The giant serpent's tail touched the ground, while its hundred-foot-long body stood upright in the air, its imposing presence terrifying, as if it were about to transform into a dragon and depart.
The little princess casually picked up a feathered arrow, nocked it on the bowstring, and then used all her strength to pull back the Houyi Bow a little. The dark Houyi Bow began to emit a faint golden light, which, like a thin mist, surged towards the feathered arrow on the bowstring. Iron is transformed into gold, and the ordinary feathered arrow turned completely golden, finally transforming into a golden streak and flying away from the bowstring.
Thunder and lightning roared, the world lost its color, and golden light seemed to tear through the void, arriving before the giant serpent in the blink of an eye. The giant serpent was terrified, seemingly sensing the immense energy contained within the golden arrow. It swiftly plummeted towards the ground, its massive body barely dodging the golden light that had eclipsed the world. The giant serpent coiled itself around the volcano's crater, trembling uncontrollably.
The golden arrow grazed past the giant serpent, leaving everyone utterly disappointed. However, in the blink of an eye, the wind and thunder roared again, and the golden arrow, which had already disappeared, roared back from afar. Its dazzling golden light made even the sun in the sky pale in comparison, and the golden arrow instantly pierced into the giant serpent's body.
A surge of blood erupted from the giant snake's wound, and a cloud of blood-red light shot up from the crater. The enormous snake's body rolled and writhed in the crater, sending countless huge rocks flying everywhere as it struck them. The little princess and her companions hurriedly dodged.
A dozen minutes later, the giant snake stopped thrashing and stood upright again, its ferocious head several dozen feet off the ground. It stared fiercely at the little princess, but when the giant snake saw Hou Yi's bow, it instinctively showed fear.
The giant serpent's body was ripped open by the light arrow, leaving a huge bloody hole that let in light from both sides, with fresh blood gushing out.
A trainee mage said, "Your Highness, please draw your divine bow again. If you hit that wound this time, you will surely kill the serpent in one fell swoop."
"No, I no longer have the strength to draw the divine bow. You all take over!"
Each of the dozen or so guards stepped forward and tried, but none of them were able to draw the divine bow.
Chen Nan, hiding behind the rocks, witnessed everything clearly. No one present understood the Houyi Bow better than him; without extraordinary skill, it would be impossible to even budge the divine bow. If the little princess had possessed sufficient power, drawing the Houyi Bow just a little further would have been fatal, let alone a giant snake, even a dragon. In ancient legends, the Houyi Bow had shot down a god from the heavens, making it one of the most powerful celestial treasures on the Immortal Fantasy Continent.
The giant serpent seemed to realize that the group could no longer use the "dark tool" that terrified it. Its eyes blazed with ferocity. After glancing back at the Fiery Lotus inside the volcano, it charged straight at the group not far away.
Chen Nan had already sensed something was wrong and immediately ran down the mountain.
Only then did the little princess truly show panic, exclaiming, "I overestimated my abilities!"
The guards shouted, "Your Highness, run!"
The giant serpent swooped down, whipping up a gust of wind, its massive head instantly appearing before the group. Its blood-red tongue and gleaming white fangs were just a hair's breadth away from touching them. The three apprentice mages swiftly erected a pale blue light barrier. The serpent's head slammed into the magical shield, shattering the barrier instantly. The three apprentice mages coughed up blood, and the guards were thrown a great distance by the force of the impact, tumbling down the mountain.
The giant snake moved with lightning speed, catching up with the tumbling crowd in the blink of an eye. Two people were instantly crushed by its massive body, turning into minced meat before they could even scream. The guards watched in horror. The giant snake did not continue attacking the other guards; its eyes gleaming with a vicious light, it chased after the little princess ahead.
At this moment, Chen Nan was terrified, with the little devil following behind him and the giant snake relentlessly pursuing her.
The little princess screamed repeatedly, "Ah..."
Chen Nan shouted loudly behind him, "Little devil, what are you yelling about? Stop following me like a little shadow."
"You scoundrel, you filthy thief, how dare you speak to me like that? I'll drag you into the palace to be a eunuch sooner or later! Ah... the stinky snake is coming..." At this moment, the little princess had lost her previous composure and calmness; she was now extremely panicked.
