Chapter 157

Guoye hastily reached out to grab the emerald-green little snake, but unexpectedly the creature opened its mouth and spat out a bluish-green smoke, instantly dazing the person.

Senior brother.

Fellow Daoist Guoye.

This snake is really troublesome; it itself carries immense poison, and even if the green smoke isn't toxic, it can still leave a person unconscious for several days." Jiang Tu secretly stuck out his tongue, the monk shouldn't have bothered with that emerald little snake—the more he moved, the more energetic it became.

Jiang Yu and Guojue acted simultaneously, one supporting the dazed person, the other pinching the snake at its seventh inch.

You have already left the Heavenly King Temple; we terminate our contract.

Jiang Yu, how is my senior brother?" Guojue's two fingers flickered with spiritual light, pressing to his own brow to force out the blood-red talisman linked by essence blood.

Jiang Tu immediately sent a voice transmission to Jiang Yu checking his condition: "Persuade the little monk to withdraw; his contract cannot be undone by ordinary means of dissolution."

Your senior brother isn't poisoned." Jiang Yu informed the little monk that his senior brother's pulse was normal; just as she was about to raise her head, the emerald little snake flew straight into her sleeve and said, "Without our clan's secret method, you cannot undo it."

Meanwhile, Guojue used spiritual power to cut the linked blood talisman several times, but it wouldn't sever; he anxiously said, "You come and undo it."

"No." The emerald little snake coiled toward Jiang Yu's wrist.

Jiang Yu's hand surged with golden spiritual light; she forcefully flung it away, then bounced up, saying, "I can borrow your sleeve, but don't touch my hand."

The emerald little snake spun 360 degrees in midair from her flick, yet still not giving up, it flew toward her: "Flick me again—do you dare bet I won't bite you?"

"Believe it!" Jiang Yu brusquely summoned the bamboo fan she had just obtained, unfurling it with a swish and sending it flying at the snake's body.

Under the boost of her spiritual power, the fan's surface flashed with silver-white lightning, and in an instant the emerald little snake startled back onto Guojue's shoulder.

It wore a shocked expression: "You, actually managed to obtain this treasure by chance when you left the Five Elements Village!"

Little monk, why aren't you as lucky?

"Undo the contract!" Guojue reached out again to grab it; though it had no wings, its levitation was swift, causing his outstretched hand to miss each time.

Jiang Yu watched helplessly as the little monk pushed his movement technique to the limit, still unable to catch it, so she advised: "Guojue, why not first retract the blood contract, then grab it with all your strength?"

"Hiss!" Upon hearing that, the little snake turned its head and spat a green smoke at Jiang Yu.

But Jiang Yu had prepared; with a point of the Water Curtain Technique she formed a defense before her, causing the emerald little snake to lunge at empty air.

Guojue also at that moment collected the blood contract, inverted an obsidian gold bowl behind the snake; a flash of golden light inside sucked the whole creature in.

"Let me out." The emerald little snake flailed inside the bowl several times, unable to fly out, each time splendidly falling to the bottom of the obsidian gold bowl.

Jiang Yu leaned over to look, amused; she saw the emerald little snake turn as thin as chopsticks, flopping up and sliding down each time, like crawling down a slide.

Guojue handed the obsidian gold bowl to her: "I'll go check on my senior brother."

After receiving it, she deliberately spoke slowly to the open bowl rim: "The Nine Abysses Emerald-Scaled Snake is famed as causing intestinal rupture in seven steps and soul severance in nine."

But it is said to love sandalwood and agarwood; this obsidian gold bowl is fragrant enough, so stay a while longer.

"Hmph, little brat, when we reach the innermost layer of the cave heaven, just see if you dare laugh at me." The emerald little snake opened its mouth to stick out its tongue at her, but the bowl's body restricted its movement, so it could hardly reach a person.

Jiang Yu quickly switched to voice transmission: "It's just seventh rank; don't forget, the innermost layer will have many Golden Core cultivators."

If you show your head, you might instantly become someone else's materials.

