96: Chapter 96 Black Water Serpent

The moment the snake head emerged from the cold pool, the cold, fishy wind wrapped around the chill of the pool water and rushed straight at the cliff wall.

The Black Water Mysterious Snake's two emerald vertical pupils contracted into two extremely thin lines under the sunlight; the pupils in the center were as pitch-black as wells, locking firmly onto the grey-clothed figure in the cliff crevice.

Its snake mouth opened wide, revealing four scimitar-shaped fangs the length of a forearm; venom dripped from the tips, sizzling when it hit the water surface, sending up billowing white smoke.

A deep, extremely low hiss erupted from the depths of its throat.

It was not sharp, but sounded like muffled thunder rolling at the bottom of the water; the gravel on the cliff wall was shaken loose, falling down, and a few pebbles struck Jiang Yan's shoulder before bouncing off into the abyss.

Immediately after, the snake tail slammed into the water surface.

A dark green water column exploded ten zhang high, and its massive body used the force to catapult out of the cold pool.

The water spray was condensed into ice beads by the cold air in mid-air; fist-sized ice beads pelted the cliff wall, shattering into ice dregs upon hitting the obsidian rock, the splashing ice shards flashing with a blinding white light under the sun.

The moment the snake head emerged, Jiang Yan had already flipped out of the crevice.

The Wind Control Technique beneath his feet exploded into a fierce wave of Qi, propelling him three zhang sideways, landing steadily on a protruding rock ridge on the cliff.

When his boot soles stepped on the edge of the rock ridge, they crushed a layer of weathered rock debris; fine obsidian particles rolled off from beside his feet, falling into the abyss, and it took several breaths before the faint sound of water came from the pool surface.

He did not pause for even a moment. With a wave of his right hand, the flame gold flying sword was the first to unsheathe.

The crimson center line on the sword spine shone blindingly under the sun, and all nine Restrictions were fully activated; the sword body drew a scorching arc in mid-air, heading straight for the snake head.

The Flying Sword struck the scales on the snake head; with a clanging sound of metal colliding, sparks flew—only a shallow white mark was left on the scales, not even breaking the dark blue cold light on the edges of the scales.

The Black Water Mysterious Snake shook its head in pain, and its snake tail whipped out from the pool water, sweeping across the cliff wall with the force of ten thousand jun.

Where the snake tail passed, the obsidian rock shattered and flew; several basin-sized boulders were ripped from the cliff wall, crashing into the cold pool and sending up several water columns.

Jiang Yan had already leaped into the air before the snake tail swept over.

The rock ridge beneath his feet was struck by the snake tail; the entire rock collapsed from the cliff wall, debris scattering everywhere, and one piece grazed his left shoulder, only to be deflected by the defensive Restriction on his dharma robe.

While in mid-air, he simultaneously fired the purple-veined thunder sword with his left hand.

The purple-gold sword body carved a strange arc, circling to the flank of the snake head.

The thunder arc patterns on the sword spine were all activated, and purple-white electric arcs that crackled and hissed danced at the sword tip, ionizing the surrounding water mist into a pale blue haze.

The purple-veined thunder sword did not attack head-on—it bypassed the thick scales on the front of the snake head and stabbed diagonally from the side into the joint gap where the snake neck connected to the snake head.

That was a weak spot not covered by scales, consisting only of a layer of highly resilient snake skin.

The moment the sword tip pierced in, the thunder arc poured into the snake body along the sword.

The purple-white electric arc exploded inside the snake neck, and the Black Water Mysterious Snake let out a deafening hiss—this time it was not a low rumble of muffled thunder, but a genuine scream.

The neck muscles spasmed violently, the snake head jerked backward, and the emerald vertical pupils dilated for an instant in the intense pain, changing from vertical lines to ellipses.

But a Peak First-Order Yao Beast was, after all, a Peak First-Order Yao Beast.

It used its snake tail to kick off the cliff wall, and its entire snake body flipped half a circle in the air.

The paralysis brought by the thunder strike was forcefully shaken off by its brute strength, and when the snake head flipped back, it opened its mouth wide, and a stream of dark green venom shot toward Jiang Yan like an arrow leaving the bowstring.

The venom dragged a foul-smelling trail through the air, corroding the air wherever it passed with sizzling sounds, and several drops of splashed venom landed on the cliff wall.

