Chapter Thirty-Two: The Frost Serpent

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Frost Serpent

Wu Hong carried the fat man on his back, carefully making his way through the forest. Along the way, he killed many strange creatures—any one of which, if let loose in the outside world, would surely cause a great commotion. There were double-headed wolves that breathed fire, monstrous bears nearly ten meters tall with terrifying strength. In this forest, not only were the plants gigantic, but the beasts themselves were equally extraordinary in size and ferocity.

Even with Wu Hong’s current abilities, when faced with some of the more formidable creatures, all he could do was quietly hide and move with utmost stealth, not daring to linger even for a moment.

The fat man slung over Wu Hong’s shoulder had long since regained consciousness. He clutched a dagger that glinted coldly in his hand, and several times he had tried to seize a chance to stab Wu Hong in the back. But each time Wu Hong encountered danger, the fat man was so terror-stricken his face turned ashen.

The fat man thought to himself, “If I kill Wu Hong, I might as well be committing suicide.” Finding himself with no other choice, he reluctantly put away his dagger.

By now, Wu Hong’s clothing had been torn to rags in the course of several battles, leaving his body nearly exposed. His skin glowed with a faint golden hue, and where sunlight filtered through the canopy, it made him appear almost divine.

The fat man on Wu Hong’s shoulder snorted inwardly, “Hmph—so Wu Hong really is a villain. Who knows what sinister arts he’s practiced to make his skin that color!”

Imagining Wu Hong had cultivated some demonic technique, the fat man cursed him silently, but being jostled around made him so uncomfortable that he shifted slightly.

Sensing movement on his shoulder, Wu Hong realized the man had recovered the ability to move. He set him down and asked, “Are you all right?”

For the first time, Wu Hong took a good look at the fat man’s face. He wore a felt hat, his body was as plump as a pig’s, and his features were nearly swallowed by his own fat—one could barely make out the size of his eyes. Well-preserved, his true age was impossible to guess.

“Hmph—” The fat man turned away, arms crossed, completely ignoring Wu Hong.

Wu Hong thought to himself, “It’s often said that those who live by the sword are eccentric, and it seems to be true. I’ve saved this man’s life, yet he is utterly ungrateful.”

“Be careful and follow behind me. Don’t get lost—I can’t look after you if you wander off. This place is dangerous!” Wu Hong didn’t let the man’s attitude bother him. He gave a brief warning and pressed on cautiously.

The fat man seemed to want to say something else—his pudgy, fleshy hands trembled—but he kept silent and followed lightly behind Wu Hong.

Wu Hong was surprised. He hadn’t expected the fat man he saved to be a martial artist of such skill.

After traveling another kilometer or so, they finally reached the foot of a mountain.

“Ow! I can’t go on, my foot’s injured!” the fat man suddenly cried, collapsing to the ground, unwilling to take another step.

Wu Hong turned to see that the fat man’s swollen foot was indeed bleeding profusely. He shook his head.

Though he could easily carry the fat man up the cliff, the sheer bulk of him was daunting—a thought that would have seemed unimaginable to Wu Hong in the past. Yet now, carrying this massive hunk of flesh, he felt no weight at all. It seemed he was less “human” than the one he carried.

What Wu Hong didn’t realize was that his strength was already unmatched under heaven. Even when he had only reached the “Flesh Realm,” he possessed nearly tens of thousands of pounds of force. Much had happened since, and Wu Hong himself no longer knew the full extent of his power.

He hoisted the fat man over his shoulder—an enormous mass of flesh covering most of Wu Hong’s back—yet it did nothing to hinder his agility.

Wu Hong relied solely on his brute strength to scale the cliff, having never learned any lightness arts. To the average martial artist, his climbing speed might not seem so terrifying. But if anyone knew he was moving so fast with nothing but raw physical strength, their jaws would surely drop.

With the fat man slung over his right shoulder, Wu Hong moved along the sheer wall as if walking on level ground. The scenery blurred past, and in the blink of an eye, he had climbed nearly a thousand meters. The higher he climbed, the more awed he was—just how tall was this mountain?

Looking down, he saw layers of mist obscuring the forest below. The fat man’s trembling could be felt through his mass, clearly frightened by the dizzying drop.

At that moment, the fat man’s heart nearly leapt into his throat. It was terrifying—he had never heard of such a sheer, towering cliff anywhere in the world.

They had already ascended into the clouds, the ground below invisible.

At first, the fat man had considered taking advantage of Wu Hong’s focus to launch a sneak attack. But he soon realized that without Wu Hong, he could never scale such a mountain, nor survive the horrors lurking in the forest below. He was left helpless, and thought bitterly, “When will I have my vengeance for my son? Now I must survive together with my mortal enemy—what a twist of fate!”

