchun thrust his staff head into its mouth and twisted viciously, while Yin Jiu's poisoned needles hammered into its wounds like a rainstorm...
By the time the Snake King's carcass crashed into the underground river, the Spirit Runes on the Ironwood Guard's right arm had dimmed considerably. Lu Zhao brushed his hand over the deep gouges, and the Puppet Pearl relayed feedback:
Azure-black sap seeped from the seams of the right arm's armor, and the splits in three old gouges had spread to the shoulder blade.
Taking on a Middle First Stage Demonic Beast is still something of a stretch, Lu Zhao thought.
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