Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Young Gilas, Sandstorm King!

Chapter 56 The Power of Firearms, Black-Patterned Mystic Rock Python!

Lin Xia clearly saw that the hard scales, which could withstand the impact of a diamond chisel, finally succumbed to the continuous bombardment of the violent metal storm at such close range!

Dark purple blood, mixed with broken scales and tissue, gushed out from the giant snake's head and neck like a fountain!

The giant snake's massive body seemed to be struck hard by an invisible hammer, its forward momentum abruptly halted and interrupted.

It let out a heart-wrenching scream of agony; the sound was no longer intimidating, but filled with the despair and disbelief of someone on the verge of death.

The intense pain caused its massive body to twist and tumble wildly, its thick tail lashing against the mine walls like a giant whip, sending rocks flying and making the entire mine tremble!

Lou Gao remained unfazed, his eyes cold as iron, his finger gripping the trigger tightly until the magazine clicked empty—the entire magazine of bullets was emptied in a matter of seconds, not a single bullet was wasted, and it was all poured into the giant snake's head!
The violent gunfire abruptly ceased, leaving only the desperate crashing and hissing of the giant snake echoing through the mine, sounding even more mournful.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, the giant snake's massive body twitched a few times before finally crashing to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

His head and neck were a bloody mess, almost unrecognizable. Only his lantern-like vertical pupils retained a trace of resentment and horror, staring intently ahead, but completely devoid of any spirit.

The pungent smell of blood mixed with the stench of gunpowder permeated the cramped space, making one feel nauseous.

Lou Gao slowly lowered the assault rifle, which was still emitting wisps of smoke, his chest rising and falling slightly, clearly in the right emotional state. Lou Gao took a long breath, as if to expel all the stale air from his lungs, and then exhaled a single word with great satisfaction.

"Cool!"

The word "爽" (shuǎng, meaning refreshing or exhilarating) was delivered with great force, carrying a sense of cathartic release, and sounded particularly loud in the now quiet mine.

It was as if the pent-up frustration accumulated from being oppressed by Miles over the past six years, as well as the stifling feeling from encountering a bottleneck in researching soul tools over the past ten days, were all completely released in that violent outburst of firepower just now.

Looking at her teacher's expression, which was still full of enjoyment and even a little excited, and then at the gruesome corpse of the giant snake on the ground, Lin Xia's lips twitched uncontrollably several times.

Lin Xia knew that her teacher liked powerful weapons and that the AK was his current favorite, but witnessing a Soul Saint-level master craftsman use Earth's technology to create such a "violent aesthetic" way to defeat a Soul Beast that was clearly quite powerful was visually and psychologically overwhelming!

In the world of Douluo Continent, this art style is simply indescribable!

At this moment, specks of black light began to gather on the giant snake's enormous corpse, eventually condensing into a deep, mysterious soul ring that emitted powerful energy fluctuations, slowly hovering above the corpse.

That deep black color revealed the immense power of this soul beast in its lifetime—at least ten thousand years old!

The shock and curiosity in Lin Xia's heart overwhelmed the sense of absurdity she had just felt.

Composing himself, he pointed at the black spirit ring, looked at Lou Gao who was still immersed in the thrill, and asked:
"Teacher, what... what kind of spirit beast is this? Why is it hiding deep in this mine?"

Upon hearing his disciple's question, Lou Gao finally shifted his gaze from his beloved AK to the black spirit ring and the giant snake's corpse.

Lou Gao's excitement faded slightly, replaced by the solemnity and insight of a seasoned Soul Master and Forging Master.

He took a few steps closer, crouched down, and carefully used the barrel of his AK gun to pry open the broken scales on the giant snake's head and neck. He then examined the relatively intact scales on the rest of its body.

The scales were rhomboid in shape with sharp edges and a deep, dark black base color. They were covered with fine, twisted patterns, and even after death, a faint yellowish-brown glow still flowed between the patterns, exuding a rich earth element aura.

"Tsk, it's it... no wonder it lasted so long."

Lou Gao twirled the scale fragments on his fingers, his tone tinged with understanding and感慨. "Lin Xia, you're lucky, kid. You stumbled upon this rare creature on your first mine run. This beast is called a Black-Striped Mystic Rock Python!"

"Black-striped Basalt Python?"

Lin Xia repeated the name, feeling it was very unfamiliar. Neither her past life memories, her impressions from the original work, nor her recent knowledge of soul beasts seemed to explicitly mention this kind of soul beast.

"Yes, Black-striped Xuan Yan Python."

Lou Gao stood up and pointed to the unique black patterns on the snake's body, explaining.

"This is an extremely rare special soul beast that only exists deep underground, near rare metal ore veins."

"They don't grow by devouring the flesh and blood of soul beasts, but by absorbing the power of the earth's veins, especially the essence of ores rich in metallic elements, to cultivate and evolve!"

Lou Gao's gaze deepened, as if he were recalling some ancient record or legend.

"Their scales are naturally a fusion of pure earth element and the metallic properties of the ores they devour, making them incredibly hard, far surpassing other scaled soul beasts of the same level."

"As you just saw, if we hadn't had this precious treasure in our hands, giving it a good iron shower on the head at such close range, it would have taken a lot of effort to deal with it, and we might have even gotten hurt."

"They are fierce and have a strong sense of territory, and are especially sensitive to the scent of mineral veins."

"They usually lie dormant in the core of the mineral vein, in the area with the most concentrated energy. Once they sense that an intruder is trying to mine the minerals they consider their own, they will immediately awaken and launch a relentless attack!"

Lou Gao pointed to the surrounding rock walls that had been collapsed by the giant snake.

"It suddenly burst out from behind the rock layer we dug out. We probably dug right up to its bedroom door and disturbed its sweet dreams, or... we dug up something it was guarding!"

As Lou Gao finished speaking, something suddenly occurred to him. His bearded face turned sharply towards the enormous snake corpse, his eyes flashing with a sharp light, like new fuel being thrown into a furnace, igniting a flame of sudden realization. He slapped his thigh hard, making a crisp "smack" sound that was particularly clear in the silent mine.

"Yes! I understand now!"

Lou Gao's voice carried an unprecedented certainty mixed with a hint of annoyance.

"Xia! Now I know why we dug for over a hundred meters and didn't even find a single rare mineral! That beast probably hid them all!"

Lin Xia was wondering why the teacher was so excited when she heard this sentence, and her mind was as if a lightning bolt had cleaved through the fog!

Lin Xia instantly understood.

"Hide?"

Lin Xia's sharp eyes looked at the massive body of the Black-Striped Xuan Rock Python and the area it was guarding.

"Teacher, do you mean... it swallowed the most precious and energy-rich minerals... and then turned them into part of its scales?"

(End of this chapter)