Chapter 226: Xiangliu

Gloomy clouds spread, Mu Yi shuttled through the mountains and forests.

Mu Yi's eyes were fixed on the firmament; this gloom gave him a strange feeling, somewhat like when he dealt with sea monsters before.

It seemed that in some corner of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, something terrifying was recovering.

"Huh?"

Mu Yi felt someone was spying on his movements.

This isn't strange; Mu Yi didn't conceal his whereabouts, so anyone paying attention could notice.

But what struck Mu Yi as odd was that, despite his swaggering about, no rash mountain sprites or wild monsters jumped out.

"Are they afraid of the Mountain God's majesty, or is there some hidden secret?" Mu Yi became interested.

The Ten Thousand Great Mountains are not small in scale; they are not just ordinary small hills. By rights, a mountain range of this size should have a mountain god of at least seventh rank, at minimum legendary.

But even so, it's impossible for these mountain sprites and wild monsters to dare cause trouble while it's asleep.

This is quite thought-provoking.

Could it be that they are not enemies?

Or perhaps these mountain sprites and wild monsters, like the Miao Jiang and Western Hunan tribes, are beings under the Mountain God's protection?

"First!" Mu Yi summoned First.

"Woof~" As soon as First landed, it bared its teeth in a direction, and at the same time the sky began to drizzle.

"Are there strong enemies over there?" Mu Yi understood First's meaning.

"Let's go cause trouble for him later, First; scout nearby villages!"

Mu Yi narrowed his eyes at the direction First was staring; the earlier gloom feeling came from there.

First nodded, tilted its ear to listen to the ground for a moment, and instantly located the Western Hunan Tribe.

Under First's guidance, Mu Yi had already arrived at a rather secluded valley.

Here is exactly the area where the Western Hunan Tribe resides.

The gloomy valley reminded Mu Yi of the enemy he encountered in East Dao Prefecture, who also manipulated zombies.

"A ghostly lair?" Mu Yi surveyed the mist in the valley.

But what surprised Mu Yi was that he seemed not to be the first visitor to arrive here.

Many corpses lay in the valley—not just zombies, but also various strange ox-ghosts and snake-gods.

Mu Yi reached out, opened a layer of barrier, packed up all the corpses on the ground and took them away; leaving them would be wasteful, better to use them as consumables.

Although he is wealthy, saving a little is still something.

Mu Yi followed First toward the valley's depths; although he felt danger everywhere, nothing happened until he saw a mountain stronghold.

He rubbed First's head; Mu Yi knew this should be First's achievement.

With so many corpses along the way, it definitely couldn't be playing house; this Western Hunan Tribe is rather despicable, digging traps everywhere to harm people, not hospitable at all.

"Huh?" Mu Yi lifted his head to look at the firmament.

Originally just ordinary rain, at this moment it became special.

"Zongwang Dungeon Area Warning: High-difficulty challenge boss Xiangliu has broken the seal! Warning! After the high-difficulty challenge boss refreshes, dungeon challenge players must slay it within at most nine natural days, otherwise the mainline challenge mission will directly fail!"

"Zongwang Dungeon Area Warning: First day, light rain (the dungeon area counts as a special scene)!"

After the warning appeared, the drizzling light rain obscured his perception; he could not sense his surroundings through the rain, only relying on his sight to capture.

But First seemed unaffected, staring straight at the depths of the mountain stronghold.

"Xiangliu... lately it's really been fate with the Nine-Headed Snake!"

Mu Yi urged the rain curtain's depths, began stepping toward the mountain stronghold's interior.

The road must be walked step by step, food eaten bite by bite; first let the rain fall a while.

Just as he entered the mountain stronghold, Mu Yi felt a surge of energy rushing toward him.

However, the energy brushed past Mu Yi and First, and nothing happened.

"Zongwang Prompt: You are under the suppression of a ninth-rank Mountain God's authority, undergoing a will determination…… You possess a seventh-rank divine position in the Underworld…… You ignore this authority suppression……"

Inside the mountain stronghold lay corpses everywhere; the villagers in ethnic attire all lay on the ground, a few that looked like flying zombies also lay scattered, and countless numbers of snakes and insects perished with them.

Mu Yi arrived a step late; the Western Hunan Tribe's villagers were basically all killed, and the Mountain God's treasures had already been taken by the opposing side.

Brushing past these corpses, Mu Yi then saw a giant snake, a venomous snake commonly found in great mountains, but its size could rival that of an elephant or similar creatures.

It was as thick as a truck, its scales gleamed with metallic light, like heavy armor.

