The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 26, Rong'er's cooking skills have proven their worth once again!
It was another sunny and breezy morning.

Lu Chen and Huang Rong continued their search for the Bodhi Snake.

Such a wondrous and mysterious creature as the Bosqu Snake cannot possibly be found everywhere, even in mountains and valleys.

The two men caught more than ten strange snakes in ten days. However, it was difficult to find any trace of the Bosqu snakes in the valley near the wooden house. They did not know whether they had been caught to extinction or had escaped. The two men had no choice but to search in the deep mountains that they had never been to before.

Huang Rong carried a ten-foot-long bamboo pole, occasionally poking through the bushes and grass, trying to scare the snake out. Lu Chen stood guard beside her with his sword, wary of any sudden attack from the strange snake.

Unfortunately, my luck was just so-so today. I crossed two hills and a valley, and by noon I still hadn't made any progress.

After noon, the two rested in the cool shade of the mountain stream, eating flatbread with water.

"Could it be that we've hunted the Bosciutto to extinction?"

Huang Rong ate the egg pancake in small bites, and said somewhat discouragedly.

"should not."

Lu Chen felt that there must be more than just this many Bodhi snakes.

The Condor lived for countless years, feeding on snakes. Even when Yang Guo lost his arm, it still fed him with the gall of a strange snake every day. This shows that even if this strange snake was not numerous, it was certainly not too rare.

The Divine Eagle may even have understood sustainable development, hunting the strange snakes in a planned manner, giving them ample time to reproduce.

Therefore, capturing a mere dozen or so strange snakes would certainly not lead to their extinction.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Lu Chen's ear suddenly twitched slightly as he heard something.

He quickly stopped eating the pancake, focused his mind, and listened carefully. He vaguely heard a noisy hissing sound.

The sound was somewhat familiar, seemingly the hissing of a Bodhi serpent.

Lu Chen was overjoyed and said to Huang Rong:
"I heard the strange snakes moving! And there seem to be quite a few of them!"

"Really?"

Huang Rong also stopped eating her pancake, listened carefully for a while, and her eyes lit up:
"There are many strange snakes hissing. Let's go take a look."

He put away the cakes, picked up the bamboo pole, and jogged towards the direction from which the commotion came.

Lu Chen quickly swallowed the remaining pancakes in his hand and chased after Huang Rong with his sword.

The two walked quickly side by side, rounded a cliff at the bottom of the ravine, and a depression appeared in front of them. When they looked into the depression, their scalps tingled with fear, and they were both surprised and delighted.

But in the deepest part of the depression, countless Bosqu snakes were intertwined, forming a huge snake ball. The strange snakes slithered in and out of the snake ball, hissing incessantly. At a glance, it was impossible to count how many strange snakes there were.

"So many? There must be at least one or two hundred!"

Huang Rong was speechless:

"How do we catch this?"

The Bodhi snake moves like the wind and possesses superhuman strength. Its venom is also extremely potent. Catching a few of these strange snakes is not difficult, but if a hundred or two strange snakes attack together, even with Lu Chen's current skill and swordsmanship, he would not be able to withstand it.

Looking at the snake ball that sent chills down his spine, Lu Chen thought to himself:

"Is it the breeding season for the Bosqu snake?"

Just then, Huang Rong whispered:

"How about we throw small stones over from a distance first and see if we can lure out one or two? If we disturb too many at once, we'll make a quick getaway."

Just as Lu Chen was about to speak, a deep and majestic whistle suddenly rang out.

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a tall, dark figure rushing towards them.

The dark figure moved with the speed of a galloping horse, the wind howling as it went, and sand and dust flying around it, creating an unstoppable scene.

Huang Rong was initially a little startled, but after seeing the tall, dark figure through the billowing smoke, her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly, revealing a dazed and adorable expression.

It was a giant eagle with thick legs, sparse feathers, a large, blood-red fleshy growth on its head, short wings, and a plump, strong body.

It ran with its two thick, giant claws on the ground, its two short wings flapping incessantly, stirring up gusts of wind and creating a scene of "flying sand and stones." As it ran, it also howled, its voice full of intimidation, and its sharp eyes stared at Lu Chen and Huang Rong with a warning look.

Upon realizing that the newcomer was a giant eagle, Huang Rong couldn't help but exclaim in amazement:

"It's a big bird! It's so fat and ugly, and it can't fly!"

Upon hearing Huang Rong's words, the giant eagle, which was charging forward with great momentum, stumbled and almost lost its power on the spot. Its originally majestic roar turned into a somewhat exasperated cry. It pointed a short wing at Huang Rong, croaked a few times, and looked somewhat angry.

"Huh, did it understand what I said?"

Huang Rong blinked, looking surprised.

Lu Chen stroked his chin:

"Hmm...you can probably understand, Rong'er. You said it's fat and ugly, and it got angry."

"So why is it charging at us so aggressively? Is it trying to stop us from catching snakes?"

"Hmm. It's probably warning us not to disturb the breeding of the Bosqu Serpent."

The giant eagle, having overheard their conversation, nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Lu Chen's words. It pointed its short wing at the snake ball, then gestured towards Lu Chen and Huang Rong. Huang Rong understood the eagle's "gestures"; it seemed to be saying that the strange snakes should not be touched.

"Wow, this big bird is so intelligent!"

Huang Rong was amazed.

Lu Chen then smiled at the Divine Condor:
"Don't worry, Brother Eagle, we won't disturb these strange snakes' breeding."

