Chapter 112 Life and Death, Victory and Defeat: Dragon and Snake.
Those eyes, which instilled instinctive fear, emerged inch by inch from the shadows, slowly and gracefully gliding out of the cave entrance, revealing a snake's head, about half a person's height, before Xia Zhu.
This was a snake larger than all the snakes I had ever seen before combined, seemingly the queen snake in this burrow's nest. Her scales were as hard as steel, shimmering with a cold light as her body moved, their base color a dark, almost black hue, while her short, stiff hairs had grown long and thick, bobbing up and down with the spasms of her abdominal muscles.
"hiss--"
The snake mother flicked her tongue, and Xia Zhu could even see a hint of nonchalance in it. Her entire body was fully exposed from the cave entrance, coiled up in an incredibly smooth manner. With a slight straightening of her body, she already covered the sky and the sun. The oppressive aura filled the once slightly spacious cave completely, making it hard to breathe.
Faced with such a behemoth, none of them dared to make a move. Xia Zhu quickly planned an escape route in her mind. She even skipped the battle strategy. However, the small snake alone forced them to fight and retreat, making them reasonably doubt whether their legs could really outrun the giant snake.
The long snake suddenly lowered itself towards her. For some reason, Xia Zhu felt that as long as she didn't move, it wouldn't attack. Those grayish-white eyes, larger than her head, stared intently at her. She could see her own reflection in them, as if cleaved in two by those sharp, vertical pupils.
"people?"
A terrifying sound rang out, echoing throughout the cave.
The snake actually spoke, its dark purple tongue stirring the air around her. Xia Zhu blinked and nodded politely.
The giant snake seemed to glance at its companions behind her, then stood up again, giving Xia Zhu a relatively safe distance.
“You are not ordinary humans.” The long serpent coiled gracefully above its body once, and slowly revealed the identities of the group: “You are children of God.”
The Snake Mother's voice, though deep and resonant, had an indescribable dullness, sounding more like a kind of vocal organ vibrating to imitate human language than vocal cords.
She recalled the mummified corpse controlled by three snakes, which also had a fondness for imitating humans.
It turns out that what the superiors do, the subordinates follow.
"So, can God's children exterminate my children?"
The serpent's voice turned cold. She curled up in the shadows, staring intently at the group, seemingly waiting for an answer.
“If you had followed the rules, kept to your own business with humans, and refrained from harming lives, we wouldn’t have gone this far,” Ji Yinxiu continued.
Upon hearing his answer, the long snake seemed somewhat excited as it circled in the air a few times, as if no one had spoken to it in a long time.
"Regulations? What regulations? The only regulations we need to follow are the ones for survival. It's just that a few people were arrested and brought here for a meal recently. Who on higher up actually sent a group of people to confront me? How interesting."
Xia Zhu paused, grasping the key information in her words, and then asked in return, "You must have lived for many years to have grown to this size. Why was it that you could not harm human lives in the past, but not recently?"
"Well..." The long snake was clearly not expected to ask this question, flicking its tongue as if considering how to answer, "Of course, someone told me... that eating human flesh can help me become a dragon as soon as possible." Her voice sounded somewhat pleasant, and she instantly moved closer to the group, breathing on them.
“You’ve come at just the right time. That person also told me that natural features… are much more effective than human flesh.” Her forked tongue tried to lick the dragon-shaped talisman on Ji Yinxiu’s waist, but he stepped back to avoid it.
"Who is that person?" Xia Zhu asked, her heart pounding. This was explosive news.
The giant snake slithered to Xia Zhu's side again, sniffing her scent, and said slowly, "That person is... Why should I tell you? What benefit would I get?"
"Benefits? Then let you die a quick death." Xia Zhu was startled when she said it, especially when she heard Feng Feng behind her gasp. She thought to herself that she was being impulsive and glanced back to see that the others were silently giving her a thumbs up.
Her confidence returned. Whether she could win or not was another matter, but she was determined to make some tough remarks. She turned her head and looked directly at the long snake again.
Unexpectedly, she wasn't angry. Instead, she circled around Xia Zhu and started talking to herself, "Just how good is a natural physiognomy? Although I know I'm only alive today because of the little bit of physiognomy power in my body, that person described it so well. If I get a natural physiognomy, can I really turn into a dragon?"
"Did that person... say anything else?" Xia Zhu noticed that the long snake didn't seem particularly clever and easily got caught up in the topics she brought up.
"Of course, he talked a lot, right here in my hole, and to be honest, it was giving me a headache..."
The long snake circled the cave once, as if recalling the day the person visited.
"He said a lot, but I didn't really understand any of it. He was talking to me about equality and justice..." The long snake suddenly darted in front of her, its gray eyes looking somewhat lifeless. "Do you even know what equality and justice are?"
