Chapter 76: Annihilation of Jin Gang (4)

The giant serpent regarded the scene before it with cold eyes; its serpentine gaze rippled with fury, and the small bumps on its head slowly grew, eventually bursting open to form a pair of horns.

“It’s evolving now,” Ye Nan said, his gaze grave as he watched the giant serpent, its two small horns fully evolved.

For a serpent to become a dragon, it must first grow two horns; the moment those horns emerge, it has taken its first step.

As the saying goes: when a serpent’s horns begin to rise, thunder cracks upon the earth, revealing the true power of dragon or serpent. The moment this serpent grew its horns, it had already transcended the realm of serpents—only such a creature holds real research value.

“Evolve, evolve, become a dragon—let me see the secrets of the dragon, its might,” Ye Nan’s heart stirred with unexpected excitement.

The Chinese are descendants of the dragon; since childhood, they’ve been taught this concept, and in their hearts, the dragon is sacred and inviolable.

This was true for Ye Nan too, yet in ancient times, many heroes had slain evil dragons, and Ye Nan felt no guilt—most importantly, he could capture a living dragon.

The evolved giant serpent—no, it should no longer be called a giant serpent, but a jiaolong—coiled near the Blood Orchid, its cold eyes fixed on Ye Nan, neither attacking nor retreating, simply holding its ground.

“Trying to stall? You can’t afford to wait for the poison to take effect,” Ye Nan sneered at the jiaolong, pulling from his right-side pack a syringe wrapped in cotton.

“This is a serum developed by the Doctor—effective against common toxins, and highly resistant to those that can’t be directly contacted,” Ye Nan said, plunging the syringe sharply into his right arm and injecting the antitoxin.

Feeling the slow, steady return of sensation in his arm, his smile deepened, “But you can’t wait—your offspring are nearly all slaughtered.”

The jiaolong’s head was oval-shaped and vividly colored, which was why Ye Nan dared call it a female—though its temperament also confirmed it.

Male serpents are typically vicious and aggressive, while females are more docile; from earlier until now, though it commanded two serpents to attack Ye Nan, it never moved itself—another piece of evidence. Most crucially, it was the serpent’s natural behavior.

Generally, serpents guard their own territories and rarely intrude on others. Only one scenario explains so many serpents clustering into a single ball: a female summoning males to mate and produce countless offspring.

Serpents have no concept of lineage—let alone their own offspring; even other animals, if strong enough, are fair game for cross-species mating. Serpents are inherently lustful.

Hss! The jiaolong lunged suddenly, hurtling toward Ye Nan with lightning speed; before he could react, its tail whipped across, smashing him violently into the distance.

This was Ye Nan’s weakness: though God Perception granted him advantage, if his body couldn’t match the speed and reaction, God Perception was useless.

A crimson wound appeared on Ye Nan’s face, stretching from below his right ear to his nose, even slightly caving in the bridge of his nose.

Ye Nan ignored his injury—he knew he’d underestimated. The jiaolong was now utterly different from the other giant serpents; in speed alone, it far surpassed them all. She had undergone complete evolution.

After flinging Ye Nan away, the jiaolong did not pursue. It slithered back, coiling tightly around the Blood Orchid, shielding it completely with its body, its serpentine eyes fixed on Ye Nan with pride—like a queen gazing at a presumptuous fool.

“Such an infuriating gaze—but you’re still just an animal,” Ye Nan rose from the ground, wiping blood from his face; his blood had fully boiled.

“This feeling—this power,” Ye Nan’s heart stirred with quiet excitement. A long-dormant force surged through his body; layers of dense scales spread across his skin, and his bleeding wounds healed instantly.

“The power slumbering within me has finally been fully unleashed.”

The beauty of this power drowned Ye Nan in stillness. His mind became hyperactive; concentric waves radiated outward from his brain like a dense mental network, locking every detail of his surroundings within his perception.

The jiaolong tensed at the sight—some unknown force in the air filled it with unease.

Hss! The jiaolong flicked its tongue and lunged, jaws wide open, a foul stench spreading through the air.

Ye Nan reacted instantly, stepping forward instead of retreating, thrusting his dagger forward in rapid slashes, stabbing deep into the jiaolong’s tongue and bursting it.

The jiaolong’s roar grew even louder; it whipped its tail, catching Ye Nan off-guard, striking his left shoulder and sending him flying dozens of meters, crashing into the ground and carving out a deep crater—its power was unimaginable.

Lying in the deep pit, Ye Nan felt no sensation in his left shoulder—as if the blow had utterly destroyed it.

Hss! The jiaolong writhed in agony on the ground, its tongue pierced by Ye Nan’s dagger—now mute, it could only hiss.

“You beast—animals will always be animals, no matter how you evolve,” Ye Nan rose again; exposed flesh on his body writhed as if healing itself, but he knew: this recovery was far too slow—especially compared to superficial wounds.

Hss! The jiaolong opened its jaws and spat a stream of saliva toward Ye Nan.

Ye Nan’s eyes narrowed—he sidestepped the saliva, then charged forward. His right hand slowly reshaped: from a scaled limb, it transformed into a hardened, razor-sharp claw.

This claw bore three long talons, gray-white in color, impossibly sharp—the same claw that little Godzilla had used to pierce the Velociraptors.

Hss! The jiaolong coiled in place and lashed out its tail, striking Ye Nan with full force.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” Ye Nan thrust his right claw downward, meeting the jiaolong’s tail in direct contact. A piercing screech rang out as white talons met black scales, and a torrent of blood erupted.