Venomous snakes

"Died from poisoning!"

The fox demon's cause of death was simple.

The other person had a venomous snake with a white head and a brown body hidden in their sleeve.

Perhaps the broken spell caused the fox demon to lose control of the venomous snake, and the other party was bitten and killed by the snake.

Kong Ning found a venomous snake on the fox demon and then stomped it to death.

Her blunt and heavy-handed approach sent a chill down Mr. Zhao's spine.

Being able to blow back a shot arrow in one breath, Master Zhao was quite certain that this seemingly young woman could easily kill them all.

Kong Ning only sought to break the law; he did not kill Zhao Liang.

As Zhang Xuezhou continued to cast spells, Zhao Liang's chest, which had been struck by an arrow, slowly scabbed over. Master Zhao took a deep breath.

"The bride is a dog demon, and the sorceress is a fox demon. I shouldn't have bothered with all this messy, unlucky wedding arrangements!"

Master Zhao felt that this marriage to bring good luck was extremely bad.

Hasty actions clearly harbored many dangers. If Zhang Xuezhou hadn't visited twice, the joyous occasion he arranged for Zhao Liangchong might have turned into a deadly tragedy.

Seeing the two concubines who had fainted from fright, and noticing the strange expressions on everyone's faces, Master Zhao called over all his sons.

"We are in grave danger! Quickly, go and fetch the Prefect!"

With two demons appearing in the Zhao family mansion, Master Zhao felt that something was wrong with his house, and many people began to look at it strangely.

Under these circumstances, Master Zhao felt that only the most powerful prefect of Shu County could reassure the Zhao family.

He urged them hurriedly a few times, and the Zhao family sons had no choice but to take two martial arts-skilled retainers with them and leave together.

"Master Zhang, could you perhaps ask your fellow cultivator friend to take another look?"

Jiang Taigong, whom Zhang Xuezhou brought, saw through the identity of the dog demon bride, while the people Zhang Xuezhou brought later saw through the identity of the fox demon sorceress.

But Master Zhao couldn't help but worry that some kind of monster might be lurking in his house.

"She was just passing through, and I don't know her very well," Zhang Xuezhou declined. "Let's focus on saving your son first, and then hold a wedding banquet after Zhao Liang recovers!"

"Yes, we must hold a wedding banquet. As long as Liang'er recovers, we definitely must have one!"

After calming the hearts of many members of the Zhao family, Master Zhao turned his attention back to Zhao Liang only after failing to get help from Kong Ning.

He had heard Zhang Shu mention Zhang Xuezhou's healing of sword wounds, and he had seen the results of Zhang Shu's recovery. Now, seeing Zhang Xuezhou healing Zhao Liang's arrow wound, Master Zhao felt less worried and was not concerned that his son would die after being shot by an arrow.

As the arrow was pulled out inch by inch and the wound was quickly stopped bleeding, Master Zhao's eyes held a mixture of envy and awe.

At any time, spellcasters like Zhang Xuezhou are a scarce resource, and everyone wants to befriend them.

Consequently, people like Zhang Xuezhou have a social circle that far surpasses that of ordinary people.

For example, it's difficult to discern the true Jiang Taigong right now, and it's also difficult to discern the true nature of this woman before us.

After Zhang Xuezhou greeted them briefly and the woman stepped forward to examine Zhao Liang's body, Master Zhao became even more certain.

"Strange, why is it this kind of soul-binding incantation?"

"How?"

"This kind of soul-binding incantation is very rare!"

After examining Zhao Liang's body, Kong Ning's expression turned strange.

"This kind of curse requires about seven days of continuous Curse after it is cast, thus constantly influencing the target and eventually controlling their body, causing them to turn against you at crucial moments," Kong Ning said with a strange expression. "But very few people practice this kind of Incantation Technique, let alone use Demon Power to cast it."

You mean to say?

"He must have encountered some powerful demon seven days ago, perhaps even clashing with it, and then been cursed by it!"

"Wasn't it that dead fox demon controlling Zhao Liang?"

"The fox demon was likely just a cooperating spellcaster, and also suffered the backlash of the Technique Method. The true mastermind is still in hiding!"

Kong Ning's assessment led Zhang Xuezhou to quickly target Bashe.

About eight days have passed since the second encounter with Bashe. During the battle, Zhang Xuezhou fell into the water, and Zhao Liang was also injured.

Zhang Xuezhou even saw Zhao Liang being carried back to Shu County by Zhang Shu.