Before Xia Zhu could answer, the seemingly simple-minded snake mother muttered to herself, "Forget it, it's probably nothing interesting. He also said that as long as I start eating people and taking away the innate forms of you divine descendants, I will not only become a dragon sooner, but one day this world will return to its original state."
"The original form?" Xia Zhu heard her own voice echoing unrealistically in her ears.
The long snake approached her, even shaking its enormous head up and down, seemingly to express affirmation. It flicked its tongue and slowly said, "A truly equal world."
"That word again! He's repeated it hundreds of times! I was almost falling asleep listening to it, so I had to promise him I'd eat people to put his mind at ease before leaving my cave." She brushed away the snakeskin hanging above her with her tail, somewhat annoyed, and looked at the group. "So, can I eat you now?"
Xia Zhu felt that the snake in front of her was hiding many key words, so she ignored the snake's question and continued to ask, "Did he say anything else? For example, what exactly is the equality he wants?"
The snake mother was now completely impatient, and she twisted her body to approach Xia Zhu.
"Didn't you hear me? I already said I was asleep! Anyway, he kept babbling on and on! He's just like me, always talking like that! How come you talk so much, just like him!"
He suddenly stopped speaking, staring coldly at Xia Zhu.
"Alright, I've said enough. Now, I'm going to eat you up." Then, without hesitation, it opened its blood-red maw. Xia Zhu immediately drew her small sword to defend herself, but the sword was a short sword, not even as long as the snake's fangs. Before it could pierce the snake's upper palate, the sharp fangs "plop" into her arm first.
"Summer candle!"
Before she could react, she felt a figure rush towards her from behind like a cannonball. A flash of golden light appeared before her eyes, and something was ejected into the long snake's throat.
"Hiss—" She sensed something was wrong and withdrew her teeth, instinctively shrinking back.
Xia Zhu's injured hand was suddenly grabbed. As she cried out in pain, she looked up and saw Ying Huo's incredibly pale face. Anyone who didn't know better would think that he was the one who had been pierced by snake fangs.
"You're bleeding? You're bleeding?" Ying Huo stared at the blood flowing down like a tap, muttering incomprehensible words.
"What are you babbling about! Get out of the way!" Feng Feng, who had rushed over, elbowed her away. She tore off a piece of her clothes and wrapped it around Xia Zhu's arm. Although she knew Xia Zhu had the ability to regenerate, the amount of blood was still frightening. "Ah Zhu, are you alright?"
She shook her head, looking at Ying Huo who had been bumped aside by Feng Feng. Seeing that he was still staring at her hand, she said, "Aren't you supposed to be pretty good? You just stood there like an idiot letting this bug bite you?"
"...and she was bleeding..."
Xia Zhu didn't speak. She suspected that Ying Huo had hemophobia, but she wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. His reaction was as if he had only just realized today that Xia Zhu was also a person who could bleed and even die.
The snake writhed uncomfortably on the ground, and soon coughed up a piece of gold from its mouth.
"Ptooey! What is this?! It tastes awful!"
Seeing that the people actually resisted, she became angry and tensed up to launch another attack. Suddenly, a sharp golden sword aura lashed out from the crowd and slashed towards her. The long snake quickly and nimbly changed its shape to dodge the attack, but was still burned by the powerful and terrifying scorching aura.
She tensed all her muscles, and as the smoke cleared, a tall figure stood before the crowd.
The long snake looked at the sword in the man's hand with some shock. Observing its sword light, which was as murmured as water, seemingly majestic, it murmured in disbelief, "The Xuanyuan Sword?"
Then look at the boy with short white hair, his eyes and brows are clear and sharp.
"Are you from the Ji family?" Her voice trembled slightly, whether from excitement or fear, it was hard to tell. "Do you know Yinglong?"
Ji Yinxiu flicked her wrist, and the longsword in her hand cut through the air with a clanging sound.
"Yinglong is my teacher."
"Teacher!?" The snake mother's long tongue trembled wildly, her facial muscles twitching erratically, and she asked again, "What does 'teacher' mean?"
Ji Yinxiu was taken aback, but still kindly explained to her, "It's the person who taught me martial arts." After thinking for a moment, he added, "The person who taught me how to fight."
"Great! Great!" After hearing his words, the long snake began to writhe wildly in the cave, stirring up sand and stones throughout the cave.
She stretched her head in front of Ji Yinxiu, and Nobuko shook it haphazardly.
"Fight me!"
Ji Yinxiu nodded, pointing her sword at the long snake.
Although the serpent was enormous, it was incredibly agile and swift, moving freely in and out of the not-so-large cave and easily dodging Ji Yinxiu's attacks. They chased and dodged each other for a few rounds, which made the serpent somewhat angry. It hissed in protest: "Is this the only dragon in the world? Are you even fighting seriously?"
"The teacher's level is far superior to mine; I've only learned a little bit..."
"Alright, alright, stop babbling. If you can't beat me, all those guys behind you will die in the cave, to be buried with my children!"
