Chapter 134: with translation of chapter title

Pfft!

Mu Yi spat out a big mouthful of blood and clumsily crawled up from the ground.

If you don't act now, I can't hold on!

Mu Yi was a little annoyed; this was the first time he had fought so embarrassingly, and fighting above his rank was always difficult.

He felt an urge to open the Six Paths Seal and go all-out against this dead snake, but remembering what Ming Yue had told him earlier, he could only forcibly suppress that urge.

Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jun, Lie, Qian, Xing!

Formation, rise!

——True Words Subdue Demon Formation

Ming Yue let out a loud shout, and nine mysterious Dao inscriptions emitting an arcane aura appeared around the giant snake, rotating and radiating power, countless silvery threads of spiritual light entwining and binding the snake.

Hiss!

The giant snake struggled wildly, yet it could never break free of this binding; its movement space was continually compressed.

Even Mu Yi, a layperson, could see that the snake spirit's struggles were growing larger.

It won't go out of control, will it?

Mu Yi glanced at Ming Yue, who looked unusually strained, took a deep breath, and charged toward the snake spirit.

Dodging the snake spirit's frantic thrashing, Mu Yi pulled out an object and slapped it onto the snake spirit's head.

Dragon Scale Armor!

The intimidating effect of the minor dragon might was far greater for the snake spirit than for ordinary beasts; the faint dragon bloodline within it was triggered at this moment, and the snake spirit's will fell into a state of awe.

The previously frantically struggling body suddenly froze, and Ming Yue immediately made hand seals, channeling mana to drive the True Words Subdue Demon Formation to its extreme.

"Hiss!" After the snake spirit managed to shake off this intimidation, it was already powerless to rebound, letting out an unwilling wail, yet it could only remain unwillingly bound by the formation.

When the light faded, the snake spirit had lost all vitality, and a coiled snake-shaped statue appeared in its place.

"Collect!" Ming Yue took out a gourd-like magical implement, activated it toward the statue, and in Mu Yi's sight, a hideous giant snake burst from the snake-shaped statue and was sucked into the gourd.

Mu Yi knew that was the snake spirit's soul.

"Success!" Ming Yue wiped the sweat beading on her forehead, let out a breath of relief, and turned to look at Mu Yi with ease.

I really didn't pick the wrong person!

The information obtained from divination was indeed correct; Mu Yi truly was a trustworthy teammate. Although the process had a few minor hiccups, the outcome was no different from what he had expected.

"What should we do with this big guy?" Mu Yi asked, patting the snake spirit's body, which looked as if turned to stone.

"Of course, I'm asking you to take it back. I remember you should have the ability to carry things, right? That seal?"

Ming Yue had seen the Six Paths Seal before; when Mu Yi earlier brought back the corpse of the wild boar spirit, she had seen it.

You really know how to boss people around!

Mu Yi helplessly opened the seal, placed the snake spirit's body inside, and, as if due to the main world's growth, he noticed that the Six Paths Seal was also growing unconsciously on its own.

"Hahaha, naturally I won't let Brother Mu make this trip for nothing! I heard Brother Mu previously asked Master Liuli to gather some exotic flowers and herbs to make medicinal cuisine; the things Brother Mu needs are right here!"

Ming Yue chuckled, walked into the snake spirit's cave, and held out several tender green sprouts.

Mu Yi sensed a strange fluctuation from them and immediately knew this stuff must be good.

"What is this?" Mu Yi asked doubtfully.

Ming Yue hesitated slightly, but since she was already accustomed to Mu Yi's lack of common sense, she proceeded to explain.

"Every part of a dragon is treasure; among them, dragon saliva grass is a rare medicinal herb, a product of dragons when they slumber, possessing special effects: consumers can strengthen their bodies, and if one's dragon bloodline is dense enough, the grass will also be tinged with a faint dragon bloodline."

"Moreover, any creature possessing dragon bloodline basically shares the same habits as dragons; this snake saliva grass, though inferior to dragon saliva grass, can still be considered a spiritual herb!"

"This is common knowledge about the Four Seas Dragon Clan!" Ming Yue's simple words made Mu Yi's cheek twitch.

Again, common sense...... Does he really count as a native of Jiuzhou?

How come I feel like I've even missed the net?

"Brother Mu, don't worry; once you reach the Jixia Academy, there will naturally be your military strategist seniors to prescribe the right remedy, and those who can attend this grand gathering are all outstanding talents from each school, so they will naturally receive resource bias from their houses."

