Chapter 52: Leopard Python, Rank-Seven Feral
‘Are rank-seven Ferals that powerful?’ wondered Jiang He.
He thoughtfully looked at Duan Tianhe from head to toe. If rank-seven grandmasters were an equal match against rank-seven Ferals, wouldn’t he know the gap in power if he sparred against Duan Tianhe?
At the same time, Duan Tianhe scowled. What was the kid planning?
With a long face, he went down to the foot of the mountain before whipping out his phone to ask about the situation at Yuzhen. They talked for ten whole minutes before he hung up and called his higher-ups to make a report.
By the time he hung up, Jiang He was already nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Jiang He?” asked Duan Tianhe with a sinking feeling.
“You looking for him? He went over there,” Pudgy Jiang’s subordinate—the one with the all-seeing eye—answered loudly.
He was pointing far east, where the Ningdong Mines were just dozens of miles away.
And the Leopard Python lived at the edge of that area.
“d.a.m.n it...” Duan Tianhe slapped himself and exclaimed in regret, “Why the heck did I tell him that stuff?”
Confused, the all-seeing-eye subordinate asked, “Why are you hitting yourself, Chief Duan?”
As usual, his voice was as loud as a shout, and everyone promptly turned towards them.
Speechless for a moment, Duan Tianhe then asked, “When did he leave?”
“I haven’t eaten anything.”
“I’m asking you when did he leave!” repeated Duan Tianhe, raising his voice by several decibels.
Only then did the all-seeing-eye subordinate reply, “Oh, oh... probably ten, twenty minutes.”
Ignoring everything else, Duan Tianhe turned and dashed into the distance. However, before he could reach the peak of the next mountain, he made a sharp turn southeast.
A sinister presence was rapidly closing in from that direction.
It was the Tranquil Heavenly General, turning back because his ambush on Duan Tianhe had failed.
...
“Leopard Python... Leopard Python... Where is it?”
Jian He was dashing all the way, pushing his Blind Princess’ Eight Practices to the limit and soon arriving around the Ningdong Mines area. Standing atop a mountain and looking ahead, he found the outline of several buildings over ten miles away.
There had been over a dozen coal mines and chemical factories at the Ningdong Mines that were now abandoned and unoccupied. Jiang He looked around and spotted something that made his eyes sparkle.
Dashing for a while more, he soon reached a narrow gulley. It was shallow and winding.
Jiang He could not help getting excited after taking a closer look. “No, this isn’t a gulley. It’s a sign that the python has been moving through here frequently!”
The mountaintops at loess highlands had no rocks, and had a layer of thick, loose soil instead. It would not be too ridiculous for a giant snake to leave a gulley in its wake after slithering over it.
Jiang He moved along the winding gulley, and stopped after five kilometers.
The gulley was gone.
His ears p.r.i.c.ked up, and he caught the rustling sound of the winds in the night. Looking up ahead, he found a weird landscape: several small hills were joined together in a small valley. The rustling sound was coming from there.
At first, the sound was erratic, but soon became louder. Soon, ma.s.sive pythons could be seen moving around the valley, their scarlet tongues poking in and out as they surrounded Jiang He.
Each of them was around four meters long, with the longer ones being over ten meters long, and their skulls the size of tricycles. In fact, the front half of a few of them could measure up to a two-floor building.
“That many snakes?”
Jiang He promptly pulled back, golden light flashing in his hand as he cut a python lunging at him in two. Even so, more pythons lunged towards him in the next split second. Using his Blind Princess’ Eight Practices to dance between their ranks, he sliced through a snake each time he slashed out with his golden cleaver.
“What a pity! I don’t know any swordplay, which really limits my progress in killing snakes. This cleaver is really awesome though. But that said, it’s too small... I would kill more if I had a long, broad blade.”
Jiang He hence made up his mind to get an imposing combat blade and plant it when he went home. He would also learn some impressive swordplay. It would be best if it was something that could cut things dozens of meters away, as well as unleash fire and thunder. It sounded so awesome just thinking about it!
Meanwhile, after killing more than twenty pythons, a loud crash echoed, soon followed by a draconic roar that resounded over the mountains.
Rustle...
The pythons that were attacking Jian He all retreated and lowered their heads in the direction of the valley as if worshipping it.
At the same time, a small hill was rising from the mountain.
Jiang He charged his Nine Yang technique. A bright sun rose up behind him and illuminated his surroundings. He could not stop himself from gasping when he looked out with his night vision and the light.
“Wow! That is a big snake!”
The slowly rising ‘hill’ was not a hill at all, but the head of python. Its skull was larger than a car, and was over twenty-meters long when it reared up the front half of its body, not to mention that its very presence left Jiang He palpating.
“Rank-seven Ferals really are different from your average Ferals... It’s too unrealistic for me to kill it, but I don’t have to since all I need is fifty kilograms of its flesh.”
Roar!
That was when the giant python opened its maw, releasing a pungent breath that left Jiang He’s clothes flapping.
Jiang He almost puked! That one big breath was no different from a biohazard weapon. Soon, his face dropped as well.
“Oh no, the breath is poisonous... Wait, I’m alright?”
Even as the thought of being poisoned came to mind, Jiang He soon felt nothing, as his Strengthened Nine Yang Technique was too strong in curbing poisons. But to avoid any surprises, Jiang he took out the half-eaten carrot and cuc.u.mber from before.
Crunch, crunch.
He took a few bites, but the python surprisingly did not attack. It seemed that the rank-seven Feral was smarter than the average adult, and could sense danger from Jiang He. It bellowed a few times, flicking its tongue while its fangs glimmered under the faint light until...
A voice echoed beside Jiang He’s ears, “You have some guts, human. You dare kill my children?”
Jiang He forgot about his cuc.u.mber.
What was going on?
A rank-seven Feral was capable of Secret Acoustics just like a rank-seven martial artist?
No, Ferals were different from humans because they could not cultivate True Qi... but how was this one able to do this?
‘I’ll have to study more information about Ferals when I get back. I can’t just loaf around as a martial arts newbie... I need to improve myself...’
With that thought, Jiang He saluted the Leopard Python and said, “Bro snake, it is my fault for intruding carelessly... but may I ask for around three hundred catties of your flesh? You’re so huge, so that amount would be peanuts to you.”
Even as he spoke, he studied the Leopard Python and finally understood how it got its name—the markings over its scales were identical to a leopard’s spots.
“You seek death!”
Roar!
Thoroughly enraged, the python bellowed, kicking up a wild gust that extended miles away, just as a dark shadow descended from the skies with a rumble. Muttering “oh, no!” to himself, Jiang He moved to evade, and soon saw that the snake’s colossal tail had smashed a huge crater into the ground where he stood just a moment ago.
Scowling, he clenched his teeth and yelled, “You’re being so unreasonable, snake! I’ve only killed a dozen of your kids, and I was just asking for just a few hundred catties of snake soup... I mean flesh, and you’re already trying to kill me? d.a.m.n it!”
Before he could finish, the serpent’s tail came whipping towards him again. It would blow up a small hill, let alone Jiang He’s physical body if it were to hit him. Even so, he did not dodge.
With a mere thought...
Oom!
The luminous blade in his mind moved.