Chapter 59

A person and a beast arrived beneath the gate; the towering Steel City Gate, amid the winch's dull creaking, slowly opened a slit just wide enough for one person and one beast to pass, and the heavy drawbridge lowered gradually, revealing the scenery beyond the City Wall.

Outside the gate, ten-odd meters beyond the City Wall, thick fog obscured vision; Li Qingxuan stepped out of the Gate, and the silhouettes of the person and beast moved slowly beneath the towering City Wall.

Icy and hard stone walls were overgrown with the frenziedly propagated Shadowy Thorns from last night; extremely thick vines stood like beasts on either side of the Gate.

Thick vines bore countless deep-purple branching tendrils coiled and entwined, as thick as a person's arm, their surfaces covered with fine patterns like metal scales; in the thin, almost invisible light, they reflected a cold sheen.

Those vines were not still; they writhed with an extremely slow, viscous rhythm, like the breath of a slumbering beast.

【Weird Creature: Shadowy Thorns】

【Type: Flesh Type】

【Constitution: 698】

【Spirit: 452】

【Grade: Grade B】

【Ability: Rapid growth, sharp mouthparts, unified as one】

【Weakness: Root】

【Description: Loyal plant companion, having broken partial growth limits, possessing tough growth characteristics and able to grow by consuming creature flesh】

Li Qingxuan's gaze swept over the living defense layer clinging to the City Wall, then he stepped into the mist. The thick fog surged, visibility shrinking to less than five meters; all around was dead silence, save for the faint 'creak' of snow underfoot.

At the edge of the mist, the outlines of the snowfield loomed faintly; snowflakes outside the fog condensed into clear ice spikes, forming a stark, icy contrast with the warm aura maintained by the Jade Plate.

The Black Goat pressed close to his side; its pair of onyx-like horns flickered with a dim, mysterious glow in the fog, its black vertical pupils vigilantly scanning the surroundings, its sturdy hooves sunk deep into the snow, nostrils lightly flaring as it keenly caught every trace of anomalous scent in the air.

"Stay alert." Li Qingxuan's voice was low and solemn, barely audible, soft as a breeze—both a warning to the Black Goat and a reminder to himself.

This fog not only blocked sight but also seemed to distort perception, causing unease; fortunately, aside from obstructing vision, it had no other effect on him and Li Feifei.

The Black Goat's throat emitted a barely audible low grunt, as if silently responding to Li Qingxuan's words.

Li Qingxuan walked out of the mist, feeling the surroundings suddenly turn cold; the howling wind tried to sneak through the gaps in his clothing.

The Black Goat's gaze locked firmly on a certain direction ahead; its scarlet vertical pupils narrowed to a slit, its body lowered slightly, muscles tensed, entering a combat-ready state.

Li Qingxuan instantly gripped the hilt of his waist blade, halted his steps, and heightened all his senses to the extreme.

Following the direction the Black Goat stared, it seemed as if something huge was writhing there.

Hiss… hiss……

A fine, dense, scalp-tingling scraping sound came from afar and grew nearer.

That sound was like countless tiny scales scraping over hard objects, or like something being dragged quickly through viscous mire.

A vague, massive outline slowly emerged in the gray-white.

That outline writhed and twisted; it was not a single entity but formed by countless slender shadows tangled and writhing together, like a black torrent of gathered living things.

They clung to the ground, spreading rapidly toward Li Qingxuan's direction.

It was snakes! Countless, intertwined snakes!

Their scales glimmered with a cold, wet sheen in the sunlight; triangular heads rose high, and their slender forked tongues flickered like burning black flames within the fog.

Countless pairs of cold, lifeless vertical pupils pierced the rolling gray-white fog, all locking onto the person and beast outside the mist!

The air instantly solidified; the silence was replaced by a suffocating killing intent.

The Black Goat's forehooves hammered the ground, emitting a threatening low growl, while the onyx horns' gloomy light flowed.

Li Qingxuan's eyes were sharp as a blade; icy killing intent spread, and the long sword at his waist let out a barely audible clear ring, as if a blood-thirsty beast craving to drink.

At this critical moment, toward the fortress, from the clump of Shadowy Thorns clinging to the City Wall, the tip of the thickest vine, knotted above the stone wall directly over the Gate, extended outward.

That mouthpart, which had remained half-closed, suddenly flung fully open, exposing its deep-purple interior.

The Shadowy Thorns swiftly extended, entwining the snake horde ahead; the dozens of Monstrous Snakes at the forefront had their hard scales crushed piece by piece, their bodies pierced by wounds from the Shadowy Thorns.

Spine-like mouthparts sucked up flesh and blood, and streams of energy flowed along the branches toward the Main Vine.

A dozen or so twisted, entwined bodies ahead suddenly stiffened, then snapped apart segment by segment; the Shadowy Thorns, like venomous snakes, kept stabbing into flesh and blood, greedily sucking it up!

Viscous bodily fluids and shattered entrails mixed with bone fragments, spraying outward in a radial pattern, drenching the surging snake horde behind from head to toe!

Hiss——!

The vanguard of the Snake Tide was brutally torn open a huge gap by this sudden terrifying strike!

The viscous filth splattered, and instantly the air filled with a nauseating mix of sweetish stench and rot.

However, this brutal interception merely caused the surging Snake Tide to hesitate for a moment.

More endless Monstrous Snakes, trampling their companions' exploded remains, surged forward with even greater frenzy!

They were like fervent believers, their cold vertical pupils holding only greed for flesh and blood and the desire for destruction.

That viscous filth did not make them retreat; instead, it seemed to awaken a bloodthirsty ferocity, causing the snake horde's overall writhing speed to surge, like a boiling ocean, accompanied by a scalp-tingling rustle, as they rushed forward even more ferociously!

The distance was rapidly closing!

The Black Goat's scarlet vertical pupils suddenly constricted; the swirling gloom on its onyx-like horns flared instantly, like two miniature black holes devouring light!

Its sturdy hooves swung hard, tracing a powerful arc, and slammed fiercely into the ground!

Boom——!

A deep, drum-like boom! Centered on where the Black Goat's hoof struck, a visible ring of Black Ripples spread outward, bearing the weight of mountains, like a scythe wielded by the Grim Reaper cutting in all directions!

Where the ripples passed, the frozen soil blanketed in thick snow, like ice tossed into a boiling oil pan, suddenly emitted a sharp, piercing 'hiss'; the snow, as if whipped by a gale, flew up instantly, revealing the dark, hard frozen earth below, cracked like a tortoise shell.

That mountain-heavy Black Ripple slammed hard into the surging Snake Tide!

Crack! Crack-crack!

At the instant the foremost Monstrous Snake's body contacted the Black Ripple, it was as if crushed by an invisible giant wheel!

Their scales twisted and deformed, like armor struck by a heavy hammer; their hard skulls emitted a grating crunch, and their whole bodies were driven hard into the hard, icy frozen soil by a tremendous force!

The brittle snaps of breaking bones joined into a chorus; instantly, over a hundred Monstrous Snakes were ground into meat paste, deeply embedded in the frozen earth, leaving pits that steamed with hot, bloody mush.

This wide-ranging terrifying impact was like dropping a massive boulder into a boiling asphalt sea, once again ruthlessly suppressing the Snake Tide's momentum!

The violent snake swarm was forcibly suppressed, falling into brief chaos.

(PS: Free love-powered electricity, send some — the author will be more motivated, please.)