Chapter 169: Peeping
Yuan Ming turned around and returned to the cave, closing his eyes and sensing the situation of the two Soul Crows in the distance, his face showing surprise.
Inside the ancient castle where Bai Rong was, there were now three men and one woman.
Yuan Ming vaguely remembered that these four people were all members of this mission, but they chose to leave the team at the entrance of the Ghost Cry Gorge. Unexpectedly, they appeared again now.
It seems that these four people are together with Bai Rong, and they have other intentions for participating in the mission of the White Night Scattered Alliance. The mark left by this woman earlier may be to guide these people.
"Sang Yan, are you sure this is the ce?" One of the four men in gray robes asked.
"Reporting to Elder Gutu, ording to the description on that scroll, I found this ce after searching for twenty miles west from the Snake King Cave." Bai Rong respectfully said.
...
"Sang Yan! This Bai Rong is Sang Yan!" Yuan Ming trembled slightly when he heard their conversation.
The Third Cave Master had mentioned Sang Yan to him before. The condition for helping him refine the Qingyu Sword was to obtain the spiritual material, White me Essence Gold, from Sang Yan in the White Deer Hill. Unexpectedly, he encountered her here by chance."The Third Cave Master said that Sang Yan is a disciple of the ck Fire Sect. Is this gray-robed man also from the ck Fire Sect? Sang Yan calls him Elder, could it be that he is a Foundation Establishment cultivator hiding his cultivation level!" Yuan Ming became vignt.
...
Inside the ancient castle.
"That should be correct. However, this ck prohibition seems to be the Locking Yin Formation, which can automatically absorb Yin Qi and maintain the operation of the formation for a long time. This castle is filled with dense Yin Qi, which is constantly replenished. It may not be easy to break this prohibition." Elder Gutu pondered.
"What should we do then? Are we just going to waste our efforts? We have spent a lot of spirit stones to resist the miasma of the Snake King Valley." A ck-d young girl beside Elder Gutu said grumpily.
"Don’t worry, Junior Sister N. Elder Gutu is proficient in formations and prohibitions. He can rank in the top five in our sect. Breaking a small formation like this should not be a problem for him." Sang Yan said with a smile.
"Stop ttering me. Who is your Junior Sister!" The ck-d young girl frowned slightly and retorted.
Sang Yan smiled and did not seem to care about the impoliteness of the ck-d young girl.
Behind Sang Yan stood a rough-looking man carrying a ck knife, who seemed to be her bodyguard. His eyes shed with anger as he took a step forward.
Beside the ck-d young girl stood a young man with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. He also took two steps forward to protect the ck-d young girl.
"Stop fooling around. The important matter has not been aplished yet. All of you, step back!" Elder Gutu shouted.
Sang Yan waved her hand, and the rough-looking man stepped back, while the young man with sword-like eyebrows beside the ck-d young girl also stepped back.
"Elder Gutu, although the Locking Yin prohibition is troublesome, with your attainments in formations and prohibitions, you should have already thought of a way to break it, right?" Sang Yan asked.
"If it was a Locking Yin Formation set up in recent years, I may not be able to break it. However, this prohibition seems to have existed for many years. Although it is still operating, the formation tools have begun to decay in many ces, showing signs of instability. There should be a way to break it. Listen to my instructions..." Elder Gutu pondered for a moment and said so.
Sang Yan and the others were delighted and listened attentively. Then, following Elder Gutu’s instructions, they stood in different ces outside the main hall, holding the white jade talisman given by Elder Gutu, and activated the spell.
Arrows of white light in the shape of arrows shot out from the jade talisman, containing faint runes, and hit the ck prohibition.
This time, the ck prohibition failed to devour the white light and trembled incessantly. It was obvious that strands of ck Qi were constantly dissipating.
"It seems that Elder Gutu is quite aplished in formations. I wonder who is more powerful, him or the masked woman who formed a formation in ck Rock City?" Yuan Ming thought to himself as he saw this.
