The train-sized snake wasn't too keen on greetings and immediately dove at me, head first, fangs ready to gouge me whole in a best-case scenario, at least it would beat being chomped on and chewed to bits before turning to a gigantic cultivating serpent poop.
I urged my frail old body to dodge to the side, say I urged here because against mortals like back at the bandit's cave, I was strong and all-powerful, the disparity between a cultivator and a normal human being was vast, exactly as vast as this situation between me and the snake, where I was the mortal in question and the snake was the cultivator.
My feeble attempt at a decent dodge still awarded me with a rather lucky escape from the jaws of death, even if momentarily. As the snake had bitten through the dirt, digging several metric tons of it out of the ground in a single bite then spat it out to the side in a rumble of dust and stone that rose up to the high heavens then focused its eyes back at me ready for another attempt at my life.
Shit.
Now, I could be strong compared to a mortal, but if the jade-colored snake was to have me in between its jaws instead of the massive dirt pile that it just spat, I'd be hard-pressed to worry about coming out of the incident with a few broken bones.
I'm in way over my head, and I know it. I have two options, the first, run, which is super dumb considering the serpent is faster, stronger, and has impressive agility, a huge contrast to its massive train-sized self.
The second option is to fight, and even if it does sound even dumber than the first option, it's my best one. Though I know for certain that even if this snake were to sleep right in front of me for a hundred years as I hacked away at its hide I'll be satisfied if I were to break a single one of its scales during that period.
Shit is impossible to beat and I know of it, yet, there was only one way to come on top. Using X. Now here come my concerns, I don't know if Xi Son is observing me, but if I don't act, I'll definitely end up dead. And since he didn't show himself the moment the snake had appeared, then he either doesn't care if I live or die, or he has no idea I'm in great peril.
I'll bet on the second option because the first is too grim to think about.
I jumped back while the serpent shot at where I stood, only missing by a hair's breadth as I got assaulted by all the dust and debris that were the result of its second chomp on the ground. For the life of me, if I was just a bystander, I'd think that the ground was made of Tofu instead of solid dirt dust, and rocks.
I tapped twice on my chest as X shot forward from the Poison God's book, this was X's debut fight and I pitted him against a 'demonic beast' (?) for his first battle. A great risk, a stupid one even, because I haven't fully calculated its full capabilities, side form a powerful punch against a wall, I have no idea where X's limits lay. And if that punch against the wall was impressive, snaky here made chomping on the ground look like he was taking a bite out of a cack.
Still, X never failed to impress me, the automaton immediately took action, knowing exactly what to do without even having to tell it that I need to be protected. Not out of luck, no, I had already inscribed perception, awareness, and a deduction inscription within it, though not the most complex, but enough for him to understand that snake equals danger, X kill danger.
A simple equation that made great results. X didn't dodge the incoming charge, as the snake was about to bite right through it. And where I saw the puppet standing in wait for the incoming charge, my heart wrenched at the prospects of losing X, but the puppet surprised me as it grabbed the snake by the fang. Thanks to the massive spiritual Qi expenditure from the High-Grade Spirit Stones powering it, X's strength rose to match that of the snake and above, as it stopped the snake in its tracks like a reinforced concrete block would do to a car.
Utterly and completely immovable, X stood on his grounds, while the snake panicked at being pinned by the fangs. the snake coiled around itself, though it couldn't move its mouth, its tail was still able to move, and it was about to use it to swat X like an annoying fly.
I moved several paces away, the battle between these two is not something I could join or even survive if I was in the vicinity, so I had to leave the stage for X.
The serpent's tail came down like a god's whip about to punish a heretic servant, but the puppet released one hand from the snake's fangs, and even with one hand, X still kept the snake pinned.
X then tucked his hand under his armpit then punched forward, meeting the snake's tail with a sound-breaking punch. A loud thundering explosion echoed as tail and fist met, and neither buckled. I was impressed with the outcome, X didn't spare any Qi using his punch, though he didn't use the full power from the Spiritual Stone as it would destroy his hand from the sheer Qi within the High-Grade Spirit Stone, X used the most Qi he could use without damaging his hand from Qi overload.