Given Zhao Liang's circumstances at the time, it would be difficult for him to antagonize other demons in the future, which was also Zhang Xuezhou's reasoning.

"Can this curse be broken?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Killing the powerful demon who cast the spell will break it," Kong Ning shrugged and added, "Or actually killing Zhao Liang will also break it."

Kong Ning was merely a powerful demon skilled in flight and assassination, not a Technique Method, and rarely proficient in demonic arts. It would be virtually impossible for her to break this kind of demonic art.

Just as Kong Ning had previously used brutal methods to break free from controlling demonic magic, her suggestion this time was to directly kill the powerful demon who was casting the spell.

As for killing Zhao Liang, let's leave that aside.

None of Kong Ning's suggestions were useful, but Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but think of the multi-talented Dong Zhongshu when he pondered them.

This is a master of magic who can deduce and calculate the Technique Method of the Zou Bugui. Although Dong Zhongshu's "Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven in Harmony Tracing Technique" has inherent limitations, Dong Zhongshu might be able to find the Bashe by relying on Zhao Liang's magic.

However, it remains to be seen whether the group can defeat the Bashe.

Having failed to kill the Bashe twice in a row, Zhang Xuezhou had little confidence in Wen Weng and Dong Zhongshu's ability to defeat it.

He wanted to get Kong Ning to help him, but Kong Ning couldn't meet with Dong Zhongshu.

The thought of loving each other and working together flashed through his mind, but then vanished without a trace.

"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's that I can't help you," Kong Ning said.

"Knew!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded, and then Kong Ning waved his hand, transforming into a faint light in the darkness and disappearing into the distance.

"Disappeared again?"

Master Zhao rubbed his eyes hard. First, Jiang Taigong disappeared inexplicably, and then Kong Ning vanished right under his nose. This made him feel that his martial arts training over the decades was utterly worthless.

He even personally welcomed the dog demon and the fox demon into the Zhao family mansion.

"Master Zhang, did that young lady leave as well?" Master Zhao asked in a low voice.

"She just happened to be passing by and wanted to see what was going on," Zhang Xuezhou waved his hand and said, "You'll have to ask Prefect Wen and Erudite Dong for help with this matter, see if they can do anything!"

"I have already gone to invite the Prefect, Erudite Dong..."

"He's sleeping at the prefectural governor's mansion right now, but if you want to solve your son's problem, you mainly need to find Erudite Dong. The less time you waste, the better!"

"Someone come here!"

Master Zhao exclaimed, and looked around.

He sent many of his sons to invite Prefect Wen, but it was clear that inviting Dong Zhongshu late at night required someone of considerable influence; otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to get into the Prefect's residence.

As for himself, he needed to stay at the Zhao family mansion to prevent the crowd from becoming unsettled and scattering like birds and beasts.

"You, you, you, take some men and go invite Erudite Dong. If Erudite Dong refuses to see you, then kneel outside the Prefect's residence and beg!"

After glancing around, Master Zhao finally sent away his favorite concubines, including his second wife.

The group had just finished making arrangements and left the house when a guest attendant hurriedly drove a carriage back from the gate.

"Oh no! Zhang Sanyang is dead in the street!"

Zhang Sanyang was a servant of the Zhao family who went to get the medicine.

When the guest assistant pulled Zhang Sanyang off the carriage, Zhang Sanyang's face was ashen and his body was stiff; he was clearly beyond saving.

"He must have stepped on something unclean," the guest elder said. "It looks like he died from snake venom!"

"Died from snake venom?"

Master Zhao's face was solemn as he swept his gaze across the center of the house.

At this moment, some people in the Zhao family mansion were setting up a wooden frame to prepare for a fire, and on that frame was the corpse of the fox demon.

No different from a fox demon, Zhang Sanyang was also bitten to death by a poisonous snake.

"Where did all these venomous snakes come from in the city? And why did they happen to bite Zhang Sanyang to death?"

Master Zhao was horrified.

The climate in Shu County is mild, so snakes are naturally plentiful. You can often encounter snakes if you wander around aimlessly in the wilderness.

However, there are relatively few snakes in Shu County, and the number of snakes that could bite someone to death is only one or two per year at most.

But on that very night, Master Zhao witnessed two incidents.

"Snakes, snakes, so many snakes, get away!"

The sound of Zhao Liang struggling in his unconscious state came through the phone, and Master Zhao felt a chill creep down his spine, as if he were being watched by a venomous snake.