Chapter Ninety-Nine: Viper Valley

Before leaving, Little Gold devoured all the corpses on the scene. It even retraced their path to swallow the bodies of the other black-clad men from before, sparing not a single one. Afterward, Little Gold carried her and her big brother, flying at full speed for a day and a night until they reached this place, where it defeated a giant python over twenty meters long.

Only after that battle did she realize how incredibly powerful Little Gold was! She recognized that giant python; it was the King of the Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents, a third-order beast, and most importantly, it was exceptionally venomous. Her father had once told her about the most powerful and venomous beasts in the Azure Python Forest.

Among them was the King of the Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents. Its venom was so potent that even a fourth-order beast would die if afflicted by it. Thus, it was also known as a quasi-fourth-order beast—not quite fourth-order itself, but possessing the power to kill one.

More importantly, Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents were social creatures. There were likely hundreds of thousands of them in this valley, even though they were only second-order beasts.

Even a peak fourth-order beast would have to avoid them when faced with such overwhelming numbers.

Yet, upon arriving in the valley, Little Gold had dispatched the serpent king in no time, expanding its body to swallow it whole. Furthermore, it subdued all the other Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents in the valley, forcing these creatures of a different species to acknowledge it as their new king.

Little Gold claimed the pool where the serpent king had resided and plucked a fruit growing beside it, gesturing for her to feed it to her big brother.

Then, Little Gold hissed loudly at the surrounding serpents. Though she could not understand what was communicated, the horde retreated to the outer edges of the valley, prostrating themselves like soldiers standing guard.

Afterward, Little Gold shrank its body and spun a cocoon around itself, turning into a small, snow-white chrysalis.

Left with no other choice in this situation, she could only wait patiently. Whenever she grew hungry, she would pluck some wild herbs to eat. In this manner, another day and night passed.

When Little Gold finally broke out of the cocoon, a pair of wings had grown on its back!

Two days had passed since Little Gold emerged from its cocoon, yet her big brother still showed no signs of waking. Worried, she had just been asking Little Gold about him.

Over the past few days, she had grown familiar with Little Gold. Discovering that it could understand her words, she would chat with it whenever she could, sharing her inner thoughts.

*Cough, cough...*

A soft coughing sound startled Ximen Yiyi. She whipped her head around, her eyes lighting up with joy as she looked toward a patch of grass beside a large boulder.

The grass, piled high with various flowers and herbs, resembled a bed. Lin Fan lay upon it, his brow slightly furrowed. A soft groan escaped his lips, and with another cough, he slowly opened his eyes.

A clear blue sky met his gaze. The towering canopy of the Dragon Azure Trees no longer blocked the sunlight, and the rich fragrance of flowers and herbs drifted into his nose.

"Big Brother, you're awake!"

Ximen Yiyi scrambled down from the boulder and rushed to Lin Fan's side. Producing a waterskin from somewhere, she held it to his lips.

Lin Fan's throat burned with pain, and his lips were painfully dry. Seeing Yiyi offer him water, he tilted his head back slightly and drank.

The water was cool and sweet, soothing his parched lips and burning throat. Steadying himself, Lin Fan sat up with Yiyi's assistance and looked around.

"Where is this?"

The surroundings felt somewhat familiar, yet Lin Fan could not place them immediately.

"I don't know either. After you passed out, Big Brother, Little Gold flew for a day and a night to get here!" Ximen Yiyi shook her head, pointing at Little Gold, who had already slithered up onto Lin Fan's shoulder.

"Ah, so it's the Venomous Snake Valley!"

Lin Fan suddenly realized. He remembered that this was the snake valley he and Little Gold had passed through before. At the time, Little Gold had wanted to kill the serpent king here to devour its flesh and inner core.

However, Lin Fan had stopped it back then because he noticed a Serpent-Saliva Fruit growing near the deep pool, which was not yet ripe.

The Serpent-Saliva Fruit was an auxiliary ingredient for refining Life Essence Pills, and it was highly effective for healing injuries.

Such fruits typically grew near the caves of venomous snakes of the third order or higher. Despite being surrounded by lethal toxins year-round, they were not poisonous at all; instead, they possessed immense life energy.

While most snakes were of the cold attribute, the Serpent-Saliva Fruit was of the fire attribute, its entire body a fiery red.

Normally, a Serpent-Saliva Fruit had to be ten years old to serve as an ingredient for a Life Essence Pill. This one was only eight years old, which was why Lin Fan had stopped Little Gold from killing the King of the Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents.

If the serpent king were killed, only ordinary Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents would remain in the valley. Without a third-order venomous snake, the Serpent-Saliva Fruit would wither and die.

If Lin Fan had harvested it then, its age would have been insufficient. Although the fruit would still carry strong life energy, it would not be enough to refine a Life Essence Pill. Thus, Lin Fan had told Little Gold to spare the serpent king.

His plan was to return in two years to collect the fruit. With the serpent king guarding it, he could rest easy.

This was the territory of second- and third-order beasts. Given the serpent king's lethal venom, which could kill even a fourth-order beast, the fruit was highly secure.

Moreover, the serpent king commanded hundreds of thousands of Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents. Even if dozens of Pulse-Opening Realm experts attacked, they would not be able to conquer this valley.

If the serpent king were angered and led its horde in a desperate, suicidal defense, even dozens of Pulse-Opening Realm experts would meet a tragic end here.

