Chapter 129: First Battle with the Snake Demon

Nightfall!

The clamor faded, and Linhu Village returned to tranquility.

The Lin family's small courtyard.

"Lin Chen, I've already cultivated Qi."

Gu Fei's cheeks were flushed. He hadn't drunk little today, but after cultivating Qi, his tolerance for alcohol had increased significantly, and his mind remained clear.

"I heard Uncle Hai mention it."

Today at the banquet, when he was offering toasts to the villagers, Gu Fei's father had already mentioned this matter.

"Have you thought about which martial hall to join?"

"The Mantis Martial Hall, I suppose. Last time you analyzed the characteristics of the eight great martial halls for me, it seems only the Mantis Martial Hall is relatively suitable for me."

Gu Fei scratched his head. At the moment he cultivated Qi, he had also fantasized about being like Lin Chen, soaring to the heavens after entering a martial hall.

But under the double blow from his own father and the village chief, he recognized reality.

The Mantis Martial Hall was the most suitable for his family background. In the village chief's words, Lin Chen had made something of himself, so he should just cultivate diligently to break through his realm, and then he could seek a position in the government office.

For ordinary government runners, what matters is not strength, but the realm.

Three Open-Acupuncture points is the lowest baseline. As long as one reaches three Open-Acupuncture points, even if their technique proficiency is a complete mess, they have a baseline to work with.

"Hmm, going to the Mantis Martial Hall is very suitable for you."

Lin Chen's arrangement for Gu Fei was also the Mantis Martial Hall. Although he wasn't familiar with the Mantis Martial Hall's master or instructors, he was quite familiar with Zhao Kang of the Mantis Martial Hall. Next year, he would let Zhao Kang take care of and guide Gu Fei.

"The village chief and my dad said the same thing. The village chief also said that if I don't want to work in the government office later, I can come back to the village to be the village chief and take over his position."

Gu Fei chuckled. Lin Chen's expression was a bit strange; this sounded so familiar.

It seemed the village chief had said similar things to his own older brother, letting his brother take over as village chief in the future.

Was the old village chief painting big pictures for everyone?

Did he tell everyone he met that they had the bearing of a village chief?

"Forget about being village chief; that's left for Brother Liang. I'll just go to the government office to be a runner. That counts as being a city person. Then I'll marry a city wife, buy a house, and I'll be satisfied for this lifetime."

Regarding Gu Fei's life plan, Lin Chen didn't feel there was anything wrong with it. Not everyone was like him, wanting to experience the peak of the martial way in this world.

Walk out of Linhu Village, enter the city!

For many young people in the village, this was the greatest pursuit of their entire lives.

Gu Fei stayed for a while and then left. As for the village chief, he wouldn't be coming today; at tonight's flowing banquet, the village chief had drunk quite a bit and was finally carried home by several villagers.

"Father, Mother, when will Brother's wedding be held?"

With no outsiders left, Lin Chen looked at his older brother and asked with a smile, "I saw Brother and Sister Er Ya sticking together today."

Older brother Lin Liang's face turned red. Lin Mu answered with a smile, "We've already entrusted someone to propose the marriage, and the wedding will be held at the end of the year."

"End of the year..."

Lin Chen made a quick estimate; he had three months of special training ahead, but he would still have enough time to make it back.

"Brother Chen, if you're busy with martial arts, don't worry about it."

"Big Brother, you're getting married. As your younger brother, I must be there. Don't worry, I have plenty of time."

"Xiao Liang, your brother definitely has to come for your wedding. Your father-in-law didn't ask for anything else; he just hopes your brother will be there when you and Er Ya get married. He's counting on showing off in front of the relatives."

As for this marriage, once the matchmaker visited, the Chen family agreed immediately.

There were so many girls in Linhu Village who wanted to marry into the Lin family; not to mention marrying the eldest son, even for his nephew Xiao Hui, there were now many matchmakers rushing to arrange a match.

"Your Second Aunt said that for whichever girl Xiao Hui ends up marrying, you should take a look first. He'll only marry her if you approve."

Hearing his mother's words, Lin Chen was speechless. He frowned and said, "What nonsense is Second Aunt talking about? Brother Hui is the one getting married, not me. Why do I need to approve? It should be whoever Brother Hui likes. Our Lin family isn't some high-ranking, wealthy household; as long as the girl is virtuous, that's enough."

"Even though our family isn't a high-ranking, wealthy household, we can't just let anyone marry in. Having your word is enough."

Virtuous!

Lin Mu remembered her son's requirement. It wasn't that she insisted on her son giving advice, but that her sister-in-law had insisted she ask for his opinion.

