When there were only a hundred metres left between the earthen-yellow viper and Chen Feng, it abruptly sped up, becoming like a whizzing arrow. However, the shocking aspect of its action did not come from its extremely fast speed. Rather, it was the fact that its actions did not give rise to any sound at all. It was as though all the surrounding sound waves have been absorbed by the viper.
When the distance between the two was reduced to only 20 metres, the movement speed of the viper increased sharply once more as it moved to clamp its jaws upon Chen Feng"s neck. Given its momentum, it could inflict a fatal wound on Chen Feng"s neck without the need for its poison.
As the viper was about to bite a hole on Chen Feng"s neck, Chen Feng suddenly made his move. With a swift turn of his body, he left an afterimage behind before his palm grasped forward. With a powerful grip, he caught the viper. No matter how hard the viper struggled, it could not escape his grip.
Si! Si! Si!
After getting caught by Chen Feng, the small-looking, two-chi long viper wriggled about frantically without respite. Chen Feng felt as though he was actually holding onto a twisting steel. The force exuded from it was comparable to that of a big buffalo (1 chi = 0.333 m).
"What a powerful guy! This little snake has quite the strength. If I were to let my guard down and let it successfully ambush me, I would end up having a hole on my body," exclaimed Chen Feng.
As Chen Feng was ruminating, he suddenly felt a numb sensation on his palm. Only then did he realize that the viper"s body was exuding a wave of poisonous energy, which penetrated through the layer of astral energy that Chen Feng had used to wrap around his arm and was now moving into his flesh.
As strands of the poisonous energy invaded his body, Chen Feng felt his blood suffering from destructive attacks, clotting up as a result. At the same time, a feeling of paralysis began spreading through his body from the inside.
Swoos.h.!.+ Swoos.h.!.+
The viper opened up its mouth and two air-piercing soundwaves shot towards Chen Feng"s face. Chen Feng jerked his head away and the large tree behind him was pierced through by that unknown power. Two finger-sized, see-through holes could be seen on the surface of the tree.
"What a dangerous viper!" Chen Feng thought to himself. Then, he exerted force through his palm. A clear snapping sound rang out as the viper"s body was snapped to pieces. After having done that, Chen Feng tossed the viper"s corpse down the ground.
By then, Chen Feng could sense that the blood flow within his body had slowed down by half and he was starting to feel dizzy.
Knowing that those were the symptoms of poisoning, Chen Feng quickly mobilized the primary energy within him to force the poison out. Blood energy charged through his blood vessels vigorously to break open the clotted blood.
Soon enough, several drops of poison were forced out from Chen Feng"s fingertip. They were extremely foul-smelling and nauseating.
"What kind of poisonous viper is that? Although it is only at the wild animal stage, with its powerful and lethal poison, it is very close to that of a yao beast," said Chen Feng softly.
Honestly, Chen Feng would rather get into a fight with the big, block-headed yao beasts than face these sinister and poisonous creatures.
As Chen Feng was about to leave, his eyelids suddenly twitched and the muscles on his body pulsed as a palpitating sensation of fear rushed into his heart.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Raising his head, Chen Feng saw tens of vipers shooting towards him like arrows. The vipers did not bother making their way around the trees blocking their trajectory. Instead, they simply pierced their way through the trees, leaving see-through holes on the trees.
In that instant, wood chips flew and branches were broken. The power displayed had surpa.s.sed even that of mighty bows and crossbows.
"Not good!" Chen Feng was unable to stop himself from calling out as a chill ran through his heart.
Left with no time to consider anything else, Chen Feng immediately pulled out the Overwhelming Astral Sword. A circular sword beam shone as rays of sword energy spread outwards. The first wave of vipers, numbering around eight, were instantly cut into pieces. Blood scattered across the area and the surrounding trees, gra.s.ses and flowers rapidly withered as a result. Knowing the poisonous attribute of his foes, Chen Feng had long since formed a layer of astral energy over his body to block off the poisonous energy.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
With another swing of the sword, Chen Feng formed a sword trail barrier before him. The vipers slammed onto the barrier and were instantly reduced to pieces, like water slamming onto a piece of iron plate.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Every one of the vipers seemingly possessed intellect. Seeing that their actions were of no threat to Chen Feng, they quickly moved to position themselves at Chen Feng"s back, left and right. A moment"s carelessness by Chen Feng allowed one of the vipers to slam onto his back, easily piercing through the layer of astral energy covering his back. If it were not for the protective armour that Chen Feng was wearing, he would have suffered from a grievous wound. In fact, it was wholly possible for the viper to pierce through his body right there and then.
That incident shocked Chen Feng and cold sweat trickled down his body. He responded by urging the sword in his hand, causing the light from the sword to swell upwards as he cut several more of the surrounding vipers into pieces. However, even more vipers emerged from his surrounding, besieging him. In but the blink of an eye, Chen Feng found that he had been surrounded.
"This is bad! This is really bad! I entered a viper"s nest! Furthermore, they are no ordinary snakes but creatures at the stage of wild beasts." Chen Feng was feeling somewhat fearful.
"This is not a good place to be. I should hurry up and leave." Having made up his mind, Chen Feng swung the Overwhelming Astral Sword in a circular arc, cutting the surrounding vipers down.
Next, Chen Feng flapped the energy wings sprouting off his back to swiftly rise up into the sky. When he was high up in the sky, he saw that the ground was packed with black vipers. There were even 10-metre long pythons amongst them. There were also small vipers, not even one chi in length. All of them were charging towards Chen Feng while spitting out their forking tongues. Burst after burst of poisonous energy drifted upwards to form a black-coloured, poisonous fog, threatening to block off the sun.
