Chapter 206

The black snakes retreated rapidly, paying no heed to the Bodhi clan experts roaring and howling above their heads.

Altogether there were thirty-two black snakes; one was devoured by the Taotie Eagle, three had their bones crushed by the Vajra Sumeru Seat and could not move. The other twenty-eight black snakes ignored their companions' fate and simply retreated with Da She Yi.

The three black snakes lying on the ground howling stared blankly, and huge tears kept streaming from their enormous eye sockets.

Their bodies writhed violently, great gouts of black qi spewing from the gaps in their scales, their bodies swiftly shrinking—until, incredibly, those enormous black snakes turned into three naked youths who looked only about fifteen or sixteen years old.

The three youths were all bluish-purple, the bruised blood inside from their shattered bones.

They lay on the ground, weakly wailing; one youth who still had a little strength looked at Tie Dajian and the others and begged hoarsely, 'Don't… don't… don't kill us…'

Shi Fei and Lao Bai had already drawn their axes and daggers, ready to go up and give those three man‑eating snakes a good lesson—when they suddenly saw the snakes' condition, both halted their steps, annoyed.

"Bullying little kids…" Shi Fei slammed his axe into the ground: "As Shi Fei the Elder, I wouldn't do such a thing… If word got out, my reputation would be ruined."

Da She Yi fled, the black snakes scattered, and the Bodhi clan experts hovered blankly in mid‑air, even losing the urge to throw vine seeds.

Over ten thousand Bodhi clan elite warriors were still surrounded by the poisonous mist, struggling and howling within it, battered by the assault of the hundred‑thousand cultivators of the Great Snake Den to the point of utter misery.

Lao Daofeng and his group had already come forward; Lao Daofeng led a contingent of Blood Saber high‑rankers clad in golden armor that glittered with pearls and jewels, charging ahead with high morale.

A Bodhi clan expert gave a low shout, his sleeve billowing; three pale‑green wooden swords, wrapped in the sound of wind and thunder, spat out vast bolts of lightning that slammed heavily into Lao Daofeng's body.

A splendid golden light shimmered faintly on Lao Daofeng's body; the armor forged in the sleeping land of Osiris possessed tremendous power, yet the full‑force strike of a Bodhi clan expert whose cultivation exceeded Lao Daofeng's by a notch only slowed his speed a little.

Dozens of Bodhi clan experts swiftly gathered, each with a hostile stare at Wu Tie, Lao Daofeng and the others.

"He ran away… he abandoned you and fled." Wu Tie looked at those Bodhi clan people with a kindly smile: "Truly lacking righteousness, huh? If it were me, I'd never let him off—I'd at least drag him down to fry in oil a hundred times."

As soon as the words 'fry in oil' were spoken, Lao Daofeng and the six Blood Pond Realm high‑rankers beside him twitched, nearly plummeting from the air to the ground.

"Lift the poison mist, release the captives… we'll then leave." A burly man who was obviously the highest‑ranking among the Bodhi clan leapt forward and gave Wu Tie, Lao Daofeng and the others an arrogant nod.

"This is Da She Yi's personal grudge; we're merely following orders, helping him retake the Black Snake Territory." The burly man said calmly: "Since he's fled, we have no need to risk our lives for his personal grudge."

"Cultivation is hard, life is not easy… now that we've all reached this level, we should understand that gratuitous grudges and uncertain battles are no good." The burly man spoke reasonably: "So you release the captives, we withdraw our troops—that's a win‑win."

From afar came the Taotie Eagle's maniacal laughter.

He had already drained the bloodline of a black snake; he suddenly straightened his body, thrust his arms toward the sky, swung both fists with force, then laughed maniacally three times, whirled around, and glanced at Tie Dajian and the others.

Over there, the three youths transformed from the black snakes were still struggling and weeping on the ground.

The Vajra Sumeru Seat hovered high in the void, exuding a majestic, overwhelming, irresistible terrifying pressure.

The Taotie Eagle fell silent for a moment, then swept his hand and, with all his subordinates, swiftly chased after the passageway through which Da She Yi had fled.

They spoke not a word, kicking up a gale as they shot past, sweeping straight by Wu Tie and the others.

Wu Tie watched the Taotie Eagle and his entourage, making no move.

The Taotie Eagle, who had been cautiously guarding against Wu Tie, only exhaled lightly after the large contingent had passed by Wu Tie and company.

