The earth shook and mountains crumbled. Simba and his companions, who were closest to the blast, were instantly obliterated. The valley collapsed, triggering a chain reaction that caused countless caves to crumble as well. The once majestic Wenshan Mountain began to teeter on the brink of collapse.
Near the summit, Li Yang, who was working on the mountainside, almost tripped and fell. He quickly pulled out the jade tablet and nimbly held it in his arms. Looking towards the valley where thick smoke was billowing, he sniffed and exclaimed in shock, "Gunpowder! Damn it, these guys are really asking for trouble, they actually lit the explosives!"
"Ah? Doesn't that mean we're in grave danger?" Yu Tihu quickly straightened her clothes. Although her lower body was wet and clear, the feeling of thirst was suppressed by the huge explosion. Li Yang had also already straightened his clothes and was carrying Yu Tihu as he rushed towards the valley.
But when they arrived at the place, everything was no longer the same as when they left. The cave had completely collapsed, and the valley was in a mess. Instead of the bottom of the valley, streams of water were gushing out from below, emitting a chilling aura. It was obviously groundwater, but even groundwater shouldn't be this cold, with a chill that seemed to penetrate to the bone.
"It's so cold!" Yu Tihu said, shivering. Li Yang hugged her and said, puzzled, "It really is cold. It's strange, ordinary water shouldn't be this cold!"
"Where are Simba and the others?" Yu Tihu asked, frowning as she looked into the valley. "They're probably in grave danger. Luckily, we got away, otherwise we would have died at the hands of our own people instead of the bandits!" Li Yang said reassuringly.
"Yes, things are unpredictable!" Yu Tihu said helplessly, feeling a little scared. If they hadn't gone out and had stayed here for a barbecue, wouldn't everyone have had some fun together?
"Hmm? What's that in the water?" Li Yang's eyes were incredibly sharp. He had just been using his X-ray vision to observe the underwater activity. After all, such cold water was strange. But he saw a coiled monster at the bottom of the water, a huge thing, like a giant python. Its head was about one square meter in size, and its body was so large that it would take two or three people to hug it. The python was coiled at the bottom of the water, and with the surging of the water, it slowly showed signs of reviving. Its body was covered with a layer of crystal-clear ice, as if its entire body was frozen. But with the surging of the water, the ice was slowly melting. Li Yang immediately understood why the water was so cold. It was because the ice around the python's body was melting, which made the water so cold.
Such a huge python! Holy crap, how many years has it been around? How many years has it been living underground? How long has it been frozen? Why was it frozen? Li Yang's mind was filled with doubt and confusion. However, just as Li Yang was filled with doubt and confusion, the mountain trembled again, and the rocks under Li Yang and Yu Tihu's feet shook and suddenly loosened, falling into the huge torrent of water.
"Yu'er, go back first, don't worry about me, I'm fine..." Li Yang shouted, forcefully throwing Yu Tihu onto the shore, but he himself lost his chance to escape. He was suspended in the air and fell into the water. No matter how high his martial arts were, he had nowhere to use them in the air.
"Li Yang—"
Yu Tihu screamed in agony as she lay on the shore, looking at Li Yang with despair.
"Don't come down, go back. I'm fine, as long as you're safe. I have martial arts skills, this little current won't stop me!" Li Yang turned back to remind Yu Tihu even as he was about to fall into the water. Yu Tihu had originally wanted to jump in with Li Yang, but thinking that he wouldn't die and that his martial arts were so high he would quickly return to the surface, she knew that jumping in after him would only add to his burden. So she held back, standing on the shore, staring blankly at the churning waves. Li Yang fell in, splashing water, and then disappeared completely.
"I need to have faith, Li Yang will be alright, he won't..." Yu Tihu comforted herself on the shore. She stared blankly at the water for three days straight, without eating or drinking, but the water continued to surge, as if an underground river had been blasted open by the immense force of an explosive, becoming a surface river that gushed out and rushed down the mountain.
"Hey, Dad, I'm in Wenshan. I'm safe, but Li Yang, he..." Human willpower can often create miracles. Yu Tihu hadn't eaten for two days, and then she went without food or water for another three days before she felt she couldn't go on. Alone, she gritted her teeth and made it down the mountain. Then she found a kind local to call her father, Prince Yu, and then she fainted.
Over there, Prince Yu had been waiting for Li Yang's news for so long he was practically bursting with excitement. Upon receiving news from Yu Tihu, he was so thrilled he almost jumped for joy, his excitement shattering once more. He then immediately summoned his men and rushed to Wenshan. However, he also immediately notified the local police station and the group's office in Wenshan to help Yu Tihu resolve her difficulties and crisis.
After falling, Li Yang felt a sense of powerlessness. Yes, he was almost powerless in the air and in the water. No matter how powerful he was, it was useless. After falling into the water, he could only keep quiet. Then he saw white foam in front of him and his body was swept away by the strong current.