Consequently, although many people knew of this place in the territory of second- and third-order beasts, and knew it was rich in herbs—with ten- or twenty-year-old specimens being common—no one ever dared to come here.

This was because a bloody battle had once taken place here. Countless experts had died tragic deaths, using their very lives to warn everyone that this was a forbidden zone.

Of course, if a Stream Realm expert came, they could retreat safely. However, even if they harvested all the herbs here, it would not be worth the effort of someone at that level.

Although natural treasures like ginseng, lingzhi mushrooms, and fleeceflower root were common here, they were all of ordinary varieties.

Unlike mutated varieties such as blood ginseng or purple-gold ginseng, or flesh lingzhi and blood lingzhi, which possessed incredibly potent effects and easily fetched a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand taels, the ginseng, lingzhi, and other herbs here were worth only a dozen taels at the lowest, and a few thousand taels at most.

Even if someone cleared out the entire valley and sold everything piece by piece, the total value would only amount to a few hundred thousand taels.

Those who coveted this wealth lacked the strength to take it, while those with the strength to take it did not care for such a meager sum.

They were unlike Little Gold. As a serpent of the Ice Silkworm genus possessing the bloodline of the Nine Evil Dragons, it feared no venom. In fact, it needed to absorb venom to grow faster.

It was a natural counter to all venomous creatures. Coupled with its powerful bloodline, it could easily suppress and subjugate other snakes—a trait that became exceptionally pronounced after the appearance of its second crimson line.

Thus, it had dispatched the serpent king with ease. As for the lower-ranking Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents, a single command from Little Gold left them powerless to resist.

Once it killed the serpent king, it became the new ruler of the valley. Even though they were of different species, the Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents submitted to it all the same.

Knowing where they were, Lin Fan felt relieved. He had been worried that more black-clad men might appear, but here, he had nothing to fear.

With hundreds of thousands of Snow-Scaled Blossom Serpents on guard, unless the black-clad men were infinite in number, they would only find death here.

"Yiyi, go wait to the side for a moment. I need to check on my injuries."

Hearing Lin Fan's words, Yiyi obediently walked away. Only then did Lin Fan begin to inspect his condition.

Swallowing the Earth Essence Fruit earlier had allowed him to break through in an instant. The sheer volume of his true qi was already comparable to that of an expert who had just entered the Pulse-Opening Realm.

This was how he had managed to wipe out the ten black-clad men in one fell swoop.

Yet, by then, he had already sustained severe injuries. His back, arms, shins, sternum, and other areas were battered. Except for his arms, every injury was critical.

Furthermore, after consuming the Earth Essence Fruit, the vast energy had rampaged through his body. Although he had gritted his teeth and endured until his breakthrough, his meridians were now riddled with holes, some severed, and others completely shattered.

At the time, he had no leisure to care about anything else. Relying on sheer willpower and his newly advanced true qi, he had forced his injuries to stabilize, kept his consciousness afloat, and exerted all his strength to kill the black-clad men.

Once the battle ended and his true qi slackened, his injuries erupted completely, causing him to lose consciousness.

Had Little Gold not returned to save him, he would be dead by now.

Little Gold had brought him to the Venomous Snake Valley and killed the serpent king. The Serpent-Saliva Fruit must have been fed to him; otherwise, given the severity of his wounds, he would never have woken up.

With these thoughts in mind, Lin Fan sank his consciousness into his body, sending his vast soul power outward from his dantian to inspect his condition inch by inch.

"What a devastating injury!"

Currently, all of Lin Fan's origin qi was locked within his dantian. The wounds on his back and arms had healed, his sternum had mended, and the scabs on his shins had fully formed; they would heal completely in a few days.

However, his internal state was a complete disaster. His meridians were severed throughout his body, and some were entirely shattered, leaving no trace.

The damage this time was no less severe than the backlash he suffered from using his mental attack previously. In fact, the internal injuries were even worse.

Although his sternum had mended, his severely damaged heart and lungs had not fully recovered.

Fortunately, his physical strength was still usable, and he could still channel a tiny sliver of origin qi through the minute, rarely used meridians that remained intact.

The amount of origin qi he could muster was roughly equivalent to the early stage of the Qi-Guiding Realm, but he was undoubtedly the weakest at that level, only slightly better than the Body-Tempering stage—since those in the Body-Tempering stage possessed no origin qi at all.

As for his physical strength, while he could use it fully, the severe damage to his heart and lungs and his ruptured meridians meant that the more force he exerted, the greater the backlash he would suffer.

Every time he mobilized his strength, it would strain his meridians, heart, and lungs.

This situation drew a bitter smile from Lin Fan. Was the heavens punishing him out of fear that his cultivation was too high, and that he would bully others when enrolling in the Tianshu Academy?

Next, Lin Fan entered the Ascension System to check his negative emotion points. The black-clad men had contributed over sixty thousand negative emotion points in total.

The number of people jealous of him in Qingxue County had dwindled. The negative emotion points, which used to surge by tens of thousands daily, had only increased by about eighty thousand over the past three days. This total also included a large influx of points from people surnamed Liu in the system.

This was likely because the Liu family had tried to contact Liu Hong via transmission jade talisman. Finding that the connection was severed, they had sent people to investigate, only to discover that Liu Hong was dead, thus contributing these points to him.