Chapter 14: Seven-day Kalah

Yang Sheng’s hand suddenly sank; Su Yun had thrown off Tong Fan and was retreating backward, facing him.

Yang Sheng dropped Tong Fan’s legs and pursued him, while the other scholars also surrounded them, but Su Yun’s footwork was strange, like a crocodile dragon retreating into water, diving into the abyss, using the scholars’ bodies to evade his pursuit.

“His cultivation isn’t high, but his movement technique is extremely clever, and everything is calculated with extreme precision. So precise it sends shivers down one’s spine…”

Yang Sheng only vaguely saw Su Yun’s face flash a few times among the surging scholars before he retreated into the shadows of the Ghost Market and disappeared, one after another, with a fox demon!

Meanwhile, he was blocked by the scholars who rushed towards him, obstructing his path and vision.

What shocked Yang Sheng even more was that as the little blind boy retreated, several scholars tried to grab his shoulders to stop him, but all failed.

Even when the scholars activated their vital energy to attack him, Su Yun had already moved out of their attack range before their moves could be executed.

“The little blind boy seemed to pass through the crowd, but his calculations were extremely accurate. Not only did he avoid me, preventing a direct attack, but he also precisely dodged the attacks of others! And these attacks, in turn, became obstacles in my pursuit of him.”

Yang Sheng’s expression was solemn.

“Oh no!”

A scholar’s cry of alarm came from behind him: “Tong Fan is dead!”

Yang Sheng turned around and said in a deep voice, “Fellow students, this is the Tianmen Ghost Market, no loud noises allowed! Haven’t you heard enough legends about the Ghost Market?”

He scanned the surroundings, and the scholars gradually calmed down.

Yang Sheng continued, “Brother Tong Fan was killed by a rioter from Tian Shi Yuan, which is a serious matter. We are all responsible for Brother Tong Fan’s death! The Tong family is a prominent aristocratic family in Shuofang City. At dawn, you must immediately return to Shuofang to report to the Tong family. I will stay here to search for that rioter and make sure to capture him and send him to the Tong family, so they can personally avenge Brother Tong Fan and shed the enemy’s blood, thus fulfilling our bond as classmates!”

The scholars all agreed.

Yang Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, “If I tell them I’m staying to capture the little blind boy and send him to the Tong family, they won’t dare to put all the blame on me. It’s good that Tong Fan died. Tong Fan and I are just classmates, but our bond is deep. If I go to great lengths to avenge Tong Fan, the Tong family will surely be moved! This is my chance to rise from obscurity!”

On the other side, Su Yun and Hua Hu slid down from the Ghost Market along the Immortal Rope. Once they landed, Su Yun shook the Immortal Rope, and it automatically detached and fell down.

Su Yun coiled the rope and slung it over his shoulder, saying, “Second Brother Hua, go and pick up Xiao Fan, Buping, and Xiao Yue and bring them to Tianmen Town. Huqiu Village can no longer be lived in… Wait a moment, we have to pass through Snake Ravine on the way. I’ll go with you.”

Hua Hu was still shocked by Su Yun’s killing of Tong Fan. He had also learned the Crocodile Dragon Roar, but in this battle, Su Yun’s Crocodile Dragon Roar showed him a usage he had never thought of before.

Su Yun breaking through the encirclement and killing Tong Fan to avenge Qiu Xiaomei from Huqiu Village made Hua Hu’s blood boil even more.

He gradually calmed down and followed Su Yun towards Snake Ravine, thinking, “Xiao Yun wants to go back to Huqiu Village with me. He must have noticed that I’m a bit distracted and is worried that I might be poisoned to death by that ‘Village Eater’ snake when I pass through Snake Ravine.”

A warm feeling rose in his heart. This was his classmate, his fellow student. Although they were not of the same kind, they were closer than kin, like brothers.

They arrived at Snake Ravine. Su Yun cautiously led the way, while Hua Hu, taking advantage of the dim starlight and moonlight, saw the large black snake still coiled on the rock in the ravine, breathing and absorbing energy from the crescent moon and stars above.

With each inhale and exhale, the large black snake’s body swelled and contracted. As its body undulated with its breathing, its scales rotated around its body with crackling sounds, as if they were about to fly off, which was quite astonishing.

From a distance, Hua Hu saw that the starlight and moonlight in the sky seemed to be gathered by a strange force, turning into specks of light that fell straight down from above, being absorbed into the large black snake’s body with its breathing.

And on the large black snake’s forehead,

Above its eyes, two sharp horns seemed to have grown.

“This ‘Village Eater’ snake is probably going to turn into a dragon!” Hua Hu was startled.

The large black snake danced under the moonlight, sometimes raising its body more than a person’s height, swaying in the air, and sometimes lowering itself, rubbing its head on the rocks. Its dance was very peculiar, carrying a strange and mysterious charm.

Suddenly, the large black snake seemed to see them and stopped absorbing moonlight and starlight, instead sliding into the water.

Hua Hu’s heart jolted. The water in the Snake Ravine suddenly rippled, and the water level in the ravine rose rapidly, quickly reaching their shins.

In the next moment, the waves had already submerged Su Yun’s waist. Hua Hu, being shorter, was already swallowed by the sudden surge of water.

