Chapter 61: Battling the Profound Water Black Serpent Soul Again

The mountain trail was narrow and overgrown with moss, with the sky completely blocked from view overhead.

The closer they got to the Ten Thousand Serpents Valley, the more Ling Xuan found it resembling the Hawk's Sorrow Ravine.

On the ground, countless white bones were strewn about.
On the sheer cliffs, dried snakeskins could be seen fluttering in the wind everywhere.

The strange thing was that not a single small snake could be seen in the Ten Thousand Serpents Valley.
Even the withered vines were completely dead, devoid of any trace of vitality.

The little white snake coiled around his shoulder, its red tongue flicking in and out with a relaxed demeanor, as if there was no danger at all.

Purple light flashed continuously in Ye Ziyan's eyes, yet she still could not detect anything suspicious.

Ling Xuan still felt that something was wrong, and the scene of diving to the bottom of the Luo River flashed in his mind.
Back then, nothing unusual had been detected, and even the little white snake had not sensed any danger.
Yet, right from among those white bones, a wisp of the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul had crawled out.

Activating the Qi-Observing Technique, the single vertical pupil of the Spirit Serpent Twisting the Moon connected with the vertical snake-patterned pupils of his eyes, sweeping across the surroundings.

Wisps of black Qi drifted out from the crevices of the rocks.
Ling Xuan's expression changed drastically in an instant; these wisps of black Qi were strikingly similar to the bubbles that had surged from the bottom of the Luo River.

Turning around, he grabbed Ye Ziyan and shouted, "Let's go."

A harsh, chattering laughter suddenly echoed, "You had a road to heaven, but you refused to walk it! There is no door to hell, yet you charge in by yourselves!"

Just as the words fell, a "clack-clack" sound erupted from the bones on the ground.

"Bone Fiend?" Ye Ziyan asked in surprise.

Ling Xuan immediately corrected her, "The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul!"

With identical precision, in the blink of an eye, the pile of bones converged to form a skeletal giant over five zhang tall.
Unlike the water weeds at the bottom of the Luo River, this skeletal giant had countless small snakes weaving through it.
In its eye sockets, two small green snakes were coiled, and even its tongue was a small red snake that looked entirely as if it were engulfed in flames.

Simultaneously executing the Qi-Observing Technique and the Breath-Scenting Technique, Ling Xuan still could not figure out which of the small snakes was the true body of the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul.
However, the strength of the entire giant formed by the bones and small snakes did not seem to make them feel suffocated; it appeared to be merely at the的气海 Heaven Realm.

"Kill it first and ask questions later!"

Thrusting her Prairie Fire Phoenix Spear forward, the tip of the spear whipped up tongues of flame that transformed into a phantom of a fire phoenix. Ye Ziyan shouted, "Fire Phoenix Prairie Fire!"

Instantly, the air in the Ten Thousand Serpents Valley grew scorching hot.
The dried snakeskins ignited upon touching the fire, emitting wisps of foul stench.

"Hehe, is that all you've got?"

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul remained utterly unconcerned. The skeletal giant exhaled a wisp of black Qi, which transformed into a chain of black iron.

With a clanging sound, the fire phoenix phantom was instantly bound and unable to break free.

***

The Serpent-Form Shadow-Evasion technique was deployed instantly. Without a second thought, Ling Xuan swung the Twin Purple Phoenix Daggers rapidly.

"Utterly useless!" The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul sneered repeatedly.

The razor-sharp Twin Purple Phoenix Daggers swept across the scales of the small snakes, producing a harsh, screeching sound and sending forth tiny sparks.

"Little fellow, go!"

Twisting his body to evade an attack from a small snake, Ling Xuan shouted and abruptly tossed the little white snake forward.

"Tsk, tsk..."

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul seemed to glance sideways and scoff. "You've awakened the White Chi bloodline, but so what? Won't you still end up as my nourishment?"

Spitting out the Chi Dragon Orb, the little white snake grew massive in size, its serpentine tail sweeping outward.

Yet from behind the skeletal giant, a gigantic head emerged, pitch-black all over, with vicious fangs flashing with black light inside its gaping maw.

The tail strike unleashed by the little white snake was not only useless, but its tail also almost got bitten.

Ye Ziyan leaped into the air, shifting her Prairie Fire Phoenix Spear. "Wrathfully Questioning the Common People!"

The tip of the spear traced a purple arc of light, stabbing directly toward the space between the skeletal giant's brows.

"I told you, it's useless."

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul snorted coldly as the black snake head met the spear tip head-on.

