Chapter 56: Probing

The sudden voice made Zhang Dadan raise his head and look around; even the chewing of the meat in his mouth slowed, and he tilted his head and pricked up his ears to carefully pinpoint the source of the sound.

"Hiss hiss~"

After a stretch of silence, a faint sound of breaking through soil arose.

This time Zhang Dadan heard it clearly. He slowly and gently set down the venison in his hand, and his half-crouching body also gradually rose into a low stance.

Obviously, it must be some kind of underground creature about to come out — but what exactly?

He wasn't quite sure, but still instinctively fell silent for fear of scaring it away.

Because there had once been such an amusing story in the Jianghu:

A certain hero wandering the Jianghu, by sheer chance, encountered an extremely rare underground Strange Beast. But at the time he didn't take it seriously and, in his brash manner, began preparing food right on the spot — and unfortunately scared it straight off.

Later, by another chance encounter, he discovered that the Strange Beast from back then was one of the most famous beasts on the Jianghu Strange Beast Ranking — a wondrous creature that could have lifted him straight to the heavens in one stroke — and he had simply let it slip away.

For a time, this made him the laughingstock of the Jianghu. And after that, every wanderer of the Jianghu, whenever in the wild at any time or place, would instinctively hold their breath and go silent to investigate upon hearing any unusual sound.

As he fell silent, the surroundings quieted once more; only the distant sound of flowing water accompanied the faint sound of breaking soil.

"Just where is it?"

Zhang Dadan's eyes kept scanning the surroundings — now looking this way, now that way.

His expression was somewhat puzzled. He had clearly heard movement nearby, but even now he still couldn't pinpoint the exact range; the sound was here one moment, there the next — truly baffling.

The sound drew closer and closer, grew louder and louder.

The target was getting nearer and nearer to the surface, yet he still hadn't found the exact location — how was he supposed to sneak over in advance?

What on earth was this creature, so bizarre?!

Very soon, not long after, the sound vanished completely.

The surroundings returned to calm once more.

"Did it leave?" After waiting a while, Zhang Dadan was somewhat puzzled. Could his movements have been too loud and been noticed, scaring this unknown Strange Beast off?

After waiting a moment, just as he was about to stand up, his eye suddenly caught something.

He caught sight of a spot in the distance whose surface looked extremely flat and even grew sparse, ordinary shrubs — the kind of place one would overlook. Yet now, miraculously, a bulge had risen there. A large number of shrubs were flung up, and then the bulge seemed to be burst open by something, turning into a great clump of earth that flew off in all directions.

Amid the swirling dirt, a slender, snake-like yet dragon-like figure slowly emerged, faintly visible.

The process of its appearance was like a mysterious being hidden in space slowly returning to the space that belonged to it.

"What Strange Beast is this?"

At the sight, Zhang Dadan couldn't help crying out in astonishment — this Strange Beast was simply too enormous! And its appearance was far too miraculous!

Its body was thick — as wide as a normal woman's waist — and its long, sleek form stretched a full seven meters. The scales across its whole body were faintly diamond-shaped, and now glittered brilliantly under the golden sunlight, as though made of metal.

Most importantly, on that dangerous snake-like head of the Strange Beast, two bulges had risen, and on the front portion of its body grew a pair of strong, sharp claws.

Added to that astonishing scene of its emergence just now, as though its form were slowly materializing out of space.

Beyond all doubt, this was clearly a Strange Beast in the process of transforming into a dragon! Or perhaps a Dragon Species bearing Dragon Blood!

So great was his shock that, once he came back to his senses, what welled up in his heart was a thick greed.

Yet at this moment Baichuan was even more shocked. Anyone who, upon waking and leaving his den out of hunger, only meant to come out for a little snack — and then discovered that the owner of the thing he'd secretly taken had come looking for him — would be startled too.

Instinctively, Baichuan felt a twinge of guilt, then froze for a moment before realizing — what was he feeling guilty about?

How could the target possibly know it was he who had taken the treasure? After all, he was just a mindless little snake-baby.

After collecting himself, Baichuan couldn't help feeling grateful for his own foresight — fortunately, before his evolution he had spent a full day arranging his safe den.

Not only was the burrow deep, its tunnels wound this way and that, practically looping from one side to the other. There were as many as three exits, and they were scattered in different directions.

But he had to admit, his luck really was a bit rotten. Of the three exits, he had only caught a whiff of blood from this side, and in his hunger hadn't thought it through. On top of that, underground it was hard to pick up other sounds, so he had come out from the exit nearest to the smell of blood.

But who could have imagined — even so, he still ran into this Zhang Dadan.

Truly, enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road.

But he had been spotted. Baichuan, well aware of his own special nature, felt the other's dangerous gaze upon him.

Baichuan silently made a decision.

No sooner said than done. Though countless thoughts flashed through the minds of the man and the snake, in reality only a few seconds had passed.

For a moment, man and snake gazed at each other in silence, staring at one another.

The next instant, the same thought flashed through both their minds at once:

I must capture this Dragon Species alive!

He absolutely cannot be allowed to live!

The next instant, man and snake erupted into motion at the same time.

Zhang Dadan bent his arm and clenched his fist; in an instant the black markings on his right arm swelled up as though activated.

Then, with a lunge forward, he threw a vicious punch.

But Baichuan instantly arched his snake-body, then shot forth like a bowstring drawn to full tension.

Only his target was not Zhang Dadan, but the open ground beside him.

In an instant, an explosion rang out, and a small crater appeared on the ground — that was Zhang Dadan's mighty fist striking empty air.

"What?"

He was startled for a moment and hurriedly turned around, only to just catch sight of the great snake that had shot out onto the open ground beside him.

At this moment, that snake-like, dragon-like Strange Beast happened to be in a patch of shade beneath a tree; the next instant its form faded.

Yes — faded!

As though turning invisible, or sinking into some mysterious space, the Strange Beast's figure vanished.

The instant the Strange Beast disappeared, a nameless sense of crisis welled up in his heart. Guided by instinct, he raised his arm behind him to block.

Clang!

A metallic, clashing sound exploded from the Golden Hand Armor on his right hand, numbing his arm.

Only now did he finally see clearly what was attacking him — a claw, a thick, ferocious claw!

Tsk, blocked it, did he?

Baichuan let out a sigh and did not continue his attack. The front half of his serpent body, which had been extended out, once again lifted and withdrew to the back, and his figure slowly vanished once more.

"Ha~ you vile beast, don't even think about running!"

Seeing this, Zhang Dadan let out an angry shout and lunged forward in a single bound, trying to block the way.

But it was too late — by the time he rushed over, the great serpent had vanished again.

"Damn it, what kind of ability is this anyway?"

Having lost his target once more, Zhang Dadan cursed and carefully observed his surroundings, every muscle in his body taut as he watched with full attention.

The next instant, a gust of wind came whistling in.

(End of chapter)