Wu Hong was completely unaware that the fat man harbored murderous intentions toward him at every moment. His mind was fully focused, wary of any possible danger.

Suddenly, a chilling wind swept past them from the right, making both men shudder.

Wu Hong halted his ascent and cautiously drew his dagger.

With a crash, stones fractured and tumbled into the bottomless abyss. To Wu Hong’s right, a boulder the size of a house suddenly hurtled toward them from the mountainside.

As the massive rock flew through the air, it opened a blood-red maw, revealing two purple-glinting fangs, each a meter long.

“Aaah!” The fat man shrieked—a scream more suited to a maiden in distress than a hardened man, his voice utterly changed.

Just as the monstrous jaws lunged at them, Wu Hong shifted sideways on the cliff, dodging the bite. His right palm gathered force and, in an instant, expanded several times in size—like a great fan smashing into the enormous boulder. The stone shattered, revealing the true form of the monster. Wu Hong’s pupils contracted sharply.

How could such a terrifying beast exist in this world? Before him was a colossal serpent, its eyes blood-red, tongue flickering, body stretching more than ten meters in length. The scales on its head, exposed as the rocky covering fell away, gleamed coldly like a mosaic of blades, exuding a chilling menace.

Wu Hong felt a cold dread run from his feet to the roots of his hair. In the presence of this giant serpent, he and the fat man were as insignificant as chicks before an adult.

Without hesitation, Wu Hong struck the cliff with his palm. The mountain shook with a thunderous roar as the solid rock yielded like tofu, a two-meter-wide hole blasted open by his force.

With a flick of his right arm, he tossed the fat man into the hole. “Stay here. I’ll fight the serpent. If I die, block the entrance with a boulder—the serpent shouldn’t be able to get at you for a while.”

The fat man was stunned by Wu Hong’s words, thinking, “Is this really the bloodthirsty madman, the fiend who castrates the sons of noble families? Why is he treating me like this?”

Conflicted, the fat man tried to justify himself, “Bah! That Wu fellow even killed his own father—he can’t possibly be a good person! Why am I making excuses for him? He must know my identity and plans to torment me in some special way when the danger is past.”

Shaking off his confusion, the fat man’s face grew cold again as he watched Wu Hong leave the cramped cave to face the serpent.

The serpent, having taken a blow from Wu Hong’s formidable palm, felt some trepidation toward this tiny creature but did not immediately attack. Wu Hong locked eyes with the blood-red gaze of the serpent for a long moment. However, as a beast, it lacked human cunning, and soon lost patience. Suddenly, it opened its maw and spewed a white, chilling vapor.

When the icy breath struck him, Wu Hong inwardly cursed, “Damn!” The cold invaded his body. If it had been only cold, he could have used his blazing inner energy to dispel it, but the breath also carried a potent poison.

Wu Hong felt numbness spreading through his body. Without hesitation, he swallowed a small pill—the one Li Ruolan had given him in the desert, said to cure all poisons except for the most deadly.

The moment the pill entered his mouth, Wu Hong felt his body return to normal. The serpent, having marked Wu Hong as a threat, did not attack again immediately after unleashing its breath—giving Wu Hong precious time to recover.

Where the cold breath had passed, the cliff face turned crystal clear like pure quartz—a testament to the breath’s deadly power.

The serpent, seeing its venomous breath fail to affect Wu Hong, showed a flicker of surprise in its blood-red eyes. Clearly, it had lived a long time and was capable of emotions akin to a human’s.

With a whoosh, the serpent, frustrated that its ultimate attack had failed, shook its body. Massive boulders tumbled into the abyss as it reared up—the front half of its body sported two pairs of wings, flapping with a frigid wind.

It was only now that Wu Hong saw the serpent’s full size. Its long, sinuous body soared through the air, at least several dozen meters in length.

The serpent’s eyes blazed with fury. This tiny creature had repeatedly challenged its dominance on the mountain, enraging it to the core. With a mighty sweep of its tail, the air was torn as if by lightning, the tail itself as thick as seven or eight meters in diameter, striking toward Wu Hong.

Wu Hong, unable to fly, had no time to dodge such a massive blow.

With a thunderous crash, the tail slammed into the cliff like a knife through butter, carving a trench over ten meters deep and dozens of meters long.

The fat man, hiding in the artificial cave Wu Hong had made, narrowly escaped disaster—the trench passed right beside him!

Seeing Wu Hong fail to dodge its attack, the serpent’s blood-red eyes flashed with a hint of triumph.