28: Chapter 28 Golden Horned Serpent King

The overcast sky made the day turn dark early, and it was getting darker and darker.

Amidst the torrential rain, Tang Long found Man Hai.

"Brother Tang, you're finally back, you nearly worried me to death! Why were you gone for so long? Did you take them out?"

Tang Long shook his head. "No, instead I led a big trouble here. There are currently seven people on their way to hunt me down. Brother Hai, how is your condition? Can you move?"

Man Hai was greatly startled and quickly nodded. "I can! Of course I can!"

"Then let's leave immediately while this heavy rain is falling!"

"Where are we going?"

"North! But we might have to split up!"

Man Hai was very confused. "Why?"

Tang Long sighed. "Their target is me..."

"I, Man Hai, am not the kind of person who abandons friends when encountering danger!"

Tang Long gave a bitter smile. "Brother Hai, you've misunderstood. Your size is too big, your target is too obvious. If it weren't for you, I could rely on these eyes of mine to maneuver around them."

Man Hai couldn't help but twitch his large face, falling silent.

Tang Long persuaded him again. "Brother Hai, among those seven, five are at the Fourth Stage, and the other two might be at the Fifth or Sixth Stage. If we get caught, it's certain death. If you don't leave, you'll just be throwing your life away in vain, and there are many methods I won't be able to use. So..."

Man Hai sighed again. "Alright. Since you've put it this way, I understand. You really are smarter than the average person, Brother. I'll listen to you. Are we splitting up now?"

Tang Long chuckled. "I'm going to find that Thorn Snake King. We still have one last stretch of road to travel together."

Man Hai immediately understood what he wanted to do and also started smirking.

Then, ignoring his objections, Man Hai forcibly carried him on his back and then headed north at full speed through the rain.

Tang Long had no choice but to let him.

Anyway, Man Hai had already rested for a while, and he was big and strong, so it was good for him to take this opportunity to rest as well.

From here on, everything would depend on himself.

——

The night gradually deepened.

It was pitch black, and the rain hadn't let up; instead, it was getting heavier and heavier.

Qing Mian and person trudged through the rain, stumbling along, and soon arrived before a burning tree.

"Did we go the wrong way again? This is clearly a fire caused by a lightning strike."

Looking at the charred tree, person grew impatient.

"Running into this kind of hellish weather, what bad luck! The scent has almost been washed away by the rain. We've been searching for half the night and still haven't caught up. This money is harder to earn than eating shit."

Qing Mian shook his head slightly, walked slowly to the tree, and dug out a few pieces of clothing from the mud. Reflecting the remaining firelight, the bloodstains on them were clearly visible.

"We didn't go the wrong way; they stopped here, and it wasn't long ago."

person's expression eased slightly. He leaned in to take a closer look and quickly found two sets of footprints, one large and one small.

"These are the footprints of that Hetero-blood giant! It seems they split up here. The giant continued north, while the target went... west."

person said with a hint of a smile, "We're only about an hour behind!"

But Qing Mian didn't move; instead, he turned toward the back and shouted a demand.

"Ye Xiao! Don't you usually work alone? What do you want by always following behind us?"

person was startled and immediately drew his weapon to turn around. He hadn't noticed anyone following them before, especially someone like Ye Xiao, who specialized in murder and robbery.

Before long, another figure appeared under a tree in the back, wearing a large rain hat, and looked up at them with a smile.

"It's the middle of the night, and getting rained on is annoying. My tracking skills aren't as good as you two, so following you saves some effort."

Qing Mian sneered: "Now you've achieved your goal. The target was here an hour ago, and the footprints lead west. You can chase them yourself."

person also scolded him with a straight face, "Right! Don't follow us! Otherwise, we won't be polite to you!"

Ye Xiao waved his hands with a smile, "Don't be so hostile. You should know that Mapu isn't exactly weak, and he was in such a miserable state earlier, which means the opponent isn't that easy to deal with. Think about it, 100,000 isn't that easy to earn. Otherwise, with the strength of Elder Ming and Miss Ming, would they have been outpaced by us? We might as well cooperate."

person's eyes widened like an ox's. "Cut the crap, we don't trust you!"

But at this moment, Qing Mian suddenly said: "He makes sense."

