Ch. 34
Chapter 34: Slaying the Snake Demon Without a Drop of Blood on His Clothes
WHOOSH—!
The instant that voice fell, a black shadow shot out from the half-man-high grass to the left front with astonishing speed.
Yet it did not attack Chen Guan at the front. Instead, it tore through the air and lunged straight at Luo Tong behind him.
After all, Luo Tong had fifty years of escort-road experience. Almost the instant that aura appeared, he had already reacted. With an angry roar, he swept his saber across and raised it before himself in a horizontal guard.
BOOM—!
With a deafening crash, Luo Tong, man and saber alike, was sent flying backward by that overwhelming force, smashing heavily into the distant grass and kicking up a cloud of dust and broken weeds!
That enormous black shadow sent Luo Tong flying with a single blow and did not pause in the slightest. Dragging behind it a terrifyingly long and thick body, it streaked like a bolt of black lightning straight toward Liu Shuo and the other two men behind him, winding toward them in a flash.
“Is... is that a demon python?!”
Luo Li cried out in shock from atop the horse.
In the dark grass ahead, a giant python as thick as a water vat twisted its carriage-sized head, threw open its bloody maw, and came crashing down upon Zhang Yuan in the convoy.
Zhang Yuan, at least, was still an Escort Master of the Profound Passage Realm, and his reaction could not be called slow.
The instant that foul wind struck his face, he stomped down hard on the stirrup and shot into the air like an arrow loosed from the string.
In the next moment, the strong warhorse beneath him did not even have time to let out a single cry before the giant python swallowed it whole in one bite!
Luo Li’s pretty face turned deathly pale.
That giant python had revealed only half its body, and already it was this terrifying. If its full length emerged from the black grass, just how long and huge would it be?
Chen Guan did not move at once.
He simply sat there silently upon his horse, his eyes as still as an ancient well, without the slightest ripple.
He only watched the demon python, watching as its immense body slid farther and farther out of the grass, meter by meter.
After swallowing the warhorse whole, the demon python was still not satisfied. Its body coiled, and it went to wrap around the third Escort Master.
Seeing that another companion was about to fall, Liu Shuo, sword in hand, glanced up at Chen Guan. Seeing that he still sat firmly upon his horse as though everything before him had nothing to do with him, Liu Shuo’s face darkened with displeasure—
but he did not hesitate.
With a furious shout, he kicked hard off the horse’s back.
He shot into the air, both hands gripping his sword, the tip of the blade packed with all the true qi he could muster as he drove it viciously down toward the demon python’s black-scaled head!
CLANG!
A harsh metallic screech rang out. Liu Shuo’s sword did no more than throw off a spray of sparks from those black scales, without leaving behind so much as a white mark.
What hard scales!
Liu Shuo was horrified inwardly.
Luo Li also turned anxiously to look back at Chen Guan, only to see that he still sat there like an old monk in meditation, staring motionlessly at that giant snake body.
She very much wanted to cry out, “Why aren’t you making your move yet?!”
But the moment she remembered how, after she had urged him on last time, she had nearly died beneath the jaws of the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes, she forcibly swallowed those words back down.
By then, Luo Tong had spat out the blood and grass roots in his mouth, roared, and climbed back to his feet, raising his saber to charge once more.
But before he could close the distance—
the light in Chen Guan’s eyes sharpened!
With one push against the stirrup, he shot off the horse like an arrow loosed from the string. At the same time, the huge horse-cleaving saber at his shoulder came free of its sheath with a ringing cry!
【Activated Trait】:
【Path-Cleaving Slash】: Saber attack power increased by 100%.
【Mountain-Severing Slash】: Ignores 50% of the enemy’s defense.
Shhk—!
A shrill tearing sound split the air!
Before the horrified eyes of everyone present, a crimson blossom of blood suddenly burst forth from a point roughly three-tenths down the demon python’s body!
Scalding snake blood surged out like a fountain, instantly drenching a wide patch of grass red and filling the air with a thick, choking stench of blood.
“Hiss—!”
The giant python stiffened violently in pain, instantly abandoning its prey and twisting its head around. Those lantern-sized vertical pupils fixed themselves on Chen Guan standing atop its body.
“Seeking death!”
Its forked tongue flickered from its mouth. Plainly, it now regarded this tiny human who had managed to wound it as its greatest threat.
But before it could move, Chen Guan stamped down hard with his foot atop that slick body. At once, the horse-cleaving saber buried in the python’s flesh tore free with a dreadful wet sound of meat ripping apart.
RIIIP—!
A vivid red gash began at the edge of the blade and tore backward in a flash!
A torrent of entrails and foul blood spilled from the demon python’s belly, sloshing all across the ground!
“SSSSCREAM!!!”
The demon python let out a shrill cry of agony as it thrashed and writhed madly. Its vast body hammered at the ground again and again, shaking the whole earth.
The surrounding grass and trees were smashed to pieces, shattered stones flew everywhere, and for a moment it was like an earth dragon turning over.
Luo Tong, Liu Shuo, and the others all stared in stunned disbelief at that bloody, violent scene.
“Th-that was... the seven-inch vital spot?!”
At last, they understood!
At last, they understood why Chen Guan had refused to move earlier!
All that time, he had been searching—searching for this demon python’s fatal weak point!
For any python- or snake-type demon fiend, the seven-inch vital spot was the only true lifeline!
Only now did they realize that they had still far underestimated Chen Guan’s strength.
And never had they imagined that his experience in dealing with powerful demon fiends would be so seasoned.
As the demon python’s struggles grew weaker and weaker, and its aura dimmed more and more,
it finally turned its massive head toward Chen Guan and let out a broken, faltering plea.
“Y-you... spare me... I... I will let you... pass this road...”
“So now you know how to save face?”
Chen Guan muttered, his eyes turning cold. “Too bad. Too late.”
The horse-cleaving saber in his hand suddenly ripped backward!
RIIIP—!
With that single motion, Chen Guan’s blade split the demon python’s body open from roughly the three-quarters mark all the way to the tail, carving it cleanly into two halves!
That arrogant demon python finally fell completely silent.
Luo Tong and the others all stared at Chen Guan as though he were some war demon reborn. For a long while, not one of them could force out a single word.
Just what realm was this fellow in?
Most of all, that saber of his... what kind of saber art was that?
Even a snake demon whose defenses a Profound Passage expert could not break had been split apart by him as easily as tofu!
And not a drop of blood stained his robes.
Shing!
Chen Guan flicked his wrist, shaking the snake blood from the horse-cleaving saber, then returned it to its sheath.
His body turned, and with one light tap of his toe upon the snake’s corpse, he drifted back down onto his horse once more.
Feeling that familiar masculine heat behind her again, Luo Li turned her head to look at Chen Guan, and for no reason at all, an unprecedented sense of safety rose up in her heart.
This guy... is so, so strong!