Upon hearing the little princess's scream, the guards, enduring excruciating pain, scrambled to their feet and drew their longswords to stab the giant snake. But ordinary iron swords were utterly ineffective against the serpent. The snake twisted and turned, its massive body slamming violently into the guards, sending them flying like scarecrows.
The giant snake had caught up with the little princess, opening its blood-red maw and spewing out a large swath of flames that swept towards her.
The little princess looked utterly terrified and let out a piercing scream: "Ah..."
Just as the flames reached the little princess's back, Hou Yi's bow suddenly emitted a faint golden light, blocking the flames and startling the giant snake into stopping abruptly.
At the same time, a long howl came from afar, the sound like thunder, echoing in the air for a long time.
"Yu'er, don't panic, your master is here." The newcomer's voice was so loud that rocks from the crater kept rolling down the mountain.
Chen Nan's ears were ringing from the shock, and he almost fell to the ground.
A short while later, a middle-aged man in loose clothing appeared a hundred feet away.
"Waaah... Old man, why are you so late? If you had come any later, I would have been eaten by this stinky snake!" the little princess cried.
Chen Nan was so shocked that his blood and qi surged, and coupled with the tension he had just been under, he sat down on the ground with a thud.
"Such powerful sonic abilities, could it be the Azure Dragon Roar, a sonic killing technique? The little devil calls him an old man, could he be an old guy who has rejuvenated?" He stared intently at the middle-aged man, and in the blink of an eye, the man had closed another fifty feet.
"Shrinking the earth to an inch, the skill is close to the Tao! This old guy is really amazing. It seems that his kung fu is at least at the grandmaster level." Chen Nan was secretly shocked.
In an instant, the middle-aged man was in front of the little princess, while the giant snake watched the uninvited guest from a distance.
The middle-aged man seemed completely unconcerned about the giant snake, patting the little princess's head affectionately and laughing, "Haha, little girl, you've had your fill of suffering, haven't you?"
"Ugh, don't hit my head!" The little devil princess pushed the middle-aged man's hand aside, pouting, "Hmph, you old codger, were you here all along, deliberately hiding in the shadows to laugh at me?"
"If I had arrived sooner, would I have just stood by and watched you get chased and bitten by that little snake?"
"I'm speechless!" Chen Nan was truly exasperated by this master and apprentice pair, who actually referred to that enormous creature as "small."
"Hmph, who knows if you're telling the truth or not."
At this moment, the guards who had survived the attack stumbled and ran around the giant snake.
The middle-aged man said in a deep voice, "Stay away from this volcano, retreat as far as you can."
The little princess said no more and led the heavily wounded guards down the mountain. Of course, Chen Nan had already fled first; he didn't want to face that terrifying little devil.
"Hey, you scoundrel, you filthy thief, stop right there, or I'll skin you alive when I catch you!" the little princess shouted fiercely.
Chen Nan had suffered greatly during her days in captivity, and now she retorted fiercely: "You arrogant princess, keep dreaming! I'll make you pay for this sooner or later, I'll XXXXX..."
The guards who had survived the attack desperately wanted to rush over and capture him, but they were too badly injured to do so. They could only shout and curse at him from afar. The little princess had never been so humiliated. She gritted her teeth and trembled uncontrollably. If she hadn't exhausted all her strength, she probably would have chased after Chen Nan and killed him a thousand times over.
In a few leaps and bounds, Chen Nan had reached the foot of the mountain. Ignoring the angry curses behind him, he plunged into the depths of the nearby woods. He didn't leave immediately; wanting to witness the struggle between the middle-aged man who had just arrived and the giant snake, he hid in a corner of the dense forest.
The Houyi Bow, which terrified the giant serpent, had been taken away by the little princess, but it had yet to attack her master. The giant serpent, already possessing supernatural abilities, sensed the immense power contained within the seemingly weak body before it, and it writhed uneasily.
Facing the giant snake alone, the little princess's master's aura changed in an instant. He seemed like a giant standing proudly between heaven and earth, his face showing no fear and full of powerful confidence.
The giant serpent was the king of all beasts in the area, and no animal dared to set foot within miles. However, in just half a day, its authority had been challenged repeatedly. Now, under the pressure of the middle-aged man's powerful aura, it was completely enraged, and scorching waves of fire erupted, surging towards the middle-aged man like a tidal wave.