Chapter 766: The White Snake
The water flowed downstream but was instead carried into a dark cave. Li Yang tried to swim out, but human strength is limited; he couldn't do whatever he wanted. He was powerless against the forces of nature. So, almost as soon as he tried to resist, he was swept far away, and the light from the cave entrance behind him was no longer within reach.
Suddenly, a powerful suction force came from below, like a bottomless vortex frantically sucking and devouring. The suction force was so strong that even Li Yang himself could not resist it, and he was sucked in. After a moment inside, Li Yang felt a strange coldness all around him, an unusual coldness that even his body, which was immune to heat and cold, could not withstand.
Li Yang immediately began practicing the Yang Advancement method within the Yin-Yang Harmony Technique, generating strong Yang energy within his body and transforming all the powerful true energy within him into Yang energy to warm himself. Otherwise, he had a premonition that he would freeze to death.
The internal energy that Chu Hong and he had painstakingly combined to achieve yin-yang harmony was transformed into yang energy, instantly becoming several times stronger than before. After all, there was also a lot of yin energy within it, which was also transformed into yang energy. However, at the same time as his enormous yang energy was generated, the powerful yin-cold energy outside his body weakened considerably. Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief. If he couldn't solve the problem even with this kind of cultivation, he would have truly frozen to death.
But just as he began cultivating the Yin-Yang Harmony Technique, he suddenly discovered that as his Yang energy surged and resisted the external Yin energy, a tremendous life force also arose within his body, just like he and Chu Hong had experienced. Li Yang was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed. To achieve such an effect without even doing those things—that was wonderful!
Li Yang immediately disregarded everything else and stopped transferring the Yin and Yang energies that had already been neutralized within his body. Instead, he began to cultivate the Yin-Yang Harmony Technique. Since he was male, the Yang energy he cultivated was generally the purest and most suitable. So he began to cultivate Yang energy, which then interacted with and neutralized the Yin energy around him, generating powerful Yin and Yang energies that circulated and swirled within his body.
He entered a deep meditative state, oblivious to his surroundings, focused solely on cultivation, completely immersed in the pleasure of practice. Waves of powerful energy surged within his body.
Suddenly, a thought struck him. He sensed a dangerous aura approaching, and his internal strength had improved considerably. Although he hadn't broken through to the realm of external qi projection, he had made significant progress. Just as he opened his eyes to investigate the source of the danger, he suddenly saw two enormous, wheel-like lanterns rapidly approaching through the water. Li Yang couldn't help but shudder. His eyes were extraordinary; he could see in the dark, and even underwater, his vision remained clear. He immediately recognized a massive white snake, so large that several people couldn't protect it. Its gleaming white scales emitted a chilling light in the water, and its entire body, when stretched out, was tens of meters long. Li Yang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and for the first time, he felt a profound sense of fear. The enormous white snake's gaping maw, its thick, arm-like, blood-red forked tongue flicking out, lunged at Li Yang.
"My God!" Li Yang exclaimed, turning and fleeing. He swam frantically in the water, when suddenly he saw a sizable cave above him. He kicked out while dodging, leaping several times before disappearing into the cave. Then, using his full power, he transformed into a blur and fled. Just as Li Yang vanished from the cave entrance, a giant white snake emerged from the water with a splash, its massive head emerging before it twisted and sprang into a streak of white light and disappeared into the cave as well.
Li Yang fled at breakneck speed through the cave. After running for what seemed like an eternity, he spotted a bright spot ahead. Without even blinking, he knew he'd reached the cave entrance. He dashed out, leaping out of the cave. The blinding light immediately forced him to close his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. He thought to himself, "Finally, I've escaped that giant snake. If it had caught up with me, I would have become its snack. All my martial arts skills would have been wasted, and so many beautiful women would have been left widows..."
Li Yang plopped down on the ground, still shaken from the fright. But as his eyes adjusted to the glaring sunlight and he opened them, he almost collapsed. The ferocious white giant snake was crouching right in front of him. Not only had Li Yang failed to shake it off, but it had also seized his head. How thrilling! Li Yang froze, too afraid to move. Generally, snakes won't attack unless provoked. Li Yang stared tremblingly into the snake's eyes. Those lantern-like eyes were bigger than Li Yang's head. It stared straight at him, and strangely, a flicker of doubt and curiosity appeared on its face—an expression only humans seem to have. Could a snake do that?
"Don't eat me, my flesh is sour and doesn't taste good..." Li Yang muttered softly.
However, after he and the giant white snake had been locked in a standoff for several minutes, the snake was still just staring blankly at Li Yang, as if it had gone mad. Only its huge forked tongue, constantly flicking in and out, was telling Li Yang that it was alive, not a sculpture!
"Damn it, if you don't eat me, I can't just stand here waiting for you to come and eat me, can I?" Li Yang muttered to himself, then suddenly leaped up, transforming into a gust of wind, and unleashed his full power of the Bagua Steps, speeding towards the distant mountains. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the distance.
