Chapter 134: Zombie Snake

I hauled the High Priest up from the ground, ready to deliver two heavy slaps to his face, when a sudden breeze brushed past me from behind. Instinctively, I ducked, and a thin, elongated object whizzed over my head. I turned in a panic, only to see slender, ash-gray snakes pouring out of the coffin. Their numbers were staggering; the coffin seemed like a bottomless pit, and in a heartbeat, the ground was carpeted with these grotesque creatures.

There was nowhere left to step. Unsure if they were venomous, I swiftly manifested a protective barrier and leapt over the swarm, landing right before the High Priest. Seeing me approach, he shoved a common soldier toward me. I dodged to the side and used the momentum to kick the man directly into the mass of snakes.

A series of howls erupted behind me as the man was instantly engulfed by the serpents, which continued to converge upon his body in an endless stream. I glared at the rest of them. "Get out of my way if you don't want to die!"

I had expected them to clear a path, but the High Priest began chanting another incantation. As if possessed, the soldiers charged at me. My temper flared. The Spirit Demon Sect was an evil organization anyway; there was no need for mercy. I rapidly condensed two spheres of energy—True Qi in my left hand and Demonic Qi in my right. The black and white orbs cast a blinding radiance in the dim underground. Deeming the energy sufficient, I slammed them together and struck out, detonating a mist of blood amidst the crowd.

When the mist cleared, no one remained standing. The power of that explosion was no less than that of a rocket launcher; even if these were not just ordinary humans, even an Evolver would struggle to survive it. Yet, I felt that letting the High Priest die so easily was far too lenient.

With these scoundrels dealt with, I prepared to leave. The underground space was damp, reeking of mold and the stench of blood; I did not want to stay a moment longer. However, the snakes still had to be addressed. The soldier who had been swarmed earlier was silent, and I couldn't tell if he was dead. I stepped closer and saw that his body had shriveled into a mere husk. Had his blood been drained by these snakes? As the creatures slithered toward me, I drew my Frost Sword and slashed twice at the empty air. Two white arcs of sword energy crossed, slicing the snakes into pieces.

But the severed snakes did not die. Countless writhing halves continued to crawl toward me, and there was no blood at the stumps. I picked one up and examined it; their eyes were dull gray, their bodies stiff and showing signs of decay. Zombies. I was no stranger to the concept—"zombie snakes." I had read about them in books. These snakes must have been dead for a long time, and the High Priest had used some dark magic to animate their corpses.

I unleashed a torrent of flame, burning the remaining zombie snakes to ash. With my vengeance satisfied, I figured I could return to my plans for weapon production. Before leaving, I decided to inspect the coffin to see what exactly lay inside.

As I approached, I realized the interior was much deeper than it appeared, with a full yard of space beneath the base. In the dim light, I activated my Heaven's Eye and gasped in horror. At the very bottom lay a python as thick as a man's thigh. It was slick and shiny, lying motionless. I couldn't tell if it was dead or alive.

I dared not be careless. If it were alive and lunged at me, I would be embroiled in another fight. It wasn't that I feared the snake, but I had already wasted too much time underground. With less than an hour until noon, I needed to get back to Forget-Me-Not Valley to collect my master. A thought struck me. I dumped the debris from my spatial ring into the coffin, slammed the lid shut, and hammered the coffin nails back in with my bare hands.

Having finished, I scanned the area one last time to ensure no other creatures remained. The damp, moldy, blood-soaked air was unbearable. Looking at the mangled corpses, I felt a heavy knot in my chest. Was this brutality justified? Was it right to sacrifice these commoners just because of my grudge against the High Priest? The cycle of vengeance never ends, and though my internal rage had been vented, I felt no joy. I gripped my hair, closed my eyes, and fell into deep thought. Xu Qinghuan’s image remained branded in my mind.

I shook my head, trying to force the thoughts away. Time, I hoped, would make me forget everything. I stepped out through the iron gate, and a shaft of sunlight pierced through the opening I had dug, refracting through the damp air into a brilliant, multicolored beam. I was about to ascend when a sudden sense of danger washed over me. It was a strange sensation, the same one I had felt when encountering the Taotie Divine Bull at the Spirit Demon Sect headquarters. Instinctively, I flattened myself against the ground.

Another object hissed over my scalp. I looked up—it was a snake, but this one was massive, as thick as a man's thigh, slick and gleaming. It was the python from the coffin. Having missed its ambush, it spun around and slithered toward me with terrifying speed. It reached me in an instant, its tail whipping down with crushing force.

I rolled to dodge the blow, coating myself in mud from the damp floor. As I scrambled to my feet, the python began to circle me. It had moved too quickly for me to see clearly before, but now, I was struck with absolute shock: the head of the python was human. It was the High Priest. His face was visibly rotting. Had he turned into a zombie snake?

There was no doubt—it was his face, complete with the scar I would recognize even if he were reduced to ashes. What the hell was going on? Had the High Priest merged with the python? This was insane! He had escaped right under my nose, and I hadn't the slightest clue when he had slipped into the coffin. Before I could process this, the python launched its second attack. The High Priest's mouth spat out a stream of liquid. I barely evaded it by activating the second volume of the Heaven Demon Art, "Dance of Mountains and Rivers."

The liquid was clearly highly corrosive; as it hit the ground, it hissed with white smoke, and within moments, the earth had melted into an irregular, gaping pit.