Ming Yue obviously knew more than Mu Yi, and she spoke to comfort him.

Mu Yi could only give a wry smile; after all, he wasn't formally trained, and he lagged far behind these orthodox disciples.

The two brought the snake spirit back to the tribe; upon hearing the situation, Dong Hui immediately arranged manpower to assist Ming Yue in building the altar.

A tribal guardian deity is indeed of considerable value to the tribe.

Mu Yi also saw his three hundred elites: twelve dead, more than half injured; if it weren't for Liuli holding down the fort in the tribe, several seriously wounded might not have survived and would have died in bed, but now they have all been completely healed by Monk Liuli.

"Not bad!" Mu Yi looked at the two hundred eighty-eight gathered before him; after undergoing the baptism of real combat, they were indeed markedly different, and the aura they exuded was completely unlike before.

It was obvious that these days of hunting had given them ample growth.

Mu Yi said nothing more and began to continue drilling them; he had hoped that, with the troops' spiritual transformation, they might master Incineration or Iron-blooded Slaughter, but the results were mediocre.

Merely hunting seemed insufficient to activate their willpower talent.

After trying for a few days, Mu Yi helplessly chose to give up, letting them continue training the all-around ten-item elite talent, refining their qualities and honing their skills.

Since the shortcut didn't work out, we'll just improve ourselves step by step.

After a second round of communication with Dong Hui, Mu Yi also set the rule of hunting once every ten days.

Just as Mu Yi was leading a group of women and children to teach them blood-activating soup, Dong Hui sent someone to fetch him.

"Something's come up!"

Dong Hui's expression was somewhat weary; tribal affairs, big or small, were basically handled by him alone. Even after picking a few clever and quick-witted individuals, they couldn't be cultivated quickly, so he could only let them serve as deputies to gain experience.

"What's the matter?" Mu Yi asked, puzzled. Although he and Dong Hui had ideological differences, he still acknowledged Dong Hui's ability.

"Come with me!" Dong Hui led Mu Yi to the tribe's altar, where Monk Liuli sat cross-legged, chanting sutras to perform salvation for the snake spirit's soul.

However, seeing the sweat trickling down Monk Liuli's forehead, it didn't seem so easy.

You know Daoist Mingyue's plan; he succeeded halfway, he succeeded in creating the tribe's snake totem and also established the link between the tribe and the totem… but he was too successful!

Dong Hui gave a wry smile; sometimes doing one's best doesn't mean it's truly suitable.

Ming Yue was too hasty, wanting to display his utmost ability, but the result was that his haste led to the current unsolvable situation.

"He retained the snake spirit's soul, hoping to directly transform the snake spirit into actual combat power, which could also be considered a trump card for the tribe."

"His original intention was to guide the tribespeople to worship the snake spirit, not as faith, but to condense the tribespeople's will into a concrete form, using the tribe's will to whitewash the snake spirit into a protective totem; however, he overlooked one thing: the tribespeople's respect for us!"

"After this respect was transformed, it became awe, becoming the situation where the tribespeople submit to the snake spirit's soul, becoming nourishment for the snake spirit's growth; now the snake spirit's soul has begun to influence the tribespeople in return!"

"How did you discover it?" Mu Yi didn't know why; he felt nothing unusual at all.

"These days, the phenomenon of men and women loving each other in the tribe has increased severalfold!" Dong Hui stated the reason he had noticed, expressionless.

"The snake's nature is lustful; as long as you follow the vine to the melon, you naturally notice the abnormality!"

"Ming Yue Daoist and Liuli Monk took turns, wanting to use exorcism to cleanse the snake spirit anew, making it an empty shell, then regenerate a totem guardian deity from totem worship."

"I also tried using Confucian classics to wear down the snake spirit's soul, but... we all failed!"

After Dong Hui finished speaking, Mu Yi understood: they wanted him to break mountains and topple temples, completely kill the snake spirit, then smash this totem.

However, the totem has already been etched into the tribe's heart; even if they smash the existing totem, it's merely starting over, as long as worship continues, one day the totem guardian deity's power will be stronger than now.

"In dispelling faith, your Military Strategist's methods are most suitable; the rest I leave to you."

As they spoke, the Liuli Monk opened his eyes, weakly descended from the altar, and his final attempt also failed.

Even with faith as support, the snake spirit could not be completely wiped of its consciousness in their wheel battle; unable to control it, they could only destroy it.

"You really do believe me!" Mu Yi gave a wry smile.