The middle-aged man moved with lightning speed, leaving an afterimage in his original position. He instantly moved five zhang to the side, then leaped high into the air and struck the giant snake's previously injured wound with a palm. Blood gushed out from that wound once again.
Unable to endure the immense pain, the giant serpent collapsed to the ground, its blood-red eyes gleaming with a chilling ferocity. A sudden gust of wind arose, and its massive tail lashed out at the middle-aged man. This tail strike, if it were on a battlefield, would have been a true sweeping attack, sending rocks flying and dust billowing into the sky. The giant serpent's "sweeping attack" left a huge trench in the mountainside.
When the smoke and dust cleared, the middle-aged man stood atop the volcano. The giant snake rose upright once more, its enormous head level with the crater, its ferocious jaws snapping at the man.
The middle-aged man neither dodged nor evaded, but charged forward. He swung his two fists forward, and a large patch of white light appeared in front of his fists. The white light, like a tangible object, collided with the giant snake's bloody mouth.
A deafening roar.
The giant snake tumbled from the air and crashed to the ground, sending rocks flying in all directions. The middle-aged man was also thrown from one side of the crater to the other by the enormous recoil, landing awkwardly on the ground.
Chen Nan secretly admired him: This middle-aged man was actually able to fight a hundred-foot-long giant snake all by himself; his cultivation was truly extraordinary.
The little princess and her companions, hiding in the jungle, were overjoyed to see the middle-aged man fight the giant snake.
The middle-aged man and the giant snake were locked in combat again. The middle-aged man relied on his lightning-fast speed and superb skills to target the giant snake's weak points, such as its eyes. The giant snake, on the other hand, used its physical advantages to sweep and ram the middle-aged man. The man and the snake leaped and tumbled on the volcano, with huge rocks constantly rolling down the mountain.
The man and the snake moved further and further away from the crater, gradually heading downhill. Chen Nan sensed something was wrong and quickly fled. The little princess and the others also felt uneasy and hastily retreated a mile.
As soon as everyone left, their original hiding place became a new battlefield. The middle-aged man and the giant snake fought from the top of the mountain to the bottom. Every punch he threw emitted a burst of intense white light, which pulverized rocks and trees upon contact.
The giant serpent is more destructive than a middle-aged man. Every time it spews flames, large swathes of forest are burned and turned into scorched earth. Every "sweeping slash" causes rows of trees to fall.
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the entire forest was razed to the ground.
Chen Nan watched with trepidation. It wasn't that he hadn't seen peerless masters before; his father was a peerless master among peerless masters. But he had rarely witnessed such an intense battle.
The little princess secretly rejoiced; if the giant snake had acted so fiercely towards them earlier, she would probably be reporting to heaven by now. Of course, this was just wishful thinking on her part; Chen Nan was more convinced that she would have gone to hell to find the demons and claim kinship.
At this moment, the middle-aged man seemed to have the upper hand. His lightning-fast figure frequently appeared near the wounds that the giant snake had previously sustained. His fists, accompanied by blazing white light, continuously pounded the same spot. The giant snake was beaten into a sorry state, its massive body constantly tumbling.
The little princess immediately cheered, "Go, Master! Kill that stinky snake quickly and avenge my guard!"
"Oh dear, old man, you're so stupid! How did you let that stinky snake get the upper hand again? Did you get arrogant because I praised you?"
"Old man, you're really terrible! Ugh, you're so stupid! How could you let that stinky snake burn your hair?"
...
The middle-aged man stretched out his palm and cut off the strand of long hair that was burning in the flames, then quickly retreated more than ten feet.
"Master, you're such a coward! How could you run away?"
Chen Nan chuckled inwardly. It was truly a great misfortune for a middle-aged man to have such a devilish disciple.
The middle-aged man took a breath and transmitted his voice: "Little girl, don't talk nonsense. If you cause trouble again, you will be punished by facing the wall for a hundred days when we get back."
"They're just trying to encourage you."
Middle-aged man: "..."
After being "provoked," the middle-aged man unleashed his power, defeating the giant snake and leaving it weak and listless. Just when everyone thought the middle-aged man had the victory in his grasp, the giant snake's tail suddenly wrapped around the middle-aged man's waist with lightning speed, lifting him into the air. Even the thinnest part of the giant snake's tail only wrapped around the middle-aged man's chest and abdomen once before it completely bound him from the chest down.
The little princess screamed and rushed past the guards to get to her.