And that was about 35%, not of the total Qi inside the spirit Stone. But 35% of the Qi that the spirit stone would passively release.
And that clash had caused the snake to feel threatened as the slits of its eyes shook in apprehension, sensing that the puppet grabbing it by the fang was strong enough to contend with its hardened tail, the snake tried its best to escape, only to be pinned down once again by X as he grabbed the second fang with his now slightly damaged fist.
The snake raised its tail again, attempting to swat X once again, but the puppet was smarter. It had already deduced that if they were to repeat the same scenario, he will not come on top, the damage to his hand was a clear indication that his durability was slightly below the snake. Not a fault of his, but the material that made X.
So as before the serpent's tail would come down on the puppet, but X pulled the snake towards him. Then, as if X was human, I'd swear it heaved as it jerked the whole damned creature above its head then slammed it on the ground behind him, cratering the ground, while I almost lost my footing due to the reverberations from the impact.
X had smashed the snake on its back, then stomped on its upper jaw that was now stuck in the ground, he then clutched the other jaw with two powerful grips, a single forceful twist and pull, and the snake's lower jaw was ripped out of tis socket. Leaving the snake hissing and flailing in complete pained agony, while showing X in a burst of crimson blood. Not even bothered by the boiling blood that melted the grass under his feet, X unceremoniously threw the lower jaw away and grabbed at the snake's forked tongue, ripping it from its socket, causing untold pain to the snake.
Though the snake's hide was as strong if not stronger than X's body, its internal organs weren't as durable. And X abused that fact to vicious savagery.
One would even feel sorry for the snake if one were to see how it flailed around, in agonized but unvoiced pain. X reveled in the pained throwes of the snake until he finally believed the snake to be deserving of mercy. He dove his fist right at the snake's upper jaw, and right into its brain, where the snake flailed one last time before it slumped to the ground, forever unmoving.
The moment the snake was dead, X stood up, and stood still, deeming that no danger presented itself, the puppet stood at attention waiting for further instruction.
"Holy crap," I cursed.
Honestly, this was a surprising outcome, I never thought that X would have such power. And it was damn impressive and comforting. Still, there was much to do, so much to fix. First of all, X had a lot of power, too much power in fact. Not that it was a bad thing, but his body had received a lot of damage, mostly from X's own expenditure of Qi than the damage from the battle, as the snake had failed to even land a single blow on X.
The damage was mostly dealt with his hands and shoulders. A few nicks and strained fingers. He was made of metal, but metal can bend and due to the power behind him, his body became oddly shaped even if slightly. He was now favoring his right leg over his left, and his torso was slightly tilted from the forced pulls, if he was made of flesh, his current predicament would be the same as a person who had pulled his muscles, only he pulled his muscles enough that they ripped.
An automaton he was, X still suffered an 'injury' and it would hinder his action if left unfixed.
I waved my hand as I pulled X back into the Poison God's Book. So far, there was no news from Xi Son, nor did he show his face, the battle wasn't soundless, so if he had sensed the Qi expenditure, he would definitely know that I've been fighting and would come to investigate. So, I'm better off hiding my trump card.
As for the snake. I sat down, contemplating what to do with it. It was huge, powerful even, and looking at its fangs I could say that they could prove worth a few coins.
I thought against using my poison to consume the snake as I didn't need any poison Qi right now and it would be useless to waste such a corpse. I needed to study this snake. Even if it had died to X, it had a hide strong enough to sustain a full blow from X, that was enough for me to take interest in its skin.
Better skin the snake and use the skin, sell it or craft something with it than waste it using the Green Poisonous Aura that would serve nothing as I'm neither exhausted nor in dire need of Poison Qi.
So, I waved my hand once again and had the Poison God's Book suck in the snake inside it. Preserving it for later along with the flower atop it and the tongue and the lower jaw that were thrown on the ground.
I sat down, trying to calm my excited self, right now, I felt fifty years younger, I began meditating, reflecting on what just happened, and how surprisingly powerful X is.