Midnight.
In a dense forest two miles outside the military camp.
A clearing had been made in the woods, where over a dozen wooden stakes were planted into the ground. Beneath them lay a bundle of sturdy hemp rope.
Xu Heyu led the Celestial Fragrance Sect disciples in transporting the unconscious, robust men from the main tent to this location, tying them to the wooden stakes one by one.
Once everything was ready, Xu Heyu suddenly spoke, "Chen Canyu, why don’t we use Martial Artists to refine Snake Slaves? Ordinary people gain immense strength and become invulnerable to weapons; wouldn’t Snake Slaves refined from Martial Artists be even more powerful?"
Hearing this, the expressions of the Celestial Fragrance Disciples around Xu Heyu changed. After all, the only ones practicing martial arts in the army were those cultivating the Fragrance Scripture.
The Golden Snake Demon, Chen Canyu, glanced at him and explained, "Martial Artists cannot be refined. The strength a Snake Slave gains by overdrawing their Life Force fundamentally conflicts with a Martial Artist’s Inner Strength."
Chen Canyu smiled cruelly and continued, "I’ve caught a few in the Inner Realm and Outer Realm and tried refining them, but none survived until the process was complete. They all exploded halfway through. First their Dantian blew up, then their entire bodies, shattering all over the ground.
"Oh, right. Inner Realm cultivators can explode up to ten feet away, while Outer Realm ones can blast up to thirty feet."
Hearing the Golden Snake Demon’s words, the Celestial Fragrance Disciples present broke out in goosebumps, feeling both terrified and relieved.
Xu Heyu clicked his tongue. "Let’s begin. Ordinary people will have to do. The refined Snake Slaves will be barely enough, but there is no shortage of young, strong Ordinary men."
Chen Canyu said with great interest, "If you can find an Ordinary person born with the Herculean strength of the Overlord, the Snake Slave I refine would even be able to kill a Profound Master!"
"What a joke." Xu Heyu scoffed dismissively. "Throughout history, how many Overlords have there been?"
Chen Canyu did not reply; he was merely talking hypothetically.
Chen Canyu waved his hand, and a long snake flicking its forked tongue slithered out from his sleeve. The snake had a small, oval-shaped head and a thick, sturdy body with a ridged back. Its torso, tail, and underbelly were pitch-black, adorned with uniform golden-yellow rings.
"Go," Chen Canyu said softly.
WHOOSH. The golden snake darted from Chen Canyu’s hand, landing on a wooden stake before sinking its fangs into a tied man’s neck and injecting its venom.
The next second, the bitten man’s veins bulged all over his body as his heart rate skyrocketed. Chen Canyu executed the Wandering Snake Step, arriving beside the man with the unpredictable, slithering movements of a snake. He struck the man’s lower abdomen with a palm, secretly channeling his Demon Skill to work in tandem with the snake venom to transform him into a Snake Slave.
Under the stimulation of the Demon Skill and the venom, the man experienced unimaginable, excruciating pain from the inside out. He couldn’t help but wail miserably, his shrill screams piercing the night sky.
Xu Heyu, who was present, didn’t even spare him a glance. He only stared at Chen Canyu’s movements, waiting for him to refine the next person.
The golden snake leaped into the air, preparing to bite the next man.
Right at that moment, Chen Canyu’s Heart Spirit suddenly grew restless. He stared intently at the golden snake in the air when, with a SWISH, a dazzling streak of Finger Force shot out from beyond his line of sight, accurately striking the golden snake’s head.
POP!
The golden snake’s head exploded in midair, its remaining body flying several meters away due to inertia.
"No!"
Chen Canyu let out a heart-wrenching scream. This was the Snake Mother his family had cultivated for decades, the very foundation of their standing within the White Lotus Sect.
Chen Canyu immediately whipped his head around, glaring fiercely at the location in the dense forest where the Finger Force had originated. He absolutely had to kill this person. Drawing the Assault Wind whip from his waist, Chen Canyu vanished from his spot In the Blink of an Eye.
The Sudden Appearance of this change completely shocked Xu Heyu and the Celestial Fragrance Disciples.
"After him!" Stunned for a moment, Xu Heyu immediately acted as a Conductor, directing his subordinates to help the Golden Snake Demon.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
Before the Celestial Fragrance Disciples could execute Xu Heyu’s orders, a barrage of arrows shot out from several locations in the forest. The dense volley enveloped all of them.
Xu Heyu’s expression changed drastically. This was the Arrow Array of the Divine Robe Guard! He hastily reached out, grabbed a disciple by the neck, and pulled the man in front of him as a shield.
"V-Venerable?"
The disciple cried out in fear and confusion.
Xu Heyu ignored him completely, using him directly as a meat shield against the rain of arrows.
With several THWACKS, the disciple was skewered like a hedgehog and lost his breath.
"Protect me!" Xu Heyu shouted, hoisting up another disciple to block the front.
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
The disciple stared in absolute terror as the reflection of the incoming arrows grew larger and larger in his eyes.
The frenzied Chen Canyu chased into the dense forest. His eerie Body Skill allowed him to slither through the trees like a venomous snake, hunting down his enemy.
Chen Xin held his right hand halfway up, his index and middle fingers pressed together. The strike that had just killed the golden snake—the White Rainbow Piercing the Sun—had been fired by him.
Lurking in the shadows, he had delivered a fatal blow with a single finger. The golden snake, suspended in midair with nowhere to leverage its weight, had faced certain death.
