Zheng Anqi was stunned by the sudden development and the smile on her face froze over.
She saw a large dark shadow emerge out from the pond, and something in its strange configuration told her that much of its mass was still hidden under water. That being said, the exposed part of the creature’s body was over a dozen meters in length, as tall as a three-story building.
Suddenly, Zheng Anqi felt very small in front of the gigantic being. Fear quickly shot through her system, paralyzing her and preventing her from shouting out to warn anyone.
She was not alone in her fear. The scene had paralyzed all the people around her, paralyzing whoever laid eyes upon it as the ancient gorgons would.
“What is going on?”
Mr. Shi’s back was facing the pond, and therefore he didn’t see the creature right away. However, he was perplexed by everyone else’s state of stupor.
Even as he wondered what could have gone wrong, he felt a cold air flowing down his neck.
The Yin Dragon Pond was filled to the brim with Yin Qi hence the barren condition of the soil around it. Mr.Shi felt the temperature around him drop significantly; it was as if time had fast forwarded to the middle of winter. Mr. Shi’s heart sank as he registered something was in the lake behind him.
He turned back slowly and what he saw next would stay with him for the rest of his life.
A large snake half emerged out from the placid surface of the pond. More than half of the snake’s body was still in the water. The snake’s body was as thick as a wine barrel, and it was covered with palm-sized green scales. On its triangular head was a pair of sharp black slits set in the fields of gold. The two lifeless slits were gazing down at Mr. Shi as a predator to its prey.
Mr. Shi was an achieved cultivator with over ten years of hard work behind him, and therefore, he was able to gather himself before such a terrifying sight and act.
He rolled onto his side away from the creature and threw a handful of sand towards the eyes of the creature. The creature was fast and dodged the attack. Before Mr. Shi could gather himself, the snake plugged forward at Mr. Shi like an arrow. It’s enormous mouth closed tightly at where Mr. Shi was standing.
“Ha!”
Having missed its first attack, the giant snake turned it’s long neck around and rammed its head into a bodyguard who had stood too close for his own good.
“AHRR!”
Zheng Anqi screamed.
Her scream had awakened and alerted the people around her from their stupor. The leader of the bodyguards named Li Yu hurried to push Zheng Anqi to the side and shouted, “Your ladyship, move! Get out of here.”
“Everyone else, ready your arm and follow me!”
After shouting the orders, Li Yu pulled out the weapon that was strapped to his back and darted toward the green snake.
The rest of the bodyguards managed to gather themselves and follow Li Yu. Although they hadn’t completely overcome their fears, bound by duty, they had to press onward and face the terrifying monster.
By then, members of the Yin Ghost Sect were so frightened by the snake, none of them were able to move.
Of all the people there, only the sect members knew how powerful this monster was. If the bodyguards wagered that they could subdue this monster using tasers or clubs, they would pay dearly for their oversight. Even the founder of the Yin Ghost Set could not overcome this monster, much less these bodyguards.
Yan Zhengze asked in a trembling voice, “Isn’t the Yin Dragon sleeping? I thought it only wakes up once every three years. What is happening?”
If they knew that the giant snake was awake, they would never even think of getting near to the pond, much less confronting Miss Zheng so conspicuously.
Chen Fan shook his head and lamented, “Bunch of idiots.”
Little did they know that the Yin Snake never slept as it was continuously internalizing the Yin Qi it had absorbed over the years since it had no other way of transforming the raw Yin Qi into Dharmic powers. They raised such a ruckus and disturbed its peaceful cultivation. The disturbance was infuriating to snakes. It was as if a man was trying to take a nap while constantly being pestered.
Color drained from Master Wu’s face. He asked under his breath.
“Master Chen, what should we do then? Should we pull back?”
The last time he stood face to face before the Yin Snake was a few decades ago with his teacher and sect brothers. In addition to the utter defeat, he remembered that the snake was about twenty meters in length. However, it had grown to over thirty meters.
A’Xiu was still paralyzed by fear as she stood on the side in silence.
After all, she was only a sixteen year old girl. However tough she sounded, and resolute she was inside; fear had overwritten reason once she stood before such an overwhelming sight. The evolutionary force that was hard-wired in the human’s brain kicked in immediately.
Chen Fan was the only person who kept calm. He regarded the giant snake, not like a monster, but more like a pet.
“Pull back? Why? This snake is exactly why we are here.”
Chen Fan cracked a smile.
“It. it’s terrifying!” Master Wu lamented. He looked to the commotion and noticed that the snake was practically immune to the bodyguards’ weapons.
“Shit! If I had a better weapon, I would have already carved this big worm into pieces.”
Li Yu lamented. After a few minutes of repetitive strikes with a wooden club to no avail, Li Yu threw the club to the ground and produced a sharp combat knife from his pocket. He immediately threw himself at the snake with the knife.
He was a brave warrior hired by the Second Lord of Zheng to protect his daughter. As an experienced veteran, Li Yu did not disappoint.
Li Yu had been practicing martial arts for over twenty years, and by then he had achieved initial success in his Internal Force cultivation. In his mind, the snake monster only had an advantage in its size and physical defense, but it was not nearly as deadly as poisonous vipers in the African jungle.