Li Yang leaped up and fled, but the giant white snake froze, staring in bewilderment at the direction Li Yang had gone. Its eyesight was poor; snakes generally had poor eyesight, barely better than a toad, let alone Li Yang. However, its forked tongue was incredibly powerful. With a flick of its tongue, it scanned the air and immediately detected Li Yang's presence. Its mountain-like body swayed, creating a gust of wind, and it surged forward as if riding the wind to chase after Li Yang. Its enormous size meant its movement speed was far faster than Li Yang's. While Li Yang's speed was already freakish in the city, it was still at a disadvantage in the mountains. Almost instantly, the white snake caught up with him, blocking his path.
Chapter 767: So Big
Li Yang almost wet his pants. Damn, such a huge snake was blocking the way, and it kept sticking out its tongue. Ten people would be scared to death, if not scared to death. Is there anyone more powerful than Xu Xian? He dared to sleep with a giant snake, and he was still scared to death.
So Li Yang was so frightened that he almost fainted, but he bit his tongue hard and held on, managing not to pass out. He stared intently at the snake's eyes, those golden eyes that emitted a strange light, with an eerie glow that was very anthropomorphic, making Li Yang very curious and unable to guess what was going on.
Suddenly, Li Yang heard a sound. Damn it, when he heard that sound, Li Yang almost knocked his head to the ground. Yes, he heard a voice, similar to a woman's voice.
"Who are you? Why are you running?" The voice was strange, seemingly from the depths of his mind, yet it was unmistakably a woman's voice. Li Yang's eyes were then fixed on the enormous white snake, unable to move. It was while staring into the snake's eyes that the voice echoed in his mind. He suddenly realized that if he could see through people's hearts, could he also see through the snake's heart, and had he entered into a dialogue with the white snake?
This suspicion immediately gave him a strange feeling. Could it be that this giant white snake had become a spirit? What about Bai Suzhen? What about Xiaoqing? Is there another seven-hundred-year-old green snake nearby, while this is a giant white snake that is over fifteen hundred years old? Otherwise, how long would it take for such a large body to grow?
"Yes, is it you talking to me?" Li Yang was immediately tense. Although he had seen such strange things as immortals, he still found it unbelievable and incomprehensible to suddenly face such a large white snake that could talk to him. Although he suspected that it might be the white snake that had been with Xu Xian, Li Yang still felt that all of this was absurd.
"Yes, who else could it be but me? It's strange, how can you talk to me? How can you hear my voice? The people before couldn't hear me, and they either died or went crazy when they saw me. It's so strange..." the white snake said quietly.
Li Yang almost cried. "Big sister, who has ever seen someone who is neither dead nor crazy? I am such a rare sight. I admire myself for seeing someone as big as you who is not dead or unconscious, and who is still talking to you. My God, am I crazy?"
“I’m different from other people, it’s hard to explain. Can you tell me what happened? How did you come out from underground? And why are you so big?” Li Yang said in surprise.
"Me? I don't know how I ended up underground. I remember when I was wandering around these mountains, I found a seven-colored lotus in a cave. I knew it was a magical herb that could increase one's cultivation by hundreds of years, so I ate it without thinking twice. Who knew that this seven-colored lotus was of the yin and cold nature, and had enormous energy? I couldn't absorb or digest it in time, so I was frozen by the lotus's power. After that, I don't know anything anymore. It seems I must have been frozen for a long time, otherwise I wouldn't have ended up underground. And I should thank you properly. If you hadn't blown up the soil and absorbed some of the seven-colored lotus's yin and cold energy, I would have taken much longer to wake up!" The white snake said gratefully to Li Yang.
Li Yang was a little confused. Snakes don't attack people unless they're hungry or have a fit of madness, but they can still eat people. Was this white snake just born good? Didn't it know that eating people was enjoyable?
"Have you ever eaten a person?" Li Yang couldn't help but ask this very strange question.
"No, but I'm very curious about the human body. The human body is naturally the most suitable structure for cultivation, most in line with the principles of heaven and earth, and is many levels higher than the demon body. However, the human lifespan is very short, which is their defect, while our lifespan is much longer. Back then, I also had an epiphany and started cultivating after listening to a wise master's sermon. I checked my body and found that I had slept for five hundred years. Adding the previous seven hundred years, I am now twelve hundred years old, and my power is also very high!" The white snake laughed proudly like a little girl, making Li Yang feel a bit awkward. Could it be that her intelligence was only at the level of a seventy or eighty-year-old girl?
Twelve hundred years? Li Yang almost choked on his own saliva. Holy crap, this is insane! He really is good-looking.
"Your body structure is so strange. You possess such amazing power, and your bloodline is quite unique—you even have the bloodline of the Jiuli Wu Clan. No wonder you can talk to me~" The white snake uttered words that left Li Yang bewildered once more. What did it mean? What did all this mean?
"A miraculous power? It probably refers to my internal energy, a fusion of Yin and Yang. As for the Jiuli bloodline of the Wu tribe? What is that?" Li Yang had heard of the ancient Wu tribe, but the Jiuli tribe seemed to be related to Chi You, right? What exactly was this bloodline? It was too bizarre! He possessed such a miraculous bloodline? What about his father and mother? Why hadn't he seen them show any unusual reactions or actions?