The middle-aged man struggled desperately, his body radiating a faint white light that grew stronger and stronger. The snake's tail coiled around him gradually loosened, and he seemed about to break free from the giant snake's grasp. But just then, the ferocious snake's head suddenly opened its blood-red maw and lunged at him. He quickly swung his fists outwards, a burst of blazing white light blocking the ferocious snake's head, but the loosened tail once again tightly coiled around him.
The little princess ran quickly to within ten feet of the giant snake, her voice choked with sobs: "Master... Waaah..."
"Yu'er, don't cry. Master is alright. This little snake won't kill me."
"Master, catch Hou Yi's bow." With that, the little princess tossed Hou Yi's bow and a feathered arrow into the air.
"Waaah... Master, I'm so sorry. I wanted to see your true strength, so I didn't give you the Houyi Bow earlier, waaaah..." The little princess started crying again.
"Yu'er, don't be afraid. This little snake really can't do anything to your master. Now that we have Hou Yi's bow, it's doomed." As he spoke, the middle-aged man punched the giant snake's head twice. The blazing white light knocked the snake's head back three zhang. He stretched out his hands and emitted a soft white light to draw Hou Yi's bow and the eagle-feathered arrow into his hands.
"Yu'er, retreat quickly, be careful not to get hurt."
The little princess saw that the middle-aged man had received Hou Yi's bow and felt relieved, so she turned and ran away.
The giant snake did indeed show fear upon seeing Hou Yi's bow, and its enormous head moved back a distance of seven or eight zhang.
The middle-aged man shone brightly. After nocking the feathered arrow, he pulled the bowstring with all his might and shouted, "Open!" But to his surprise, the bowstring did not budge.
"Yu'er, has anyone ever used Hou Yi's bow?" the middle-aged man shouted.
"Yes, old man. That bloody hole in the stinky snake was shot by me. Are you happy now? I've finally drawn my divine bow."
"What? You little scatterbrain, the Houyi Bow can only be used once a year. You've really ruined my life."
"Ah... Master... Waaah..."
The giant serpent seemed to have realized that the middle-aged man couldn't use the divine bow. It viciously lunged at him, but the man swung his Houyi bow to meet it. The dark bow's back struck the serpent's gleaming white teeth, breaking off four or five fangs, each half a meter long, which flew away in a cloud of blood. The serpent, in pain, slammed its tail down, sending the man flying.
The middle-aged man tumbled to the ground in a disheveled state. After taking a long breath, he gripped his divine bow and charged toward the giant serpent.
Chen Nan was dumbfounded. The little princess's master was actually using Hou Yi's bow as a club. He felt a pang of pain in his heart.
"That perverted man... what a waste of talent!"
The little princess beamed with delight. "Haha, the old man is so funny!"
The middle-aged man leaped high into the air, a flash of black light, and the giant serpent's steel-like scales were shattered by Hou Yi's bow, scattering blood raining down from the sky. The giant serpent was enraged, its entire body twisting wildly, its massive tail lashing out and slashing, causing the earth to tremble.
However, the little princess's master moved with lightning speed, dodging wave after wave of deadly attacks. Then, wielding Hou Yi's bow, he launched repeated attacks, leaving the giant serpent covered in blood.
Suddenly, the giant serpent stopped, its body, now upright in the air, began to emit a faint golden light. An astonishing transformation occurred: its multicolored scales turned golden, four protrusions appeared on its belly, and a pair of gleaming golden antlers grew from its head. A dragon's roar erupted from its mouth, shaking the heavens. A powerful dragon aura emanated from the serpent, causing all animals within a hundred miles to prostrate themselves on the ground.
Everyone was stunned.
"A dragon! I saw the legendary dragon!" Chen Nan shouted excitedly.
The little princess exclaimed, "Oh my god! We're fighting a dragon!"
While everyone was filled with excitement, the little princess's master looked somber. Only he understood that the giant serpent's transformation into a dragon had failed; its dragon claws had not extended. Failure to transform into a dragon meant only one outcome—death.
He said softly, "Brother Snake, I'm sorry. I thought you were a snake demon who had failed in your cultivation. I never imagined you were so arrogant, spending tens of thousands of years cultivating to become a true dragon. If you hadn't reached the crucial stage of transforming into a dragon, I think we would have been dead long ago."
