Red Snake and Xuan Turtle, although they got along well and rooted for love together every year, their temperaments were poles apart. Xuan Turtle was generous and merciful, viewing all life with kindness and optimism. Even when harmed by others or killed repeatedly, he harbored hatred only towards those who killed him, never generalizing it to all humans.
He also believed that humans were intelligent, possessing great wisdom, and he liked making friends with them.
Red Snake was different; his nature was cunning and venomous, never forgetting a grudge. Among all creatures, humans had hurt him the most, and he detested them deeply. Once, a hunter laid a trap for him with blades buried in the ground that sliced open his belly. Thankfully, the divine effectiveness of Queen Mother Grass saved him. After waking up from that incident, he swore to kill every human he saw and aimed to exterminate all humans under the sky!
Now, following the Black Dragon King, he was restrained from killing indiscriminately. He could not comprehend why the Black Dragon King loved humans so much, not only refraining from killing them but also saving them. He believed that the Black Dragon King would ultimately be harmed or even killed by humans, who were deceitful and ungrateful.
Countless times he wanted to cry out to the king, "If you continue like this, you will eventually die at the hands of humans!"
He hadn't killed anyone in many days...
Ordinary villagers couldn't be killed, but luckily there was Yao Suxiu, who had done wrong and been sentenced by the king.
The king tying him up and throwing him into the river meant he wanted him dead, right? It must be!
He didn't know that the Black Dragon King was fundamentally a human and couldn't understand the king's feelings for humans, let alone why the king spared Yao Suxiu this time: firstly, the victimized villagers had forgiven Yao Suxiu and even pleaded for him, not only believing he shouldn't die but also that he was right. Secondly, Yao Suxiu had indeed built a temple for Shi Feiyang.
Red Snake couldn't grasp the intricacies; he only knew that if he killed a human whom the king had sentenced, the king probably wouldn't be angry.
Earlier, Yao Suxiu had cursed vehemently, but upon seeing Red Snake's enormous body swiftly approaching, his legs went weak, and he knelt down with a plop, "General Red Snake! General Red Snake, please spare my life! The Dragon King promised to let me live or die by my fate..."
Red Snake didn't care what he said. With cold, unflinching eyes fixed on Yao Suxiu, his body slithered out of the water. Approaching the bowing Yao Suxiu, he raised his head high, preparing to swallow him whole.
Just as he opened his venomous jaws to devour him, suddenly, a sword light flew in from afar, "Demon, stop harming people!"
Red Snake whipped his head around, spotting a several-zhang-long white sword light flying towards him diagonally, aimed straight at his vital "qi center." He quickly opened his mouth and spat out a thick burst of Dan Qi, engulfing the sword light.
The sword light was pure white, characteristic of the Mysterious Sect's true skill, of excellent quality. Within the Dan Qi, it shone radiantly, slashing and thrusting violently. With the opponent's loud shout, the sword light surged, splitting the Dan Qi and once again chopping towards the snake's head.
In the past, Red Snake would have been slain by such a strike, having three hundred years of mana but failing to utilize it effectively. But since following the Black Dragon King, he had received several transmissions of techniques, including not only refining methods but also usage techniques. Aside from refining his past mana, he extracted True Yin from the Poison Fire Elixir, undergoing a qualitative transformation and learning several application spells.
Seeing the enemy's Flying Sword formidable, Red Snake rolled his body towards the muddy shore. Red mist rose from the ground; the chasing Flying Sword struck at the red mist but hit nothing, the giant snake body having vanished into thin air.
Yao Suxiu, having narrowly escaped death, hurriedly ran towards the direction from which the Flying Sword had come.
At that moment, a Daoist clad in a blue robe with a red face and a long beard emerged from the forest. He formed a hand seal to recall the Flying Sword, striding briskly towards the shore.
Yao Suxiu hurried over and knelt down, kowtowing, "Thank you, Immortal, for saving my life! Thank you, Immortal, for saving my life! Might I ask the venerable Immortal for your honored name?"
"I am Lei Que, the Temple Master of White Water Temple," the Daoist retrieved his Flying Sword but did not store it inside his body. Instead, he let it circle around him as he scanned his surroundings vigilantly, "I returned to Emei Mountain to pay respects to the Sect Leader, the True Master, and was guided by several senior brothers to refine my sword in the mountains. In just over a year, I had never expected such a powerful Snake Demon to emerge here!"