After the family chatted for a while, Lin Chen left the house, preparing to go to the back mountain to practice martial arts.

In the courtyard of the back mountain, Lin Chen first practiced the Water Cloud Palm and the Clear Wind Palm for a while, wanting to continue his previous fortuitous encounter at Mount Santan and merge the two techniques together.

Unfortunately, he still failed.

As for the Iron Bone Art, to continue improving at this stage, he could only accept the hammering of the Thousand Hammer Chart at the Martial Garden, or head to Mount Huang in Huizhou Prefecture to search for the second volume of the "Zhenyue Manual."

Half an hour later, Lin Chen took out the Snake Shadow Bow again. Under the night sky, the bow's body emitted a deep luster.

Practicing archery was a dream Lin Chen had in his previous life.

Unlike many children of his age in his past life who, after watching martial arts films, fantasized about wielding swords and blades, he preferred the bow.

Later, when playing certain shooter games, he didn't like teaming up with others, nor would he go for head-on gunfights; he preferred the thrill of being alone with a sniper rifle, reaching the finals with zero kills.

One strike and miss, retreat a thousand miles!

Just thinking about how his opponents couldn't catch him made him feel inexplicably satisfied.

This was one of the reasons why he chose this Snake Shadow Bow in the treasury.

But he hadn't expected the difficulty of mastering this Snake Shadow Bow to exceed his imagination. Up until now, he hadn't even managed to shoot an arrow three zhang away with it.

"Forget it, I'll study it later. Better to practice light-body techniques first."

After toying with the Snake Shadow Bow for a while, Lin Chen placed it directly on a blue stone in the mountain. With a light tap of his right foot, he soared into the treetops like a light swallow, and within a few breaths, his figure disappeared from the spot.

After Lin Chen's figure vanished, a black shadow emerged from the darkness. Looking at the Snake Shadow Bow on the blue stone, there was a look of greed in its eyes.

He had finally found the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow. For the sake of this bow, he had taken a huge risk to sneak into the Daliang region, and his cultivation base had plummeted by ninety percent.

But compared to the gain of obtaining the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow, these sacrifices were worth it.

Those foolish martial artists in Raozhou Prefecture thought the bowstring was made of snake tendons, not knowing it was crafted from the dragon tendon of a thousand-year-old flood dragon.

This bow was made five hundred years ago by a martial arts expert who slew a flood dragon, extracted its meridians, and used secret methods to refine them into a bowstring, passing it down to his descendants.

It was just that the descendants of that martial arts expert lacked ability, and the family declined. Fearing the treasure would attract envy and bring disaster to the family, they claimed to the outside world that the bowstring was made from the main tendon of a hundred-year-old viper.

The reason Teng Shu knew about this was because that family had colluded with the demon race and was not tolerated by the Daliang imperial court, forcing them to flee to Zheng Guo, but the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow had remained in Daliang.

After that family fled to Zheng Guo, they became extremely destitute and eventually honored him as their protector, which allowed him to learn about the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow.

Upon learning of the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow, he became tempted.

Teng Shu was of the snake race; to him, the bowstring of this Flood Dragon Shadow Bow was a supreme treasure. If he were to swallow and refine it, it would be enough to increase his strength several times over.

To this end, he first dispatched members of that family to sneak into Daliang, and it took several years of effort to discover that the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow was in the Martial Administration Office's treasury.

The Martial Administration Office treasury was heavily guarded, but the Office did not require those guarding it to keep the treasures inside a secret.

Many martial artists who had entered the Martial Administration Office's treasury often used it as a topic of conversation, revealing to other martial artists what treasures were inside.

For the Martial Administration Office, the purpose of not requiring those who entered to keep it secret was simple: let everyone know what good things were in the treasury so they would have the motivation to complete the assessments.

Having confirmed that the Flood Dragon Shadow Bow was in the Martial Administration Office's Grade C treasury and was being treated as a Snake Shadow Bow, Teng Shu was moved.

For this, he chose to cooperate with the Lian family. He hadn't expected that idiot Lian Cheng to let someone else get there first, nor had he expected that Raozhou Prefecture would discover it. To prevent Lian Cheng from failing the county competition and losing the qualification to enter the treasury, he gave Lian Cheng thirty drops of essence blood, enough to increase Lian Cheng's strength by fifty percent. But according to his estimates, Lian Cheng didn't need to use his full strength to win the county competition; as long as he didn't expose strength far beyond his stage, there was no way Raozhou Prefecture could have discovered it.

"An idiot who can't accomplish anything but ruins everything; being wiped out is what he deserved."