Holding the knife in a reverse grip, he launched himself toward the snake and yanked his arm, cutting the belly of the snake with the sharp edge of the knife.
“Clank!”
Infused with Internal Force, the dagger cut through the scale and the thick skin of the snake, into its flesh.
“Shit!”
Life suddenly drained from Li Yu’s face as he noticed that he was only able to plunge the dagger three inches into the snake’s body. It was stopped by the iron-like muscles and was stuck in between scales as hard as steel.
“Impossible! My attack should have pierced through an iron plate much less a snake.”
The thought distracted him for a split second and from the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the monster’s tail sweeping at him. Li Yu quickly pulled back, but he was not fast enough. The tail hammered into Li Yu with lightning speed.
The tail weighed at least a ton and being hit by it at such speed was equivalent of being hit by a semi truck at full throttle. Li Yu’s body gave out a cringing worthy crunch as his bones were shattered into pieces.
Li Yu was thrown to the ground like a lifeless rag doll. He collapsed to the ground in near death.
“Eamon!” Zheng Anqi gasped.
Eamon was Li Yu’s English name.
Li Yu was born outside of China and knew Zheng Anqi while the latter lived in England. Although he was an employee of the girl, they both shared many common interests and he was one of Zheng Anqi’s confidants.
“Miss, let’s get out of here.” A female bodyguard tugged Zheng Anqi’s elbow as she urged her to leave.
In two minutes, half of the bodyguards were laid low by the snake. Even the captain of the bodyguards was in a comma. The rest of the bodyguards quickly lost moral particularly after they had realized how ineffective their weapons were.
They were bodyguards, not expendable.
Yan Zhengze and other members of the Yin Ghost Sect had already retreated to outside of the valley. They hid in the bushes cautiously, waiting for the commotion to die down.
“Yes, Miss Zheng! Let’s get out of here!”
The rich teenagers huddled around Zheng Anqi and begged the girl to leave with them.
These spoiled city kids had an overdose of reality in the most unthinkable fashion. They were first surprised by Old Bone Mu’s otherworldly power, and the snake had out right rendered them speechless.
If not for fear of Zheng Anqi’s retribution for deserting her at first sight of terror, they would have run as fast as could to get out of this accursed valley.
After a while, Sir Jiang Junior managed to gather himself.
He spoke in a serious voice, “Anqi, Let’s go, don’t let Brother Li’s sacrifice be for nothing.”
Hearing the words, the girl suddenly jerked her head to the side towards the lake.
She saw all the bodyguards, but Mr. Shi were dead.
“Oh my god!”
Seeing so many men brutally slaughtered, Mr. Shi was overtaken by anger. His arms trembled as a fire burned in his belly.
Spurred by anger, he bit into the tip of his tongue, and let blood fill his mouth. Suddenly, he spat out his blood while initiated the Dharmatic Art at the same time. A green glow appeared around Mr. Shi. Overcharged by the power in his blood, the glow formed a ray of light and shot at the monster like a thousand needles.
The green ray of light landed on the snake and took effect as the snake let out painful shriek.
At the area where the green light hit, the snake scales disappeared and exposed a swath of rotting flesh.
The brief victory heightened everyone’s spirits. It was the first time ever since the battle started they were able to harm the snake.
Mr. Shi had shown them that this giant monster was not invincible.
“Kill him, Mr. Shi!”
Zheng Anqi’s eyes lit up, and she cheered for Mr. Shi’s success.
Mr. Shi didn’t share the other’s optimism. He had used all of his energy in the last attack. However, he was only able to cause some surface wound to the snake. He wagered he simply didn’t have enough blood in his veins to waste away such an enormous monster.
Nonetheless, Mr. Shi channeled the remaining energy inside of him and attacked again.
However, this time the snake was prepared as it, too, had shot out a grey mist from its mouth.
The temperature suddenly dropped down to below zero, and Mr. Shi knew he had to dodge. The two injured bodyguards beside him were not able to get out of harm’s way and were struck by the mist. In a blink, they collapsed to the ground lifelessly.
The valley suddenly became pin-drop quiet.
Zheng Anqi was frozen in action as her last hope had vanished into thin air.
“Let’s go, Miss Zheng!” Sir Jiang Junior pulled her toward the exit before it was too late.
Zheng Anqi let out a peal of wry laughter.
If she deserts her men right now, how would she explain everything to the families of those who were killed?
Her mission had led to their death, and therefore, she couldn’t give up so easily.
But what could she do? Li Yu was unconscious, and most of the bodyguards were dead. Who else could she turn to?
Suddenly, someone walked past Zheng Anqi to join the battle.
“Chen Fan?”
Zheng Anqi was taken aback and asked curiously: “What are you going to do there?”
“Kill him.” Chen Fan answered calmly without even gracing the girl a glance.
“You are nuts!” Sir Jiang Junior shouted at him.
The other teenagers and bodyguards glared at Chen Fan as if he was crazy.
Even the combined might of Mr. Shi and Li Yu couldn’t subdue this monster, much less a sixteen-year-old boy.
Chen Fan cracked a smile.
“I have been waiting for it for a long time.”
And then, he sauntered toward the giant monster, leaving everyone else gapping at him incredulously.