Zhongshan Shenzhu Chi

Looking towards Zhongshan Mountain, it is only about thirty miles away.

The giant serpent rested in the Luo River, bathed in thunder, its body shimmering with silver snake lightning fragments.

I can't go any further. Right here in Zhongshan, I will break free from the last shackles binding me.

Huai Nian's mind was made up, and the dark clouds in the sky surged accordingly.

A tangible anger transformed into an invisible divine might that pressed down upon them.

Each snake scale was weighed down with immense weight, as if the great snake carried the weight of an entire world.

The red snake remained completely still.

It was meant to bear that weight.

"Where would the fundamental principles of Heaven allow such tangible anger?"

Huai Nian suppressed the urge that kept welling up inside her, an urge that seemed to originate from her very nature and wanted to flow freely, and slowly swam forward.

It moved so slowly that it couldn't even stir up any waves.

One bolt of lightning after another, like the long whip of a slave owner, struck down in succession.

The giant snake felt no pain and continued to swim closer to Zhongshan Mountain.

We're getting close.

The Yin-Yang vortex spun wildly, its gravitational pull so strong that it even absorbed the lightning bolts that struck down into its body, refining them in an instant.

Six bony protrusions on the face rotated within the flesh and blood of the skull, gradually emerging from the scales.

The serpent's breathing was heavy with pain.

The yin-yang vortex continued to rotate, growing larger and larger within its body.

Bones and muscles are twisted, broken, and then infused with even more powerful energy to regenerate.

It felt as if there were shackles inside my body, which were being broken off little by little by the stronger new flesh and blood.

The pain of flesh and blood being reconstructed reached its peak, then suddenly turned into endless itching.

The giant serpent was so filled with hatred that it wished it could grow two hands and tear its own flesh apart!

Upon entering Zhongshan, speech resumed.

The red serpent was so itchy all over that it couldn't speak, so it could only roar to the sky. Its powerful roar even tore a large hole in the dark clouds that covered the sky.

The sound of the dragon's roar echoed far and wide throughout Xia'an City.

"Oh no, this guy is trying to use the dragon transformation as an opportunity to break free of his shackles!"

"This dragon has spent its whole life fishing, and today it actually got slapped in the face by a fish!"

The old man in the red robe was greatly shaken and transformed into a rainbow of light, speeding towards Zhongshan.

Before they could get far, a long, dark spear pierced through the air, as fast as lightning. It had already closed in before they could even blink!

"The Demonic Spear of the Soldier...? Zhao Ying!" The red-robed elder made a hand seal, and blazing flames surged forth to block the spear tip. "Are you perhaps going to help a dragon-type demon break free of its shackles and advance?"

"Don't you know that the East Sea Dragon Clan has already invaded Yunxi Continent and is seizing the Imperial Dynasty's water transport?"

"Yunxi Continent is Yunxi Continent, and Yongning is Yongning. Both continents have their difficulties." Zhao Ying stepped into the air, retracted her spear into her hand, and looked at him with a sharp gaze. "Since I am in Yongning Continent, I should wholeheartedly help solve the problems here."

"To solve your problems?"

"If this mythical seed is allowed to break free of its shackles, do you know how many innocent people will die in Yongning Continent in the future!" The elder of the Crimson Immortal Sect exclaimed in astonishment.

"Stop spouting nonsense, you're not qualified to speak, and I don't want to listen."

The black spear in her hand shimmered with a pinkish luster, and Zhao Ying's eyes were so resolute that the red-robed elder doubted himself.

He had to look away from Zhao Ying to steady himself.

"It seems your Crimson Immortal Sect isn't any better. A righteous person isn't afraid of my gaze."

Zhao Ying gripped the spear tightly, her tall figure seemingly becoming one with the spear, standing straight between heaven and earth.

The original pink aura instantly dissipated, turning into scarlet blood energy, which intertwined and entangled with the pitch-black military aura.

A strong gust of wind swept away the rain.

Under the chilling aura, the red-robed elder felt as if he had left this world and found himself in an ancient battlefield.

He faced off against a massive army all by himself.

"I traveled downstream with that mountain god, and everything I saw and heard was firsthand. If you had even half the magnanimity of that mountain god, how could Yongning Prefecture be so divided, unable to unite in its efforts to combat the drought?"

Banners fluttered, and war drums resounded.

As Zhao Ying's spear moved, the shouts of battle subsided and thunder roared in the sky.

The old man in red robes was so frightened that he was unsettled. The blazing fire was ignited and then blown out, so he had no choice but to transform into a vermilion bird and flee back and forth.

After defeating the old man, the tall woman did not pursue him, but instead turned and stood between Xia'an City and Zhongshan Mountain.

Holding the gun, his phoenix eyes were fixed on the old man in red robes in front of him.

A dragon's roar echoed once more from Zhongshan.

The earth shook and trembled, as if a giant dragon were turning over from underground.

