“Such a big appetite, and you’re not afraid of eating yourself to death.”
It wouldn’t be that easy to drain his spiritual energy.
The snake demon’s forked tongue flicked out, almost licking Shen Xiuyun’s cheek. Shen Xiuyun’s eyes rolled back from the stench of its breath, and he nearly fainted again.
“My appetite is indeed very large. Can you satisfy me?”
Fuck!
Shen Xiuyun went numb. This kind of innuendo worked too?
“You audacious demonic beast! We are disciples of Xuantian Sect. If you dare perform essence harvesting on us, the people of Xuantian Sect won’t let you off!”
A vicious glint flashed through the snake demon’s cold, slit-pupiled eyes, and a sharp killing intent surged around it.
“Your mentioning it actually reminds me. If it weren’t for that meddlesome Xuantian Sect catching me, I’d still be free and happy out there, draining whoever I pleased.
In a moment, not only will I drain you dry, I’ll throw you to feed the other demonic beasts!”
“You… you wouldn’t dare! My Master is… aaah!”
Not only did the snake demon dare, it acted immediately. Its massive snake maw sucked at the man through the air, and in just a few dozen seconds, drained him into a dried corpse.
Shen Xiuyun closed his eyes for a moment, speechless and choked up. He simply couldn’t bear to look at the intelligence of this loudmouthed fellow.
Didn’t he know the saying, “When you’re under someone else’s roof, you have to bow your head”? Being this reckless… who could he blame for courting death?
The snake demon, having eaten and drunk its fill, slithered back to Shen Xiuyun’s side, quite disdainful of this overly ordinary face.
“Remove the illusion on your face.”
Shen Xiuyun’s pupils shrank. How did this snake demon know?
“I saw everything by the lake. That’s why I followed you all the way here.”
Shen Xiuyun: “…”
So it hadn’t been tracking Zhu Xingyao after all. It had been tracking him.
This blue-winged snake demon was best at concealing its aura and skilled in trailing others, to the point that he hadn’t even noticed it.
The snake demon urged, “Hurry up. My patience is limited.”
Shen Xiuyun didn’t reply.
He silently recited the incantation to undo his cultivation suppression, planning to use his powerful spiritual energy to shatter the Immortal-Binding Rope directly.
However, just at the instant Shen Xiuyun was about to release the suppression, a sharp sword qi tore through the air.
It was so fast that the snake demon only managed to barely block the strike with its tail. The price was a patch of blue scales scraped off, the wound instantly a mangled mess of blood and flesh.
The snake demon retreated to the side, hissing and flicking its tongue, looking in disbelief at the one who had wounded it… it was actually Zhu Xingyao.
“Weren’t you afflicted with my aphrodisiac poison and trapped in an illusion? How?!”
It had wasted over half a shichen on Zhu Xingyao with no result, which was why it had come out intending to pick a soft target to squeeze.
“Who gave you permission to touch him with your filthy hands?”
Zhu Xingyao’s narrowed eyes brimmed with surging killing intent. With a swing of his longsword, he sliced off one of the snake demon’s arms.
The snake demon let out a miserable shriek, clutching its severed arm as it stumbled back again and again.
This kid was bizarrely formidable. Why was he so much stronger than a typical Foundation Establishment stage cultivator?
What exactly had gone wrong?
“Spare my life, and I can give you the antidote for the aphrodisiac poison.”
“Do I need such a thing?”
Zhu Xingyao asked with a tilt of his head and a smile, yet his sword cruelly pierced through the snake demon’s tail, pinning it viciously to the ground.
“Without my antidote, unless someone is willing to dual cultivate with you, you will surely die bleeding from all seven orifices!”
“Oh, what a pity you won’t live to see it.”
Zhu Xingyao pulled out his sword, about to drive it into the snake demon’s vital point. But the blue-winged snake demon suddenly made a desperate last stand and detonated its inner core.
Zhu Xingyao’s gaze sharpened. He hastily retreated several steps, grabbed the still-bound Shen Xiuyun, and simultaneously cast a spiritual energy barrier, holding the man tightly and protectively in his arms.
The blast from the blue-winged snake demon’s self-detonated inner core was immensely powerful. The entire cave shook, and rubble continuously fell from overhead.
The whole cave would likely collapse before long.
Shen Xiuyun nudged the young man holding him tightly with his shoulder, signaling that it was about time to let go. The latter had no reaction and continued to hold him fast.
He could feel that Zhu Xingyao’s physical condition was not good. His entire body was as hot as a furnace, almost burning him.
“You’re burning hot. What’s wrong with you?”
Zhu Xingyao said in broken fragments, “It hurts…”
He had deliberately cut himself with the blue-winged snake demon’s scales to get poisoned, all for this very moment.
Master, I miss you so much I’m going mad.
Comfort me, please.
Shen Xiuyun: “…”
Seeing how decisively Zhu Xingyao had killed the snake demon just now, he had assumed the poisoning was faked. Who knew he had actually been afflicted with the aphrodisiac poison.
How could he have dared to be so reckless?
Didn’t he know to trick the snake demon out of the antidote first, then kill it to silence it?
How could he be so stupid!
Shen Xiuyun tried hard to rouse a shred of rationality in Zhu Xingyao.
“Be good. You can suffer later. First, help me undo the Immortal-Binding Rope. We need to leave quickly.”