Its vertical pupils contained scarlet, exuding an extremely vicious aura.

And on the giant snake's head, a seal was embedded, covered in bloodstains, as if soaked in blood from inside out.

"So-called Mountain God's treasure, is it actually the Mountain God's divine position?" As an expert in trading divine positions, Mu Yi instantly recognized the seal's nature.

He also understood what the giant snake was doing now; the seal seemed to have lost its power, so the giant snake had to use this method to fuse the seal, thereby inheriting the Mountain God's divine position.

"Get lost!" the giant snake spat in human speech.

Mu Yi smiled.

Although it's a boss monster, it's too weak.

"Ao Mo, chop him!"

Mu Yi gave a soft command; Ao Mo burst from the barrier, spear in hand, instantly charging at the giant snake.

"Roar!"

A dragon's roar sounded, the giant snake trembled uncontrollably, and Ao Mo's spear instantly carved a huge wound on its body.

However, before Ao Mo could strike again, the wound began to rapidly heal.

Mu Yi could feel that the entire valley seemed to be providing power to it; the giant snake's body constantly drew vitality from the valley.

"Has the fusion succeeded already?" Mu Yi examined the seal on the snake's head; though the method was crude, it seemed quite effective.

With the Mountain God's power backing it, the giant snake broke free of Ao Mo's bloodline suppression, raised its head, coiled its body, and began to stare at Ao Mo with a tiger's gaze.

Just as Mu Yi was about to pull it into a barrier to change the battlefield, First raised its paw and slapped the ground.

Countless stones and earth surged up from the ground instantly, pinning the giant snake in place.

The giant snake's Mountain God authority was severed in an instant.

It's a case of counterfeit meeting the genuine—the Mountain God position the giant snake obtained through crooked means is obviously insignificant compared to First, a legitimate Kunlun Mountain God.

First almost instantly seized the authority, directly severing its connection with the earth.

Ao Mo wasn't polite either; seeing First's assist, he descended from the sky, and the Dinghai Spear instantly pierced the giant snake's scales, impaling its head straight through.

The giant snake writhed in pain, but when the azure light on the Dinghai Spear flashed, its brain directly absorbed the energy impact, losing consciousness in an instant.

"Weak!" Mu Yi clicked his tongue.

This thing's combat power should actually be strong—not only does it have divine authority suppressing, but also the tenacious vitality of snakes, plus the special recovery speed granted by earth's blessing; an ordinary Zongwang Player might need some effort to deal with it.

But in the face of Ao Mo and First, all its advantages turned into its biggest weaknesses, so the giant snake died obscurely, almost instantly perishing under their combined effort.

"Is this the authority of a ninth-rank Mountain God?"

Mu Yi took the Mountain God seal from the giant snake's head, had Ao Mo rinse it with water using a spell, but then examined it for a long time.

It is very different from the positions he gave others; simply put, the Underworld's positions are higher rank, and this dungeon world's Mountain God position obviously lacks the prestige of the Jiuzhou, Heavenly Court, and Underworld positions.

Moreover, the power inside is inexplicably empty right now; this thing is just a hollow shell, no wonder the giant snake had to fuse it that way.

Normally, an ownerless divine position can be merged simply by picking it up, but it is also subject to the restrictions of higher-ranking positions.

Just as First easily sealed the giant snake's authority, the two sides are completely on different levels.

First tilted its head, looked for a moment, then raised its hand and slapped the seal.

The seal began to glow, and Mu Yi could feel the valley's power flowing into it.

The next moment, the seal turned into flowing light and merged into First's body.

First then waved at Mu Yi.

Mu Yi's retinal information began to refresh frenetically.

【You have gained the blessing of Mountain God's power】

【You have received the Mountain God's blessing, passed the Mountain God's certification test, completed the dungeon challenge: Mountain God's Walk, challenge chest limited affix 1】

(Achievement: Mountain God's Walk: passed the Mountain God's certification test)

【You have gained the status: Mountain God's Protection】

(Mountain God's Protection: While walking in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, you are the Mountain God's envoy and can use a tiny portion of its authority)

【You have gained the status: Mountain God's Power】

(Mountain God's Power: Your attacks deal extra true damage to targets not belonging to the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains)

【Mountain God's Protection】

【Mountain God's Power】

Both statuses look like good things—one increases survivability, the other boosts damage.

However, they don't seem to be of much use to Mu Yi.

Mu Yi can feel the connection between the earth and himself; he feels his feet are like the roots of a towering tree, constantly drawing power from the mountains.

This power forms a cycle within his body and then returns to the mountains.

