Chapter 14
At the banquet, everyone was busy exchanging pleasantries, tasting the exquisite Immortal Wine, and completely ignoring the little incident on Si Lan’s side.
After the Immortal Wine feast, it was time for the Immortal Cranes to perform their dance.
In the realm of cultivation, the higher the cultivation level of the couple getting married, the more Immortal Cranes would participate in the dance.
As Lou Yu, the number one cultivator in the cultivation world, a total of eighty-one Immortal Cranes gathered on Xuanling Mountain.
In the sky, the Immortal Cranes gracefully glided through the white clouds, their white feathers simple and pure, their postures elegant and graceful. They danced freely, sometimes flapping their wings in a carefree manner, sometimes stretching their necks and singing high in the sky.
The gazes of the crowd involuntarily turned to the sky, enjoying the dance of the Immortal Cranes.
The disciples of the Xuanling Sect also joined in, performing sword dances and playing the flute in harmony with the cranes. Their robes fluttered, and the entire Xuanling Mountain was enveloped in the joyful and festive sounds, resembling a paradise on earth.
However, Si Lan alone had a solemn expression. Although his eyes were fixed on the Immortal Cranes, his thoughts were still dwelling on something he hadn’t fully contemplated yet.
“Wow, Master, what formation is that?” Xie Li suddenly reached out and pointed to the sky.
Si Lan’s thoughts were interrupted, and he listened to Xie Li’s soft voice. He couldn’t help but smile. “That’s the Immortal Crane Play Cymbals Formation.”
“Oh…” Xie Li pretended to understand and nodded.
Behind them, Quze noticed that their attention was completely focused on the Immortal Cranes, so he quietly left and went to the end of the courtyard.
He glanced around to make sure no one was following him before cautiously pushed the door open and entered.
The shadow of the window coffin cast on Quze’s face, making his slightly immature face appear somewhat sinister.
A huge snake head gradually emerged behind Quze. Its black scales gleamed with silver light, and its brown eyes seemed to almost bleed. Its voice seemed to come from a distant underground cave, silent and ominous, creating an invisible sense of pressure.
“He refused to drink that wine; perhaps he has discovered something. Mix a drug in it and serve it to him in person. It will ease his vigilance significantly.”
“Understood.”
Quze responded expressionlessly.
The snake head gave its orders and then disappeared into thin air.
Quze walked out of the room and saw Si Lan and Xie Li still enjoying the dance of the Immortal Cranes on the open terrace.
The midday sun was scorching, leaving everyone feeling parched. Quze requested a pot of tea and, after placing it nearby, poured a cup of tea for Si Lan.
“Your Excellency, it’s quite hot today. Have some cold tea.”
“Thank you.” Si Lan took the teacup, and as he was about to bring it to his lips, his eyes suddenly flickered. He looked at Quze and curved his lips, revealing a smile that was neither a smile nor a smirk. “The tea is quite good.”
Quze’s heart raced. Meeting Si Lan’s gaze, he thought Si Lan had discovered something. However, Si Lan downed the tea in one gulp. Quze cleared his throat. “I’m glad Your Excellency likes it.”
“You foolish Demon Lord.”
After finishing the tea, Si Lan suddenly heard a mocking voice in his spiritual consciousness. He couldn’t help but pause and asked, “What?”
“Hehe.”
Si Lan listened to the sound of “hehe” and confirmed that it wasn’t his imagination; someone was truly communicating with him through his spiritual consciousness.
“Who are you?” He responded through his spiritual consciousness, but the other person remained silent.
Si Lan furrowed his brows and asked Quze to prepare another cup of tea.
Seeing this, the small white dragon closed his eyes, giving up all resistance.
There was no hope left.
Why should he worry about the Demon Lord? He was only staying by his side to suck his blood.
If he died, well… at most, they would have some less fresh blood to drink.
Thinking of this, the little white dragon realized that he hadn’t had blood for most of the day.
Si Lan was defenseless against him; his collarbone and chest were exposed to him, and he could see the veins and even the blood vessels under Si Lan’s skin. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he always felt a faint fragrance emanating from Si Lan’s embrace, very pleasant.
