Chapter 90: The Magical Power of the Soul Sword
While Jian Chen was dazed, the Silver Striped Golden Snake’s unproportionately small head compared to its non-matching large mouth had turned and nipped at Jian Chen’s neck once more. Brandishing its sharp fangs, a continuous stream of gray colored poisonous mist flowed out from its mouth.
Sensing the wide open jaws of the snake biting towards him, Jian Chen immediately tilted his head to the side to dodge the gaping maw of the beast. Immediately after, his furious footsteps moved him around to the back of the Silver Striped Golden Snake. Jian Chen’s Light Wind Sword shined brightly as he swung it down onto the snake’s body once more, refusing to believe that it would be ineffective.
The Light Wind Sword accurately stabbed against the skin of the Silver Striped Golden Snake, but only stopped at the very first layer of the snake’s scale, unable to penetrate any further. The thin golden skin was as like an impenetrable fort; no marks would remain on it even from a full powered blow of Jian Chen.
Seeing this, Jian Chen’s face became even more grim. His mood, after discovering how ineffective his sword was, had completely dropped. The Silver Striped Golden Snake’s powerful defenses had left Jian Chen with no options, as his strongest attacks against the powerful defense of the snake were like a child’s scratches, wouldn’t cause any harm.
Jian Chen didn’t hesitate at all. Immediately recalling his sword, he gathered strength in both legs to jump off the ground. Before the snake could react, his body was already high up in the air. After getting his bearings, he borrowed the power of the tree branches and flew towards the abyss of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
The Silver Striped Golden Snake’s strong defense wasn’t something Jian Chen could handle. All Jian Chen could do was run away into the depths of the mountain range in hopes that another strong magical beast would somehow attract the Silver Striped Golden Snake’s attention. This was the only way Jian Chen would be able to escape. Although this method would be braving huge danger, there was no other choice.
Jian Chen knew that there were many mercenaries within the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts that he might be able to draw support from to help stall the Silver Striped Golden Snake. However, the mountain range was simply too vast, and the chances of meeting up with another mercenary was quite slim.
Jian Chen flew into the air, using the tree branches on either side of him to catapult himself into the direction of the mountain range. Right behind him was the Silver Striped Golden Snake that was in close pursuit, its tongue continuously flickering up and down. The upright part of its body was 6-7 meters long.
The snake was fairly long, and its body dimensions weren’t scaled completely yet. At that moment Jian Chen hadn’t seen the features of the snake completely. However, he could estimate that judging from what he had seen from the Silver Striped Golden Snake so far, it was at the very least fifty meters long.
Jian Chen continued to run in an S shaped trajectory while looking for obstacles in hopes that the Silver Striped Golden Snake would be blocked.
“Rawr!”
Suddenly, the roar of a tiger could be heard nearby. The sound of its arrival quickly headed towards Jian Chen’s direction, and soon after, Jian Chen saw a three meter long black tiger appear within his line of sight. The tiger’s eyes glinted with an ominous feeling as it looked at Jian Chen, but just as it was about to pounce at him, a golden vine-like body fifty meters long appeared before it.
The moment it saw the golden snake, it was as if the black tiger had received an electrical shock. All of the fur on its body flew straight up as the ominous glint in its eye withered away to nothing in an instant. Fear replaced the ominous glint as it looked at the snake. Not daring to stay any longer, the black tiger quickly ran away with its tail between its legs.
Although the Silver Striped Golden Snake was a serpent, if put in a crowd of magical beasts, most magical beasts would not dare try to bother it.
This type of situation had happened in the mountain range many times before. Jian Chen had come across many different types of magical beasts, but this was the first time he saw one retreat so fast after seeing the Silver Striped Golden Snake. This black tiger had practically pissed itself without a sound, as it gloomily began to run away. There wasn’t a single magical beast here that would dare provoke the Silver Striped Golden Snake behind him.
An hour later, Jian Chen was already close to the abyss of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. The forest was growing more and more lush, causing Jian Chen to encounter more obstacles in his way. Right behind him, the Silver Striped Golden Snake was chasing him relentlessly. It was as if the snake had determined that Jian Chen was its prey; despite coming across a vast amount of magical beasts, its gaze continued to remain locked onto Jian Chen.
“Hiss!” The snake’s head disappeared with a blur as it nipped at Jian Chen once more.
Jian Chen was constantly keeping track of the situation behind him, and so the moment he saw the snake move towards him, his legs pushed off of the sturdy tree branch he was on. The sudden force propelled him to the side, causing the snake to miss.
Over and over again, Jian Chen continued to dodge the snake’s attacks. The Silver Striped Golden Snake grew angrier with each failure, as the dangerous glint in its eyes intensified. Suddenly, a long, golden snake tail quickly flew out from the tall grass toward Jian Chen.