"We will assist you!" Ming Yue appeared before the three, his expression somewhat weary but not broken.

By now, pursuing responsibility is meaningless; the urgent task is to solve the problem.

If the snake spirit is left unchecked, the tribe won't even need to fight among themselves; the snake spirit will directly transform all these tribespeople, and then it will be a big question whether this tribe is human or demonic.

"You first evacuate the tribespeople; then release the snake spirit directly, attack it as much as possible to weaken it, and I will finish it off!"

Mu Yi sighed, looking at the three in poor mental state; he also had no confidence, for they lacked time most, and likely there was no time for them to recover properly.

First, every minute delayed makes the snake spirit a bit stronger; second, they worry about being suddenly teleported away, so they are anxious.

Mu Yi gathered his two hundred eighty-eight soldiers and fully informed them of the matter.

"Are you prepared?"

No one answered, but silence spoke louder than words; Mu Yi read the answer from their expressions.

"Depart!"

Mu Yi led them to the tribal center to set up formation; thin Cloud Energy shrouded the altar above, and Mu Yi simultaneously deployed the Yuan Yang Formation and the Four Symbols Formation, but with too few numbers, there was a feeling of being strong outside but weak within.

Ming Yue and the three now all had pallid faces, obviously having overdrawn themselves, having exerted their utmost effort.

Mu Yi nodded at Ming Yue, who immediately released the snake spirit.

The snake spirit's soul, freed from its bonds, returned to its body, its aura more ferocious than when Mu Yi last saw it; the bumps on its head instantly grew a single horn.

This meant the snake spirit had surpassed the python's shackles, becoming a flood dragon.

"The strengthening of the soul will rebound onto the body; for now it's only initial feedback, but if he survives this tribulation, he might truly have a chance to become a dragon!" Ming Yue explained, his face pale.

He knew Mu Yi lacked common sense, fearing that a small matter might cause another mistake.

"Heaven and Earth have no limits, I borrow the law of Qian and Kun!"

"Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Qian, Xing!"

"Nine Heavens Mystic Chasm, transformed into divine thunder. Majestic heavenly might, drawn by the sword!"

Seeing the snake spirit seemingly adapting to its body, Ming Yue without hesitation unleashed the spell he had prepared.

The Nine-Character True Words accompanied by nine talismans rose into the sky, condensing into a mass of thunderclouds, emanating boundless heavenly might.

Meanwhile, a long sword appeared in Ming Yue's hand; countless electric flashes swiftly gathered, booming thunderclaps exploding nonstop across the horizon.

Immediately following, the thunderbolt fell, along the long sword Ming Yue waved, heavily slashing at the snake spirit that had now transformed into a flood dragon.

"Namu Bhagavate. Bishasha. Urulu Biliji. Boluo. He luo jia ye... Datuo jiemoye... Danzhe ta. Om. Bishasha. Bishasha. Bishasha. Sanmie jiedi. Svaha."

— Medicine Master Mantra

The Liuli Monk formed the Medicine Buddha hand seal with his hands, chanting the Collected Medicine Buddha Liuli Light Seven Buddhas' Original Vows Merit Sutra; the dense Buddha light transformed into Liuli light, following the thunder to cover the flood dragon serpent.

Although there had been little coordination before, at this moment Ming Yue, Liuli, and Dong Hui each seized the perfect opportunity to attack.

"I cultivate the great righteous qi!"

Dong Hui's righteous qi rose like a long rainbow into the sky, then he opened his mouth and spat out a small sword.

— Lip Gun Tongue Sword

The small sword merged into the soaring righteous qi; then, under the gathering of righteous qi, the small sword became enormously huge, and then slashed toward the flood dragon's head.

Three immensely powerful strikes hit the flood dragon serpent; unable to dodge, it could only protect its vital points while spewing forth power.

When the thunder light, Liuli light, and righteous qi had dissipated in the air, the flood dragon serpent appeared before everyone, its body oozing blood, even its horn severed.

"Hiss!"

The flood dragon serpent flicked its scarlet tongue, greedily staring at Ming Yue and the three; it sensed their weakness and wanted to devour them.

"Come in!"

Mu Yi said nothing more; after confirming the three had no backup, he directly unfolded the Six Paths barrier, pulling both the soldiers and the flood dragon serpent into it.

Having lost sight of Ming Yue and the three, the flood dragon serpent naturally turned its gaze to Mu Yi, remembering that Mu Yi had once injured it, though it could not comprehend what was happening around.

But now it only wants to eat Mu Yi.