Chapter 120: Escape from the Serpent Forest

The woman in white gripped Long Aotian’s throat, but did not strike immediately. Instead, she hauled his dispirited form up from the ground, a cold smile curling her lips.
“I have always wondered,” she said icily, “why do human cultivators insist that humanity reigns supreme among all beings? That slaying monsters is their divine right, yet a demon devouring a human is a violation of heaven’s order? What logic is this?”
Her tone brooked no reply, her gaze contemptuous of the feeble cultivator within her grasp—and indeed, of the others present as well.
Hearing her words, Zhou Qing could not help but force a bitter smile. For, listening to her, he found her reasoning not entirely without merit.
Why do humans claim supremacy over all living things? Is it not simply because humans are the strongest among them? When all is said and done, is it not the law of the strong that prevails?
In the grand scheme, humans are indeed mightier than demons. Yet, at this moment, not one among them was a match for this serpent demon.
Judging by the demonic aura emanating from the woman in white, it was even denser than that old monster he’d encountered in Datian Village. Thus, Zhou Qing had little confidence in their chances of escape now.
As the woman spoke, Zhou Qing’s mind raced, searching for any means of extrication. Never could he have imagined that, having only just entered this Wildman Forest, such a crisis would befall him within the day.
“Abomination! Release my son, and all can be negotiated. Refuse, and I swear your entire serpent clan shall be buried with you tonight!”
Just as the woman tightened her grip, intent on finishing Long Aotian, a voice rang out from the depths of the forest.
A middle-aged man, sword in hand, soared into view.
He wore a blue Taoist robe, one hand forming a seal before him, the other held behind his back, standing atop a great sword that glided like a stream of light to the foot of the mountain. Leaping lightly to the ground, the sword shrank to a fraction of its former size and slid into the scabbard on his back.
“Father!”
At the appearance of the middle-aged man, hope lit Long Aotian’s battered face, as it did for the others—Zhou Qing excepted.
This man was Long Xiaotian, one of the seven elders of the Earth Faction of White Cloud Sect, and Long Aotian’s father.
Heedless of Long Xiaotian’s threat, the woman in white merely extended her palm, striking Long Aotian and tossing him aside like a helpless chick toward the nearby woods.

Long Aotian’s body had scarcely flown through the air when a black python, maw agape, swallowed him whole.
It happened in an instant—no time for reprieve or rescue. Seeing his son devoured, Long Xiaotian threw back his head and roared in fury, raising both hands skyward as the black iron sword leapt from its scabbard.
“If I do not eradicate your clan in vengeance for my son, I am no man!”
The sword soared upward, and at his command, split into seven identical blades, each one gleaming with golden light.
One blade hurtled toward the woman in white, another at the python that had just swallowed Long Aotian, and the remaining five sped towards the surrounding serpents.
The gold-lit swords struck as one. The woman in white alone managed to parry her blade; the other six carved through their targets as though slicing tofu, severing six great serpents in an instant.
The python that had devoured Long Aotian was cleaved in two at the belly, and from its sundered form, Long Aotian tumbled out.
As he had not been inside long, Long Xiaotian shouted, “Yunxi, child, see if Aotian can still be saved!”
Yunxi and her senior sister Yunru nodded solemnly and hurried to Long Aotian’s side.
Yunru, tears streaming down her cheeks, reached him first and pressed her fingers to the artery at his throat. Her tear-stained face lit with relief.
Her expression said it all: Long Aotian still clung to life. As long as there was breath, saving him would not be difficult—he had not been poisoned by any strange venom.
The healing arts of the Yellow Faction of White Cloud Sect were renowned throughout the Tianyue Kingdom. Though they could not bring the dead to life, so long as a spark of life remained, survival was assured.
Catching the smile on Yunru’s face, Yunxi breathed a quiet sigh of relief, as did Long Xiaotian in the near distance. He let out a hearty laugh, swept his hand through the air, and pointed at the woman in white. The six remaining swords converged from all directions upon the serpent demon in human guise.
Yet even as seven blades struck at once, they could not pierce her body. Thus, Long Xiaotian and the woman in white stood locked in a deadlock.
“Take Aotian and leave this place at once,” Long Xiaotian ordered.
At his command, Wufeng hefted Long Aotian onto his back. With Zhou Qing leading the way and a flying sword clearing a path, they made their way into the forest.

They had barely reached the forest’s edge when Zhou Qing, leading in front, came to an abrupt halt. The others glanced ahead and stopped as well, for several figures had emerged from the darkness of the trees, advancing toward them.
The newcomers were of various shapes and forms: some indistinguishable from humans, one with a head of writhing snakes for hair, and others with the upper body of a man and the lower body of a serpent—a tribe of half-demons.
As the figures appeared, the snake-haired man charged at them. Zhou Qing drew his Phantom Peerless and rushed forward to meet him.
Steel clashed, but Phantom Peerless failed to harm the snake-haired adversary; instead, Zhou Qing was struck squarely in the chest and sent flying.
Blood spattered from his lips as he crashed against a tree. The snake-haired man’s cultivation far outstripped Zhou Qing’s.
The man frowned; he had expected his blow to be fatal, yet Zhou Qing survived. His salvation lay in the tribulation-evading robe he wore—though his life was spared, the pain was excruciating.
It felt as if his body had been shattered. Weakness overwhelmed him, and as he tried to stand, another mouthful of blood welled up and he spat it to the side.
“Are you all right?”
Lin Yunxi hurried to his side, helping him up and pressing a healing pill to his lips.
As the pill slipped down his throat, Zhou Qing glimpsed a massive python hanging from the tree above, jaws agape, silently striking toward them.