19: Chapter 19 Green Snake's Sandbag
As Xu Qing waited, time slowly passed. Three days had gone by.
That Three-Colored Venomous Snake was truly a lazy fish; it usually just caught a poisonous frog or nibbled on some toxic grass to eat.
It wouldn't leave its cave until noon and spent the entire afternoon sunbathing.
It was essentially a useless snake.
Xu Qing feared that if Elder Han used it to refine poison, he might turn into a lazy fish himself.
It was a pity, given its excellent innate talent for poison.
“They're here!”
In Xu Qing's Divine Sense perception, three streaks of light of different colors flew in from the horizon.
To capture this Three-Colored Venomous Snake, three Foundation Establishment practitioners had actually shown up.
Xu Qing felt a bit at a loss.
There are too many of them. Should I retreat?
The Three-Colored Venomous Snake poked its three-colored head out from the Snake Cave and shook it sillily, appearing as if it had just woken up.
It had no idea that humans were lusting after its body.
Even less did it know it had been set up by its own kind.
And even less did it know that its fellow snake was planning to sell it out.
It simply wanted to continue sunbathing as usual.
Then, a massive fireball smashed down, and it was sent flying by the explosion.
“Jie jie! It really is a Three-Colored Green Snake!”
“Jie jie! The poison core goes to the Grand Elder for Alchemy, and this Elder shall graciously accept the snake skin!”
“Jie... Haha, this Elder wants the snake meat and bones!”
The three men, from left to right, were a man in purple robes, a man in green robes, and a man in black robes.
The Green Snake had a bit of face blindness, so for now, he would refer to them as Jie Zi, Jie Lü, and... Ha Hei.
Xu Qing stealthily used Insight Lv4.
He would check their information before deciding whether to take action.
After all, since he had intervened and intended to make use of the Three-Colored Venomous Snake, he had to take responsibility for his actions.
The Silly Snake hadn't even processed what was happening yet.
Its peaceful daily life was suddenly shattered, and the roof of its home had been blown dozens of feet high; anyone would be a bit dazed.
[Human] Jie Zi (Pseudonym)
[Dao Cultivation] 130 Years
[Realm] Foundation Establishment Early Stage
[Skills] Flight Lv2, Divine Sense Lv2, Artifact Refining Lv3, Fire Magic Lv3, Sword Kinesis Lv2, Poison Magic Lv3, Agility Lv2
...
[Human] Jie Lü (Pseudonym)
[Dao Cultivation] 117 Years
[Realm] Foundation Establishment Early Stage
[Skills] Flight Lv1, Divine Sense Lv1, Sword Kinesis Lv3, Poison Magic Lv3, Agility Lv2, Alchemy Lv1, Water Control Lv1, Beast Taming Lv1
...
[Human] Ha Hei (Pseudonym)
[Dao Cultivation] 109 Years
[Skills] Flight Lv2, Divine Sense Lv1, Sword Kinesis Lv1, Poison Magic Lv1, Agility Lv1, Artifact Refining Lv3, Earth Magic Lv3, Body Cultivator Lv3
“Maybe I can take them!”
“How can a Green Snake stand by and watch a fellow clansman die?”
Xu Qing decided he would step out.
He lunged out without hesitation, slithering to the side of the increasingly enraged Three-Colored Venomous Snake.
He originally wanted to pat this Silly Snake with his tail to encourage it.
But remembering the rumor of "death upon contact," he retracted his tail mid-air.
The Three-Colored Venomous Snake found it a bit strange that this Green Snake appeared so coincidentally.
It was almost as if it had been planned in advance.
But it must be overthinking things. If it were in the Green Snake's place, it would definitely have turned tail and run without a word.
This snake was a good snake; he really stepped up when things went south.
Is this the friendship between fellow clansmen? As a snake, it felt a sense of warmth.
“Hiss hiss hiss~”
“Hiss hiss hiss~”
“Good, good, good! This Elder really came to the right place today!”
“There's even a Green Water Snake!”
Jie Zi looked excited.
Jie Lü and Ha Hei also let out wild laughs, looking every bit like demonic sect villains.
Xu Qing was certain now.
