Yuan Ming controlled the Soul Crow to fly a little closer, and upon closer inspection, his heart trembled.
The Snake King in front of him was indeed different from the previous one. It had grown larger in size, with a hooked horn growing from its forehead and four protrusions on its abdomen. It looked like it was about to shed its snake body and transform into a Flood Dragon.
The Snake King that had fought against Bai Ye and Huan Shi earlier was now lying in the poisonous gas behind them, barely breathing.
This Snake King had nearly half of its snake scales damaged, blood flowing continuously. Its head was severely injured, with half of its python head crushed, but it was not dead yet. Its snake mouth was slightly opening and closing, seemingly recovering from its injuries.
“There are actually two Snake Kings here? Bai Ye and the Scattered Alliance’s intelligence was wrong, otherwise it wouldn’t be so miserable.” Yuan Ming sighed inwardly.
The strength of the Horned Snake King was much stronger than the previous one, with its power doubled. The green venom it sprayed was also more toxic, easily corroding rocks to form deep craters. The venom that fell on the ground would quickly evaporate, forming a green poisonous mist.
The most terrifying thing was the horn on its forehead, which could shoot out golden rays with extremely strong penetrating power. Bai Ye and Huan Shi didn’t dare to let it hit them.
However, the two of them were Foundation Establishment cultivators after all. Although they were poisoned by the snake venom, they still cooperated tacitly and were quite skilled in various spells and magic tools. For a while, they were not completely defeated.
Bai Ye controlled a golden flying sword, while Huan Shi activated the bronze shield. Sword qi filled the air, and the shield’s shadow flew around, defending and attacking appropriately, blocking wave after wave of attacks from the Horned Snake King.
However, the cave was filled with poisonous mist. Although the two of them had antidote treasures on them, they still couldn’t completely resist it. The green gas on their faces gradually intensified, and their movements became slower.
The narrow snake pupils of the Horned Snake King revealed a bloodthirsty excitement, and its attacks became more and more fierce.
Yuan Ming ignored the battle inside the cave and stared intently at the heavily injured Snake King. He secretly controlled the Black Toad lurking underground and moved towards the fallen Snake King.
There were two Foundation Establishment cultivators and two second-level ferocious beasts inside the cave. In order to avoid being discovered, the Black Toad had to travel underground for about fifteen meters before reaching the Snake King.
A dark purple vine silently emerged from the ground and swiftly pierced into the wound on the head of the Golden Flower Snake King, deeply embedding itself inside.
The Snake King, who was still breathing and recovering, was suddenly attacked. It couldn’t help but let out a miserable scream when it was attacked on its head.
“Now is the time!”
A black shadow shot out from the ground beside the Golden Flower Snake King’s mouth and swiftly entered its wide-opened jaws. The dark purple vine also retracted like lightning, entering the snake’s mouth as well.
The series of changes happened as fast as lightning. Only at this moment did the Golden Flower Snake King react and try to investigate what the black shadow that had entered its body was.
Just at this moment, it felt a piercing pain in its abdomen, as if a sharp knife was piercing through its internal organs.
The Snake King howled in pain, and its thick snake tail wildly thrashed around, directly shattering the rocky ground and raising a cloud of dust.
Bai Ye, Huan Shi, and the Horned Snake King all noticed the movement nearby. Under their hesitation, the battle slowed down.
“What was that black shadow just now? Could there be someone else nearby?” Bai Ye and Huan Shi retreated a distance, both shocked and delighted.
The appearance of a second Snake King, who was even stronger, had already shattered their hopes of achieving their original goal. They only wanted to escape with their lives now, but this Horned Snake King seemed to be enraged by the injuries to its companions and was fiercely entangling them, not giving them any chance to escape.
Although the two of them could still barely hold on, their hearts were already filled with despair. Now that there was a sudden change, there might be hope of escaping.
