343: The Snake Hermit's Careful Thoughts

The Snake Hermit stood within the Cold Ice Formation he controlled, watching the situation outside the Formation with astonishment, unable to help but frown slightly.

"Has the time come? I never expected I would need to use such measures to counter this tribulation!"

The Snake Hermit dressed like a Young Master from an official's family, but he had a feminine appearance, extremely soft and charming, which was why the Bei Mang Mountain Ghost King looked down on him.

However, the Snake Hermit also looked down on other members of the Yao Race besides himself!

He had been wandering the Human Realm for over a hundred years, witnessing the transition from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, and was one of the few witnesses to the rise of the Great Tang. He knew the foundations of the Great Tang all too well. Honestly, if it weren't for his old friend, the Crocodile God, urging him time and again, he would not have wanted to get involved in this muddy water.

Back in the day, his cousin had been implicated and died early under the Golden Cudgel because he blocked Tang Seng's journey to the West and colluded with the Bear Spirit to steal the Old Monk's kasaya.

It could be said that affairs in the human world were inherently very dangerous for the Yao Race.

Because for any member of the Yao Race, practicing was much harder than for humans. Just removing the horizontal bone in their throats to learn human speech took over a hundred years of practice, and then transforming into a human form only counted as half a success. The hardships involved were immense, and the various disasters heaven bestowed upon the Yao Race were not something ordinary minor demons could handle. Therefore, among the Yao Race, there were generally many who walked the evil path, as they fed on the flesh and blood of living beings and absorbed their souls to Cultivate; this was truly a Heaven-Defying act. Such Yao Cultivators were called 'demons,' and the tribulations they suffered were much heavier than those of ordinary Yao Cultivators; nine out of ten would be blasted into dust directly by the heavenly Lightning Tribulation!

Those who walked the Righteous Path with bitter practice, learned human speech, begged for a title, finally achieved human form, did good deeds, accumulated Karma, and eventually achieved fruition could be called 'Yao Immortals.' However, such members of the Yao Race were generally not good at fighting, and their magic power was far inferior to powerful demons. Although their magic power was profound after achieving fruition, those who could actually make it to the end were very few!

The Snake Hermit could not be considered a Yao Immortal, but he was definitely not a demon. After all, to this day, he had never wantonly killed an innocent.

But now, he had been dragged into the struggle between the Yao Race and the Human Race, which could definitely be considered a tribulation!

When he saw that purple lightning appear again and blast the Bei Mang Mountain Ghost King until he vomited blood, he felt an intuition in his heart.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, another bolt of purple lightning descended from the sky, suddenly turned in mid-air, and headed straight for the Ten Absolute Formation.

At this moment, he realized that the Bei Mang Mountain Ghost King had been played by the opponent!

It was too late to think further. His pupils constricted, and he shouted to the minor demons under his command: 'Hey, you lot, run for your lives!'

The minor demons looked at each other, and one minor demon who was a toad spirit clasped his fists and said: 'Great King, we will not leave; we are willing to advance and retreat with you!'

'Get lost!'

With a gentle wave of his sleeve, dozens of minor demons were instantly blown away by a gust of wind and disappeared from sight.

'You lot should have some self-awareness. That thing is extremely dangerous. If I didn't need to use it to undergo my Tribulation, I wouldn't want to touch it either!' the Snake Hermit muttered to himself.

That's right, ever since he saw the power of this purple lightning, this was the idea he had!

If possible, as long as he could withstand this bolt of lightning, he could shed his scales and horns and truly transform into a human! And he himself... still harbored some little schemes...

Boom!

The purple lightning descended instantly and smashed fiercely outside the Cold Ice Formation. The iceberg hovering overhead melted by more than thirty percent in an instant, and the terrifying lightning was still releasing energy, attempting to tear the iceberg to pieces.

The Snake Hermit suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Since he began controlling the Formation, this magical Formation had been connected to his soul, which allowed him to control it like his own arm. Of course, once the Formation was damaged, he would also be injured.

'I cannot... just give up so easily...' His pupils constricted, instantly turning into snake-like eyes, with a ruthless and resolute look in them. He immediately urged the Formation and roared, 'How could this ten-thousand-year mysterious ice be broken so easily? Give me... push it back!'

With a buzzing sound, the iceberg that had been shaved down miraculously grew wildly, pushing against the lightning and rushing upwards, attempting to knock the lightning away completely. The mysterious ice flashed with brilliant white light, contending with the Lightning Tribulation.

However, although the mysterious ice was strong enough, the Snake Hermit himself could not hold on!

Originally, he could only barely execute the Formation diagram of this ancient Ten Absolute Formation. Now, in order to counter this bolt of lightning and make the mysterious ice grow wildly, he had exhausted all the Yao power in his body in an instant.

The Snake Hermit suddenly spat out another mouthful of blood. After the mysterious ice grew wildly, it suddenly disappeared, and the lightning fell straight onto his head!

'Finished...'

Before he could finish the word, he had been instantly engulfed by the purple light. The entire Cold Ice Formation instantly turned into dust, and a huge mushroom cloud rose up.

And at this moment, the purple lightning was not over yet. Unlike the previous 'one shot one kill,' this purple lightning was extremely persistent. If the previous purple lightning was a terrifying sniper rifle, then the lightning before him was a machine gun firing continuously.

Past the Cold Ice Formation was the Heaven Absolute Formation, followed by the Earth Intense Formation, the Red Water Formation, the Soul Falling Formation...

The lightning swept across these Formations in turn. The whole process did not take more than ten seconds, and the remaining few Formations were wiped out in an instant!

On the city wall, a group of officials and soldiers watched the 'fireworks,' eating and drinking happily. After all, the ten Formations besieging the place had caused them a great headache. They had sent some warlocks and soldiers to test them and had indeed sacrificed quite a few people. They were distressed about this, but unexpectedly, they disappeared without a trace in an instant.

'They always say that when immortals fight, Mortals suffer, but it seems that's not the case!' Cheng Yaojin laughed.

Qin Shubao nodded: 'If it weren't for the few immortals of our Great Tang, we would be in danger! Hmm... no... look...'

The happy Qin Shubao was suddenly startled, pointing below the city, 'Look, although the Formations have disappeared, those demons are not dead... This battle is not over yet!'

Below the city, in the nearby mushroom cloud, except for the first Cold Ice Formation, several huge creatures suddenly sprang up from the original sites of the remaining Formations. They were wicked and terrifying in appearance, basically enlarged versions of the previous demon kings who guarded the Formations.

'Haha, Brother Qin is worrying too much. This kind of battle is no longer something we can participate in... Look over there...'

Following Li Jing's pointing finger, Qin Shubao couldn't help but look into the city. He saw in a direction not far away, a golden light shooting up to the heavens, and several experts radiating golden light flew up, charging out under the leadership of a huge figure wearing a five-Buddha crown and a kasaya.