Right after killing the golden snake, Chen Xin discovered something interesting.
Originally, the Golden Snake Demon Chen Canyu’s status panel had read:
[Name: Chen Canyu]
[Realm: Outer Realm]
[Evaluation: Outstanding and Unusual]
[Martial Arts: Serpent Refining Skill, Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits, Wandering Snake Step, Control: Golden Snake Mother, Combined Secret Technique]
After his finger fired the White Rainbow Piercing the Sun, and its Finger Force blew up the Golden Snake Mother’s head, Chen Canyu’s panel changed to this:
[Name: Chen Canyu]
[Realm: Outer Realm]
[Evaluation: Slightly Accomplished]
[Martial Arts: Serpent Refining Skill, Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits, Wandering Snake Step]
Not only was the Martial Arts section missing his snake control and Combined Secret Technique, but his overall Evaluation had also dropped by a tier.
Although this was still higher than Chen Xin’s "Entering the Hall and the Room" Evaluation, Chen Xin didn’t care.
In his mind, there were only two tiers: "cannot defeat" and "can defeat." The system’s Evaluation was merely for reference.
"He’s here!"
As the thought crossed Chen Xin’s mind, he saw a whip Shadow tear through the air under the full moon and the veil of the night!
Accompanied by the howling wind, the moonlight draped over the whip Shadow like a veil. As Chen Canyu channeled his power into the tip of the whip, the Assault Wind underwent several transformations, resembling a terrifying Flood Dragon descending from the heavens with its fangs bared and claws out.
"I want you dead!"
The Golden Snake Demon’s furious strike was none other than the ultimate technique of the Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits—the Flood Dragon Emerging from the Sea!
The Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits was originally a killer whip move from the Funiu Sect. Later, a prodigy within the Funiu Sect comprehended six additional whip stances from this single move, each just as powerful as the Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits itself.
This prodigy combined all seven stances into a set of whip techniques focused entirely on offense without any defense, naming it the Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits.
This Flood Dragon Emerging from the Sea was the deadliest killer move among them all.
"You want me dead? Are you even worthy?" Chen Xin didn’t indulge him. On the blade of the Unstoppable, True Qi accumulated to its absolute peak. He drew his blade and slashed upward, pouring out his long-accumulated Sword Intent.
This was equally a killer move from the Seven Kills Saber Technique—the Shattering Void!
This was the strike in the Seven Kills Saber Technique that required the longest preparation. It packed the greatest power and boasted the sharpest edge!
Normally, Chen Xin never had the chance to use it. After killing the Golden Snake Mother, he had originally planned to engage in hit-and-run tactics. But when he saw the Golden Snake Demon consumed by blinding rage, Chen Xin changed his mind, deciding to clash head-on with the Shattering Void against his opponent’s Celestial Spirit Thousand Splits.
The Unstoppable blade was all about forging ahead unstoppably. The fiercer the momentum, the stronger the Sword Intent. It had a perfect synergy with the Shattering Void technique.
With just a single slash!
Not only did it shatter the furious Flood Dragon Emerging from the Sea unleashed by the Golden Snake Demon, but even the Assault Wind whip was severed with a sharp TEAR under the ferocious Sword Intent. Half of the whip went flying into the air.
Following the downward slash, Chen Xin twisted his wrist to the right, seamlessly transitioning the upward heave into a horizontal sweep. True Qi swirled around the blade once more, dyeing it entirely into a blood-red, flowing Shadow that dazzled the Heart Spirit.
Seven Kills Saber Technique: Bloodstained Blade!
Chen Xin had used this move on the fourth underground level of the Secret Vault. Back then, however, he hadn’t utilized his True Qi, so its momentum had been muted, containing only limited Sword Intent.
The Golden Snake Demon’s heart pounded with terror. He hurriedly pulled the remaining half of his whip back to defend himself, but In the Blink of an Eye, a ten-foot-long burst of Sword Qi had already reached him!
For the first time, the Golden Snake Demon regretted choosing a whip technique focused solely on offense without any defense. He hastily executed his Lightweight Skill, transforming into a wandering snake. By a hair’s breadth, he managed to dodge the fatal Sword Qi—but at the cost of his left arm.
BOOM!
The Sword Qi of the Bloodstained Blade continued its unrelenting momentum, cleaving clean in two a massive cypress tree—thick enough to require three men to encircle it—right behind the Golden Snake Demon.
This terrifying power thoroughly intimidated the Golden Snake Demon, forcibly suppressing the boiling rage that had surged up from the death of his ancestral Snake Mother.
The excruciating pain radiating from his bloody, severed left arm forced the Golden Snake Demon to reconsider. Perhaps he should retreat for now. Though the Snake Mother was dead, another could be cultivated. The broken whip could be replaced, and his status within the White Lotus Sect could be reclaimed over a few generations.
But if he died, everything would be lost.
Suddenly, a buzzing sound of insects rang out by the Golden Snake Demon’s ear.
He looked up. Unbeknownst to him, the moonlight filling the sky had completely vanished, replaced by a swarm of bees blotting out the sky!
Bee Control Spell!
Underworld Assassin, Wasp!
The Golden Snake Demon was overjoyed. Wasp’s presence meant the other assassin, Bird’s Beak, was also here.
With three Outer Realm experts joining forces, how could a single Outer Realm cultivator possibly fend them off?
Chen Xin held the Unstoppable in a reverse grip and chuckled softly. "Well, what do you know? Everyone is here. That works too; it saves me the trouble of hunting you down one by one."