Chapter 248: Inner Pill of the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake

After one hour, Gu Xuan slowly opened his eyes; the red and blue lights flashed and vanished, each took out the food and water carried in their Soul Tools and ate a little, then got up again and continued forward.

Advancing again, the two's speed clearly increased a bit, because there were no other creatures disturbing them around.

Of course, that was also because Gu Xuan knew that no other creatures would appear for the time being, but he still didn't relax; after all, reality isn't the original work, and unknown dangers might still descend.

After walking a long distance, the surrounding air grew increasingly scorching; gradually, Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan could faintly see the dark red flow beneath the abyss on both sides, and the heating air made breathing uncomfortable, as if their lungs were burning.

Gu Xuan took out two pills from his Soul Tool, gave one to Du Gu Yan and swallowed the other himself.

The moment he swallowed the pill, a hot current circulated within his body, and their stamina began to recover rapidly.

Moreover, a cool sensation spread throughout their bodies; they felt a refreshing chill, not only did their body temperature drop considerably, but even the scorching, turbid air became pure, as if filtered.

While recovering, the two kept their speed and pressed on; suddenly, a rustling sound came from ahead, causing Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan to stop in their tracks.

Because there was an object in front of them on the narrow path: a dark‑red body was coiled there, exposing a pair of fiery red eyes.

They couldn't see how massive its body was, but simple observation showed it must be a snake, the whole body winding on the narrow path.

Its eyes weren't especially large, yet for some reason Du Gu Yan felt the brilliance in those eyes was more terrifying than that of the three‑headed Dark Gold Terror Bat King they had faced before.

"A snake?" Du Gu Yan whispered.

Accompanied by the rustling, the dark‑red snake began to slither forward slowly.

As they got closer, Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan saw its full form: on the snake's head and back were nine protrusions, each like a bright red mushroom, seemingly with blood flowing inside.

The snake's belly was especially huge, bulging on the narrow path, and its length was at least over ten meters.

They saw the monstrous snake, and the snake clearly saw them too; the coiled snake head lifted slowly, and its golden‑red eyes instantly shone like lanterns.

Seeing what lay before them, Gu Xuan gently explained to Du Gu Yan beside him:

"A primordial beast, the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake, with unparalleled poison; an adult can exceed ten meters, possesses the strongest fire toxin among snakes, and after ten thousand years of cultivation can form an inner pill hidden among its nine heads. When the inner pill emerges, heaven and earth lose their colors; possessing its inner pill makes other snakes flee—it is the supreme among snakes."

In the original work, after Tang San killed this Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake he obtained its inner pill, which later became Ma Hongjun's Soul Ring.

Gu Xuan now thought of taking this Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake and using its inner pill as Du Gu Yan's seventh Soul Ring.

At this moment, facing this Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake, the pressure it exerted on Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan far exceeded that of the three‑headed Dark Gold Terror Bat King earlier.

Now, this Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake blocked their way; undoubtedly, with its ability it could easily destroy the narrow path, so if they wanted to attack it they had to consider not causing excessive damage to the path during the assault.

The snake's pair of golden‑red pupils stared coldly at Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan; it kept moving, advancing toward the two of them.

The distance closed from a hundred meters; the monstrous snake emitted a croaking sound like a baby's wail, and simultaneously the nine flesh lumps on its back began to radiate golden‑red light.

"Croak—"

The Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake's call oddly resembled a toad.

With about twenty meters left to Gu Xuan, the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake launched its attack first: a fire‑red beam shot out from its mouth, carrying a strong fishy smell and heat, racing toward the two.

The flame came along the ground, meaning it spread rapidly from the narrow path beneath their feet.

The fire‑red light rippled violently on the narrow path, even crackling as if burning rock, and more terrifyingly it bore a thin red mist; it was clear the mist contained potent toxins.

On flat ground they could dodge, but in this situation there was no room to evade; the only option was to rise into the air.

Rising was trivial for Gu Xuan, and more importantly, although the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake was terrifying, it was still a snake, and Du Gu Yan's martial soul exerts absolute suppression over any snake.

This Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake might be a huge danger to others, but for Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan now, it was actually not a serious threat.

Relying on absolute strength, Gu Xuan could easily handle this Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake, because it cannot fly and lacks the life‑saving abilities of the three‑headed Dark Gold Terror Bat King.

As the fire tongue surged, Gu Xuan pulled Du Gu Yan into his arms; eight dragon swords appeared behind him, then unfolded into four pairs of sword‑wings; with a light swing of the wings, Gu Xuan lifted Du Gu Yan ten meters up, evading the snake's flame.

Then Du Gu Yan directly released her martial soul; the snake's tail coiled around Gu Xuan, her arms wrapped his neck, and the pressure from her ancestral martial soul instantly stalled the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake's attack; its blood‑red eyes widened in astonishment, staring at Du Gu Yan.

In the next instant, Gu Xuan also merged with his martial soul; his dark‑silver bone claws turned into Dark Gold Terror Claws, and with a swipe five dark‑gold energy blades shot out.

"Sky‑Tearing Claw!"

At the same time, six dragon swords detached from behind Gu Xuan, transformed into six streams of light that rushed toward the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake.

Facing such terrifying killing intent, the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake dared not be distracted; although its golden‑red eyes still showed a hint of fear, the nine golden‑red flesh lumps on its back grew brighter.

Without hesitation, the snake's body arched on the narrow path, the nine lumps aimed directly at the airborne Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan.

Suddenly, the nine lumps shattered simultaneously, ejecting nine streams of golden‑red liquid; the liquid didn't shoot straight but arced toward the space above Gu Xuan, merging into a single mass.

Yet the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake's attack was still slower; the Sky‑Tearing Claw and six dragon swords fell, slicing the snake's body as if cutting tofu, its flesh shattered, crimson liquid gushed out, mixed with severed entrails, emitting a foul stench.

The liquid the snake expelled had just merged into a fist‑sized golden‑red sphere; lacking the snake's control, the sphere fell straight down before reaching Gu Xuan.

Gu Xuan used the six dragon swords to catch the sphere, then gently descended with Du Gu Yan back onto the path.

The six dragon swords held the Ten‑Headed Blazing Sun Snake's inner pill and presented it to Gu Xuan; he grasped the inner pill in his hand.

"Be careful, it may be poisonous," Du Gu Yan hurriedly warned.

Gu Xuan smiled faintly and shook his head, "It's fine; though it's poisonous, it doesn't affect me."

At that moment Du Gu Yan recalled that, given their current constitutions, ordinary poison has little effect on them; she had only been anxious before, which is why she warned.

She retracted her martial soul and dragon‑sword wings, stepped down from Gu Xuan, and examined the inner pill.

Gu Xuan handed the inner pill to Du Gu Yan, saying, "Take it; this can be your seventh Soul Ring."

Hearing Gu Xuan's words, Du Gu Yan instantly understood, for she knew his sixth ten‑thousand‑year Soul Ring came from the Evil God Pearl of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

And Gu Xuan's current statement implied that this inner pill also possessed the same effect.

Thinking of Gu Xuan's sixth ten‑thousand‑year Soul Ring, Du Gu Yan eagerly wondered whether after absorbing this inner pill her seventh Soul Ring might also reach the ten‑thousand‑year level.

After all, although Du Gu Yan's physique is not as strong as Gu Xuan's, it is certainly not weak, and a pill like this can be absorbed without enduring soul‑shaking.

ps: typos will be corrected later.

(End of chapter)