Shi Lang composed five clones and sent them inside the cave to provoke the Snake King and lure it outside. He did not send the clones inside all at once but slowly. In his mind, a voice sounded, “Why not just let me out and cut this beast in two?”
He replied, “I will grow dependent on you. My skills need to grow too.”
The sword spirit fell silent, and the clones left to venture deep inside the cave while Shi Lang moved outside. He does not wish to stay here when the Beast is provoked.
…
The Snake King was seventy feet long, covered with black scales. The texture of the scales was a bit different than other snakes. It seemed like the steel was weaved into scales. The Beast had an aura around itself that could frighten many people. However, the clone was not worried.
The clone was part of a Shura sutra technique, and thus it was indifferent. It was akin to a remote control toy that did not have any emotion of its own. The clone walked forward calmly, but the Beast did not notice his arrival. The clone did not radiate any pressure from his body that would provoke the Beast.
However, this trick would not last all the way. Shi Lang reached closer to the Beast, and the Snake King raised its head reflexively. The Beast saw a human approach him. First, it was a surprise, and then the snare was spread. The Snake King bared its fangs and bit down at the human’s head.
The clone was fast, but the Beast was faster. The fang sank in the shoulder of the clone. The clone’s body began to crumble the next moment after a few seconds. The Snake Skin looked around and hissed loudly to check for other humans. When it found none of the humans present, the Snake King lowered its head and returned to the rest.
After a few minutes, the second clone appeared next to the Snake King. The Beast did not get a chance to react. The clone flashed, and a strong punch landed on the Beast’s head. The Snake King was shaken from the impact and raised its head, hissing in pain. The Snake King was shocked to see Shi Lang.
This Snake King was at the spirit general level, and it was spiritually awake. Their intelligence was not lower than humans. The Beast hissed, and it dove down to bite the clone again. Shi Lang resisted, and the Snake King was irritated. The next moment, its tail smacked the clone on the side, making it fly into a wall with a loud impact.
The clone vanished into golden particles, and the Beast looked at the scene confusedly. The next moment, another clone rushed in. The snake was infuriated, and it dashed forward to kill the intruder.
However, another appeared inside the cave before it could handle the human. The beast was confused when a streak of lightning flickered in the corner of its eye, and with a boom, the Snake King’s chin was lifted, and it suffered a few attacks on its torso.
The pain stimulated consciousness, and the beast shot out bone shards protruding from the frilly snare. The two clones on the sides died quickly, and the one who landed the punch ran out of the cave. The Snake King was a petty beast. This puny human dared to venture into his cave and beat him up twice. How can he be left to live?
The Snake King chased after the clone at a fast speed. Shi Lang was monitoring everything from outside, and he could swear that this snake was almost reaching the speed of sound. The clone rushed out of the cave and came to a standstill. Shi Lang sighed as a black shadow emerged from the cave and passed through the clone.
The terran took out his spirit sword and said, “Time to fight, partner.”
The sword trembled, and a sharp whistle echoed in the forest. The Snake King heard this whistle and turned around with three feet long fangs barred at Shi Lang. The terran did not bother and came to stand before the beast. 𝑂𝔳𝓛xt.𝓒𝒪𝐦
He smiled at the angry Snake King, and his body glimmered with lightning sparks. The poison in the air was quickly purified, and then Shi Lang waved his hand to beckon the beast over.
The Snake King was enraged, and with rage, it spread the fleshy snare and slithered over to attack Shi Lang.
Shi Lang had the experience of dealing with beasts like this. He was not in doubt about how to kill this thing. He moved forward, too, at the fastest speed possible. In the federation, he had to face many beasts when serving. This was nothing compared to that.
Shi Lang and the snake head were a few feet away from each other when the snake king lowered its head, and Shi Lang took a side-step to avoid the fangs. The sword in his hand was filled with lightning spiritual energy, and he slashed at the joint below the snare.
The snare was not covered in scales and was made of thick flesh connecting the bone spikes protruding from the snake’s skull. Shi Lang had tagged this part as a weak point, and he did not waste any time striking it down. However, the Snake King was not to be looked down on, and it used its tail to shoot at Shi Lang like a spearhead.
The terran sensed it coming and jumped in the void. He thought the danger had passed away, but the tail seemed to have grown eyes and followed Shi Lang into the void. He had no option but to block the blow with a cross guard in front of his chest. At the last moment, he used the collision to his advantage and pushed himself against the tail.
He opened up the big distance between him and the snake. Then his gaze landed on the crystal embedded in the forehead of the beast. Shi Lang’s eyes narrowed, and then he channeled his sword intent into his blade. As he descended, he adjusted his body in the void and stabbed the sword at the crystal.
The Snake King had a sense of foreboding and quickly coiled to defend. However, the sword’s intent concentrated at the tip of the blade shot through. It stabbed through the scales, and the snake hissed. Shi Lang knew that the attack did not hurt the crystal, but it still left a hole in the beast’s spine.
The snake king uncoiled, and it shot forth to bite Shi Lang. The terran flickered and vanished from his position again. The snake king hissed and slithered in a circle, quickly shooting bone shards everywhere. Shi Lang did not expect this attack but quickly swung his sword, and the shards were deflected.
As soon as he finished dealing with the shards, the snake king was upon him. Shi Lang said, “If you cannot be defeated from the outside, then inside it is. Lightning Slash.”
He raised his head and matched the gaze of the beast. Shi Lang’s eyes flashed, and the Snake King stood still. The young man slashed his sword, and a wave of sword intent flashed through the surroundings.
The winds picked up the pace, and the sword energy slashed through the mouth of the snake king horizontally. The skull of the beast was dissected in a single stroke. Shi Lang did not use his sword intent earlier because he wanted to get some exercise, and he had not yet recovered much of the sword intent yet.
At his best, he could only do this attack seven times. He used the intent once to stab and now this. The battle did not last long, but his realm limited him. Fighting with someone stronger left him exhausted. The clones he used also took some toll on him. He waved his hand and collected the beast’s corpse in his space ring and rushed out back to where Bo Qingtan and the rest were.
This task to save them was not him, but the elders seemed to be testing him. He did not say much, but the elders thought that Shi Lang only achieved the results because of his implied barrier trick. Also, they knew that an elder from the Spirit Heart Sect was present in the shadows to defend him.
An outsider changed the pride of the sect’s disciples and their ways of doing things. How easy can that be? Shi Lang moved through the woods and was about to reach the Dragon Heart Sect camp when a roar echoed from the depth of the mountain. Shi Lang could not help but shiver when he sensed the killing intention that shrouded his body.
Suddenly a voice sounded beside him, “Xiao Lang, it is not safe here anymore. Move quickly.”
Shi Lang found that the guardian elder had appeared beside him and asked, “Elder what is it?”
The old man said, “You killed the male twelve-ring snake king, but the queen is still alive and it seems to me that she is stronger than the king. We need to move. The Snake King and Queen can see the last images of each other’s reality with the soul link. The Snake Queen will not stop till she avenges the death of her mate.”
Shi Lang cursed internally, ‘Fucking hell, could you have not said so earlier.’