Chapter 263: Python!
Three figures were rushing over from the opposite direction. Zhao Dong instantly recognized that all three were cultivators; only cultivators possessed such swift footwork.
His heart sank. How were we exposed here?
Beside him, Jiang Nianyu also saw the men, and her face tensed. "Zhao Dong, how are there other people here?" she whispered. "Could they know about it too?"
"It seems the information was leaked," Zhao Dong whispered back.
"So what do we do now? Just watch them take it?"
Zhao Dong gritted his teeth. "You wait here. Don't move. I'll go take a look."
Looking at the pitch-black night, Jiang Nianyu quickly shook her head in panic. "No, I'm going with you!"
"Those men are cultivators," Zhao Dong said grimly. "I don't know if I'm a match for them. What if they decide to kill us to silence us?"
Jiang Nianyu was terrified, her small face deathly pale under the moonlight, but she was insistent. "I don't care! I'm staying with you. I don't want to be alone in this creepy place. I'm scared!"
Seeing how truly frightened she was, Zhao Dong gritted his teeth and relented. "Alright, then follow me! Remember, do not make a sound, no matter what!"
"Mm-hmm, I understand."
The two then got up and slowly approached the elementary school.
Soon, Zhao Dong spotted the three figures by the pond behind the school. He raised an eyebrow, sensing a potent aura of Spiritual Energy coming from the water itself. The Purple Xuan Grass must be in that pond!
Zhao Dong held his breath, pulling Jiang Nianyu down into a crouch beside him as they quietly watched the three men. He took a moment to gauge their strength and frowned. One is a peak Grandmaster, and two are seventh-layer Grandmasters! I can handle the seventh-layer ones, but a peak Grandmaster makes this dangerous. And there are three of them!
He decided not to alert them prematurely. He would watch and wait. If an opportunity arose, he would try to snatch the herb. If not, he would let it go. After all, no matter how precious the Purple Xuan Grass was, it wasn't worth his and Jiang Nianyu's lives.
Under the moonlight, the three men by the pond appeared to be middle-aged. One wore cyan robes, and the other two wore black. The man in cyan was clearly their leader. "It's confirmed, the item is here," he said in a low voice to his companions. "You two, go down and retrieve it. It should be at the bottom of the pond!"
The two men in black hesitated. "Boss, it's the middle of the night, and we don't know how deep this pond is. We don't dare go down!"
"I said get down there!" the cyan-robed man scolded. "Stop wasting time and go!"
The two men jolted, not daring to say another word. With fearful expressions, they slowly waded into the pond. They took a deep breath, and their bodies disappeared beneath the surface, sinking straight down.
The cyan-robed man scanned his surroundings with a wary gaze, his eyes drifting toward Zhao Dong and Jiang Nianyu's direction.
Zhao Dong hastily pulled Jiang Nianyu's head down with his own. The man in cyan frowned, sensing that something was amiss but seeing nothing. He turned his gaze back to the pond.
Zhao Dong let out a silent sigh of relief, keeping his head down as he watched the scene unfold.
Suddenly, a piercing scream erupted from the pond. The two figures surfaced, their faces contorted in terror. "Boss! There's a python in here! A giant, sentient python! Save us, Boss!"
The man who had shouted seemed to have lost his mind, thrashing wildly as he tried to swim for shore. But in the next second, a terrifying, deep, and indescribable sound echoed from the depths. It was like the lowing of a wild buffalo but imbued with a sinister, bone-chilling cold.
A massive, seven- or eight-meter-long shadow breached the surface for an instant before vanishing again.
SPLASH!
A huge wave erupted, churning the water violently.
The cyan-robed man cried out in shock and retreated sharply. He had just glimpsed a fiery-red python!
The python's form vanished back into the pond, and the two men in black had gone silent.
The man on the bank was terrified. "Where are you?!" he yelled, his voice trembling. "Answer me!"
There was no response. His heart plummeted. Even a fool would know what had happened. Two lives… gone just like that? The cyan-robed man's face turned pale, his eyes filled with fear. How could a monster like this be lurking in such a small pond? A seven- or eight-meter-long python, and fiery red… It really is like a python that's gained sentience!
Just then, the water's surface began to churn violently, as if it were boiling, with bubbles rising constantly. The next second, the water was stained red with blood as a massive shadow slowly crawled onto the bank.
In the moonlight, a giant red python raised its head, its cold, serpentine eyes staring at the cyan-robed man mere meters away.
The cyan-robed man cried out and froze, rigid with fear as he stared at the enormous creature.
Zhao Dong and Jiang Nianyu also witnessed the scene. Jiang Nianyu opened her mouth to scream, but before any sound could escape, Zhao Dong clamped his hand tightly over her mouth. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she watched in terror, tears streaming down her face. The scene was beyond anything she could have imagined. Overwhelmed, she couldn't stop the tears from falling.
Zhao Dong's heart also pounded in his chest, a trace of fear and anxiety in his eyes. This python... It seems to have actually gained sentience!
At that moment, the python's basketball-sized head slowly turned, its gaze landing directly on Zhao Dong and Jiang Nianyu.
As Zhao Dong's eyes met the python's, his blood ran cold.