Chapter 467: Long live the phoenix!

Liu Zhengfeng's neck side had no phoenix totem.

His true body also had no skin.

His face didn't have so many pairs of eyes, his neck had no seams, and he lacked colorful feathers…… Wrong, everything was wrong!

Liu Zhengfeng wasn't the black python I was looking for!

But…… where is his skin?

Aunt clearly just found that black python's shed skin on Wangting Mountain; if the shed skin isn't Liu Zhengfeng's, whose could it be?

The shed skin appeared on Wangting Mountain, so Liu Zhengfeng couldn't possibly be unaware of that black python's existence!

"Tell me, who did you give your skin to?" I asked.

Liu Junyan raised his hand forward, making a grasping motion.

Liu Zhengfeng was immediately lifted up, his upper body once again dangling at the water's edge.

He scratched his neck with both hands, looking uncomfortable.

Yet he was still smiling, as if he hadn't noticed any danger at all.

No, his state seemed more like…… enjoying the arrival of death!

"Want to know who took my whole python skin?" Liu Zhengfeng sneered, "Haven't you met before? How come? You didn't recognize each other?"

Recognize each other?

I wanted to step forward again, practically wishing to grab Liu Zhengfeng's collar and yank him up.

I really wanted to demand what he actually knew!!

But Liu Junyan never let me get close; he lifted his hand, and Liu Zhengfeng was instantly yanked up out of thin air, Liu Junyan coldly said: "Speak!"

Liu Zhengfeng coughed violently, while coughing he sneered: "Say what?"

"Āyàn, you were born on Wangting Mountain; the affection between us father and son spanning over a hundred years—have you ever truly cared for your foster father?"

"Wangting Mountain didn't become like this overnight, neither did I, and your eldest and second brothers likewise didn't!"

"They died in your place! Āyàn, you are the true culprit!"

Liu Zhengfeng coughed and roared, as if trying to pour out all his hatred, rushing it all toward Liu Junyan.

As he spoke, he kept staring at Liu Junyan's eyes, the dark green vertical pupils seeming to flash with light.

I instinctively tiptoed and raised my hand to cover Liu Junyan's eyes.

This is Wangting Mountain, and Liu Zhengfeng is the master of Wangting Mountain.

Even if he were just a puppet, someone still stands behind him; even if he now looks miserable, this remains his home turf.

And I have already experienced the power of Chaos.

It excels at disrupting order and creating chaos.

Such chaos applies not only to people and objects, but also to thoughts and spirit.

Just now Liu Zhengfeng's words might have been using the Chaos Evil Formation to influence Liu Junyan's judgment.

Liu Junyan jerked his head and also realized it.

He gritted his teeth and said: "If you refuse a toast, you'll drink a forfeit!"

Immediately after, Liu Zhengfeng's head was shoved into the water.

Lifted, shoved in, lifted again……

Liu Zhengfeng, who already coughed incessantly like a consumptive, after several chokings on water, his whole body grew faint, his upper‑body humanoid form looking like it could barely hold on.

Yet he still had the attitude of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water.

After spitting out several mouthfuls of water, his whole person seemed to become somewhat dazed.

He muttered something: "The flesh is merely a shackle, the spirit is eternal; all I offer today will be gazed upon by the Lord God, I shall become a Buddha, I shall become a god, I shall share longevity with heaven and earth, long live the phoenix and phoenix!"

He repeated these words over and over, devout as a penitent believer.

"I shall share longevity with heaven and earth!"

"Long live the phoenix and phoenix!"

"Long live the phoenix and phoenix!"

These few words seemed to carry some kind of magic, giving him strength.

Just moments ago he looked half‑dead, but suddenly he had strength.

He suddenly reverted to his true form, his bloody python body rolling in the water, his whole head rearing high, his throat opening and closing, then his python mouth gaped wide, a sheet of green liquid instantly spraying toward me!

His move was too fast; I couldn't react in time.

In the blink of an eye, Liu Junyan grabbed me and flung me aside; his strong palm wind swept over, the green liquid was swept back unchanged, spraying the python's face.

That was the python's venom!

Liu Zhengfeng was no ordinary giant python; he possessed cultivation.

If his venom sprayed on me, I wouldn't die but would have to shed a layer of skin.

No wonder Liu Junyan kept blocking my approach to Liu Zhengfeng earlier; he was probably guarding against this.

This move seemed like a deathbed struggle after a final flicker of vitality.

After releasing the venom, the giant python could no longer hold up, crashing back into the water and splashing a sheet of blood.

Yet the python's mouth kept murmuring: "Long live the phoenix and phoenix! Long live…… the phoenix……"

Liu Zhengfeng died.

Liu Junyan summoned the Golden Scale to return to its place, and the Fangchuan Sect personnel took over the subsequent cleanup.

Just as the Fangchuan Sect eagerly dissected the giant python's body, preparing to take Liu Zhengfeng's inner elixir and monster elixir, they froze.

The giant python's interior contained nothing.

It wasn't that it hadn't cultivated them; rather…… someone had gotten there first.

"He should have died long ago." Liu Junyan said, "The spiritual qi in Furong Cave is abundant; he's hiding here, presumably to prolong his life. Moreover, he might know that a strand of dragon qi leaking from Linghai will pass through Furong Cave, so he's hiding here waiting like a hunter for prey."

So that's how it is.

I said, "In other words, his inner core and demon core have long been taken away, and he was abandoned by the Luan and Phoenix he spoke of, right?"

Liu Junyan nodded: "He was nothing but a pawn, deluded by the opposing side, poisoned too deeply; he not only lost the Wangting Mountain snake clan, but also caused the deaths of his two sons. The irony is that even in death he never came to his senses."

I also couldn't help sighing: "Living as long as heaven and earth—this seems not to be our first encounter with the topic of immortality."

Fang Chuanzong immediately interjected: "Exactly, at Small Camp Mouth in Changshi, Mao Jingxuan betrayed us precisely for this!"

Yes.

In the initial battle at Small Camp Mouth, Mao Jingxuan came uninvited, precisely for that three-eyed toad.

A toad that has cultivated for a thousand years undergoes metamorphosis, becoming meat lingzhi; using meat lingzhi in medicine and refining it into elixirs for consumption allows one to live as long as heaven and earth, achieving immortality.

Immortality... for beings with limited lifespans, the temptation is truly enormous.

"The snake shed we found in Wangting Mountain is not from Liu Zhengfeng's molt." Tang Xun said, "But my people have practically combed through Wangting Mountain and found no suspicious individuals; where could he or they be hiding?"

I analyzed, "The black python's scaly body I saw should be the stitched-together skin of Liu Zhengfeng; after stitching, it can shed on its own, his physique might be similar to that of my senior sister."

Liu Junyan shook her head: "The senior sister's Buddha Spirit Holy Body appears only once in a thousand years; how could another just pop up so easily? Moreover, if he could truly merge on his own like the senior sister, why go through all this trouble?"

Indeed, that's the case.

Then how exactly did he manage it?

Hu Yulin has already returned to Yin Mountain, and found nothing abnormal.

They abandoned Wangting Mountain and didn't go to Yin Mountain; where are they now?

Could they have returned to the Feng Clan?

After all, Ti Luan and Feng Xianqiu are both his lackeys...