On a cloudy day, the Purple Scale Serpent King, who lived in the swamp, finished inspecting his territory as usual. Then, with a flick of his tail, he grabbed a subordinate. Under the fearful gazes of the other Purple Scale Serpents, who were either coiled up or cowering in corners or in the swamp, his two sharp fangs, each fifteen centimeters long, pierced through the head of the frantically writhing Purple Scale Serpent.

The venom was injected the instant it pierced the scales and armor and touched the flesh. Within two breaths, the Purple Scaled Snake, which had been struggling violently and splashing mud everywhere, stopped writhing and became a snack for its leader.

The other purple-scaled snakes silently shrank into dark corners, not daring to hiss, for fear that they too would become the leader's snack.

Holding onto the last vestiges of kinship, the Purple Scale Serpent King did not slowly suffocate its prey with its body before eating it, as it would with other prey, until it was strangled to death. Instead, it chose to directly inject a mutated venom that was more potent than that of ordinary Purple Scale Serpents. Then, it used its tail to help stuff the entire kinsman into its mouth, chewed it up, and let it fall into its stomach. It then let out a satisfied burp and contentedly narrowed its serpentine eyes.

Every day, he helps a member of his clan with a thousand years of cultivation improve his achievements.

After swallowing its younger brother whole, the Purple Scale Serpent King licked the black blood from the scales at the corner of its mouth with its black tongue, preparing to return to its nest to slowly digest this member of its clan.

The Purple-Scaled Serpent King, turning its head and slowly gliding back to its nest in an S-shape, yawned.

Before the pleasant yawn had even finished, a sense of crisis unique to wild beasts suddenly exploded in his brain.

A sharp gust of wind suddenly arose, and the sharp claws, like the Grim Reaper's hook, grabbed the Purple Scale Serpent King's head as it turned, and with lightning speed slammed its head into the flat ground at the edge of the swamp, causing the Purple Scale Serpent King to roar in pain.

"唳——!"

The Azure Flame Golden Roc, with a wingspan of over ten meters, burned with a layer of golden flames, its body seemingly igniting the air near the swamp. The scorching heat caused the Purple Scaled Snakes, which naturally preferred shady places, to instinctively retract their protruding heads.

A graceful, platinum-gold body and a powerful, profound aura of soul energy emanated from the Azure Flame Golden Roc.

The attack was launched by Wei Ming and his group, who had arrived at the swamp just minutes earlier and happened to catch the Purple Scale Serpent King hunting its own people.

They patiently lay in wait, waiting for the Purple Scale Serpent King to become satiated before unleashing their hunters' weapons to catch it off guard.

"Walk!"

With both claws gripping the head of the Purple Scale Serpent King tightly, Wei Ming gave the signal to retreat.

The excruciating pain of the eyeball being ripped out of its socket quickly brought the dizzy Purple Scale Serpent King back to its senses, and it struggled violently in a rage.

The violent struggle caused Wei Ming's Martial Soul True Form—Azure Flame Golden Roc—to almost slip off its other claw due to the immense force of the Purple Scale Serpent King as it grabbed the Purple Scale Serpent King and prepared to fly away, wanting to leave the serpents' habitat first. Fortunately, its other powerful phantom claw firmly gripped the Purple Scale Serpent King's eye socket, which was filled with broken pieces of flesh and blood.

"Sizzle!"

The purplish-black snake blood splattered onto the claws of the Azure Flame Golden Roc, corroding the thick layer of soul power covering its surface with a hissing sound, but it had not yet achieved the effect of breaking through its armor.

The more it struggled, the deeper the two claws embedded in its eye sockets became.

The Purple Scale Serpent King's body writhed continuously, and a roar with special meaning escaped from its slightly open mouth, summoning its people to support it.

The other purple-scaled snakes, which had been huddled in their nests or corners, also reacted, wriggling their slippery, icy bodies as they rushed out, baring their venomous fangs at the three intruders who dared to enter their nest.