These three Foundation Establishment illiterates didn't recognize him as a Resurrection Green Snake at all.
And here he was, worrying for nothing.
He liked human Foundation Establishment illiterates the most.
The popularization of culture in this world still has a long way to go.
“Go! Take it easy, don't damage the snake skin!”
The three each swallowed a Medicinal Pill, drew their Flying Swords, and charged at the two snakes.
In Xu Qing's Detection, a new entry appeared in the skill bars of those who had taken the pills.
[Poison Reduction Lv2] “59:59:58”
Jie Zi and Jie Lü charged toward the Three-Colored Venomous Snake.
Meanwhile, Ha Hei charged toward him.
I'm being underestimated. I'm definitely being underestimated!
“Ha Hei, take a punch from me!”
Ha Hei gave a low shout as a bronze glow lit up his body, and he threw a punch at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing flicked his tail, sending a Wind Blade to meet Ha Hei.
Ha Hei didn't dodge or evade; the Wind Blade only left a red mark on his fist.
“Sigh, Wind Blade, oh Wind Blade. If you don't level up soon, you won't even be qualified to make an appearance.”
Xu Qing complained inwardly while dodging Ha Hei's attacks.
“I need to finish this quickly.”
“The Silly Snake won't be able to hold out for long over there.”
The Silly Snake was only holding on by relying on its powerful poison, but the Poison Reduction effect the three had obtained countered it significantly.
Constant sounds of 'jie jie jie' drifted over to Xu Qing's side.
“Since evolving to Foundation Establishment, I haven't fought with my full strength even once.”
“Let me test out my new skills.”
Xu Qing's two round snake pupils slowly elongated, and a green light flickered within his Spatial Pupils.
Xu Qing's speed suddenly surged, leaving green afterimages in the air.
He opened his mouth and spat out a glob of green Demonic Fire.
“What? How can a Green Water Snake have Demonic Fire?!”
Ha Hei was greatly shocked. He performed a hand seal, and the earth transformed into an Earth Dragon that coiled around him to block the flames.
“Spatial Cut!”
Space split open as easily as paper being sliced by a utility knife.
The Earth Dragon was sliced cleanly in half, without slowing the cutting speed in the slightest.
Even though Ha Hei dodged in time, both his legs were cleanly severed at the root.
Body Cultivator Lv3 didn't provide even a hint of resistance.
Meanwhile, Xu Qing felt a heat in his left eye. The Spatial Pupil was frantically devouring Demonic Power like a vortex of water; a single strike had drained a quarter of his Demonic Power.
“Like hell this is a Green Water Snake!”
“What kind of damn Green Water Snake is this?!”
Ha Hei only had time to complain once before the green flames poured down from above like a waterfall.
He desperately circulated his mana to dodge, but it was as if four transparent walls had appeared in the air, locking him firmly in place.
*Shua!*
The flames poured down, instantly incinerating his hair and clothing into ash.
His skin and muscles were burned open, and his blood evaporated instantly.
Looking at the desperately struggling Ha Hei, Xu Qing decided not to waste this opportunity.
He condensed several purple lightning orbs and smashed them into the struggling Ha Hei.
After a few hits, he heard the System's notification chime.
[Ding! Proficiency has reached the requirement.]
[Lightning Strike Lv1 has been promoted to Lightning Strike Lv2.]
“As expected, the higher the Rank of the target I use skills on, the more proficiency feedback I get...”
Xu Qing felt that in the future, he should find a way to tie up a sandbag that was sturdy enough and high enough in Rank.
Then he could use it to practice his skills whenever he was free.
If it broke, he could use a Heal skill to restore it—which would also increase his Heal proficiency—and then continue practicing skills once it was fixed.
Holy crap, look what he just discovered.
He had entered his own personal Steam Age!
Xu Qing looked at Ha Hei, feeling a bit reluctant to kill him.
What a great sandbag; it would be such a waste to kill him.
At any rate, this sandbag had the Body Cultivator Lv3 skill.
As a sandbag, he was absolutely top-tier.
Xu Qing stopped the burning and manipulated the vegetation to wrap Ha Hei up layer by layer.
“Ding! Obtained item: Green Snake's Sandbag.”