The giant eagle cawed twice, strode over to the edge of the depression, suddenly bent down, and with a flick of its iron beak, snatched out a strange snake that couldn't fit into the snake ball and was relegated to the edge. It pecked the snake's vital spot to pieces, then tossed it to Lu Chen.

Then it nodded to Lu Chen, shook its head at Huang Rong, and flapped its wings a couple of times.

The gesture was a little ambiguous, but both Lu Chen and Huang Rong could guess that it meant Lu Chen was very sensible, but Huang Rong was not so sensible.

After all, Rong'er said it was both fat and ugly.

Huang Rong, who was always sweet-talking to her capable "seniors," immediately changed her tune and said in a serious tone:

"I was mistaken just now. This big bird is not fat and ugly, but rather has a strange and majestic appearance, quite like an ancient mythical beast."

Upon hearing this, the Condor puffed out its chest and belly, adopting a majestic and imposing posture, while its eyes darted around, seemingly urging Huang Rong to say a few more words of praise.

Huang Rong quickly showered the eagle with compliments, showering it with praise without reservation. The eagle's eyes gleamed, and it cawed a few times before pecking out two strange snakes that couldn't fit into the snake ball and tossing them in front of Huang Rong and Lu Chen.

Huang Rong thanked her repeatedly, then chuckled and said:

"Brother Eagle, since you love snakes, would you like to try some roasted snake meat?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Chen pondered that birds' taste system is different from humans'. No matter how good Rong'er's cooking skills are, the Divine Condor probably wouldn't be able to taste it.
I thought the eagle would refuse, but to my surprise, it nodded vigorously, its eyes even showing a hint of expectation in a human-like way.

Lu Chen was slightly taken aback when he saw this. He wondered if the Condor had tasted cooked food when it was following Dugu Qiubai, but after Dugu Qiubai passed away, it could only eat raw meat and drink blood. Now it misses the taste of cooked food.

Just as he was pondering this, Huang Rong gently tugged at his sleeve and said with a smile:
"Let's go make some roasted snake for Brother Diao."

As she spoke, she winked at him.

Lu Chen understood that Rong'er wanted to befriend the Divine Condor so that catching snakes might be effortless in the future.

Then, mentioning the three Bodhi snakes, he and Huang Rong left the depression and went to the mountain stream, where they beheaded, skinned, and gutted the snakes.

After washing the snake gallbladder and putting it into a bamboo tube, Lu Chen found some firewood, built a firewood pile, and lit it with a tinderbox. Huang Rong cleaned the snake meat, skewered it on a bamboo pole, and started roasting the whole snake.

After placing the three headless and tailless Bosphorus snakes with snow-white flesh on the fire, Huang Rong took out the picnic seasonings she carried with her. While skillfully turning the bamboo pole, she evenly sprinkled various seasonings on them.

Soon, the grill was filled with a wonderful aroma. The eagle came closer, its eyes fixed on the grill, a trace of saliva dripping from its beak, looking like it was drooling.

When the snake meat was half-cooked, the eagle couldn't wait to let out two cries and pointed its short wings at the grill, indicating that the cooking time was just right.

Huang Rong complied with its wishes, took down a bamboo pole, and handed it to the Divine Condor.

The eagle reached out its beak and snatched the snake meat. With a flick of its head, it pulled the whole roasted snake off the bamboo pole. Instead of swallowing it whole, it placed it on a rock and savored it slowly, its eyes filled with delight.

Lu Chen was greatly surprised to see this, thinking to himself, "Could the Divine Condor really taste the flavor?"

On second thought, the Condor is a unique species, so perhaps its sense of taste is indeed somewhat extraordinary.

The eagle savored the food slowly, and before it knew it, it had finished all three roasted snakes, still looking like it wanted more.

However, after glancing at the snake ball in the direction of the depression, it restrained its appetite, tilted its head and pondered for a while, then raised its wing and pointed to the grill, then to the snake ball, then to the sun in the sky, making a few "gestures".

Lu Chen and Huang Rong understood that the Condor meant for them to come back the next day to help it roast the snake.

The reward, of course, was snake gallbladders.

Although Lu Chen and Huang Rong could catch snakes themselves, it was quite time-consuming. In the previous ten days, they were unlucky and could only catch one snake a day, and even when they were lucky, they could only catch two or three.

If we cooperate with the Divine Eagle, we can not only obtain snake gallbladders steadily every day, but also save a lot of time for cultivation. More importantly, if we get to know the Eagle well, it might even take us to the Dugu Sword Tomb.

Lu Chen and Huang Rong naturally wouldn't refuse such a good deal, and readily agreed to reach a deal with the Condor.

After that, the two of them came to this mountain stream every day at the same time to roast whole snakes for the divine eagle.

The eagle's efficiency in catching snakes far surpassed that of the two.

Even after the snake ball disperses two days later and the snakes disappear into various parts of the mountains, the Divine Eagle can still bring three Bodhi snakes every day.

With a stable harvest of snake gallbladders and plenty of extra time for cultivation, Lu Chen's true qi deepened day by day, and his swordsmanship also improved rapidly.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

this day.

After finishing the barbecue, the eagle cooed a few times at the two of them, turned around and walked away. After taking a few steps, it turned back and cooed a few more times, flapped its wings, and made a "follow me" gesture.

Lu Chen smiled, knowing that the Divine Condor was going to take them to the Sword Tomb. He immediately took Rong'er's hand and quickly followed the Divine Condor.

Please vote!!



(End of this chapter)