Jian Chen’s expression changed as he noticed the tail come at him. Noticing the sturdy tree branch to his side, he immediately jumped and kicked away from his spot without hesitation. His entire body was then sent flying forward towards a large tree with dense, leafy branches.
The tail of the snake immediately changed its angle and shot at Jian Chen with breakneck speeds. It caught up to Jian Chen in an instant, and began to wind around his waist tightly.
As the tail wound around his waist, Jian Chen’s face turned pale with fright. The Light Wind Sword began to glow brightly, immediately slashing down at the tail. But because the outer scales were extremely tough, Jian Chen’s sword left no marks at all.
At that moment, a stinky stench wafted on over as the Silver Striped Golden Snake’s mouth, which was even larger than its body, could be seen. In a flash, it flew towards Jian Chen’s neck, and was about to clamp down on it.
Without any time to prepare himself, Jian Chen immediately thrust his Light Wind Sword at the snake’s mouth in alarm.
But the snake was cunning, and it twisted its head to dodge the sword. Afterwards, the snake opened its jaws wide and sunk its sharp fangs deeply into Jian Chen’s left shoulder.
Feeling the intense pain in his left shoulder, Jian Chen’s face drained of blood. The venom of the Silver Striped Golden Snake was very strong, and once bitten, the only antidote was the lifeblood of the snake. There was no other method; even a Radiant Saint Master wouldn’t be able to cure it.
But the scales of the Silver Striped Golden Snake were far too strong for Jian Chen’s current strength to even leave a mark on, let alone bypass them to acquire blood.
Seeing the snake tightly biting down on his shoulder, Jian Chen grew even more panicked by the second, and his expression became crazed. Influenced by this state of mind, Jian Chen’s “Soul” became unprecedentedly active, as a hazy picture of the scenery around him came into view in his mind. Although this feeling was very faint, if Jian Chen was not sensing it intentionally, he wouldn’t be able to feel anything. However, as his emotions currently were very agitated, he did not notice this fact.
“Ah!” Jian Chen bellowed into the sky. Without even caring if he could break through the snake’s defenses or not, he brought the Light Wind Sword up into the air before swinging the sword back down, in hopes of beheading it.
The moment the Light Wind Sword came down, it was as if Jian Chen’s spirit connected with the sword in his hand. It was like the two had completely merged into one, without any distinction . The union was so smooth that it brought up an indescribable feeling within his heart, as if his sword was his spirit and his spirit was his sword.
At the same time, the azure and violet glows within his dantian began to flicker, as a weak light ray started to spread throughout his body from these two points of light. While Jian Chen himself was unaware of this, the rays had already started to spread from his head.
“Shing!” The sword in Jian Chen’s hand emitted a loud sound as a formidable amount of Sword Qi completely enveloped the sword. This time, the Sword Qi looked as if a dense fog had covered the sword. The blade within was indistinct, making it hard to see.
“Ding!” The Light Wind Sword viciously smashed into the head of the Silver Striped Golden Snake. A light noise rang out; this time, the strong Sword Qi had allowed the sword to cut through the first layer of the super strong defensive snake scales. Immediately, a deep looking wound appeared on top of the snake’s head, and fresh blood began to flow profusely from the wound.
“Hiss!” The Silver Striped Golden Snake hissed out in pain. Its bite on Jian Chen’s shoulder was loosened, and it slithered away from him. Its eyes were closely locked onto Jian Chen, as it flicked its forked tongue out repeatedly.
Seeing the bloody wound on the snake’s head, Jian Chen was momentarily stunned. But soon afterwards, a joyous expression formed on his face.
“So it seems the Spirit Sword can break through the Silver Striped Golden Snake’s defenses.” Jian Chen cheered inwardly. Under his deliberate control, the sword and his spirit had joined together so that the sword became the spirit and the spirit became the sword. This type of miraculous fusion that Jian Chen had clearly felt made him feel as if this sword was his life, his soul.
As Jian Chen’s connection between the sword and his spirit deepened, the violent Sword Qi around his Light Wind Sword grew even sharper. It was as if this large amount of Sword Qi was completely controlled by his spirit .
Not too experienced with such a mysterious sensation, Jian Chen loosened his hold on the Light Wind Sword. The sword that was completely enveloped with Sword Qi didn’t drop to the ground, but instead hung queerly in midair. It slowly ascended, finally stopping around Jian Chen’s nose level a meter away from him. The tip of the sword directly pointed at the Silver Striped Golden Snake.
“Shing!” A clear, drawn-out sword cry was heard from within the Light Wind Sword.