"Fifth Soul Skill, Earth-Shattering Strike!"

Hao Xuan, who had also activated his Martial Soul True Body, roared and slammed his swollen, beast-like right palm into the ground, shaking the rapidly approaching Purple Scale Serpent swarm into the air. The swarm was lifted more than half a meter off the ground. Taking advantage of this moment, the huge energy phantom of the Azure Flame Golden Roc grabbed the Purple Scale Serpent King and flew completely off the ground.

Without their leader, the snakes began to panic.

Although this king is irritable, doesn't like snakes, and randomly swallows one of his people every day, he is still their leader.

Without a leader, the Purple Scaled Snake Swarm is a disorganized mess; they cannot live without a leader.

The restless swarm of purple serpents began to writhe, preparing to vent their fury on the two humans who had darted into the dense forest. They swarmed forward with incredible speed, like maggots wriggling wildly on the surface of water, leaving behind trails of black corrosion in their wake—a sight that would make anyone with trypophobia faint.

In the lush forest, birds and spirit beasts were constantly startled and let out panicked, sharp cries.

Following Wei Ming's instructions, Qian Yuelong and the others, who were waiting some distance from the snakes' habitat, also heard these unsettling signals.

As an agility-type Soul Master, Zhang Ping, who was scouting from the top of a towering tree, was startled to see Wei Ming swaying in mid-air, clutching the Purple Scale Serpent King, flying towards them. She quickly relayed the message to her companions below: "We've seen Teacher Wei! Teacher Wei is grabbing the Purple Scale Serpent King and heading this way! It's estimated to be in twenty seconds, no, ten seconds!"

Upon releasing her mental energy and detecting the terrifyingly large swarm of Purple Scaled Serpents approaching, Qian Yuelong's expression hardened. She shouted, "Zhang Ping, rejoin the team! Everyone, run southwest! The swarm is following the Serpent King towards our location! Prepare to flee!"

"A swarm of snakes?!"

Everyone's expression changed drastically.

Standing atop the tree, Zhang Ping landed steadily and returned to her team.

"Let's go! We'll leave the Purple Scale Serpent King to Teacher Wei and the others for now. Our priority is to protect ourselves!"

Two Soul Saints and one Soul Douluo.

It was more than enough to deal with the Purple Scale Serpent King, who had cultivated for 30,000 years.

Even when surrounded by snakes, it can still escape.

The greatest help they can give to the three teachers is simply not holding them back.

Understanding this principle, Hu Liena and the others followed Qian Yuelong, who was charging ahead, without hesitation.

Meanwhile, in the air, Wei Ming, flying up and down, left and right like a roller coaster, was still entangled with the Purple Scale Serpent King, who was trying to break free or use his most proficient strangulation hunting technique to entangle the creature that trapped him.

Wei Ming had to prevent the Purple Scale Serpent King from breaking free, and also guard against the Purple Scale Serpent King's body coiling around him, lest the hunter become the prey.

As for the poisonous blood, Wei Ming, with his profound soul power, calmly channeled his soul power into his claws. His eagle eyes, shimmering with a pale golden light, scanned the forest from above, searching for a suitable place to temporarily bring the Purple Scale Serpent King to a forced landing, where the Purple Scale Serpent King, now capable of independent thought, would not be able to escape.

A fierce battle royale in the forest was about to begin.

Qu Yuanyi slapped away several purple-scaled snakes that lunged at him, then turned to dodge several other snakes that had coiled together in a posture of self-sacrifice. Without stopping, he was ruthless in his attacks, piling up a bunch of freshly baked snake cakes with each palm, and ran forward with a furrowed brow.

Seeing that the spot where Qian Yuelong and the others were supposed to be waiting was now empty, his brows relaxed a little. He thought to himself that these students weren't stupid after all; they knew to make a quick getaway.

—A side note—

No, no, I just slept for a while before getting up to write this (cat emoji with tears in its eyes).

(End of this chapter)