The jade pendant connects the past and present; the exiled crown prince's wife takes her entire

As the swarm of snakes receded, the snake king gradually revealed itself.

The snake was coiled on the ground, its body ten times thicker than the other snakes, as big as an adult man's thigh. Layers of thick scales were stacked on top of each other, with a dark bluish-black sheen. Each scale was the size of a palm, with sharp edges like a knife.

The enormous snake's body coiled into a small hill; just one section lying horizontally on the ground caused all the surrounding withered branches to break, and the soil on the ground to be dented by the weight of its body.

Its robust body showed no sign of slenderness, appearing solid and heavy from head to toe. Its neck was as thick as a water bucket, and as it swallowed and released its forked, dark tongue, its thick muscles rolled slowly beneath its scales. With each movement, a dull tremor reverberated through the ground.

The snake's tail was thick and strong; with a single flick, it snapped a nearby tree in half. Its body was enveloped in a damp, pungent, and chilling aura, radiating a suffocating pressure.

At this moment, its vertical black pupils were fixed on the human who had injured countless small snakes.

Suddenly, without warning, it pounced on Song Qingyan, revealing its sharp teeth.

Using the tree trunk beside him for leverage, Song Qingyan shifted his weight to Jiang Jinning and carried her to the vicinity of the snake king's head. He gripped the small knife tightly in his hand and aimed for the snake king's vital spot.

Before he could make a move, the snake king swept its long tail back, attempting to sweep Song Qingyan away.

Song Qingyan plunged his knife into the snake king's body, while using his other hand to steady Jiang Jinning. His body swayed back and forth like a kite.

"Big brother, I'll protect sister-in-law!"

Song Qingyan ignored it.

It wasn't that she truly resented her family, but rather that if someone noticed something amiss with Jin Ning's current state, then things would be in serious trouble.

The snake king never expected that a tiny human would pierce a hole in its hard body. It desperately rammed into the tree to shake off the audacious human.

Song Qingyan, however, took advantage of the situation and sat on the snake's body again.

He tried to pull out the knife, but couldn't. This only made the snake king, who was in pain, even more unbearable, and he thrashed around even more violently.

Song Qingyan steadied himself with difficulty, shielding Jiang Jinning in front of him, his hands embracing the snake's body.

That won't work. He needs a tool to strike the snake's vital spot, preferably an extremely hard, thick wooden stick. Since the snake's skull is soft, a blunt strike would be more effective.

Song Wanzhen below seemed to understand her elder brother's purpose and frantically searched for suitable branches, avoiding the snakes.

Before he could find it, the snake king seemed to have seen through the two humans' intentions and swept its long tail towards Song Wanzhen.

"Oh no, Mom! Run!"

Song Wanzhen had never run so fast in her entire life.

But the snake's tail was thick, hard, and large, and there was no way she could dodge it. Soon, the snake's tail coiled around Wang Song Wanzhen's body.

"Bang bang bang!"

Just as the snake king was triumphantly coiling the man up, he felt his head spinning.

"Let go of Wanzhen! You vile snake, I'll beat you to death!"

Then, Jiang Jinning, who had returned at some point, was seen hitting the snake's head hard with an extremely thick wooden stick.

The snake's tail suddenly went limp, releasing Song Wanzhen.

"Sister-in-law!"

Song Wanzhen, who had just been put down, ignored the pain in her body and waved to Jiang Jinning with delight.

"Sister-in-law, you did a great job! Kill that stinking snake!"

"Um!"

Encouraged, Jiang Jinning played even more enthusiastically.

Tonight was her first time setting up a stall, and she was really nervous. However, she had been bothered twice, which prevented her from selling many handkerchiefs and flower wrappings. She was holding her breath in resentment.

She picked up this stick from the trash heap when she was closing up her stall, thinking she could use it for firewood. But it just so happens to be perfect for killing snakes!

The snake king was caught off guard by the sudden attack, and its survival instinct forced it to launch a frantic counterattack after it came to its senses.

Jiang Jinning swayed and almost fell off.

That's a full ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) above the ground; if you were thrown down, you'd be crippled or killed!

Jiang Jinning, clutching the wooden stick, closed her eyes in fright. After a while, she realized that she hadn't fallen and that Song Qingyan was holding her waist.

Song Qingyan's hand held her waist so tightly that she could hardly breathe.

In this critical moment, Jiang Qingyan's face turned red, especially when her back was pressed against the young general's chest. The unique scent of the young general kept flooding into her nose, and her neck turned completely red.

Song Qingyan was unaware of her abnormality. At that moment, he pulled out the knife, carefully put it away, and placed his hand on the thick wooden stick.

Jiang Jinning's hand, which was gripping the wooden stick, suddenly loosened its grip as if she had been electrocuted.

Song Qingyan, his eyes fixed on the lurking snake king, asked distractedly, "Is it injured?"

"No, no..."

She couldn't tell the young general that she was being held too tightly and couldn't breathe.

"Alright, take care of yourself, I'll take care of it!"

The difference in strength between men and women is vast, especially for Song Qingyan, who has practiced martial arts since childhood; his strength is naturally far superior to that of Jiang Jinning.

He gripped the wooden stick tightly, his eyes blazing, and before the snake king could escape, he struck its vital spot with swift, precise, and ruthless speed.

The snake king tried to throw the person down again, but instead received an even more vicious retaliation.

Finally, a crisp sound was heard, as if its spine had broken, and then with a thud, the entire snake collapsed to the ground.

Song Qingyan landed on the ground with Jiang Jinning, but the second branch of the Song family and other members had long since disappeared.

Zhao and Song Wanzhen surrounded them, their eyes red, especially Zhao, whose eyes were swollen from crying.

"Mother, you must have been terrified. It's alright now, the little general has already killed the giant snake."

Zhao opened her mouth as if to say something, but said nothing.

"what!"

The silence was shattered by screams from not far away.

Song Qingyan rushed over with his family, only to find that Yuan Er had his throat slit by Zheng Jiechai.

Song Qingyan's pupils suddenly contracted as he looked at Chen Hui.

Chen Hui shook his head with a grim expression, but his eyes lingered on Sun Quan behind Zheng Jiechai.

Sun Quansheng's innocent face was now filled with lowered eyes, revealing a look of regret and lingering fear, showing no sign of anything amiss.

He seemed to glance at Song Qingyan indifferently, or perhaps just casually.

But Song Qingyan could sense the mockery and smugness in that glance.

"That bastard tried to attack me while the snakes were distracted, but I killed him with a single blow!"

Zheng Jiechai's face flushed with anger, and Sun Quan, who was behind him, stepped forward to try and persuade him in a low voice.

"You don't need to say anything more. It's just that Yuan Er harbored a grudge, which is why he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to kill me. I know his intentions perfectly well!"

Unable to persuade him, Sun Quan looked helpless.

Song Qingyan pieced together from the conversations of the onlookers that the snakes had mainly attacked Zheng Jiechai, and that Yuan Jiechai had initially hidden behind the crowd, but after most of the snakes had been cut down, he rushed out, saying, "Boss, I'll protect you!"

The knife was swung at Zheng Jiechai, and he was killed with a single blow.

It seems to be without any flaws.

Zheng Jiechai was still angry, but when he heard that the snake king's gall and skin could be sold for money, he immediately forgot about Yuan Er and happily went to deal with the giant snake.

"A few men, come help me deal with the snake king!"

Zheng Jiechai thought of Song Qingyan, who might have a powerful background, and was about to say something when he was interrupted by the neighing of a horse.

"You cut down the snakes in my village, did you even ask me first?!"