After saying that, it opened its mouth wide and pounced on Ji Yinxiu, but he jumped behind it. The snake reacted very quickly, and the thick snake tail swept over the moment Ji Yinxiu landed.
Ji Yinxiu used the tip of her sword to propel herself into the air, dodging the sweeping attack once again. In mid-air, she turned and swung her sword, slicing a piece of flesh off the snake.
"Again! Again!"
She coiled up to gather her strength, and with a spurt of her bloody mouth, a large amount of yellow liquid was sprayed out. Ji Yinxiu jumped and dodged, but the liquid immediately bubbled and made a sizzling sound when it hit the ground.
It is an extremely corrosive acid.
The long snake began to spray acid wildly while attacking Ji Yinxiu. Her attacks were swift but chaotic, and she just stubbornly destroyed everything in the cave.
The few people who had been watching the scene quietly retreated into the tunnel.
Feng Feng looked at Xia Zhu, pointed to the long snake and then to his own head. Xia Zhu nodded in agreement.
To be fair, although Ji Yinxiu had no special abilities, he was much more professional and mature in fighting than Xia Zhu. Watching him fight the long snake was exhilarating. The Xuanyuan Sword was so smooth in his hands that it felt like it was part of his flesh. He had already reached a state of perfect harmony between man and sword.
In short, it is highly entertaining and dramatic. After all, the cold-faced Ji Yinxiu's battle with the snake is like Guanyin fighting the White Bone Demon three times or Lin Daiyu uprooting the willow tree.
She was sometimes amazed by the stark contrast between his decisive and ruthless swordsmanship and his personality, and other times her gaze was drawn to his face, which was appearing and disappearing in the shadows.
She would like to ask Yinglong for advice next time she has the chance.
"What's so great about it?"
Suddenly someone awkwardly blurted out a sentence.
Feng Feng immediately looked at Ying Huo with a grin.
"That won't work at all. This is just for show. It's nowhere near as cool as killing a giant snake with gold."
Ying Huo forced a smile, a smile that seemed genuinely concerned, but a dismissive snort escaped his nose. Then, noticing Xia Zhu looking at him, he immediately lowered his eyes and added in a very low voice, "I used to be able to do that too..."
Xia Zhu didn't ask him which "before" he meant, whether it was the time when he existed as Chi You.
She simply turned her head away and stopped looking at him.
Although the serpent was agile and large, it relied solely on brute force in combat and lacked any tactical skills. It only used a few moves in a row, and Ji Yinxiu had a complete advantage, with the serpent's body already being slashed open.
But she refused to admit defeat, feeling that Ji Yinxiu looked down on her and demanding that he unleash the full power of a dragon, determined to settle the score today.
Ji Yinxiu asked her how to determine victory or defeat.
"If I die, I've lost!"
Ji Yinxiu lowered her eyelashes, rose into the air, leaped and dodged between the stone walls, then gripped her sword with both hands and waited for the opportune moment to plunge it into the snake's vital spot.
Hot blood poured over the head, white jade flowing with sand.
He drew his longsword, looked at the serpent, and amidst its withered bones, she coughed up blood, her eyes gradually losing focus, yet she murmured, "Such is the true dragon..."
"I wonder if there's ever another chance to start over..."
"Even after a thousand or ten thousand years, one day we will emerge from the earth, soar through the clouds, and rise straight to the heavens..."
Its eyes were cloudy and white; the long snake was already dead.
Ji Yinxiu sheathed his sword and stared at the deathly silence on the ground. He remembered that his teacher had said that although there were many demonic snakes in the world, none of them could ever become true dragons.
It takes a hundred years to transform into a dragon, and a thousand years to transform into a serpent.
It's nothing but human delusion and fabrication.
"A snake can only ever be a snake, no matter how old it gets, and it will never become a dragon."
That's what she said.
Once the matter was resolved, the people in the tunnel gathered around.
Xia Zhu stood next to Ji Yinxiu.
"Although she was simple-minded and naive, she was eventually misled and developed a desire to harm others."
Ji Yinxiu chuckled softly, "I know what you mean. Killing her is the kind of win or loss she wanted herself."
Xia Zhu stared at his face; the blood of the long snake splattered below his eyes, like a red mole.
"What is this thing?" Feng Feng squatted in front of the snake's upturned belly and asked, pointing to a mark that was gradually appearing on it.
Xia Zhu quickly went over and squatted down to check. A light red mark appeared on her pale belly scales.
"Why does this look so familiar? Like I've seen it somewhere before?" Feng Feng looked like he was deep in thought. As the mark became clearer, Xia Zhu's right eyelid began to twitch wildly.
"Ha! It's a red cloud! I think I've seen it in an Isuzu!"
Yes, she had seen the red, star-like or cloud-like symbol in Isuzu as well.
Xia Zhu stood up, turned to the side, and revealed the mark to everyone.
She glanced sideways at Ying Huo, whose face was pale.
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