"Huh?"

person was a bit confused and couldn't quite wrap his head around it for a moment.

"The weather is too bad, and even if we run into a powerful exotic beast, it'll be dangerous. If we catch the target, we split the bounty three ways. You have no objections, right?"

"Very reasonable." Ye Xiao nodded readily.

"person and I will continue to take the lead, and Ye Xiao, you bring up the rear."

person still didn't understand, but he always listened to Qing Mian, so he could only suppress his emotions and continue moving forward with Qing Mian.

After chasing for a while longer, they walked out of the dense forest and came to the vicinity of a bald mountain.

Qing Mian suddenly turned back to call out to Ye Xiao, "There's a cave up there. I vaguely smell something. Your eyes are stronger in the dark, so you go check it out."

Ye Xiao seemed a bit hesitant, and Qing Mian's face immediately changed.

"What? You don't want to put in any effort at all? Just want to split the money for free?"

Ye Xiao then nodded and quickly headed toward the cave.

person suddenly asked: "Brother Qing, did you really smell something?"

"Of course it's true, and it's the smell of blood, just not very strong. But..." Qing Mian glared at him, then revealed a cold sneer.

"This bald mountain is occupied by a Thorn Snake King, which is extremely fierce and has potent venom, which is why nothing grows here. The target actually ran in here; they are really courting death."

person immediately got excited. "Then why didn't you tell Ye Xiao, and even let him go in?"

"Idiot! That guy is as cunning as a ghost; would he still go if you told him? It's best to let him trigger the Thorn Snake King so we can fish in troubled waters."

person couldn't help but laugh and quickly covered his mouth.

Deep inside the cave, Tang Long was also laughing.

After waiting for so long, these people had finally arrived.

Although only three came, it didn't matter; they should have that kind of signal flare on them. Once the Thorn Snake King is awakened, the others will naturally rush here.

Through several meters of soil, he ended his Breathing Technique, looked at the still-sleeping Thorn Snake King, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

[Golden-Horned Thorn Snake King. BOSS: Sharp Metal, Violent Poison]

[Level: LV10]

[vitality: 178800 / 178800]

[Spirit Energy: 19600 / 19600]

[Attributes: Strength?, Agility 43, Spirit 42, Endurance?, Spirituality?]

[Skills: Fire Poison Breath, Golden Horn Charge, ???]

[Summary: It is a powerful regional overlord, currently sleeping after a full meal. Disturbing it will incite its fury.]

Only when Tang Long got close did he realize that this damn thing was not some small BOSS at all.

A small BOSS's vitality is about the same level as Man Hai's and his own.

This guy has nearly 180,000 HP, 20,000 mana, and possesses two or three skills; it should be a mutated BOSS.

Moreover, the bald rocky mountain it occupies has actually been hollowed out by it; the cave system is intertwined like an ant nest, undoubtedly its home turf that it had prepared long ago.

Several meters beneath where its mountain-like snake body was coiled, something was flashing with golden light; it should be a treasure.

Unfortunately, don't let its level 10 fool you; if players were to fight it, a whole team of level 20s might not even be able to take it down.

Tang Long didn't know what kind of Blue Star martial artist could defeat it, but a few mid-stage Qi Manipulation experts definitely wouldn't stand a chance.

Therefore, as he was about to wake it up, he himself was likely in great danger.

Seeing Ye Xiao getting closer and closer, following the bloodstains he had deliberately left behind, he immediately turned his head and quickly snuck toward where the Thorn Snake King was coiled.

Entering the Snake King's cave, he looked back at the distance Ye Xiao was at, immediately nocked an arrow, strained to pull the bow to its full draw, aimed at the tightly closed snake eye, and released the bowstring.

Swish!

The arrow embedded itself into the center of the Thorn Snake King's eyelid gap, but it didn't cause it any damage at all.

This situation was something Tang Long had never expected beforehand.

Fortunately, although this arrow didn't hurt the Thorn Snake King, its eyes opened immediately afterward.

The eyelid lifted, the nictitating membrane opened like a gate, revealing a huge vertical pupil, and a long snake tongue probed out, carrying a stream of red gas.

[You have awakened the Golden-Horned Thorn Snake King!]

[You have been afflicted with Thorn Snake Violent Poison! Lost 15 vitality!]

[...Lost 21 vitality!]