Chapter 199: Giant Snake

"Everyone, is this a misunderstanding?" Shi Fei patted his round belly, smiling amiably as he walked out of the caravan, bowing awkwardly to the Taotie Clan warriors approaching from all sides.

Small-time business, hehe, not much profit…… Elders, to get rich you gotta go after the big powers." Shi Fei laughed brightly and said, "Gold Nether Spirits, listen, listen, their names all have the character 'Gold'!"

Rich folks, oozing fat, you elders should go rob the Gold Nether Spirits…… we poor bastards……

Shi Fei sighed, spread his hands helplessly, watching the Taotie Clan warriors closing in from all sides: "You've squeezed us dry, but you won't get even a few drops of oil out of us."

As Shi Fei spoke, his white, fatty flesh all over his body undulated in waves, wave after wave.

The others were fine, but Yan Han Lu couldn't help laughing, letting out a "pfft".

Tie Da Jian also stepped out of the ranks, stood beside Shi Fei, and with both hands lightly drew the heavy sword on his back, gripping the hilt and slowly planting the long sword into the ground.

He showed no strain, no veins bulging on the back of his hand, and this heavy sword shaped like a small plank silently sank bit by bit into the hard rocky ground, gradually disappearing over a meter deep.

"Hey, are you here to rob us?" Tie Da Jian glanced at the Taotie Clan warriors around, lightly shook his head: "You have plenty of numbers, but few masters…… you're not qualified to rob us."

The Taotie Clan warriors numbered three thousand, but among them only four were Life Pool Realm masters, and only about a hundred were Chonglou Realm cultivators; the rest were Sensing Mystery Realm.

Such a composition, their strength can be called formidable.

But Shi Fei, Tie Da Jian and their team, their makeup is downright aberrant.

Eighteen Life Pool Realm Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings, dozens of half-step Life Pool Realm masters, over two hundred Chonglou Realm high-level or even peak cultivators, all elite disciples from the Six Dao Palace, brave and skilled in battle, fierce and daring fighters.

The Taotie Clan warriors had the numerical advantage, but once they actually fought, they were no match at all.

Tie Da Jian spoke softly: "We bear no grudge; where are you from and where are you headed, gentlemen?"

Among the Taotie Clan's ranks, four Life Pool Realm experts stepped forward together, smiled faintly, and a wisp of faint Blood Light welled up behind them as they unscrupulously released the powerful mana fluctuations of their Life Pool Realm.

The surrounding air churned violently; the four Taotie Clan Life Pool Realm experts were like great vortices, turning the world's elemental energy in the void into thin, sparkling streams that continually flowed into their bodies.

At the same time, within a radius of over ten li, the vital essence of all living things surged violently.

The animals' essence and blood boiled, turning into a faint blood mist that flew out of their pores; while the plants and fungi rapidly withered, their feeble vital energy turning into visible faint light that continually faded away.

"His Highness has ordered us to keep an eye on you……" a Taotie Clan Life Pool Realm expert laughed strangely: "But we think it's better to just wipe you out…… each of you brimming with essence and blood, should taste quite good."

Shi Fei's flesh rolled in waves all over his body, and a trace of blood mist seeped from his skin.

Shi Fei felt his whole body go limp and weak, as if his soul were about to fly out of his head.

He let out a startled yelp and scrambled back to the caravan, rolling and crawling.

Tie Da Jian let out a fierce shout, his skin instantly turning pure gold as the Six Dao Golden Body surged to full power; without a word he drew his heavy sword and cleaved cleanly at the waists of the four Taotie Clan Life Pool Realm experts.

"Damn it!" the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings roared in unison, tossing off their headscarves, spewing faint golden light as their bodies swelled to nearly five meters tall, like golden statues, and they charged forward with thunderous steps.

Six Dao Palace disciples never bother with reason.

Since you harbor ill intent, then strip down and fight!

Three hundred Six Dao Palace elite disciples shouted in unison—or rather, they cheered as they tore off their headscarves, ripped apart their upper garments, bared their chests, their bodies emanating either dark silver or pale gold light, hoisting heavy weapons and charging outward.

These burly Six Dao Palace fellows strike with blinding speed.

Moreover, they attack without warning; Tie Da Jian merely swung a sword, and they didn't even exchange pleasantries before charging straight out.

This completely surpassed the cognition of those Taotie Clan elite warriors…… in all their past battles, they had never encountered such an enemy.

The Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings flashed and surrounded the four Life Pool Realm foes, swinging their fists; thirty-six arms brought up a sky of golden light, each fist the size of a water tank like meteors crashing down, smashing wildly into the four unlucky ones.

Just hearing the bone‑cracking sound like popping beans, in a single clash the four capable subordinates of the Taotie were beaten to the point of vomiting blood and severe injury.

Moreover, one failed to dodge in time and was struck by Tie Da Jian's near‑sneak‑attack sword; despite his desperate evasion, the heavy sword grazed his waist, leaving a gash over a foot long and three inches deep.

A spray of blood burst forth; that Life Pool Realm expert let out a miserable howl, then was punched in the face by a heavenly king, shattering his nasal bone.

Fortunately the Taotie Clan cultivators' bones and flesh are hard, their frames extremely sturdy; even after a barrage of blows from the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings, they still had the strength to howl and curse, and even lifted their heads at the same time.

High above, on the vaulted ceiling, four thick‑as‑water‑tank shafts of blue cold light fell straight down.

The four Life Pool Realm experts were enveloped in the deep‑blue cold light; the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings' heavy punches struck the light pillars, but were blocked— not a single blow could shatter the pillars.

Blue cold flame rolled over the four Life Pool Realm experts; they opened their mouths and exhaled biting Cold Qi, instantly freezing the air before them into heavy pale‑blue ice crystals that drifted down.

"You'll never know how strong and terrifying we are." The four Life Pool Realm experts' aura shot up in a straight line; in the blink of an eye it completely overwhelmed the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings, and their internal injuries were healing at breakneck speed.

All around was chaos.

Three hundred Six Dao Palace disciples, fierce as evil dragons, surged into the Taotie Clan's ranks, wielding spears, halberds, swords and axes— a chaotic hack and slash; within just two or three breaths, over a hundred Taotie warriors were hacked to pieces, and another two or three hundred lay wounded on the ground, howling in agony.

The three‑thousand Taotie Clan warriors were routed by the three hundred Six Dao Palace disciples, their formation collapsing as total annihilation loomed.

Suddenly the four Taotie Clan Life Pool Realm experts were shrouded in blue cold light; among the Taotie warriors, nearly five or six hundred eyes lit up at once, they raised their heads in reverent awe and gazed up at the vaulted ceiling.

Five or six hundred shafts of varying thickness of deep‑blue cold light descended, plunging into the foreheads of those Taotie warriors.

The blue cold flame rose; instantly, several dozen half‑step Life Pool Realm Taotie warriors felt their aura explode, breaking through the bottleneck to reach Life Pool Realm level.

The other five hundred plus Taotie warriors also saw their aura climb steadily; in the blink of an eye, over two hundred reached half‑step Life Pool Realm, while the rest attained high‑level or peak Chonglou Realm.

In an instant the Taotie Clan warriors' combat power surged, overwhelming the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings‑led Six Dao Palace disciples both in realm and numbers.

Lights and shadows whirled rapidly as the two sides quickly became a tangled melee.

In the chaos, nobody dared to recklessly unleash great‑power divine arts; both sides fought purely with brute strength, a chaotic brawl.

Amid the clang of metal, the three hundred Six Dao Palace disciples simultaneously coughed blood and retreated to the wagons beside the caravan.

Among them, dozens of disciples had limp arms hanging at their sides, clearly broken.

Furthermore, some had caved‑in chests with broken breastbones, gasping and bleeding from the mouth; yet the Six Dao Palace disciples were extraordinarily tough— even gravely wounded they remained standing firm like iron nails.

All around, over two thousand Taotie Clan warriors lunged forward at once.

The four Taotie Clan experts whose aura had nearly surpassed Life Pool Realm burst out laughing, each drawing a pitch‑black Taotie Divine Spear and thrusting their long spears at the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings.

Pinpricks of cold light flickered; the Eighteen Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings kept spurting blood, each strike of the Taotie Divine Spear piercing deep holes in them.

Though the Palace Guardian Heavenly Kings had profound mastery of the Six Dao Golden Body, making their bodies far harder than refined steel, the Taotie Divine Spear— forged from the bone of an ancient divine beast— is razor‑sharp and carries a dreadful murderous aura, making it difficult for their bodies to block its thrust.

Seeing that their side was headed for a crushing defeat, Shi Fei already screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Mo Zhang Wang…… give me all the strength you've got from your mother's milk!"

