Chapter 103 “The Enraged Sacred Beasts”
Eh, she’s gone? Where did that insignificant ant go? Sticking its tail up in the air, puzzlement filled the serpent’s eye as it looked around for Ling Yue’s figure.
Then without premonition, Ling Yue suddenly appears over the python’s head.
“I’m here you little worm!” Tightly wounding her legs around the python’s neck, Ling Yue gathers all of her Yuan energy into her fists and released a rain of powerful punches onto the head.
If this attack were to be replaced by any other ordinary punch, then without a doubt, not a spec of damage would come to harm to the python considering its thick and durable scales. However, the one responsible here was Ling Yue, a girl infamous for her devious deeds!
Looking from afar one might not notice, but if looking closely they will notice the occasional sparkle of glittering light of blue and gold between her fingers. Dipped with the ice poison, Ling Yue had snuck her Dragon Saliva Needles into this attack to send a deadly dose of corrosive toxin into the snake’s flesh.
At first she only planned to use the blood daggers to divert the snake’s attention while she snuck into the nest ahead of time, but upon seeing the snake’s strength, she changed her mind immediately knowing it be pointless even if she gets ahead.
So, instead of running for the egg, she went on the offensive.
By utilizing the free time she created, Ling Yue transported herself into the dimensional space Red Mist Sky and gave off the illusion of disappearing from sight.
Sure enough, this was enough to fool the python.
True to its name as one of the rarest metal in this world, the Dragon Saliva Needle wreaked havoc upon the creature’s head, causing it to bleed profusely with every stab.
We’re not talking about simply making a few small pin holes here either. Due to the fact that the needles been dipped with the ice poison, the flesh of this snake was starting to fester and turn darkish blue in no time at all.
“sssZZZZZ–”
Tortured to the point of coming close to death, the python mustered everything it had in one last push and finally flung the hateful human off its back. Even so, it’s already too late.
Rolling around with most of its skull exposed, the python’s huge body ended up crushing a lot of the nearby branches in its last struggle.
Like the snake, Ling Yue was also feeling the fatigue of throwing so many punches out. Going numb in her hands and unable to control her trajectory, she ended up being thrown directly into the phoenix nest where the eggs are.
Under the colliding blow of Ling Yue’s body, fortunately she’s not very heavy or big due to her female stature, the three eggs were pushed to one side of the nest by the force. Among them were the plain looking egg. As it rolled across the nest, this ordinary looking egg ends up rolling right up to the python’s side whereas the red and blue egg rolled to the opposite end.
“Not good!” She screams this out of reflex.
Disregarding the danger imposed by drawing close to the snake, she immediately lashed out in an attempt to catch the rolling egg before the snake can get its grasp on it.
And who would’ve guessed. The golden horn python that’s half dead already would suddenly get a splurge of energy and whipped its tail at Ling Yue exactly at this moment. Sending her flying backwards from the recoiling force, the python uses this moment to gobble up the ordinary looking phoenix egg with one bite.
As soon it did so, the mutilated body of the python started to frantically absorb the rainbow light out of the egg. Sure enough, the once bleeding skull of the snake with part of its brain exposed now [romptly started to heal at an astonishing speed.
Not only that, the horn like lump on the snake’s forehead was starting to growing even longer and bigger to the point where it’s starting to take on the shape of a real dragon horn.
One glance and Little Squeak already knew things are looking bad.
Mistress, hurry and run! This golden horn python is going to evolve after swallowing the phoenix egg!
“Squeak!!” Little Squeak repeatedly called out, motioning her to flee.
If this snake does evolve into a snake dragon, not even ten mistresses would be enough!
While Little Squeak was screaming this, the python was continuing its metamorphosis at rapid speed. Likely no more than fifteen minutes and this python will finish its evolution.
Ling Yue’s not blind to the danger, but to come this far and go back empty handed? That’s not her style!
Gritting her teeth, Ling Yue dashes straight for the red phoenix egg. It doesn’t matter anways, even if she can’t run afterwards, she can snatch the egg and then transport herself into the dimensional space.
Just as her fingers were about to come into contact with the egg, the entire tree began to shake violently like a hurricane was running through this place. Not only that, even the water in the lake was making waves as high as dozens of meters high like they are being pulled right into the sky.
Instead of touching the egg with this one slip up, her body ends up being thrown around the nest profusely like a pinball.
While up in the sky, two masses of rainbow clouds were closing in fast at this moment while a series of echoing bird calls covered the entire marsh.
Then appearing overhead, two beautiful giant birds hovered above the nest as their very presence exuded an ancient and sacred pressure that covered the entire tree.
One was a phoenix covered in blue feathers while the other was covered in red. Regardless of their color, both were growing a plume of tailfeathers that gave off a rainbow light. Magnificent and extraordinary, their imposing image can only be called awe-inspiring among the lower beings.
So what happened was that when the phoenix couple was returning to the nest after their outing, they immediately took notice to the commotion caused by the python’s transformation. Since phoenixes are sacred beasts born with a sense of self awareness, the two immediately understood this implied. Immediately, they rushed over in a hurry, hoping they aren’t too late.
Meanwhile back in the nest, the golden horn python who was deep into his evolution instantly fell into dread. He was so close! But following the appearance of the phoenix couple, he knew then his fate was sealed.
Finding that only two remains of their three eggs, adding in the fact that the snake’s belly was bulging up, both phoenix instantly flew into a rage.
First up was a slew of flame from the fire phoenix, roasting the python’s scale until it’s a charcoal black.
Then following up with a grab by the ice phoenix’s claw, the bulging part of the python was ripped apart, sending the plain looking egg rolling back out from the snake’s intestine. Sadly, most of the radiant light that made up the sacredness of the phoenix specie remains missing from the egg.
In merely seconds, the perpetrator of this sinful deed was ripped to shreds, leaving only scraps of mangled snake flesh in its place.
Breaking out into cold sweat over the carnage, the only thought running through Ling Yue’s head right now were two words: “run now!”
However, to her horror, she seems to be unable to invoke her spirit force.
If only she had known ahead of time, the phoenix race themselves are a master of the spirit force to begin with. Unless one was an immortal alchemist like Mr. Red Mist, their spirit force will automatically lose affect in the presence of an enraged phoenix.
After the death of the golden horn python, maybe by fate or by luck, the egg that’s been swallowed up till now coincidentally rolls over to Ling Yue’s side.
Seeing the poor state of her precious egg, the ice phoenix promptly issued out a mournful cry and leaked a drop of crystal like tear from her eyes.
Like the mother bird, Ling Yue also sent a peek at the egg. Totally different from before, the egg that used to be bigger than an ostrich egg was now the size of her own fist. To make things worse, the radiant light unique to the phoenix race had long disappeared from the shell due to corrosion. In its place, streaks of green lines were etched along the surface like poisonous cracks.
Seeing the state of their precious egg like so, both phoenixes knew what that meant: this egg will likely be a stillborn and won’t hatch.