At present, it wasn’t a good time to drink blood, but he could certainly enjoy the fragrance.
The little white dragon lowered his head to Si Lan’s collarbone, about to close his eyes and inhale the scent when he caught Xie Li sneakily glancing at him again, curiosity filling his big eyes.
The little white dragon suddenly turned around, let out a furious roar in his spiritual consciousness, scaring Xie Li, who shivered and quickly averted his gaze, standing up straight.
The little white dragon arrogantly turned his head, and his gaze fell on Si Lan’s other disciple, Quze. Quze was currently watching Si Lan’s nape, his expression neutral, and his emotions hidden.
The little white dragon suddenly felt some pity for Si Lan.
His two disciples, one was a fool, and the other was getting ideas.
Tsk tsk.
“What’s that?” Suddenly, an exclamation echoed.
The gazes of the crowd subconsciously followed the sound, only to see countless small snakes rapidly crawling up from the forest towards Xuanling Mountain. They came in a dense, unstoppable mass.
“Snakes… why are there so many snakes?”
They were sister snake clan!
Si Lan stood up abruptly, his eyebrows furrowing. He didn’t expect them to attack Xuanling Sect again. He had already warned that little sister snake to advise their people not to act recklessly. Why didn’t they listen?
“Quick, set up the barrier!”
However, before the cultivators could set up the barrier, a huge two-headed sister snake roared, raising its heads from the forest. Its massive, terrifying blood-red eyes almost darkened the sky as it stared fixedly at the people on Xuanling Mountain.
In the next instant, all the cultivators who met the gaze of those blood-red eyes fell into an illusion.
Si Lan had been affected before and quickly shouted, “Don’t look into the snake’s eyes!”
Quze and Xie Li immediately closed their eyes.
Unfortunately, most of the people were still ensnared in the illusion, and only a few remained clear-headed, albeit shocked by the scenes before them.
Si Lan immediately set up a barrier that enveloped the entire Xuanling Mountain, keeping the sister snakes out. However, the sister snakes, unable to break through, relentlessly slammed into the barrier as if they were willing to die.
The two-headed sister snake, which had used the illusion technique, retracted its blood-red eyes and turned its gaze toward Si Lan, testing the waters. It asked, “Are you Demon Lord Si Lan?”
“Yes,” Si Lan replied, his expression cold. “You’re no match for Xuanling Sect at all. Why attack recklessly?”
“The Snake Queen is running out of vitality. If we don’t act now, we’ll be beyond redemption.” Knowing this was a trap, they had no choice but to make their final stand.
“Where is the Snake Queen? I’ll help you save her.”
The two-headed sister snake fell silent, assessing Si Lan, as if pondering if he was worth trusting. Soon, it retrieved a pill from its pocket. “This pill can roughly indicate the direction of the Snake Queen.”
“Which direction?”
The Tóu Pill emitted a green glow, floating in mid-air. The two-headed sister snake was about to speak when a vine that had been lurking on Xuanling Mountain suddenly shot countless tendrils toward it.
It dodged hastily but was still pierced by one tendril.
At the foot of the mountain, the root-like tendrils of the vine seemed like tentacles, breaking through the barrier and quickly advancing toward the little sister snakes. The sister snakes were not as lucky as the two-headed one and were caught. Their insides were crushed.
Brown snake blood gushed like a waterfall, staining Xuanling Mountain, and a pungent snake odor filled the air.
Si Lan drew his Xuan Heart Whip and, in an instant, appeared above the vine. He struck the main stem of the vine.
The vine, as if it had a soul, sensed Si Lan’s intentions and quickly extended several tendrils toward him. However, the tendrils were cut off by the Xuan Heart Whip before they could get close to Si Lan. They fell to the ground, and the tendrils on the ground continued wriggling toward Si Lan.
Si Lan cast a spell, turning the tendrils into ashes.
At this moment, the barrier surrounding Xuanling Mountain was suddenly broken by a sword qi. Si Lan looked up and saw Purple-robed Immortal Monarch, who held a long sword and stared coldly at everything happening at the foot of the mountain.
