Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

Upon hearing this, Bloodhound was about to get up, but as soon as he exerted any force, an unbearable pain surged deep in his spine, and his body trembled uncontrollably, completely beyond his control. In the end, he could only lie back down on the ground.

Its ears were bent back, close to its head.

Although his eyes still held a defiant look, his body language now showed only submission.

The giant snake rushed down the cliff and landed in front of the Golden Ape King.

The white fox leaped off the snake's body, placed the jade bead in front of the two "unfortunate brothers," and quickly left.

"Tell me, how did the Crimson Immortal Sect contact you? How did they find you?" The giant snake coiled around the bloodhound, its eyes fixed on him.

"A woman named Meng Heng told me to crush the jade beads after I went down the mountain..." Bloodhound secretly glanced at Red Serpent, but as soon as he met those golden and silver heterochromatic eyes, his eyes quickly returned to normal as he counted the number of pebbles in front of him.

"and then?"

"I don't need to kill any animals; I just need to wander around where they appear and leave a wisp of hair..."

Under the piercing gaze of the Crimson Serpent, which seemed to see right into one's soul, Bloodhound dared not conceal anything and answered truthfully:

"They gave me offerings from the people outside Yongning Prefecture, as well as a Golden Core of Humanity that was destroyed by lightning but still retained a trace of Daoist energy."

"You really believe it?" the giant snake asked, its voice authoritative and cold.

It had already activated the sensory perception inherent in snakes.

In the contrasting light and cold of the surroundings, the outline of the beating heart in the bloodhound's chest cavity was clearly visible.

The moment he appeared, his heart suddenly started beating faster. When he was speaking, his heart was still beating fast but at a steady pace, without any signs of disorder.

This means that what Bloodhound said earlier was true, but being true... does not mean being completely open about it.

The giant serpent slowly raised its head, its scales gleaming like sharp blades in the moonlight. Its gaze was icy yet intensely oppressive, locking onto the bloodhound's injured spine.

"No...that's all..." The extreme threat terrified the bloodhound, causing its heart and lungs to stop. It hurriedly replied, "The humans didn't say much to me, just these few words, and they made me choose!"

The great snake remained silent.

Under the solemn gaze of the Golden Ape King, the enormous snake head slowly lowered, close to the back of the bloodhound.

The snake's tongue darted out, touching the air, its forked tip only an inch from the wound on the bloodhound's back. With each flick of its tongue, it seemed as if it were licking the spinal cord through the skin.

The Red Serpent now possesses a presence and aura resembling the great river that traverses Zhongshan Mountain, while Bloodhound himself is merely relying on a blue fish within that river.

The bloodhound's body was tense, its muscles contracted and pressed against its spine, and excruciating pain swept through its mind like a torrent, but under the watchful eye of the red snake, it dared not even breathe too heavily.

"Candle, have you successfully shed your skin?" The Golden Ape King suddenly spoke, breaking the silence.

"Success." The giant snake retracted its head, and its oppressive aura diminished sharply.

The bloodhound let out a long sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground, its body limp.

"Think it through." The red serpent looked down at the bloodhound, its voice low and steady, without a trace of emotion. "Why did the humans give you all those things, yet only let you go down the mountain for one trip?"

"We'll leave the valley when we've figured things out."

"Furthermore, it's not that I'm letting you go, but that Zhongshan still recognizes you as one of the creatures of the mountains."

After speaking, the red serpent withdrew its gaze, and its enormous serpent body slowly turned around.

It meandered away, its presence fading into the distance.

The bloodhound remained lying in place, not daring to raise its head.

The Golden Ape King opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, and could only watch as the steady, mountain-like, and flowing, crimson figure gradually disappeared into the depths of the valley.

The matter of the bloodhound came to an end, and the giant snake roamed the dense forest.

Will the Crimson Immortal Sect retaliate? How will Xia'an City react? These causes and effects will not be altered by anyone's efforts or despair.

Zhongshan stands here, unmoved and unchanging. Whether it brings fortune or misfortune, right or wrong, honor or disgrace, rise or fall, it will eventually come to pass.

Huai Nian didn't need to plan ahead or weigh things repeatedly like the human race did.

For a snake, the path is always simple: hold fast to what you are doing in the present moment and do what you are supposed to do now.

The rest is up to time.

Now, what I should do is to cultivate myself without distraction.

After shedding its skin, the giant snake's speed increased again, and by the time the moon was about to set, it had already returned to the mountain cave.

The Luo River was calm, like a silver basin, now filled with the moonlight falling from the sky. The surface of the water seemed to be covered with a layer of fine snow, clear and silent.

The enormous serpent slowly sank into the water, causing ripples to spread out and shatter the mirror-like surface of the lake.

The Luo River, carrying the yin moonlight of the night, seemed to have its own consciousness, moving without wind, and slowly converging towards the body of the red serpent.

A silvery-white light climbed up the red serpent's body, leaving behind a layer of dense, hair-thin vines.

Huai Nian turned to look at her own body, feeling both confused and enlightened.

After racking my brains for a long time, I still couldn't understand it, so I simply stopped thinking about it.

The yin-yang vortex within the body was already predominantly yang and deficient in yin. When it encountered Xuan Yuehua, which covered the entire body of the red snake, it was as if it had encountered a magnet, and it began to rotate spontaneously.

The giant snake closed its nostrils and sank to the bottom of the water, intending to take a short rest.

Beneath the surface, undercurrents surged, and wave after wave of barely perceptible energy swept in, as if some battle was taking place in the distance.

However, the underwater conflict should be resolved once the large bluefish swallows the medium.

Huai Nian shook her head, buried her entire body in the mud, and fell into a deep sleep.

The sun rises and sets, ten times in a row.

The moonlight covering the giant serpent's entire body was gradually absorbed by the spontaneously rotating yin-yang vortex.

The essence of the sun is unruly and extremely difficult to refine; the slightest instability will unleash unparalleled heat that ravages the entire body. Therefore, every day at noon during its cultivation, the giant serpent would soak in the Luo River to suppress the intense heat within its body.

In contrast, although the moonlight is of the dark yin nature and is opposite to the essence of the sun, and is icy cold to the touch, it is extremely easy to refine.

The giant serpent slumbered at the bottom of the water. Its body shivered a few times before the cold moonlight was enveloped and refined by the scorching blood energy within its body, completely merging into the serpent's form.

Ten more sunrises and sunsets.

The snake's belly was empty, and hunger pounded like a war drum, one beat after another, waking Huai Nian.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes, like gold and silver stars, shone brightly from the mud, illuminating the dark bottom of the water.

The giant snake slowly rose upwards, poked its head out of the water, and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, a piece of ice hit me as the water flowed by.

Huai Nian lowered her eyes, and another piece of ice came flowing downstream and crashed into her.

"That's strange... It's almost summer, why is the water still frozen?"

The large snake lowered its body, flicked its tongue, and lightly touched the ice.

As the familiar scent molecules were ingested, the image of the giant blue carp exhaling demonic power, freezing a river hundreds of meters deep, and battling a ferocious alien beast automatically surfaced in his mind.

Huai Nian tried to see the ferocious beast clearly, but the image in her mind was blocked by a towering cloud of water vapor.

"The giant bluefish has met its match..." the snake murmured.

Just as it was wondering whether to go and take a look, a voice it hadn't heard in a long time suddenly rang in its mind.

"A-Nian, come to me." The voice was still gentle, but it couldn't hide the weariness in it.

"Mother!"