Before devouring all the Black Water Mystic Snakes, he didn't want to clash with Wu Tie. With a feast before him and his hunger unbearable, he'd rather first sate the hunger in his bloodline, then look for trouble with Wu Tie.

Only Wa Yue and Gong Sun Cheng, as they rushed past Wu Tie, glared at him angrily.

Wu Tie also made no reaction; he merely narrowed his eyes, glanced at Wa Yue and Gong Sun Cheng, then finally fixed a deep stare on the Taotie Eagle's back.

We'll surely meet again.

"That's not how it works." Before Lao Daofeng could speak, Wu Tie said calmly: "Down there are your twenty thousand elites—just how valuable are they?"

The Bodhi clan's burly man furrowed his brow, a wisp of green qi on his face quickly thickening; he sneered: "You're trying to kidnap and extort? Then you're not afraid we'll go on a killing spree in the Great Snake Den?"

Countless vines continued to spread and rage about, like so many monstrous pythons wildly writhing and struggling.

Countless people of the Great Snake Den gathered toward Tie Dajian and company; Tie Dajian and the others softly recited sutras, and the Vajra Sumeru Seat became ever more responsive and agile, so those who came seeking refuge were no longer cowed by its immense pressure.

But if any vine dared to come within thirty‑six li of the area, it would surely be crushed to powder.

"That defensive art is very strong…" the Bodhi clan's burly man said calmly: "But trust us—we can destroy it."

"And then?" Lao Daofeng finally got a chance to speak, sneering scornfully: "Let you kill, go ahead and kill—if you wipe out everyone in the Great Snake Den, what effect does that have on us?"

A group of the Great Snake Den's major power leaders burst out laughing.

Those who relied on the Vajra Sumeru Seat for protection were either the lowest‑rank slave cannon fodder or the subordinates of mid‑ and small‑scale powers.

If those people die, they die—what does it have to do with us?

The folk of the Great Snake Den are accustomed to murder, arson, throwing people into wells, looting fires, and stabbing in the back…

As long as there's enough profit, they'd even sell their own birth parents… using the lives of these utterly unrelated Great Snake Den folk to threaten them?

"This brother is really joking." A major power leader laughed especially brightly: "Kill, let you kill—we'll absolutely not interfere. Hey, those bald heads aren't even our Great Snake Den people—go ahead and kill them."

"Go kill, go kill—if you can't wipe them out, you're raising my grandson." Another major power leader laughed, showing a mouth full of rotten teeth: "But if you kill them, we'll kill your people—let's see who's faster."

"Just joking, just joking." Lao Daofeng chuckled: "This brother, you really know how to joke. Those people's lives have nothing to do with us… but the lives of those 'twenty thousand' elites down below are very much your concern."

Lao Daofeng narrowed his eyes, his gaze like a blade, sizing them up with a butcher's eye for a scrawny sheep, swiftly sweeping over the Bodhi clan experts: "We brothers are poor… while you brothers look quite well‑off……"

"Since you've followed Da She Yi to stir up trouble in our Great Snake Den, you must know what we do here, right?" Lao Daofeng laughed ever more brightly, his tile‑knife face breaking into a grin like Maitreya Buddha.

"Pay up, we release the captives; don't pay, we'll fight it out." Lao Daofeng spread his hands, turning to laugh at the major power leaders: "Brothers, this Great Snake Den… we can abandon it anytime—what are we in it for? A mere patch of land—what's there to be reluctant about?"

All the leaders burst into laughter together.

Lao Daofeng nodded, smiling at the Bodhi clan experts: "So that's how it is… either you pay, or we fight—even if we can't win, we can still wipe out your 'twenty thousand' elites, and then… how will you explain yourselves when you go back?"

The Bodhi clan experts' faces turned ugly to the extreme.

If those twenty thousand elites were lost here…… then……

Their scalps went numb in waves.

Although nominally they were cooperating with Da She Yi to retake the Black Snake Territory, only they knew that, per the agreement between the Bodhi clan and Da She Yi, once Da She Yi reclaimed the Black Snake Territory, it would become a direct dependency of the Bodhi clan.

If it weren't for that condition, the Bodhi clan—certainly not a charitable hall—would have no reason to mobilize a core elite of the clan, gather over two hundred Blood Pond Realm experts, and spend a fortune to transmit them to the Black Snake Den to help wage war.