Mo Zhang Wang had already climbed onto a wagon, he drew a deep breath, his chest rapidly inflating; in a snap it swelled to a diameter of over ten meters, his whole body turning into a bizarre giant meatball.

Afterwards he suddenly exhaled a mouthful of breath.

With a "Bang" sound, purple and blue glimmers mixed within the black-red toxic mist, quickly spreading in all directions.

This time Mozhang Wang truly exerted even the strength of sucking milk; after he exhaled a mouthful of breath, his body rapidly shrank inward, directly shrinking to the size of a small wine jar, and only after a while did it slowly unfold.

Therefore his toxic mist covered an enormous area, blanketing a radius of over ten li; wherever the mist reached, one could not see one's hand in front of one's face, the force field fell into chaos, all means of perception were obscured, and moreover, complexly attributed poisonous substances continually seeped into the body through the pores and the seven orifices.

Mozhang Wang's fingers twitched as if in spasms, and pinpoints of cold light flickered at his fingertips.

He continuously bestowed ignited seals upon the Six Dao Palace's people; the Six Dao Palace disciples, already dazed from the toxic mist, only felt a surge of heat rush over them, their spirits suddenly refreshed, and the surrounding toxic mist could no longer greatly affect them.

Although they still could not see their hands in front of their faces, at least they could hear the voices of their fellow disciples and sense their fellows' directions.

The Six Dao Palace disciples, experienced in slaughter and firefighting, quickly produced various medicinal pills, powders, and liquids, either swallowing or applying them, and promptly treated themselves and their fellow disciples.

They then took out sets of heavy full-body armor and swiftly donned them.

Having just engaged in battle too hastily, they hadn't had time to put on armor.

After donning the armor this time, their defensive strength increased considerably; when they next clashed with the Taotie Clan's warriors, they would at least not suffer such a devastating defeat.

Lu Ji stood on a large cart, Mozhang Wang lay beside him, and his long fingers jabbed randomly into the thick mist.

Lu Ji then produced oversized torpedoes, lit their fuses, and without hesitation hurled them in the direction Mozhang Wang pointed.

Enormous explosion sounds kept coming, strong shockwaves swept everywhere, yet they could not clear the dense toxic mist. These days Lu Ji had also made some improvements to his loaded torpedoes, increasing their explosive killing power.

Besides the torpedoes' explosive damage, Lu Ji also added many finely crafted triple-edged armor-piercing cones, which without a doubt Old White had coated with rotting marrow lethal poison.

In the chaos, countless triple-edged armor-piercing cones pierced about with shrill whistling sounds.

Among the Taotie Clan's warriors, the so-called Chosen Ones wore armor forged from congealed profound ice, their defenses all-around, yet they were thrown rolling across the ground by the shockwaves of the torpedo explosions.

As for the ordinary warriors, they were riddled with holes all over their bodies by those armor-piercing cones.

The rotting marrow poison entered their bodies, its toxicity rapidly erupting. Moreover, the complexly attributed poison in the mist exhaled by Mozhang Wang continually invaded them, and these Taotie Clan warriors one by one became numb and collapsed heavily to the ground.

The rotting marrow poison corroded their bodies into large blood cavities, the blood turning into pus-blood, which flowed across the ground everywhere.

Within the toxic mist, eighteen perceptive Palace-guarding Heavenly Kings tightly entangled four enemies who had become extraordinarily strong.

Because of the toxic mist, the four Taotie Clan experts at the Life Pool Realm saw their combat power plummet in a straight line.

They and the elusive Palace-guarding Heavenly Kings in the mist became entangled, the sides separating upon contact, unable to engage in a solid clash.

The four realized something was wrong; due to the intense fighting, they breathed heavily, and then they faintly felt numbness in their extremities—the poison exhaled by Mozhang Wang actually affected them to some degree.

The four wanted to shoot up into the sky, flying out of the range shrouded by the toxic mist.

But the eighteen Palace-guarding Heavenly Kings clung tightly to them, refusing to give them any chance to rush out of the toxic mist.

Gradually, both sides' combat levels were suppressed to a comparable level, the eighteen surrounding the four, neither side able to overcome the other.

Amidst this chaos, a pitch-black great serpent slowly emerged from the main passage of the Great Serpent Cavern, swaying its massive body as it slipped inside.

Not only this passage, but at each of the several main entrances and exits of the Great Serpent Cavern, a black great serpent slowly burrowed in.