The surface of the obsidian was instantly corroded into a fist-sized pit, and the edges of the pit were still bubbling outwards; when the bubbles burst, they emitted a pungent, sour stench.

Jiang Yan shifted his figure, and the Wind Control Technique exploded a second wave of Qi beneath his feet, moving him two zhang to the right.

The venom grazed the outside of his left arm and sprayed onto the cliff wall behind him.

The surface of the obsidian was instantly corroded into a bucket-sized pit, and the bottom of the pit was still sizzling with white smoke, the corroded rock collapsing downwards in a honeycomb shape.

The Black Water Mysterious Snake did not give him a chance to catch his breath.

As soon as the venom was sprayed, the snake tail slammed the pool surface again, stirring up a sky full of water curtains.

The water curtain split into dozens of water arrows in mid-air, each as thick as an arm, the arrowheads sharp as spears, and the arrow bodies bringing up spiral-shaped water mists as they rotated at high speed.

Dozens of water arrows covered the sky and the earth, enveloping the figure on the cliff wall, sealing off all his dodging routes up, down, left, and right.

Jiang Yan did not dodge.

He flipped his right hand, and the top-grade Flying Sword was already in his grip.

Driven by the Sword Control Technique, the sword body let out a clear, long chime—it was not waving wildly, but was precise, with every strike hitting the stress node where the water arrow's tip connected to the arrow shaft.

The seven or eight water arrows shooting toward him were all severed at once, water spraying out at the cut points, turning into a cold rain mist that sprinkled onto the cliff wall.

The remaining water arrows struck the obsidian rock beside him, debris scattering; one grazed his cheek, the pressure of the wind cutting off a few hairs at his temple.

Amidst the sky full of water mist, he locked onto the position of the snake head.

His Divine Sense spread to the limit, penetrating the cover of the water mist, capturing the Black Water Mysterious Snake gathering strength again from below his left.

The snake head retracted slightly, neck muscles bulging like a bow, the snake mouth half-open, fangs rolling in the oral cavity, and new venom beginning to seep from the tips. It was going to pounce.

This was the moment Jiang Yan had been waiting for.

The god-slaying flying knife shot out silently from between his fingers.

The purple pattern gold blade flashed and vanished in the water mist, its speed so fast that the naked eye could only capture an extremely thin purple line.

That was not the straight line of sword light; it was the spiral-shaped afterimage produced by the natural purple pattern gold veins on the flying knife reflecting sunlight as it rotated at high speed.

The flying knife pierced into the center of the Black Water Mysterious Snake's forehead.

There was a tiny diamond-shaped scale, only the size of a fingernail, lighter in color than the other scales, with translucent edges.

The Divine Soul defense of snake-type Yao Beasts was weakest at the forehead, and this diamond-shaped scale was the only weak point.

The simplified Restriction of the "Soul-Splitting Slash" on the god-slaying flying knife was fully activated the moment it pierced in.

The natural Divine Sense amplification patterns of the purple pattern gold magnified Jiang Yan's Divine Sense attack several times over, turning it into an invisible blade that slashed fiercely into the snake soul.

The Black Water Mysterious Snake's vertical pupils suddenly dilated.

Those two emerald pupils violently expanded from the contracted thin lines into unfocused, round circles.

The emerald green in the iris rapidly dimmed from bright to grey-green, and from grey-green to dead grey—like a lamp suddenly blown out.

The snake mouth opened to its limit, the upper and lower jaws almost stretched into a straight line, the four fangs gleaming coldly under the sun.

But it could not make any sound.

The pain of having its Divine Soul slashed surpassed all physical pain, stripping it even of the ability to hiss.

The massive body stiffened in mid-air for an instant, the snake tail twitching violently and unconsciously, splashing water everywhere as it hit the pool surface.

It was this instant.

The flame gold flying sword turned a scorching arc in the air and pierced through the snake mouth.

The sword body grazed the inside of the fangs, penetrated the upper jaw, and stabbed straight into the cranial cavity.

The flame amplification Restriction on the sword body exploded with full force the moment it pierced in—it was not spewing flames from the sword tip, but the entire sword turned into a red-hot branding iron inside the snake skull.

The high-temperature flames expanded and exploded within the sealed cranial cavity, burning the snake brain into a lump of charred carbon.

A fleeting dark red firelight shone from within the snake eyes, as if a ball of fire had lit up inside two emerald lanterns simultaneously, and then the firelight extinguished, and the lanterns went out as well.