At this moment, the golden scales on the giant snake's body began to fall off, leaving behind a bloody mess where there were no scales. The giant snake let out a tragic dragon roar and spat out a golden inner core from its mouth. The inner core suddenly exploded in the air, turning into specks of golden rain that disappeared into the air. The giant snake, which had failed to transform into a dragon, turned into a golden light and rushed towards the volcano, disappearing into the crater in the blink of an eye.
The little princess's master was filled with a sense of loss. If he had killed a demonic snake, he would not have felt so disappointed, but killing a sacred snake that had the potential to transform into a dragon made him feel extremely heavy-hearted.
"Is it right or wrong? Perhaps there is no right or wrong in this world." He sighed deeply.
With a heavy heart, the middle-aged man arrived at the crater. He flew to the Fiery Lotus, picked only one petal, and then uprooted the entire plant and threw it into the volcano.
"Brother Snake, this may be fate. If the Fiery Lotus had ripened half an hour earlier, you might have already transformed into a dragon. That lotus would surely have preserved your spirit, and I wish you could become a true dragon in your next life."
Just then, the little princess and the others ran up, asking, "Master, what happened just now? How did that stinky snake turn into a dragon?"
The middle-aged man said, "You're mistaken. How could it turn into a dragon?"
"It was a dragon! I clearly saw a dragon! Don't you think what I just saw was a dragon?" the little princess said to the guards.
"It's definitely a dragon, I can see it clearly."
...
The guards affirmed.
The middle-aged man said calmly, "People can hallucinate when they are too nervous. You were too nervous just now."
The little princess said, "Hmph, old man, you're acting strange today. You must be hiding something from me."
The middle-aged man chuckled, "You little rascal, you always have such wild imaginations. Here, this is the Fiery Lotus you wanted to pick."
"Oh, why is there only one petal?"
"You are so greedy. It's already good enough to get even one petal of this immortal herb. The rest of the lotus petals fell into the volcano after they ripened."
"Alas, what a pity," the little princess sighed.
"Hey, Master, what about that snake? Did you kill it?"
"It died under Hou Yi's bow."
"Oh, old man, you're acting really strange today. You've clearly slain a dragon—no, a giant snake—so why are you so listless?" The little princess blinked her big eyes, looking at the middle-aged man with a meaningful gaze.
The middle-aged man pinched her nose, then changed the subject with a laugh, "You little rascal, you actually ran away from the palace! Don't you know you almost drove your father crazy with worry?"
"Ugh." The little princess slapped the middle-aged man's hand away and said, "I came out to find the Fiery Lotus for Father Emperor. When he turns sixty, I'll give him the lotus, and he'll be overjoyed."
"You little brat, you're really crazy! Don't you know how dangerous this is? How could you be so reckless..."
"Alright, alright, I know, you're even more nagging than my grandma. Master, I heard you had a crush on my grandma when you were young, is that true?" the little princess said with a mischievous smile.
"You...you shouldn't change the subject."
The little princess said with a smile, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will return to the palace immediately."
The middle-aged man looked helpless and said, "You're too naughty. I'm really worried about whether you'll go back safely."
The little princess asked curiously, "Old man, aren't you coming back with me?"
The middle-aged man said, "I came here looking for you. I was supposed to take you back with me, but on the way I heard that a Qilin divine beast had appeared in the Falling Wind Mountains. This is no ordinary matter. I have to go and see for myself, but I'm worried about you!"
"Isn't that the legendary mythical beast? Does the Qilin really exist in this world?" The little princess's eyes lit up with excitement. "I want to go too!"
"No, you've been away from the palace for over half a month. Your mother has been worried sick about you and has even fallen ill because of it. You should go back immediately."
"Oh, my mother is sick? Well then, I'll go back right away." The little princess looked disappointed.
The middle-aged man returned Hou Yi's bow to the little princess, saying, "Yu'er, why did you steal Hou Yi's bow? You should know that this is the national treasure of the Chu Kingdom, and its main purpose is to deter peerless masters from other countries."
"What's wrong? I just borrowed it for a bit. It's not like I'm not going to return it," the little princess said nonchalantly.
"You really don't know the importance of this. The divine bow was once sealed and can only be used once a year. How can you just take it and use it casually? Fortunately, the State of Chu doesn't have any formidable enemies right now, so it's basically not needed."
"I know—" the little princess said, drawing out the last syllable.