Chapter 96: The Two-Headed Blazing Serpent King!

The middle-aged man seemed not to have expected the massive shadow to catch up to him. His expression flickered, and with a sweep of his right hand, a sharp sword that looked capable of cleaving iron as though it were mud appeared in his grip. Narrowing his eyes, he fixed a cold stare on the colossal shadow beneath him, gave a low cry, and plunged downward with the blade in hand.

Seeing the man descend with sword in hand, the huge shadow that had surged skyward seemed to hesitate for an instant. Then its vast body heaved violently, unleashing a deafening roar. The sound shook the cave, causing the walls to tremble faintly and loose stones from the ceiling to crash down one after another.

The roar was thunderous, but it only caused the sword-wielding man to stir slightly in alarm. His blade still tore through the air, unstoppably stabbing toward the crown of the enormous shadow.

When the roar failed to work, the great body of the shadow began to sway slowly. Soon, a place near the front of its trunk bulged outward, and that swelling moved gradually upward along the body until it reached the creature’s head.

“Roar!”

The monstrous shadow let out another earth-shaking cry. This time, however, the sound was accompanied by something else spat from its mouth together with the roar: a torrent of magma, vast and searing hot.

The middle-aged man, sensing the magma rushing straight toward him, instantly changed the angle of his sword and shot to the right. The terrifying magma skimmed past the left side of his robe and flew upward, slamming into the cave ceiling moments later with a series of dreadful sizzling sounds.

Having avoided the magma, the man flapped his red wings and hovered in midair. Glancing at his left arm, which had been brushed by the magma, and confirming that he was unharmed, he steadied himself with sword in hand and solemnly studied the creature before him, half of whose body remained suspended in the air and half submerged in magma.

Because the monster had surged upward in a violent leap, it had dragged a great deal of magma with it. A moment later, the molten flood fell back, and the creature itself was fully revealed in the daylight.

Lu Zhe stared at it and was utterly dumbstruck.

It had a gigantic trunk, broad enough that six or seven grown men with outstretched arms might barely encircle it. Its massive back was crimson, the color of magma, while the front was yellow, crossed by evenly spaced black stripes. Looking upward along the trunk, one could see that two enormous snake heads were joined to it. The heads split to the left and right, and at that moment all four eyes of the twin heads were glaring fiercely at the middle-aged man floating in the air before them, tongues flicking now and then as if issuing a threat.

“Double-Headed Blaze Snake King,” the Medicine Elder said flatly, as though he had seen nothing unusual at all.

Recovering from his shock, Lu Zhe drew a deep breath and turned to look at the Medicine Elder, who was observing the scene outside. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Master, what exactly is the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King?”

The Medicine Elder gave him a sidelong glance, then slowly turned back. After a brief pause, he said indifferently, “The ‘Beast’ volume of the Compendium of Myriad Wonders records it. Haven’t you read that book? How could you not know?”

Lu Zhe scratched his head and thought hard for a while before answering awkwardly, “M-Master, I don’t think the volume I read mentioned this kind of beast king.”

At that, the Medicine Elder’s brow twitched slightly, but after a moment he returned to his usual calm and said, “That is not your fault. The Compendium of Myriad Wonders is incomplete; it is only natural that the volume you read did not contain such a record. There is no need for you to feel guilty.”

He paused, then continued, “This Double-Headed Blaze Snake King is an extremely formidable beast king. According to the damaged copy of the ‘Beast’ volume that I have read, it is classified as a sixth-tier beast king, and its power can rival that of a human expert at the Spirit Emperor level. Such beast kings usually dwell in scorching regions, most often within magma, so its presence here is perfectly normal. Because it lives deep within magma for so long, its snake scales gradually turn the red of molten rock.” At this point, the Medicine Elder’s eyes grew solemn as he looked outside at the man and snake already locked in battle. In a low, grave voice he said, “I never expected it to be the guardian of the Extreme Mountain Fire Sunflower. It seems we will not be able to take that Extreme Mountain Fire Sunflower so easily.”

Lu Zhe nodded thoughtfully, and then said nothing more. He focused intently on the scene beyond the crack in the stone, watching the earth-shaking battle between man and serpent.

At that moment, the struggle outside was in full swing. The middle-aged man darted back and forth, evading the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King’s magma attacks while seizing every chance to search for an opening and strike back. For reasons unknown, he never called upon the others who had come with him, and those men merely stood on the shore, watching the life-and-death battle between man and snake as though it had nothing to do with them.

“Ha!”

Seizing a fleeting opportunity, the middle-aged man found an opening and drove the sword in his hand fiercely into the back of the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King. Clearly, the creature had not expected to be struck, and it immediately gave out a pained hiss.

After injuring the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King, the middle-aged man hurriedly flapped his wings and withdrew from its back. Once he had retreated to about fifteen meters away, he stopped, hovered in the air, and frowned as he stared warily at the beast.

The Double-Headed Blaze Snake King twisted in pain for a while after being stabbed, baring its teeth in a vicious grimace. But before long it returned to normal and continued to regard the man suspended in the air before it with all four eyes.

The middle-aged man met its gaze without the slightest sign of weakness. Man and serpent, six eyes locked together, and at once the oppressive atmosphere within the cave grew even heavier.

After observing the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King for a while, the man suddenly moved. Slowly, he raised the right hand that gripped the sword and held it horizontally before him. Once it was level, the hand tightened subtly, and with that tightening, a faint red aura began to drift from the gleaming blade.

The Double-Headed Blaze Snake King also noticed the red mist rising from the sword. It flicked its tongue lightly and studied the middle-aged man in the air with great care.

The man frowned, staring fixedly at the beast before him. The red aura around the sword grew stronger and stronger. With each passing moment, it spread from a thin veil to a thicker haze, until at last it covered the entire blade.

Seeing the sword fully shrouded in red aura, the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King suddenly lifted both heads at once. As they rose, the bulge in its abdomen began to swell once more.

Noticing the creature’s movement, the middle-aged man’s expression darkened. With a sharp turn of the sword veiled in red aura, he swung his arm through the air in a sweeping arc and roared, “Sun-Severing Slash!”

As the cry fell, the red aura wrapped around the blade abruptly broke free and shot toward the Double-Headed Blaze Snake King in a curved streak.