The emerald little snake pondered, coiled and lifted its head to look at her: "How do you know? Could it be you truly have a dragon on you?"

Generally speaking, seventh-rank demon beasts can speak human language." My own Jiang Tu is of the second kind; Jiang Yu no longer dwelled on past matters, only saying: "Alright, let's stop probing each other; tomorrow we set out, you point the way for everyone so we can reach the innermost layer as soon as possible."

I'll help you persuade the little monk; for now we won't undo the contract.

The emerald little snake lifted its head again and again, eyes full of pride: "You want to persuade? He simply cannot undo it."

Jiang Yu, however, supported the bowl with one hand while the other hand rhythmically drew lines above its head.

At first, the emerald little snake didn't understand, but when Jiang Yu finished drawing and pinched out a spell seal, it couldn't help but widen its eyes: "You, how could you?"

Naturally it is the Primordial Chaos Yuan Symbol; it will naturally gather other fragmented pages, producing many rare sigils, and in the commentary it is also linked to many secret arts of the cultivation world.

Among them is the Yao Race's essence-blood contract sealing and unsealing method.

But would Jiang Yu tell the little snake? Certainly not; she said, "How about it? Mutual benefit—we can both reach our destination faster."

"Hmph, you're still loitering in the outermost layer, far from the innermost." The little snake conceded; it now needs human cover, otherwise a careless leak of its aura would attract heavenly foes, which would be too troublesome.

That's why I asked for help; here, take this." Jiang Yu generously produced a bottle of spirit-beast elixir, which was recently refined by the Golden Core cultivator Han Zhenren of Spirit Beast Valley, a favorite of Jiang Tu.

The emerald little snake coiled into its own space: "One word, settled."

But you must tell me, how did you obtain the treasure when you were transmitted out?

"Just grab it when you see it—could it be that not everyone can see treasures?" Jiang Yu, being young, felt a bit smug.

The emerald little snake rolled its eyes at her: "What do you think? Opportunities aren't available to everyone."

The little monk and his senior brother, plus those you sent out—if three or five of them gain treasures, that already counts as great fortune.

Then, this is for the little monk's senior brother to eat, so he won't blame me.

"I see." Jiang Yu muttered to herself, accepting the red little fruit it sent out.

She turned and handed over the obsidian gold bowl together with it to Guojue; Guoye ate the fruit and woke up in less than the time it takes to finish a cup of tea.

Meanwhile, outside the formation gate, someone else was knocking on the formation looking for Xia Bing.

Jiang Yu dismissed the person with a few words, then saw off Guojue and his group, immediately setting out tables and chairs, laying paper and grinding ink—she needed to draw talismans.

Considering the journey to the second layer of the cave heaven, she would constantly encounter demon beasts and… people; each time she splurged on talismans, afterward she had to draw many more to replenish the consumption.

Within the entire linked formation, several cultivators skilled in talismans likewise chose the same method to restock.

But at the other end of the cave heaven, Wan Xiyue, Wen Xi, Ye Lian, and Gu Bingwen's group had fallen into a bitter struggle.

The reason was nothing more than that they discovered a patch of ten-thousand-year-old ginseng, defeated the guardian demon beast, yet were ambushed by a few cultivators hiding in the dark.

How could they tolerate this? Thus both sides fought over exclusive possession of the ginseng, clashing upon meeting.

However, the four who had already expended much mana fighting the demon beast now faced twice as many cultivators, making things quite strenuous.

Even if Wan Xiyue boldly unleashed tear-inducing pills, it only delayed a few cultivators' advance; yet because the opponents' cultivation was high, the tear effect was brief, they quickly recovered and obstructed the women's digging of the ginseng.

In desperation, Ye Lian threw out a seventh-rank sword talisman, instantly wiping out half the enemy, but the ginseng field also suffered devastation.

They could only, after driving away the few surviving cultivators, hastily dig over the area once.

When leaving, Gu Bingwen asked: "The cultivator just now, did you see which Immortal Realm they were from?"