Chapter 4: The Debut of an Ability

With his arrival, countless small animals along the stream bank scrambled away in panic — clearly, to them Baichuan was a terrifying predator.

And indeed it was true: as a king cobra, apart from a few natural enemies, he was invincible in his ecological niche, save for the rare few who could match him or edge him out by a hair.

Geez, am I really that scary?

Watching the small animals flee in panic, Baichuan — who had never intended to harm them — chuckled wryly and swayed his snake head.

With their departure, the world before his eyes fell quiet once more, deathly still, with only the stream still gurgling on.

Perhaps this is the price of being a king?

After a few self-mocking laughs, Baichuan drank his fill of water unhurriedly, then set off again.

His three-meter-plus serpentine body slithered along in an S-shaped path, scales rippling layer upon layer, producing a flowing beauty beyond words; his forked tongue flicked in and out ceaselessly, searching for the scent of his prey — other snakes.

Soon, he came to a halt, raised the upper half of his body, looked left and right, then began climbing up a tall tree trunk.

This place was thick with tall, dense trees, and as long as he was a little careful in concealing his tracks, he could easily hide himself among the branches and wait for other snakes to appear.

Following the techniques in his memory, Baichuan quickly found an excellent spot, coiled quietly on a branch, and began to wait like a hunter by a stump.

Time passed slowly; no one knew how long.

During that time, he had once witnessed a green Tengshe trying to eat some bird eggs, only to be eaten like a spicy stick by the returning Xinia — but he didn't move.

Because that snake was too small, and the Xinia — honestly, if he went head-on now, the most likely outcome would be mutual destruction. Not worth it, not worth it.

In this cruel natural world where the strong devour the weak, an injury meant unstable survival; once a wound became infected, or during a stretch of relentless rain, having no source of food was no different from a dead end.

Suddenly, Baichuan's spirit jolted; his snake head lifted slightly, his tongue flicking rapidly to capture every scent molecule — prey had appeared.

Not far below, a long snake over two meters long with yellowish scales all over its body had appeared at some unknown moment.

Seeing this, Baichuan immediately recognized it — it was a Jinshe; of course, he wasn't sure of its exact name.

Either way, it was his spicy stick.

His head lifted slightly, his body began to uncoil once more; he gazed at the Jinshe. He couldn't move rashly just yet, lest he be spotted — at this distance, he figured he couldn't catch up.

At this moment, below.

Among the fallen leaves, that Jinshe kept flicking its tongue as it moved forward with clear purpose; its body slithered, producing a very faint "crispy, crispy" sound — the noise of its weight pressing down on the leaves.

Very faint, and mixed in with the wind it became even less noticeable.

Soon, it drew close.

What came into its view was a Laoshu hiding in a pile of fallen leaves, hugging a plant fruit and devouring it.

The serpentine body kept drawing closer; it was now well within the Jinshe's attack range, yet that Laoshu still hadn't noticed — or couldn't bear to give up that fruit?

At the same time, Baichuan had also come down from the branch, tailing closely behind the Jinshe, which suddenly gave him the feeling of a mantis stalking a cicada, with an oriole behind.

The only question was whether there was a hunter further behind?

The next moment, accompanied by a "whoosh" cutting through the air, the Laoshu's shriek rang out — jarringly abrupt in this quiet forest.

Seeing this, Baichuan unhurriedly slithered over as well, ignoring the Jinshe, which had just released the prey at its mouth and was now retreating warily while emitting "huff, huff" sounds.

As for why he was so calm?

Of course, because in his eyes, this Jinshe was already the type that couldn't escape.

And indeed it was true — snakes aren't fast crawlers to begin with, and as a Yanjingwangshe, he wasn't the kind of snake famous for lying in ambush.

His hunting followed the path of grandeur and boldness — he simply appeared before his prey openly, paying no heed to whatever threat display or wariness it put on, as if telling it: I've got you — and not even Jesus can save you!

For him, all he needed to do was determine whether the prey was venomous or not, then bite down hard and never let go, inject a large dose of venom, and simply wait for the prey to die.

After all, among venomous snakes, those more venomous than him aren't as big, and those bigger than him aren't as venomous; combined with his high venom resistance, most toxins were useless against him.

He was the perfect creature among snakes!

No fancy attack methods needed — he only needed to bite, and inject!

The next moment, he was seen raising the upper half of his body, then gathering strength and lunging forward with sudden force, diving at the Jinshe's body with the speed of lightning to bite down.

His sharp fangs easily pierced through those yellowish scales, sinking deep into the muscle — and then — inject!

The golden mixed venom was injected into the Jinshe's body with terrifying speed, and to be safe, Baichuan chose to inject a dose of three hundred milligrams.

The Jinshe first stared blankly at Baichuan, who had ignored its warning and suddenly bitten into its body; then a sharp pain came, along with a warm current flowing into its body, making it instinctively part its jaws.

It didn't understand what had happened, staring dumbly at all of this.

One minute… two minutes…

Finally, the venom began to take effect.

An intense, excruciating pain coupled with a powerful sense of suffocation surged into the Jinshe's heart; at this moment it finally understood what had happened — it was going to die!

Only now did it finally think to resist; its mouth emitted faint "hiss, hiss" sounds, then it struck out, aiming for Baichuan's neck.

But was it any use?

No use at all!

He was the king of venomous snakes! How could the hardness of his scales be something a mere little Jinshe could bite through?

If he were really that fragile, the king cobra wouldn't have earned so many great reputations.

As the saying goes, no empty reputation exists beneath a great name — soon that Jinshe was on its last breath, collapsing weakly to the ground.

The searing pain from its heart, the increasingly congealing blood, and the agony of being unable to breathe were not something a mere little Jinshe could endure.

Seeing this, Baichuan finally released his jaws in satisfaction, contentedly sizing up his "spicy stick" for the day.

Just as he was about to start eating.

Suddenly, at this moment, a faint but unmistakable stinging pain came from a spot about four inches along his body, and alarm bells rang loudly in his heart.

In an instant he reacted, understanding as if by instinct — this was the ability he had just strengthened yesterday — "Danger Sense" — warning him: there was danger!

In a flash, he whipped his neck around, opened his mouth in a threatening display, alert, his eyes darting left and right.

And then, the next moment.

A great maw bristling with sharp, barbed fangs lunged up from below into his view, heading straight for the underside of his neck.

There was no time to think. In an instant, the muscles of his upper body tensed, driving the spine supporting his upper body into a sharp rightward tilt, barely dodging this fierce pounce-and-bite.

Then, borrowing that force, he coiled himself up like a coiling dragon.

This kind of soft, flexible way of dodging was probably something only serpents could do.

Only now did Baichuan get a chance to size up his attacker.

A triangular head, a slightly odd little horn on the top of its skull, a short and thick body densely covered in strange diamond-shaped patterns, its color almost identical to the fallen leaves here.

At this moment, it seemed its attack had missed, and it was slowly pulling its body back.

Seeing this, Baichuan immediately recognized who the attacker was — a Wubushe!

(End of this chapter)