Chapter 804: Flying Ship
A dull, expressionless voice echoed inside the flying ship. “Fellow Daoists, we have now entered Fenglin territory. Please beware.”
Qi Xuansu looked out the window and saw only a thick white fog blanketing the sky and obscuring everything below. He could see neither sea nor land. Something was off. Why was the fog so dense?
Suddenly, the entire flying ship jolted violently.
Qi Xuansu’s expression changed at once. He immediately left his cabin and stepped onto the deck.
Now that Qi Xuansu was a Heavenly Being, even the howling tempest could not move him.
He raised his eyes to look ahead and vaguely saw a colossal silhouette looming in the distance. His heart sank.
Moments later, the thick fog cleared, and the massive figure revealed its full form.
It was a giant serpent rivaling a true dragon in size, pitch-black from head to tail. Its scales bore patterns resembling serpent pupils that seemed to seize the soul. What was even more terrifying was its eight heads and eight tails. This giant serpent had crimson eyes that were as large as an adult man. Moss, cypress, and cedar trees grew from its body, and its abdomen was gory and split open, as if someone had gutted it.
The eight snake heads blotted out the sky. It had been one of those heads that attacked the flying ship moments ago.
If Qi Xuansu was not mistaken, this serpent was the legendary monster of Fenglin—Yamata-no-Orochi.
According to The Kojiki, Yamata-no-Orochi had eight heads and eight tails and was so massive it could fill eight valleys and eight ridges. That was the origin of its name, and it explained why it could reach a flying ship.
It had come from Koshi to Izumo and demanded the sacrifice of one maiden each year. Many mistakenly thought it was the Nine-Headed Serpent of Central Plains legend, but that creature had one body and nine heads, whereas Yamata-no-Orochi had eight distinct heads and eight tails.