Teng Shu felt no emotional fluctuation regarding the Lian family being wiped out. What angered him was that it had cost him years of cultivation to escape with his life.

Learning from Lian Cheng that the Snake Shadow Bow was most likely with Lin Chen in Poyang County, he followed the river to Poyanghu. What surprised him even more was that after going ashore and grabbing a random commoner, he actually found out Lin Chen's whereabouts.

Now he had even seen the Snake Shadow Bow he had been longing for; even the heavens were helping him!

"Once I finish refining the flood dragon tendon, I will definitely return to take revenge and slaughter every human in Raozhou."

Teng Shu didn't touch the bow on the blue stone, suppressing his inner urgency. He didn't just want to take the bow; he also had to kill Lin Chen.

Otherwise, when Lin Chen returned and found the Snake Shadow Bow missing, he would inevitably search for it, and the martial artists of Raozhou Prefecture were already tracking his whereabouts everywhere. Without giving himself enough time, he feared he would be caught by the martial artists of Raozhou Prefecture.

Only by killing Lin Chen could he buy himself several hours of escape time, at which point even if the martial artists of Raozhou Prefecture discovered it, they wouldn't be able to catch him.

The blue stone was over a zhang high. Teng Shu prepared to circle to the back of the stone and lie in wait there, waiting for Lin Chen to return to kill him in one blow.

Although his strength had dropped significantly, he could still deal with an Open-Acupuncture martial artist, especially in a sneak attack.

Just as his figure circled behind the blue stone, the few remaining scales on Teng Shu's body immediately stood up.

Bang!

A terrifying palm wind came head-on. Teng Shu never expected that someone would be lying in ambush beneath this blue stone.

He was already injured, his perception was even worse than his strength, and he would never have imagined that someone would be hiding behind the blue stone. Caught off guard, he fell into the trap.

Could it be that those few Ranked martial artists of Raozhou Prefecture already knew his intentions and had conspired with Lin Chen in advance, setting a trap for him to take the bait?

As this thought flashed through his mind like lightning, Teng Shu felt a chill in his heart!

At the same time, this palm strike landed on his body, causing the few remaining scales on him to fall off.

After being struck by the palm, the chill in Teng Shu's heart actually lessened a bit. This palm strike landing on him was indeed painful, but he had clearly seen the face of the person in ambush.

Lin Chen!

Having confirmed that the person in ambush was Lin Chen, Teng Shu felt a sense of relief.

This wasn't a trap set by those Ranked martial artists of Raozhou Prefecture, but rather Lin Chen had discovered him, deliberately used the excuse of practicing light-body techniques to leave his sight, and then snuck back to hide behind the giant stone.

What keen insight!

Amidst his shock, Teng Shu was also happy. With only Lin Chen alone, there was nothing to fear.

By the faint moonlight, Lin Chen also saw the other party clearly. The palm strike he had just used in the sneak attack was his full strength. Landing on the other party's chest while they were unprepared, even a martial artist with twenty acupoints opened would likely not be able to withstand it.

Yet this person had only retreated a few steps. Could the other party be an Organ Cultivation expert?

Lin Chen felt some regret; he had still been careless, influenced by winning first place in the last few competitions.

Back when he first sensed someone watching him in the dark, without knowing the other party's strength, the best response would have been to really leave and go to the town to find Yu Yu Jiaoxi Liu and Yu Yu Jiaoxi Chen for help.

It turned out that after finishing a set of Water Cloud Palm, Lin Chen had sensed something wrong, vaguely feeling that he was being stared at by some gaze.

【Black to the End】 besides providing an enlightenment bonus, also improved perception.

Lin Chen absolutely didn't believe his senses were wrong, so there really was someone peeking at him in the dark. And after he took out the Snake Shadow Bow, that feeling of being watched became even stronger, and he could even sense the general direction of the other party.

The other party was after the Snake Shadow Bow!

Understanding the other party's intentions, he deliberately placed the Snake Shadow Bow on the blue stone, then left under the pretext of practicing light-body techniques, before sneaking back from the other side of the blue stone.

He was extremely familiar with this area of the back mountain, and with the enlightenment bonus of 【Black to the End】, walking in the dark was no different for him than in the daytime.

The sneak attack had succeeded, but the other party's strength was stronger than he had anticipated.

However, at this point, even if regret was useless, Lin Chen had never been a person who liked to regret.

He could only take advantage of the opponent being struck by his sneak attack and their Qi and blood being unstable, not giving them a chance to recover.

With a leap, Lin Chen struck out with both hands again.

The palm wind whistled, causing the leaves in the entire mountain forest to rustle.