This Lei Que was a disciple of True Master Xu Yuantong from the Kan Li lineage, and he had been practicing for only three to four years. His skill was not very deep yet, but the swordsmanship of the Emei Sect was unmatched. His master had helped him refine the Flying Sword, and thus the Red Snake could not withstand it.
Yao Suxiu was searching for a Sword Immortal to slay the demon. Upon hearing this, emotions nearly overwhelmed him. Pointing into the distance, where the veiled Dinghu Peak was faintly visible through the mist, he exclaimed, "There's another demon inside there! A black Demon Dragon! This snake is its subordinate. And yes, they have a black Xuan Turtle as well—a very formidable demon! Immortal, please unleash the Divine Sword and eradicate them all, eliminating these evils for the good of the world!"
However, Lei Que shook his head, "I have known about the Demon Dragon inside Dinghu Peak for a while. It usually cultivates hidden under the lake and does not harm people; otherwise, our Righteous Sect's Sword Immortals would not tolerate its presence, and he possesses the Jade Box Heavenly Book. The Evil Sect's Sword Immortals would have killed him long ago. How could he still be alive after all this time?"
"He harms people! He does harm people," Yao Suxiu hurriedly interjected, "That demon descended the mountain several months ago, causing storms and triggering a massive flood. The torrential floods recurrently hit the area within a hundred miles, collapsing houses and causing people to become displaced. Many families, old and young, died in the mudslides—utterly tragic. He forced us to contribute money and labor to build the Dragon King Temple, and at every full moon on the fifteenth, he demanded we offer incense and worship, as well as children for him to feast upon. Now, today, he declared the Dragon Palace too lonely, and demanded we choose the youngest and most beautiful girls from our homes to become his Dragon Consorts. Oh, oh, pity those girls, barely fifteen or sixteen, beautiful as flowers, all ruined by that demon!"
Lei Que was shocked upon hearing this, "Has the Demon Dragon begun to speak human language?"
"Yes, he can! How could he not?" Yao Suxiu cried heart-wrenchingly, tears and blood on his forehead as he implored, "Please, Immortal, show mercy! Save the people of Immortal City! Otherwise, it won't be long before the Demon Dragon kills us all!"
Lei Que pondered and said, "I've been studying for only three or five years, and all I have is this Flying Sword—I'm no match for that Demon Dragon. Now that it can speak, it must have changed its appearance and consumed some heaven-sent treasures, fully realized its power. I cannot subdue it; this matter would require my master's intervention. Come with me!"
He intended to take Yao Suxiu back to find True Master Xu Yuantong. As he just turned around, suddenly, red smoke surged out of the ground. This time, it wasn't just one stream but eight streams, arranged in a circle according to the Eight Diagrams, trapping them inside.
"Be careful, the demon smoke is poisonous!" Lei Que formed a spell with his left hand, propelling True Yuan and releasing strong winds from his sleeves toward the red smoke to disperse it.
This red smoke was naturally produced by the Red Snake. With over three hundred years of Mana, originally it could only uncontrollably spout based on its innate demon abilities, displaying only a fraction of its power. Now, armed with the spells Shi Feiyang taught, it was releasing twelve or thirteen points of power from its full potential!
Lei Que continued to cast spells. The Emei Immortal Techniques were infinitely profound, his sleeves were like the legendary Wind God's bag, the winds grew fiercer and faster, blowing up sand and stones till the sun and moon were darkened.
However, the red smoke seemed thin and fluttered in the sandy winds, entwining and refusing to dissipate, but instead became denser as it interconnected.
"Not good! This is the Eight Gate Inverted Formation... How is this possible?" Lei Que's face was filled with disbelief.
He realized the Array was founded on the principle of Qimen Dunjia, activating and interlocking in a dizzying sequence.
A snake dabbling in Qimen Skill was already bizarre enough. This skill was both righteous and evil, seeming like a deviation in pursuit, seeking only strong power, but actually riddled with vulnerabilities. Lei Que, having learned the Mysterious Sect's Righteous Skill, spotted many vulnerabilities instantly; exploiting these would break the enemy's formations.
But when he truly attempted to act, those vulnerabilities either shifted and vanished, or were counterbalanced from other angles, forcing him to be unable to strike. He checked several spots, and it was all the same.
"How very odd and strange indeed!"