If this power is depleted, the region connected to him will also suffer this depletion.

"Is the Mountain God asleep because its power has been drained too much?" Mu Yi pondered the reason for the Mountain God's slumber.

After thinking for a moment with no answer, Mu Yi sent two messages to the team channel: one telling them he had settled the Xiangxi tribe, and the other that he was going to kill Xiangliu.

"Come on, First, let's go meet the notorious beast Xiangliu!"

The Classic of the Northern Beyond records: "Gong Gong's minister said, 'Xiangliu clan, nine heads, feeding on the Nine Mountains. Where Xiangliu reaches, it becomes a marsh creek. Da Yu killed Xiangliu; its bloody odor makes it impossible to plant the five grains. Da Yu thus, three ren three chu, made it into the Platform of All Deities. North of Kunlun, east of Rouli. Xiangliu is a nine-headed human-faced, green-scaled serpent body. It dares not shoot north, fearing Gong Gong's platform. The platform lies to its east. On each corner of the platform there is a tiger-colored snake, its head pointing south.'"

Xiangliu's fame is still quite great within the Jiuzhou civilization system.

In antiquity, there were strange beasts, auspicious omens, and disaster beasts… but there is still only one example like Xiangliu.

There's no way—who let this thing Xiangliu be disgusting when alive, and even more disgusting when dead; even Da Yu had no good way to deal with it, and the only one who could subdue Xiangliu was Gong Gong.

After Gong Gong failed in his bid for the throne, raged against Buzhou and died, Xiangliu ran rampant across the earth like a mad dog; worse still, during this period the heavens collapsed and floods overflowed, and Xiangliu in the water was completely at home, letting it become an even greater natural disaster.

After Da Yu completed flood control, the waterless Xiangliu's strength plummeted, and Da Yu slew it.

However, after its death, the impurities bound within its body overflowed, giving Da Yu a headache; only with the aid of the Platform of All Deities was he able to restrain the area of Xiangliu's death, and even this was barely accomplished by relying on Gong Gong's name.

By the way, the existence of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and Xiangliu is a case of different means to the same end; the difference is that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva bears the endless sins of the countless vengeful spirits in the Underworld and continually wears them down, which is also the core reason the Underworld system accepts Ksitigarbha.

Such great perseverance and merit cannot but be admired and accepted, so Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva can occupy a place in the Underworld.

Regarding such ferocious beasts recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Mu Yi is still cautious, but after all it is a ferocious beast with its power capped, and caution is merely an attitude of killing it.

When Mu Yi and his group arrived at the valley where Xiangliu dwelled, a truly massive beast was feeding, opening its huge mouth to devour everything around it, swallowing along with it the surrounding valley and even the nearby mountains.

Upon sensing Mu Yi and his group's aura, for a moment the wind and rain grew dark.

The entire sky suddenly became extremely overcast, and the light drizzle instantly turned into a torrential downpour.

"Ao Mo, do you have a way..." Mu Yi glanced at Ao Mo, whose face turned grim; the dragon clan is skilled at summoning clouds and rain, but it also depends on who you're comparing with.

Compared to Xiangliu, this primordial anomalous beast, the dragon clan's strength can only be called pediatrics.

Although he didn't get an answer, Mu Yi already knew the answer.

First gazed solemnly at Xiangliu, then slammed both claws heavily onto the ground, and a huge stone shot up from the earth toward Xiangliu's head.

In the midst of the howl, the Xiangliu that had just been summoning wind and rain had no time to react before being heavily struck on the head by the falling boulder.

In an instant, the roar shook heaven and earth.

For a moment, the mountains swayed, the earth trembled, and vast waters raged!

"Is this monster really not a legend?" Mu Yi's mouth twitched.

Struck on the head by Chu Yi's attack that borrowed the local Mountain God's power, yet in the blink of an eye the opponent's wounds recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Its speed was so fast that it even gave people a sense of time rewinding.

"Puff!" One of Xiangliu's heads spotted Mu Yi and his companions, opened its huge mouth and spewed a spray of liquid.

Chu Yi manipulated earth and stone to rise as a shield, but the moment the earth and stone touched the liquid they were corroded and melted, then fell to the ground and instantly corroded a huge deep pit.

"Sss!"

The terrifying corrosive force made Mu Yi involuntarily gasp a cold breath; this thing striking the body must be somewhat painful, and it was clear that this thing could even corrode the very qi of heaven and earth.

More importantly, this thing… stinks!

Mu Yi felt a resistance deep in his soul that did not want any contact with this thing.

(End of chapter)