As the barrier shattered, the small sister snakes went mad, rushing toward Xuanling Mountain. Si Lan tried to stop them, but they seemed out of control. They climbed up the mountain like a frenzy, attacking the vine.
The vine was dense with branches and leaves, wrapping around the sister snakes, leaving only crimson blood flowing out.
Saturated with fresh blood, the vine grew even more vigorous, extending its roots in a way that resembled human veins.
“What on earth is this?” Si Lan asked.
“It’s sister snake bones.”
That familiar voice suddenly echoed in Si Lan’s consciousness again.
Si Lan suddenly understood. This vine was not a plant or a demon, but a spinal column. The person behind all this had painstakingly used the blood of the sister snake clan to nourish the vine, aiming to reconstruct a flesh and bone spinal column.
What a sinister method.
“Quick, order the sister snakes not to attack the vines,” Si Lan immediately conveyed to the two-headed sister snake.
The two-headed sister snake also realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately conveyed the message to the other sister snakes.
“Stop attacking Xuanling Mountain!”
The sister snakes stopped their attacks. However, the vine, now resembling a bloodthirsty monster, refused to relent and actively attacked the sister snakes.
The sister snakes tried to escape, but a massive purple barrier suddenly enveloped them, trapping them inside. In an instant, the sister snakes within the barrier seemed to be hit by a powerful force, emitting screams.
Si Lan and the two-headed sister snake, seeing this, immediately flew toward the vine, attempting to stop it.
At this moment, the vine extended a huge tendril toward the group
of cultivators who were still trapped in the illusion. Si Lan had to deal with the tendril, but he turned to Quze and said, “Quze, protect the others!”
“Yes,” Quze replied, drawing his sword and pulling Xie Li behind him.
Xie Li, with a pale face, stood dumbfounded, watching the scene before him. He had only come to the banquet, and yet, he was inexplicably dragged into a fight.
“Hiss… Whoa…”
Inside the barrier, the sister snakes subjected to the formation attack burst one by one, and their blood gathered into a river, flowing toward the vine’s roots.
The two-headed sister snake, witnessing this, was filled with anger and desperately attempted to attack the barrier to rescue their people. However, their cultivation level was inadequate, and they were rebounded by the barrier, leaving them severely injured on the ground.
Si Lan didn’t have time to think about anything else. He gently shook the whip handle, transforming it into a longsword.
Holding the longsword, he struck the barrier, creating an opening. The sister snakes still clinging to life quickly crawled out of the crack.
But the vine ceased its attack on the sister snakes. It appeared sated, quickly retracting its tendrils.
Under the sunlight, the vine emitted a brown halo, akin to the spread of a bloodstain. The roots shook, causing clusters of petals to fall, revealing an intact network of roots. Or, more accurately, a complete, pale spinal column.
It was the spinal column of a snake.
At first glance, it resembled a centipede clinging to Xuanling Mountain.
The two-headed snake, lying on the ground, looked at the snake bones and seemed to recall something, and its face suddenly changed.
In the next moment, the snake bones coiled around Xuanling Mountain, shook violently with great force, and the sky spun while the ground trembled. Rocks tumbled from the mountaintop, and streams at the base of the valley reversed their flow. Birds in the forest screeched as if the world was about to shatter, and it felt like the onset of an apocalyptic scenario.
A strange screeching sound echoed over Xuanling Mountain, and the people trapped in the illusion suddenly trembled, their bodies in pain, blood oozing from their seven orifices.
“Double-Head, quickly release them from the illusion,” Si Lan said, trying to shield the people inside the illusion from the falling rocks and the haunting sounds.
However, the two-headed sister snake coldly stated, “The lives and deaths of humans are of no concern to me. Our purpose here is to rescue the Snake Queen.”
Hearing this, Si Lan didn’t hold back any longer. His longsword instantly transformed into a whip that coiled around the two-headed sister snake’s neck, choking it, causing the sister snake’s face to distort and its eye sockets to bulge.
“Don’t make me say it a second time,” Si Lan warned with a stern gaze.
The two-headed sister snake displayed a hint of fear on its face. Reluctantly, it took out a horn and blew it gently, instantly releasing the illusion.
T/N: Hey there! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
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How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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