Lin Chen's palms descended like a violent storm, the killing move "Wind Sweeping Away the Clouds" of the Clear Wind Palm whistling in with terrifying sound.

Seeing Lin Chen strike again, a ferocious grin appeared on Teng Shu's face. What a reckless little brat.

Teng Shu twisted his waist as if he had no bones, his entire figure contorting into a bizarre state, directly dodging Lin Chen's palm strike.

Seeing this scene, Lin Chen's pupils contracted. The other party's body was actually this flexible; could it be they had practiced some kind of movement technique?

His heart tightened, but Lin Chen's attacks became even more fierce, the palm technique changing to the Water Cloud Palm.

The Clear Wind Palm emphasized etherealness, with few changes in moves, but the Water Cloud Palm was like waves in water, with hidden force stacking up. He didn't believe the other party could dodge this.

However, just as his palm was about to land on the other party, a bad intuition suddenly surged in Lin Chen's heart. Seeing the smile in the other party's eyes under the night sky, Lin Chen instantly retreated backward.

Pfft!

A black mist sprayed from Teng Shu's mouth, condensing into an arrow and shooting toward Lin Chen.

The speed was so fast that even though Lin Chen was prepared, he still couldn't dodge it.

Clang!

The sound of metal colliding echoed from Lin Chen's chest. Looking down at his chest, Lin Chen felt relieved; the skin on his chest hadn't been broken.

The Perfected-level Iron Bone Art had strengthened his body's defense.

Seeing Lin Chen still standing there unharmed, Teng Shu also had a look of shock in his eyes. Any martial artist below the Organ Cultivation stage would definitely have their body pierced if hit by this arrow.

Unless... unless this person was a hard-body martial artist, and their hard-body technique had reached the Perfected stage.

Damn it, why didn't Lian Cheng tell me this information?

Thinking that Lin Chen's hard-body technique had already reached perfection, Teng Shu's face turned ugly. His race was not good at head-on combat, relying more on sneak attacks and winning with poisonous mist.

But yesterday, in order to escape with his life, after shedding his skin several times, the poisonous mist in his internal poison pill had been exhausted, and the poisonous mist could only serve as a sneak attack or a hidden arrow.

Lin Chen saw Teng Shu's ugly expression clearly. Although the other party's method of spitting black mist surprised him, since the other party couldn't break his defense, there was nothing to fear.

Switching between Clear Wind Palm and Water Cloud Palm!

Teng Shu felt very uncomfortable. For the first time, he found himself helpless against an Open-Acupuncture martial artist. The other party's palm technique looked ethereal, but its power was terrifying; even if he took a few hits, his whole body ached.

Most importantly, his remaining strength couldn't break the other party's defense. Relying on this, Lin Chen pursued him relentlessly, completely abandoning defense.

Teng Shu developed the intention to retreat. The next moment, his spine suddenly emitted a crisp sound like firecrackers. This movement made Lin Chen's eyes narrow, his eyes guarded, and his offensive slowed by a beat.

It was in this beat of time that Teng Shu, like a giant python shedding its skin, shrunk his bones and shifted his position. Lin Chen saw a human skin slide off, and a streak of black light fled into the distance.

Looking down at the ground, Lin Chen realized that what was on the ground wasn't human skin, but a milky-white snake skin.

"Snake demon?"

Lin Chen suddenly realized; no wonder the other party's body was soft and boneless, wasn't that the characteristic of the snake race?

Having confirmed the other party's identity, Lin Chen didn't hesitate at all, using his light-body technique to chase after him immediately.

Under the night sky, the black light fled a hundred zhang away. A black snake only the size of a palm appeared on the shore of Poyanghu, its figure crawling rapidly toward the lake surface.

Three zhang, two zhang, one zhang...

Just as the black snake was about to crawl into the lake, a whistling gale struck. Lin Chen appeared above the black snake, his palm striking down directly.

As the palm wind struck, the scales on the black snake's chest peeled off with a rustle, revealing the pale old wounds of the snake skin underneath.

Slap!

As his palm landed, Lin Chen's right hand, along with the black snake's head, was smashed into the cracks of the gravel on the stone beach, sinking directly to his elbow. One could imagine how much force was in this palm strike.

A beat later, Lin Chen withdrew his palm, looking at the black snake corpse that was only an inch long, as well as the smashed snake head, and began to adjust his somewhat disordered breathing.

In order to catch up with this snake demon, he had pursued with almost all his might, just not wanting to leave a hidden danger for himself.

To beat a snake, one must beat it to death; he understood this principle.

(End of chapter)