With a screeching scrape, the Prairie Fire Phoenix Spear failed to pierce through. Instead, a surge of force rebounded, causing Ye Ziyan's hands to tremble.

A giant hand, manipulating countless small snakes, swept horizontally toward her.

Ye Ziyan hurriedly retracted her spear and retreated, her back pressing against the sheer cliff.

With a continuous, whistling whoosh, the surrounding small snakes flew through the air like sharp arrows, raining down rapidly.

When others faced a rain of ten thousand arrows, they only needed to dodge within the gaps.
However, what Ling Xuan and Ye Ziyan faced was a sweeping torrent of ten thousand snakes; dodging was useless, and they constantly had to guard against being bitten and torn apart.

The little white snake was also helpless, as it had already been entangled by that gigantic black snake head.
Its strength was already inferior to the opponent, and even with its desperate resistance, it was being driven back step by step.

Ling Xuan was equally speechless. Whenever the aura of the Spirit Serpent Twisting the Moon was released, other ordinary snakes would flee from him like mice seeing a cat.
Yet these small snakes looked like mice seeing peanuts, their eyes gleaming as they swarmed forward.

"We'll fight to the death!"

Ling Xuan roared, "Explode!"

He detonated the Taiji Orb—the very one he had condensed only after entering the Qi-Bound Profound Realm.
Yin and yang converged in his palm, and the Taiji symbol spun at high speed.
A black serpent shadow coiled around his left hand, while a white serpent shadow spiraled around his right hand.
Three serpent shadows—crimson, orange, and yellow—drifted out from his body.

***

The Nine Needles of Benevolent Heart manifested, as the five needles of black, white, crimson, orange, and yellow were unleashed simultaneously.

The power of the Divine Incarnation was fully displayed, and the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul immediately recognized it. "The Nine Needles of Benevolent Heart? The Spirit Serpent Twisting the Moon?"

"Go to hell!"

Ling Xuan leaped violently into the air. The spirit serpent spat out its tongue, and all five needles fired simultaneously.

At the same time, Ye Ziyan's Purple Phoenix Divine Incarnation erupted. The phantom of the purple phoenix flashed, and amidst ringing, metallic screeches, she once again detonated the Prairie Fire Phoenix Spear.

The five serpent shadows, along with the phantoms of the purple phoenix and the fire phoenix, charged collectively toward the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul.

"Is that the extent of your abilities?"

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul neither dodged nor evaded. The skeletal giant braced itself to meet the attack. "That's not even enough to scratch an itch."

A deafening roar echoed.
The mountain walls began to tremble, dead wood fell in rustling showers, gravel rolled down, and massive boulders loosened.

Yet the skeletal giant formed by the white bones gathered by the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul merely swayed slightly, and the only things that fell off were some of the small snakes coiled upon it.

Instead, those fallen small snakes shot toward the two of them like bolts of lightning.

"Is the Qi-Bound Heaven Realm really this strong?"

Ling Xuan secretly gasped.
He had never witnessed the Qi-Bound Heaven Realm before and had no idea what kind of strength it truly represented.
However, he had not only seen the Divine Storehouse Realm—which was above the Qi-Bound Realm—he had also witnessed it up close at the Luo River.
At that time, he hadn't felt that it was all that formidable.
Only now did he realize how foolish he had been; it wasn't that the Divine Storehouse Realm lacked power, but rather that he had completely failed to perceive its true might.

That wisp of the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul in the Luo River had merely been toying with him.
And this current Profound Water Black Serpent's soul, whose true body he still hadn't even found, seemed to be toying with him in the exact same way.

With a roar akin to an earthquake, the little white snake was flung away, its massive body crashing into the cliff face and embedding deeply into the rock.

Shrinking in size, it scurried back to his arm, tightly coiling around the snake tattoo. Utterly exhausted, blood seeped from its entire body, and it no longer possessed the strength to continue fighting.

"Run!" Ling Xuan shouted urgently.

"Do you think you can run?"

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul sneered coldly. "The Profound Black Mountain Range is not the Divine Capital of the Great Sui. Did you really think you'd have reinforcements here?"

Before it even finished speaking, its gigantic arm swept across once more.

Ling Xuan continuously executed the Serpent-Form Shadow-Evasion technique, yet he found it impossible to dodge the small snakes unleashed by the Profound Water Black Serpent's soul.

The Profound Water Black Serpent's soul laughed hysterically. "To use snake-imitating skills in front of a serpentine demonic soul is nothing short of making a fool of yourself! Is this really how the Spirit Serpent Twisting the Moon taught you? How could you possibly be worthy of the Twelve Great Divine Incarnations?"