A crimson figure soared into the sky, and lightning struck, knocking off pieces of paper-like debris from its body.

"Mountain God?" Zhao Ying's heart clenched suddenly, and she was about to leap out.

But then the crimson figure suddenly opened its mouth wide, at an almost vertical angle.

"I never imagined that what truly binds me is my insufficient foundation, nor did I expect it." The Crimson Serpent gazed at the dark clouds that covered more than a hundred miles, where thunder and water mingled, and spiritual energy was abundant.

"Those dragons have really given me a wonderful gift..."

The yin-yang vortex had now reached its limit, making it almost impossible to distinguish which side was yang and which side was yin.

There is yin within yang, and yang within yin; the primordial unity is the chaotic state of the primordial energy.

"I won't be polite anymore," the red serpent muttered to itself, its mouth stretched to its limit releasing an attraction like a black hole.

Wherever it passed, the thick, inky clouds were violently sucked into the body of the red serpent.

The sky was like a stage curtain being drawn back, with clear and soft moonlight spilling down, quietly reflecting the long flow of the Luo River.

The Hunyuan Inner Core absorbs thunder, rain, dew, and dark clouds into its interior, instantly refining them into pure spiritual energy to nourish the entire body.

The transformation has reached its most crucial moment, and the blood and energy in its body are burning to power the growth of the six long horns on the top of the giant snake's head.

"roar--!"

The dragon's roar contained the oppressive power of a top-tier true dragon rising up. In an instant, the creatures of the mountains lay dormant on the ground, not daring to move.

The dragon's roar surged in all directions like a tsunami, reaching as far as the distant Cloud Tide Continent.

In an instant, the dragons, who were besieging and killing General Clam and were already bloodthirsty, suddenly felt a pressure from their very source.

This is not merely a matter of the strong intimidating the weak, but rather a demonstration of power.

It still comes from the source of bloodline, where life and death are determined solely by its mood, leaving one with a sense of powerlessness that has nothing to do with oneself.

Countless dragons collapsed to the ground, excreting and urinating indiscriminately.

Tears even welled up in the eyes of one of the alligator dragons.

The red serpent's transformation continues.

Six long horns protruded from the scales, and before they hardened, they bent on their own and gathered in threes at the back of the head.

The dense, itchy sensation, like thousands of ants gnawing at its skin, drove the red snake to try to stop the itch by striking Zhongshan Mountain with its head in pain.

But when the thought that this action would affect the terrain of Zhongshan made the red snake abruptly stop its descent.

"I want to fight!" The red snake, unable to bear the itch, roared with fighting spirit.

Suddenly, it saw the old man in red robes confronting Zhao Ying outside Zhongshan.

This person's aura is extremely similar to that of the three cultivators who lured the bloodhound down the mountain.

"Zhao Ying!" The Crimson Serpent's voice boomed like thunder, echoing far and wide across Xia'an City. "Let him come here."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ying tilted her head and glanced back and forth between Zhongshan Shen and the old man in red robes.

"oh."

The woman lightly touched the ground with her feet and instantly disappeared more than a thousand meters away.

"Haven't you always wanted to enter Zhongshan?" The red serpent lowered its head, its eyes gleaming with divine light, locking onto the red-robed old man.

"Why aren't you coming in now?"

"Hmph!" The red-robed elder snorted coldly. Seeing that dragon horns had already grown, he had the idea of ​​retreating and was about to return to the headquarters of the Crimson Immortal Sect.

Suddenly, my vision blurred for a moment, and when I came to my senses, I found myself in Zhongshan.

"You don't think that you're only restricted by Zhongshan once you enter it, do you?" The red snake's eyes blazed with fire, and the dense itching on its head was driving it almost crazy.

"The entire city of Xia'an is inhabited by believers of Zhongshan."

"I hold the power in Zhongshan."

"You think you can escape?"

"You! We can talk—!" The old man was terrified and wanted to escape, but everything in the world around him, even the spiritual power within his body, became a constraint, forcing him to stay in place.

Heaven and earth rejected him, spiritual energy turned its back on him, and even the three wills within his body were driving him away.

"A Golden Core cultivator is enough to become my sacrifice."

The red snake opened its blood-red maw and bit it off.

Instead of feeding it into the stomach, it resists, tearing its own flesh apart.

Amidst the intense pain, the red snake could no longer feel the itching.

"It has no taste."

The red serpent stood between heaven and earth, glancing at the bright moonlight, then turning its gaze back to Xia Ancheng and Zhao Ying's expectant eyes.

Feeling the fervent gaze of all the spirits of Zhongshan.

It let out a long cry, announcing to heaven and earth.

They fell into the Valley of the Serpent God.

Under its mother's gentle gaze, the red snake lowered its head, pressed itself against the rock wall, and its voice could not hide its excitement.

"Mother, I've grown up."

"Yes, it's good that you're all grown up."

"My son has finally grown up."