There would be no immediate result in the castle for a while. Yuan Ming’s thoughts shifted, and he looked at the situation inside the Snake King Cave through another Soul Crow’s vision.
At this moment, Bai Ye and the others had already fought for a while and had entered the depths of the Snake King Cave.
With Bai Ye and Huan Shi, both Foundation Establishment cultivators, and everyone sticking together and steadily advancing, there were no casualties.
The space here not only did not shrink, but instead becamerger. The surrounding miasma became more intense, and both the members of the White Night Scattered Alliance and the scattered cultivators gradually showed signs of fatigue, despite having the protection of the Obstacle-Avoiding Beads.
Yuan Ming’s Soul Crow was not a living creature and was not affected by the miasma, so it easily followed behind.
By this point, the number of Golden Flower Poison Pythons attacking from the surroundings had already decreased. The resistance encountered by the group was greatly reduced.
Bai Ye and Huan Shi’s expressions were not rxed, but rather more serious.
"We should be very close to the Snake King’s nest. Don’t let your guard down. Stay alert!" Huan Shi shouted.
Before his voice fell, a low and hoarse roar came from the cave ahead, with a momentum that seemed to prate the soul.
The bodies of the Qi Refining cultivators trembled, and their faces turned pale.
The surface of the Soul Crow hiding in the back emitted scattered ck light and trembled."The roar carries a sonic attack that can actually harm the soul!" Yuan Ming hurriedly controlled the Soul Crow to retreat.
In his contemtion, a golden shadow shed through the miasma ahead, and a thick, bucket-sized golden snake tail shot out, heading straight for the crowd, creating a hurricane that almost blew everyone away.
Huan Shi swiftly moved forward and stood in front of the crowd. He held a bronze shield in his hand, and a sh of green and golden light erupted.
With a loud bang, Huan Shi was pushed back several steps along with his shield, and the golden snake tail was also blocked.
"It’s the Golden Flower Snake King! Set up the formation!" Huan Shi shouted without waiting for his figure to stabilize.
The ten members of the White Night Scattered Alliance quickly formed a circle, inserting white gs into the ground, almost halfway in.
With a wave of his sleeve, Bai Ye shot out several formation discs,nding in various ces within the circle.
Boom!
The ten gs rose up with dazzling white light, connecting with each other to form a circr white formation, enveloping the ten people within.
The five recruited scattered cultivators, seeing the power of the Snake King, were extremely frightened and instinctively retreated.
"Retreating will only lead to a dead end. Hide in the formation! The Golden Flower Snake King is a second-level fierce beast. Without relying on the formation, you won’t stand a chance!" Bai Ye shouted.
The already closed white formation made a sound and opened a passage.
The five scattered cultivators, in a panic, rushed towards the opening in the formation.
The dense miasma in front stirred, and a giant python, about forty to fifty zhang long, covered in golden scales, shot out from the poisonous miasma. The snake’s head, as big as a fight, spewed out a green venom, aiming at the five scattered cultivators.
Bai Ye took out a purple token and infused it with his mana.
The token suddenly emitted a burst of purple light, andrge purple mes also emerged within the white formation, burning fiercely.
With a light shout from Bai Ye, a purple fire snake, about a zhang long, shot out from the formation and collided with the green venom.
The purple fire snake sizzled and disappeared, and the green venom was also scattered, sshing in all directions.
The sound of sizzling could be heard asrge and small pits were corroded on the ground and stone walls.
A drop of the scattered venom happened to hit the head of one of the fleeing scattered cultivators.
The person’s head instantly melted into a sticky mud, and he died without even being able to scream.
Yuan Ming witnessed this scene and was secretly shocked and relieved that he didn’t greedily follow them into the adventure.
The toxicity of this Golden Flower Snake King was unexpectedly terrifying. It was much stronger than the venom of the ck Toad, and even Qi Refining cultivators couldn’t resist it at all.