The Horned Snake King turned its head and glanced at its companion, but did not go over. It roared angrily and continued to pounce on Bai Ye and Huan Shi, its speed even faster than before.
“Get out of the way!” Bai Ye shouted loudly, dodging to the side, while Huan Shi hurriedly moved to the other side.
Bai Ye had a deep cultivation and could barely resist the snake venom in his body, but Huan Shi was gradually unable to suppress it. The poison suddenly surged, causing his footsteps to stagger.
The Horned Snake King had already opened its intelligence and was no less inferior to ordinary cultivators. Seeing this scene, it immediately abandoned Bai Ye and pounced towards Huan Shi. Its thick snake tail moved abnormally flexibly and struck horizontally, with a flash of golden light reaching Huan Shi in an instant.
Huan Shi couldn’t dodge in time and could only use the bronze shield to block in front of him.
With a loud bang, the snake tail fiercely struck the shield.
A tremendous force surged forth, causing the originally smooth surface of the shield to sink in, and it was sent flying to the side.
Huan Shi, who was behind, was also shaken by a great force and was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground like a sandbag, losing consciousness.
“Younger Brother!” Bai Ye was greatly alarmed and immediately counterattacked with all his strength.
His golden flying sword shot out, aiming for the head of the Horned Snake King. The sword qi was dazzling, making it almost impossible for people to open their eyes.
The Horned Snake King opened its mouth and spat out a fist-sized white bead. It was surrounded by astonishing demonic energy fluctuations and collided with the golden flying sword.
With a loud boom, a fierce demonic energy erupted, causing a gust of wind to sweep through the cave, engulfing the figures of the Horned Snake King and Bai Ye.
The Soul Crow in the distance couldn’t see the situation inside clearly and could only hear the sound of collisions.
After a few breaths, a white figure shot out and crashed heavily into the nearby mountain wall, embedding itself inside. It was Bai Ye.He was covered in bruises, with his right arm bent at a strange angle. The green snake venom on his skin had become even more concentrated, and he remained motionless, falling into a coma.
The One-Horned Snake King leaped out of the dust, with a huge wound on its neck. Blood stained half of its snake body, but it still moved agilely and quickly arrived next to the injured Snake King.
At this moment, it didn’t care about the life or death of Bai Ye and Huan Shi, but wanted to save its companion.
However, the Black Toad was hiding inside the injured Snake King. Although the One-Horned Snake King was powerful, it had no way to deal with it and could only be anxious on the side.
…
Yuan Ming saw this scene through the nearby Soul Ravens and sighed.
Bai Ye and Huan Shi were easily defeated even when they joined forces. This One-Horned Snake King’s strength was truly formidable, and it was probably already at the Second Stage of the Advanced Level. Although controlling the Black Toad temporarily saved them from harm, it seemed that they would not be able to leave this place alive today.
Yuan Ming didn’t have a bad impression of Bai Ye and Huan Shi. If he had the ability, he wouldn’t mind saving them. Unfortunately, his strength hadn’t even reached the Foundation Establishment stage, so he could only choose to stand by and watch.
He focused on urging the Black Toad to devour the demonic power of the heavily injured Snake King.
The aura of the Black Toad soared, reaching the peak of the First Stage, and continued to rise.
The heavily injured Snake King’s robust body had shrunk by nearly half, and its struggling became smaller and smaller. Its body continued to wither, and its aura became weaker and weaker.
On the contrary, the strength of the Black Toad continued to advance by leaps and bounds, far surpassing the level of a First Stage demonic beast.
“Just a little more, just a little bit, and it will reach the realm of a Second Stage demonic beast!” Yuan Ming thought to himself.
However, most of the demonic power of this Snake King had been absorbed by the Purple-Black Demon Vine, causing the progress of the Black Toad’s strength to slow down.
At this moment, the Purple-Black Vine touched a white bead the size of an egg, just like the bead that the One-Horned Snake King had just spat out.