These twenty thousand elites……

Oh, no—now there are only fifteen or sixteen thousand left……

If they were all lost here, Da She Yi would have backers, supporters, and immense utilitarian value, so the Bodhi clan wouldn't touch him. But those officers in charge of leading the troops? Heh.

"How much do you want?" the Bodhi clan's burly man growled through clenched teeth: "Don't go overboard… we Bodhi are one of the twelve ruling families of the Sanlian City‑State. You've surely heard of the Sanlian City‑State's reputation."

The big man sneered, 'I know, the caravan of our Three Linked City-States has come here.'

Lao Dao Feng looked thoughtfully at the big man: 'If that's the case, you know your caravan has been to our Black Snake Domain, so that caravan must be problematic…… Are those Three Linked City-States caravans the spies you sent?'

The big man closed his mouth.

Lao Dao Feng grinned, showing his teeth, then turned and whispered a few words to the leaders of the major forces, then turned back and said coldly, 'We're not being excessive; you let those little brats down there leave all their weapons and armor behind…'

The experts of the Bodhi Clan shouted in unison, denouncing them, their bodies flashing with various strange lights as they took out astonishing divine weapons and treasures, striking a pose as if to overturn the table.

Lao Dao Feng and his companions, not willing to be outdone, went up to meet them, spitting as they argued.

Suddenly, a small black pyramid atop Lao Dao Feng's head spewed out a vast black mist; streams of black mist rushed violently onto the ground, and one by one, fully black hyena-headed warriors stepped out of the mist.

Lao Dao Feng had looted almost all the storehouses of the major forces in the Great Snake Cave, filling this small pyramid with them; the number of hyena-headed warriors inside the pyramid had already exceeded thirty thousand.

A dense black mist spread, and black sand swirled across the sky.

Thirty thousand hyena-headed warriors, wielding strange darts, spears, curved blades, iron clubs and the like, formed neat ranks. They showed no trace of magical power, but when the Bodhi Clan's experts scanned them with soul energy, they were shocked to find that the warriors' combat strength seemed comparable to that of the Chonglou Realm.

Moreover, they harbored an extremely yin, deathly power within them, so much that even they felt a faint threat.

These guys are tough to handle.

After a heavy sigh, the big man of the Bodhi Clan spoke in a muffled voice: 'Well… we… we agree…'

Wu Tie summoned the Demon Chapter King.

The Demon Chapter King gave the Bodhi Clan's people an icy glance, fell silent for a moment, then opened his mouth and drew a deep breath.

The poisonous mist gradually thinned, and he sucked it all into his lungs in one breath.

A few of the Bodhi Clan's experts twitched, as if wanting to say something, but the leading big man shook his head; he looked at the Bodhi Clan's elite warriors, who had been in the poison mist for so long that many had been poisoned through and through, their bodies numb and unable to move.

Not to mention the Chonglou Realm warriors, even the commanders of the Life Pool Realm moved with noticeable stiffness.

At this point, we absolutely cannot stir up any more trouble.

The Bodhi Clan's big man took a deep breath, waved his hand, and issued the order for all warriors to remove their armor and drop their weapons.

The Bodhi Clan's warriors hesitated for a moment, then after a while, helpless and humiliated, they took off their armor and haphazardly threw it to the ground, then tossed away their weapons as well.

Lao Dao Feng and the leaders of the major forces burst into laughter, then they all let out a long howl together.

The hundred-thousand-strong Great Snake Cave allied army simultaneously howled madly; frenzied arrows and hidden weapons poured down like a violent storm, instantly sweeping the entire formation. Countless weapons, trailing long streams of light, swept across, and in an instant cut down vast numbers of the Bodhi Clan's warriors who were weaponless and paralyzed.

Moreover, Chonglou Realm cultivators unleashed their divine powers, wielding various weapons and hacking away wildly.

The Bodhi Clan's warriors, already exhausted in the poison mist with their spiritual power nearly depleted, collapsed outright in the face of this sudden blow.

Dozens of the Bodhi Clan's experts and about a hundred commanders who had been trapped in the poison mist for a long time shouted in unison.

"Despicable and shameless!"

Lao Dao Feng and the leaders of the major forces roared with laughter: 'This is the Black Snake Domain…… this is the Great Snake Cave……'

Lao Dao Feng sneered even more: 'You brats, haven't you even shed your baby fur yet? How can you be so naïve?'