The remaining four scattered cultivators were terrified and used all their strength to rush into the white formation like the wind, and the opening in the formation immediately closed.
"Swift!" Bai Ye’s eyes rxed as he activated the token in his hand.
The purple mes within the formation surged, shooting out arge mass of purple mes, making crackling sounds as they burned, heading towards the golden snake head.
The golden snake head seemed to be wary of the purple mes and dodged, avoiding this attack.
Huan Shi, beside him, also had a purple token in his hand, which he waved towards the purple mes.
The purple mes spread in the air, forming a giant purple fire several zhang in size, enveloping the huge snake head.
Sizzling sounds of burning could be heard as the golden snake head was burned with ck bloodstains, emitting painful screams. It opened its mouth and spewed out a green venom.
The venom was highly corrosive, and the purple fire couldn’t withstand it. It was corroded, leaving arge hole and copsing.
The golden snake head shook its head, opened its blood-filled mouth, and let out another dragon-like roar towards Bai Ye and the others.
This roar was much more powerful than before, causing ripples in the air in front of the snake’s mouth.
Yuan Ming was startled and didn’t have time to continue watching. He immediately controlled the Soul Crow to turn around and fly away.
However, before he could escape far, the residual shockwaves of the roar’s sonic attack shook the Soul Crow violently. Its body trembled intensely, and arge amount of ck energy overflowed from its body, almost turning it semi-transparent. Fortunately, it didn’tpletely copse.
Yuan Ming felt his head go nk, and the vision transmitted back by the Soul Crow quickly became blurry.
He didn’t have time to think too much and took advantage of the next wave of sonic attacks not yet appearing. He quickly controlled the Soul Crow to retreat from the Snake King’s cave and returned it to his sea of consciousness.
At the same time, another Soul Crow flew out from his forehead and returned to the depths of the Snake King’s cave.
He still wanted to grasp the situation of the battle over there in a timely manner, even if it meant paying the price of some damage to his soul.
After doing all this, Yuan Ming suddenly thought of something and called the Soul Crow guarding outside the cave toe in.
He controlled the Soul Crow to possess the ck Toad, took out the Earth Travel Talisman and Storage Ring, and handed them to the ck Toad. Then, he activated the Earth Travel Talisman.
Ayer of yellow light appeared on the ck Toad, and with a "pu" sound, it burrowed into the ground and disappeared, heading towards the Snake King’s cave.
...
The Soul Crow flew back to the depths of the Snake King’s cave, cautiously reaching the ce where it had previously hidden, and looked ahead.
Green mist had appeared in the air ahead, mixed with the miasma of this ce, making the vision even narrower, and everything around seemed somewhat blurry.The green poisonous fog carried a sour, stenchy smell, clearly indicating its deadly toxicity. The ground and stone walls were corroded and pitted, and the body of the fallen rogue cultivator from before had beenpletely dissolved, leaving only a puddle of sticky fluid.
Within the green poisonous fog, the formation set up by the Baiye Alliance had already copsed. The ten white gs had all been destroyed, with fragments scattered all over the ground.
The ten members of the Baiye Alliance who had been hiding within the formation, along with four rogue cultivators, had all fallen dead. Their bodies were nearly half melted, their skin turning into a strange, ghostly green.
Of the group that had entered, only Baiye and Huan Shi were still alive, currently engaged in a fierce battle with the Snake King using their magical instruments.
However, both of their cheeks were tinged with a faint green, indicating that they too had been poisoned by the snake. Their movements were much slower than before.
"The Baiye Alliance went to such great lengths toe here and y the Snake King, they must have been fully prepared. How could they have suffered such a disastrous defeat!" Yuan Ming found it hard to believe. Between the release and recall of his soul crow, it had only been half an incense stick’s time, yet the situation had taken a drastic turn for the worse.
But then, his gaze suddenly hardened.
He was shocked to find that something seemed off about the Snake King that Baiye and Huan Shi were fighting. It didn’t seem to be the same one as before.