"I am so out of here!" Seeing that caused a chill to course through Chen Feng"s heart. He did not have the courage to continue staying. Thus, he turned and quickly flew far away.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Tens of vipers shot themselves up from the ground to charge at Chen Feng, creating whistling sounds as they revealed their sharp fangs. Some of the vipers opened their mouths to unleash their venomous spits upwards.
Observing what was happening, Chen Feng finally utilized his divine sense and a small and delicate looking flying sword rapidly flew forth. The vipers that were charging through the sky were all cut by the flying sword. Likewise, the venomous spits were also dealt with by the flying sword.
Swoos.h.!.+
Like a big bird, Chen Feng quickly flew far away. In but a breath"s worth of time, he had flown through a distance of over 50 li. Only then did he stop (1 li = 0.5 km).
After Chen Feng"s departure, two large birds, first appearing some distance away, suddenly descended. The two birds looked slightly like birds of prey and their spread-out wings, black in colour, had a span of tens of metres each. Their wings gleamed with cold light, seemingly made of steel. In addition, their blade-like claws and hook-like beaks gave the impression of them being overlords of the sky.
After descending, the two ferocious birds pounced onto the coil of vipers. Their claws swiped about swiftly and their beaks pecked continuously. Immediately, tens of vipers were dissected as their gallbladders were plucked out and devoured.
The vipers had seemingly encountered their natural predators. When the two birds suddenly descended from the sky, none of them attempted to fight back. Instead, they all scattered, running for life.
In less than half a joss stick"s worth of time, hundreds of the coil of vipers, all with varying sizes, were butchered by the two birds. All of their gallbladders were devoured by the birds. By the time the vipers had fully scattered away, the two birds had had their fill. With a flap of their wings, they flew up into the sky and quickly disappeared without a trace.
"Phew! This place is truly dangerous. Although the level of those vipers is very low, not even at the yao beast stage, they have numbers on their side. Once they successfully surround their prey, even a Concealed stage cultivator would be in danger. No wonder there aren"t many people here."
Chen Feng had landed within a valley basin. The radius of the basin was around tens of li. It was a totally inconspicuous place amidst the rolling mountain range. Trees and gra.s.ses thrived and there were also small streams flowing there. The water in the streams was so clear, it was possible to view the ground beneath the streams and the various fishes swimming within them.
The moment he entered the valley, Chen Feng felt a fresh air blowing towards him. He could clearly sense the wisps of spiritual energy, abundant with life force, mixed within the air.
"A beautiful view, fresh air, an abundance of spiritual energy and teeming with life force. This is indeed a good place to practice cultivation," said Chen Feng with a smile.
"I don"t believe such a good spot has no yao beast." After saying that, Chen Feng made his way towards the valley. At the same time, he spread out his divine sense to carefully perceive his surroundings.
As expected, it did not take him long to sense a powerful presence. The presence did not stay still. Rather, it was constantly moving around. Chen Feng"s face quickly took on a serious expression. The presence was swiftly moving towards him.
"As expected, a yao beast has established itself here. However, judging by the aura it is giving off, this yao beast should not be some outrageously overpowered existence. It should be possible for me to face it using the Overwhelming Astral Sword." Chen Feng slowly calmed down while a.n.a.lysing the incoming battle.
"It"s here, it"s here! It, why is it so fast?" As the other party was about to reach Chen Feng, his face grew even more serious. At that moment, Chen Feng sensed that there was a discrepancy in his earlier estimate. Just now, when there was only a distance of tens of metres left between him and the other party, the other party"s aura abruptly swelled up, becoming several times more powerful. Additionally, its speed had also increased, around double its original speed. A swift and powerful aura surged towards Chen Feng, who watched as a clump of golden light appeared before him with lightning-like speed.
"Not good! It is so fast!"
Chen Feng was greatly shocked. As it was too late to dodge, he could only put up both hands up, intersecting them before himself as he mobilized his astral energy to block the attack.
Bang!
Chen Feng felt as though he had been slammed by a mountain. The gargantuan force lifted him off his feet. The moment the attack landed, Chen Feng was no longer capable of feeling his arms and the blood energy within his body roiled uncontrollably. Wave after wave of pure brutish power rampaged within Chen Feng"s body.
Under the attacks of the brutish power, the clothes on Chen Feng"s body fluttered wildly and his hair was blown about. At that moment, Chen Feng could not sense any other power save the brutish power. It was the brutish power that had shocked Chen Feng"s body, sending a paralyzing wave throughout his body and causing him to lose all sensations for a brief moment.
So fast! Chen Feng shouted inwardly. Seemingly having sensed the shock and crisis that Chen Feng was in, a burst of power abruptly shot out from his sea of wisdom. Next, a flying sword shot out from his spatial pouch. Under Chen Feng"s divine sense, the flying sword unleashed beams of powerful sword luminescence.
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In but an instant, the sword luminescence enveloped Chen Feng like a barrier.
Bang!
Chen Feng thought this move could help him buy time when suddenly, golden light flashed before him and another wave of brutish power slammed forward, shattering the barrier made of sword luminescence. As for the flying sword that was protecting Chen Feng, it was sent flying from the impact, disappearing to who knows where. All Chen Feng could feel was his aching head. His divine sense had been badly damaged and a power that could move mountains and overturn seas descended upon him.