“This must be the snake bead that Huan Shi mentioned before, transformed from the snake gall!” Yuan Ming was secretly delighted and immediately controlled the Purple Vine to pick it.
As the bead separated from the Snake King’s dying body, the last trace of vitality finally dissipated.
A substantial anger shot out from the One-Horned Snake King’s eyes, and the golden light on its forehead surged. A thick golden beam, as thick as an arm, burst out and headed straight for where the Black Toad was.
The Black Toad remained calm and activated the Earth Escape Talisman, swiftly passing through the thin snake skin and burrowing into the ground.
Just as its figure disappeared, the golden beam arrived fiercely, easily cutting the withered snake body in half and splitting the ground, creating a huge crack several zhang long. However, it didn’t touch even half of the Black Toad’s toe.
“Roar…” The One-Horned Snake King roared angrily at the sky, and its tail angrily slammed the ground, causing countless stones to fly and raising a cloud of dust.
Yuan Ming controlled the Black Toad to burrow about seven or eight zhang underground before stopping. It opened its mouth and swallowed the white snake bead.
The white snake bead contained most of the Snake King’s demonic power, but unfortunately, it was locked inside the bead. If an ordinary cultivator obtained it and wanted to use it, they would have to go through some difficulties.
However, after the Black Toad fused with the Demon Vine, it awakened the ability to devour, making it easy to refine the bead.
The Purple-Black Demon Vine wrapped around the white snake bead, and a huge demonic power merged into the Black Toad’s body. Its aura continued to soar, and after a few breaths, it broke through the bottleneck and reached a new realm.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured in from all directions, causing tremendous changes in the Black Toad’s organs, muscles, and skin. They continued to strengthen, and the Purple-Black Demon Vine residing in its body wriggled incessantly, quickly becoming tougher.
The size of the Black Toad’s body inflated, and all the poison sacs on its back disappeared, replaced by more than a dozen purple patterns, making it much more pleasing to the eye than before.
Those poison sacs didn’t disappear; all the potent toxins flowed to a certain part of the Black Toad’s body, and the surging demonic power also rushed there, condensing into a purple-black bead.
The aura on the Black Toad’s body quickly stabilized, and a tremendous pressure burst forth, no less than that of a fallen Snake King.
“Could it be that it has advanced to the Second Stage Spirit Beast!” Yuan Ming’s eyes flashed with joy.
A Second Stage demonic beast was comparable to a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage. He finally had a capable helper.
“Speaking of which, now that this Spirit Beast has advanced to the Second Stage, will it resist the Beast Control Rune?” He suddenly remembered something and sensed the Beast Control Rune inside the Black Toad.
His worries did not materialize. The Black Toad did not resist the Beast Control Rune inside its body and still obediently followed his orders.
Yuan Ming breathed a sigh of relief and sensed the current abilities of the Black Toad.
The purple-black bead inside the Black Toad’s body was its inner core, similar to the snake bead of the Snake King. It was condensed from its entire demonic power and could be used as a magic tool once it was completely stable.
The inner core of each demonic beast had different abilities. The snake bead of the Golden Flower Poison Python was indestructible and could be used to directly attack enemies. The inner core of the Black Toad was different; its ability leaned more towards potent toxins.
The purple-black inner core contained the Black Toad’s poison, and its toxicity had greatly increased compared to before. It also had many more ways to use it.
In addition to poisoning, the inner core of the Black Toad also had another ability: it could absorb the potent toxins of other poisonous substances and store them in the inner core, releasing them when necessary.
“It can also absorb potent toxins? Let’s give it a try…” Yuan Ming had a thought and controlled the Black Toad to open its mouth and suck.
The green poisonous mist in the snake cave, as well as the poisonous miasma, flowed into the ground like a whale sucking in water, merging into the Black Toad’s inner core.The originally purple-black surface of the inner elixir began to show specks of green, adding a touch of mystery to its appearance.
(End of Chapter)