Chapter 233 — Blood-Horned Python

Zuo Yan suppressed the killing intent churning in his chest, and quietly climbed the cliff wall of the valley. Along the cliff's edge he skimmed the ground like a wisp of smoke, utterly silent.

Within the field of the Prismatic Pupil, the vale below rolled with dark, dense fog, dead and lifeless through and through. The iridescent butterflies were draining the poison mist with all their might, but the mist was far too thick—half a day passed with no sign of change.

Lei Peng and the other two could not see the mist and had no notion of what was happening, but they were no fools; they guessed at once that the boss must have found something. Wary, they were awed as well—this was the first time they had seen that murderous look on him. His wooden face betrayed nothing, his gaze hardly seemed to shift, yet the killing intent that flashed from it now and again lent the very air about him a biting chill.

Flying at such speed, the boss stirred not a breath of wind, and one could not help but think of Ma Fan. Yet unlike Ma Fan, who feigned harmlessness so as to draw no notice, the boss, for all his silence, was like a black blade that swallows light—hidden, and every inch of him an edge.

At the far end of the valley.

Kong San stared at the distant black gourd with something like dread, and could not help asking, "Will this method really work?"

The black gourd was glossy jet throughout, its mouth uncovered.

Kong Er eyed the gourd with a touch of satisfaction, though deep in his eyes a flicker of fear was plain: "Rest easy. Every evening, wind rises at this valley mouth. Strange wind—it only blows along the valley and never drifts beyond it. And this Six-Venom Mystic Gourd was no easy thing to refine. It cost us a great deal to get it out of Hu the Dwarf's hands."

He went on at once, "Once we've avenged our elder brother, we leave this place straightaway."

"Where to?" Kong San asked.

"One thing at a time—out of here first. This poison is fiendish beyond compare, colorless and formless; once tainted, it is barely noticeable at first, and there is no cure." Kong Er spoke with some regret: "For all its power, the Six-Venom Mystic Gourd is spent after a single use."

"Mm." Kong San nodded, then said with some rancor, "Venerable Chi is beyond unreasonable! We three have risked our lives for him all this time, and our elder brother's bones are not yet cold—yet he will not avenge him."

"Hmph, quite so!" A trace of venomous spite surfaced in Kong Er's eyes. "Pity there is only one Six-Venom Mystic Gourd. Otherwise I would see to it that he got a taste as well."

Of a sudden his eyelid twitched and his face changed utterly. "Look out!" He stamped down hard and sprang up.

A flying sword whispered past his flank; the light on his body flared, and a set of silver spirit armor appeared.

Kong San's heart lurched. He flung himself aside, and a burst of light flickered around him as red spirit armor wrapped him tight.

Four figures appeared around the two of them without a sound.

Surrounded!

Their hearts sank at once.

Lei Peng and the others had been at a loss; but when they saw the two men and that black gourd, they understood in an instant.

Zuo Yan was far from pleased with his own stealth strike just now. Yet he had no better card to play. On Mount Wukong he had only just reached Foundation Establishment, and the Water-Departing Sword Art had sufficed him then. But in the Lesser Mountain Realm, where scarcely any remained but Meridian Condensation cultivators, the power of the Water-Departing Sword Art left something to be desired.

He knew well enough that he lacked the means for a stealth strike.

He turned his eyes on the two men before him.

The silver spirit armor was of a rather singular design, built of countless silver scales like fingernail parings, in whose depths a cold python could dimly be seen coiled and gliding at ease. It had taken his sword blow head-on a moment ago and come through unscathed—proof enough of its solidity.

The other man's armor was no ordinary piece either, deep crimson throughout, its reek of blood detectable from far off. Zuo Yan was rather taken aback: this armor had actually been refined by the rare blood-forging method. Yet in his eyes it was a half-finished thing. Had the refining been done properly, it would never carry so rank a smell of blood.

His attention, however, lay mostly on the black gourd not far off.

Within the Prismatic Pupil's vision, the black mist was pouring endlessly out of that gourd.

That black gourd was no small matter!

Alarmed at heart, Zuo Yan did not hesitate a whit. "Kill!" he barked.

Lei Peng and the other two moved at once.

Lei Peng's Abyss Soul Saber Art, Zong Ru's Sky Wave Fist Art, and Nian Lü's Lotus Sword Art all came forth. The three had long fought together and grew ever more in accord; in the camp they were one of the strongest squads.

Kong Er and Kong San reacted with astonishing speed.

Kong Er formed a hand seal with both hands, and a ring of light appeared around the two of them. At the same instant Kong San flicked a finger, and a point of light dropped neatly into the ring.

The ring blazed and burst with a roar!

Lei Peng's saber radiance, Zong Ru's fist radiance, and Nian Lü's sword radiance met the spreading light and were shattered on the spot. The remnants, their force unabated, swept over the group like a wave of air!

These were tough customers!

Zuo Yan's heart went cold; he dared not be careless. He joined two fingers of his right hand and traced in the air.

With a light crackle, countless strands of lightning blazed out, gathering like a host of silver snakes toward the empty space just before Zuo Yan's fingertips. In the blink of an eye a thunder pellet the size of a goose egg took shape, its whole body glowing with a fierce, red-tinged light.

The Yang-Sha Astral Thunder!

Kong Er's and Kong San's faces changed together. Astral thunder! Astral thunder, of all things!

Nor were they alone—Lei Peng and the other two drew a sharp breath as well, staring with dread at that little thunder pellet at Zuo Yan's fingertips.

Astral thunder!

Lei Peng and his companions had never seen the boss make a move. In their eyes, this boss of theirs had far too faint a presence; more often than not he played something like a quartermaster's part. So little did they revere him that they held Gongsun Heng in more awe than him.

Now that the boss had revealed such a dazzling hand, their astonishment could be imagined. Of the three, the calmest was probably Zong Ru—he alone had witnessed with his own eyes how the boss employed the Glazed Sky Wave.

Even so, he could not keep his composure now.

Astral thunder was not common, but one did see it used now and then; they were not the sort to go pale at the mere sight of it.

What stunned them was the boss's sheer control over the astral thunder!

They could not even sense the aura that astral thunder uniquely possessed—that aura of utter destruction, of the utmost yang and utmost hardness!

That could mean only one thing.

—The boss's mastery in wielding astral thunder was astonishing!

The power of astral thunder had always been dear to cultivators; by the same token, the difficulty of wielding it made men shrink back. This little thunder pellet gave off no trace of astral thunder's aura, yet no one doubted its power.

Kong Er and Kong San knew well how formidable it was, and dared not be careless. Kong Er reached out and struck his spirit armor; a great python flew from the silver armor and swelled with the wind. In an instant it had grown to fully ten zhang in length, as thick as a water barrel, a sight to strike terror. Kong San meanwhile muttered an incantation and pointed at the python; a streak of blood light flew from his finger and sank into its body.

The python hissed out its tongue. Pain rose in its cold eyes.