And the water in the Snake Ravine was still rising, about to submerge Su Yun.

Hua Hu heard Su Yun’s voice in the waves: “Second Brother Hua, Dragon Swimming in Winding Marshes.”

He quickly performed the Dragon Swimming in Winding Marshes, and immediately gained control of his body posture and the surrounding water, stabilizing himself.

“Second Brother, I was buffeted by the water and got lost,” Su Yun said calmly, not far from Hua Hu, like a large crocodile swimming in a torrent.

He had a mental map of the area around Tianmen Town, and with the Yellow Bell constantly operating, he knew his exact location.

However, the rising water in Snake Ravine was unexpected. Buffeted by the large volume of water, he didn’t know how far he had been swept, so he couldn’t pinpoint his position on the map.

Hua Hu activated the Dragon Swimming in Winding Marshes movement technique, pulling him to a large rock that protruded from the water.

Su Yun had some impression of this rock. The young man then took out a compass from his embrace, felt the spoon handle, determined the cardinal directions, and only then did he find his position on the map again.

Splash!

The water surface suddenly split open, and the large black snake’s head emerged more than a person’s height above the water. It looked down at them with eerie, vertical snake eyes, and an intensely fishy smell wafted over.

Hua Hu mustered his courage and stood in front of Su Yun, looking up at the large black snake, thinking, “There’s no escape. The Village Eater has blocked our retreat with this flood. I can’t escape, but while the Village Eater is killing me, Xiao Yun can seize the opportunity to escape!”

“Senior.”

Su Yun’s voice came from behind him, his tone very calm, giving a strange sense of security: “Senior, why have you stopped us? What wisdom do you wish to impart?”

Hua Hu felt uneasy, clenched his fists, and looked up, saying, “Village Eater, eat me first!”

The large black snake suddenly opened its mouth, its head sinking, bringing with it a whistling sound of wind.

Hua Hu closed his eyes in fright and shouted, “Xiao Yun, hurry and run while it’s eating me!”

After a while, Hua Hu found that he was still perfectly fine and hadn’t been eaten. So he quietly opened his eyes, only to see the large snake’s mouth wide open, flattened before him.

Inside its mouth, there were densely packed, hook-like teeth!

And behind him, Su Yun was also standing there perfectly fine, neither having run away nor been swallowed by the large snake.

Hua Hu was puzzled, seeing the large black snake still with its mouth open, motionless.

“Is it waiting for me to walk into its mouth myself?”

Hua Hu was indignant and was about to put his head into the snake’s mouth: “It’s too humiliating for a fox!”

Su Yun tilted his head and asked, “Second Brother Hua, what do you see?”

Hua Hu stopped. At this moment, he also sensed that something was amiss and quickly told Su Yun what he saw.

Su Yun pondered, “Village… Senior must need us for something, which is why it stopped us. Second Brother, observe carefully and tell me what you see.”

Hua Hu carefully examined the large black snake, only to see a forest of hook-like fangs in its mouth. Ordinary venomous snakes usually have two to four fangs, but this one had as many as eight.

Besides the fangs, there were also other non-venomous teeth, over thirty of them.

Other than that, there was nothing extraordinary. Suddenly, Hua Hu noticed that the large black snake’s forked tongue was wrapped around a sword, with the hilt facing him.

“There’s a sword in its mouth! Could it be that the Village Eater stopped us because it wants us to help it pull this sword out?”

Hua Hu realized, stepped forward, and gripped the sword hilt, thinking, “How did this sword get stuck here? Could it be that when the Village Eater was eating someone, it swallowed the sword too, and it accidentally pierced its mouth?”

He pulled the sword with force, but it came out unusually smoothly. The sword was almost delivered out of its mouth by the large black snake.

Hua Hu was stunned again, not understanding why the large black snake would stop them when it could clearly pull it out itself.

“Second Brother, what did you find?” Su Yun asked.

Hua Hu explained about the sword and then handed the hilt to Su Yun.

Su Yun caressed the sword hilt. The sword felt smooth and warm to the touch, not like it was cast from iron or copper, but rather like it was polished from bone.

A sword polished from bone, yet it was extraordinarily sharp!

Su Yun lightly swung the sword and sliced, and a large chunk of the rock beneath his feet was cut off!

The young man pondered for a moment, then looked up and smiled, “I understand.”

He raised his arm and steadily held up the sword, its tip pointing towards the large black snake.

The large black snake suddenly raised its head with a whoosh, its snake eyes vertical, watching him eerily.

Hua Hu was startled and blurted out, “Xiao Yun, what are you doing? The Village Eater will eat you!”

Su Yun’s expression remained unchanged, and he said in a deep voice, “Senior, I am ready!”

The large black snake’s head slowly lowered and touched the sword tip. A hissing sound came, and the sword tip pierced its maw, tracing along its upper and lower lips!

Su Yun bowed and held up the bone sword with both hands.

The large black snake’s forked tongue extended, wrapped around the bone sword, and drew the sword into its mouth, then it swam into the ravine water.

“Seven days from now, at midnight, when the Yin energy is most potent, will be the auspicious day for my transformation into a flood dragon.”

A somewhat sharp voice suddenly echoed in Su Yun’s mind: “You have helped me transform; you may come and observe.”